From Miami to Mumbai: Bollywood Leaving Magic City
Film crew leaving South Florida due to high production costs
By BRIAN HAMACHER
Updated 12:30 PM EDT, Tue, Feb 2, 2010
Faster than you can say "namaste" (the Hindi word for goodbye, natch), Miami's shot at becoming the new hot Bollywood filming destination might be over.
Ra.One, which was expected to be South Florida's second major movie production from India to film here, is pulling out of Miami due to high production costs, according to the Miami Herald.
The film is set to star Shahrukh Khan, generally referred to as Bollywood's answer to Brad Pitt and George Clooney rolled into one. Khan plays a Miami software engineer who accidentally gives life to "techo-monster" that will go on to terrorize Brickell, South Beach, and parts of Downtown. But now it looks like the monster will have to terrorize Mumbai instead.
"The unions just wouldn't budge," Robert Parente, head of Miami's film office, told the Herald. Apparently the union guys wanted union wages paid to the Indian film crews that are accustomed to making much less.
And with a budget of $3 million, producers are packing their bags and heading back to India rather than foot a bigger tab here.
That also means the 300 local extras who'd been hired will have to find work elsewhere.
Ra.One would have followed in the footsteps of Dostana, which was filmed in Miami in 2008 and became a huge Bollywood blockbuster last year. At costs of about $10 million to make, Dostana raked in nearly $18 million worldwide.
First Published: Feb 2, 2010 12:18 PM EDT
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