English for this Indian was an alien language until when he landed up in his 16th birthday, however, the same man was able to see his movie Parinda in Oscars in 1979. He was known to make some of the best movies like 1942: A Love Story and not to forget the Indian goldmine called 3 Idiots. Now, he has his maiden Hollywood venture called Broken Horses. Yes, you guess it right, he is none other than Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who at the age of 62 was able to make his worth proved in Hollywood. He proved the world that even a filmmaker can aspire and enter into the world of Hollywood, which is one of the most competitive place of filmmaking in this planet.
How it all started?
It was somewhere five years ago when the idea of writing, producing and directing a Hollywood movie struck this man. This prompted this man to chase his new challenge in a new nation with a team of new people with new ethos and commitment to follow his passion of filmmaking in a new world all together. A world, which is known for its competitive edge in the world, a place where in the filmmakers invest years and even decades working on a script and embark with a blockbuster. It has the history of creating some of the best movies in the world keeping all the industries aside through powerful filmmaking projects.
What is Broken Horses?
Broken Horses is the venture of Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Hollywood, which is his maiden project. He calls it his passion overruling nationality. A man who has his origin in Afghanistan who later moved to Kashmir where he was brought up and studied in DAV School in Kashmir, he didn’t knew English till he was 16. All he aspired was to make at least one Bollywood movie before he left this mortal world. However, once he achieved this dream, he named it as an important milestone and embarked with a new dream to make a mark in Hollywood. Instead of enjoying his laurels with few successful B Town movies, he preferred to move ahead and escalate higher to see his dream come true in Hollywood. He chose this dream, and thus Broken Horses was born.
How this really happened?
He carved his niche with making an incredibly dexterous documentary called An Encounter with Faces, which showcased the plight of destitute kids in India. This film was nominated under the Documentary Short Subject category of the Academy Awards. This gave him all the reasons and avenues to return to the US and try out making a film. When he reached Hollywood, he realized how people there look down to the Bollwood movies and saw the Indian filmmakers with this prejudice. However, he was hell bent t prove his worth in overseas land. Now, you have people like Alfonso Cuaron and James Cameron is seen raving about the movie. He proved his point to the world that even Indians from Bollywood too can make a Hollywood, which can be round in the form of Broken Horses. In fact, he is the filmmaker who’s two movies Parinda and Eklavya got the official the entries at the Oscars under the category of Best Foreign Language Film.
Broken Horses
The movie is made in a budget of around 20 million dollars and is backed by one of the biggest entertainment company called Reliance Entertainment. It is a mystery thriller, which has actors including Maria Valverde, Thomas Jane, Anton Yelchin and Vincent D’Onofrio in the main lead. V V Chopra also worked with an American crew despite facing prejudices for the Indian filmmaker, but instead of complaining he chose to move ahead and embark with the said movie in the western world. As per Chopra, the only best way to defy the prejudice was to embark with your own work.
Carving his Niche in Hollywood
It was not that easy; he took five years to embark with an incredible script, which impressed people in the west. When he shared the script, brilliant was the word he heard about it from the filmmakers from the west. Thus his work simply spoke for him and talent can garner respect in Hollywood, which finally was seen working out for the Indian filmmaker. They call it as madness, which is nothing but your creative efforts to make an incredibly nice movie in Hollywood. It wasn’t that easy for this seasoned filmmaker to do a Hollywood project. As per this man, he has to unlearn all the things he did in India, which he did at the age 62. He simply learnt things again and did his debut at this age to shine in the western world. No songs no dance, not much of music, but purely a content rich movie, which is eventually his Hollywood venture – Broken Horses.
Wrapping up
Despite the fact that Indians are known as highly inefficient professionals, he accepted this challenge to embark with a successful of Hollywood movie. Currently he is gearing up to release his Hollywood baby not just in US but all across the world next week. With this venture, it would be no looking back for this seasoned filmmaker. The fact is he getting calls from the Hollywood studios for the next ventures in the western world and as he said, if gets another mountain to climb, he will certainly do so. So, very soon, you can expect to find another venture in Hollywood.
