Sean Bean stars in ‘CASH’ along with Chris Hemsworth of ‘Thor’ & ‘Star Trek’
Are Hollywood movies going to be a cash cow for Indian-American producers? Generally you have NRI filmmakers making movies with Indian themes or Indian actors but Naveen Chathapuram of Chicago has just ventured into mainstream territory, by producing ‘CA$H’, a psychological thriller with Hollywood stars Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings), Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Star Trek) and Victoria Profeta (Push, The Drew Carey Show). The film is written and directed by Stephen Milburn Anderson (South Central)
“I wanted to make a mainstream movie that everyone could relate to,” says Chathapuram. “CA$H is a film that can’t be boxed into one particular category. It is a no-genre film. On the flip side, it can be a film of many genres. So I think that adds to its mainstream appeal. This was an intentional move on my part and Stephen’s part.”
A filmmaker in Chicago, Chathapuram has raised all the money from the community. “Our investors are predominantly North Californian residents who are Indian,” he says. “ Prema Thekkek, who is the executive producer of the film, headed this; it was a four year process and we both worked together on it. It involved a lot of personalized pitching.”
He says he learned a lot from his early projects, which always involved India in some shape or form: “ I was the Jack of all Trades– the experience schooled me in everything from directing to accounting, to set striking and prop loading. I appreciate that experience – it better-prepared me to take on a mainstream film.”
Was it difficult to get the producer and actors for this venture? Says Chathapuram: “We worked very closely with our casting director, Heidi Levitt. She had drafted a list of 20 stars who would be appropriate for the lead role and Sean Bean was on the very top of the list. I actually hand wrote a letter to Sean Bean… and it worked!”
Was there any Indian influence at all in the making or theme of the movie? Chathapuram says that even though there was no direct correlation, the film is relevant to all audiences including the Indian audience: “ South Asians are always supportive of their fellow ‘desi’ filmmakers, like Shekhar Kapoor, M. Night Shyamalan and Mira Nair. We’ve screened ‘CA$H’ for desi audiences, including Three Idiots star R. Madhavan. It is encouraging to see that the film, although mainstream in nature, is well-received by my community.”
Another interesting aspect is that the movie is being released in the Big Cinema chain, owned by Reliance Media Works, in cities like Las Vegas, Chicago and New York. The film also co-stars an Indian who is well known to the fans of South Indian films. Anthony Thekkek, who won the Best Actor Award at the Honolulu International Film Festival, plays his first comic role.
Now the question is whether ‘CA$H’ will bring in the cash at the box office and draw the crowds in. Chathapuram finds that Indian-Americans generally support the efforts of their own community and he thinks the mainstream crowd will be drawn by the stellar cast: “Since Sean Bean has a huge fan base in the U.K., U.S. and abroad, our audience is also international,” he says. “Chris Hemsworth is also a rising star these days – he’s on to star as THOR in Marvel’s upcoming film, which is great considering that ‘CA$H’ is the first film he made in the U.S!”
Photos: Amna Siddiqui Photography
