The Bollywood feature film, Hum Aap Aur Pyaar (Me, You & Love) is scheduled to shoot in Johannesburg from 16 March – 10 April. There are currently six Bollywood films shooting in Johannesburg.
The cast line up of We, You & Love includes a number of major names in Indian cinema – the UK-born Upen Patel of Shaka Laka Boom Boom fame, Miss India 2007 Esha Gupta (known in celeb circles as the ‘Angelina Jolie of India’), veteran Indian actress Neena Gupta and comic actor Kurush Homi Deboo.
The Indian producer is Dhanesh Desai who is also an international hotel magnate and South African producer Natalie Stange, Red Pill Productions.
“We are also in negotiations to feature several top SA models – Lee-Ann Liebenberg, Kerry McGregor and Tanya van Graan – in cameo roles. As such, we hope the film will be able to break out of the ghetto of ‘Bollywood in SA’ to appeal to a broader South African audience,” says Ryan Fortune, Red Pill Productions.
In classic Bollywood style, the film will feature a turgid love story at its centre, as well as several music and dance numbers, says Fortune.
“However, in a departure from any Bollywood film shot in Johannesburg to date, the film will not be using Johannesburg as a stand-in for New York or London, but will feature our dear city as itself,” says Fortune.
