Friday, November 2, 2007

Antonia Bernath goes to Bollywood






British actress Antonia Bernath is making her debut in Kisna - the Warrior Poet, marking a growing trend for non-Indian stars to appear in Bollywood films.

Directed by Bollywood veteran Subhash Ghai, the film is set in the British Raj and Bernath plays an army general's daughter who falls in love with a rural boy, Kisna.

"I liked the fluid nature of film-making. We improvised quite a lot," says Bernath. "At times it felt very chaotic but Mr Ghai was quite clear about what he wanted."

Picked from more than 200 girls in an audition in London, Bernath cut short her education at Bristol's Old Vic Theatre School to take up the opportunity.

It is not often that somebody gets to play the lead role straight out of a drama school. She spent three weeks learning Hindi and taking dance lessons.

"Initially, I was a bit sceptical about how people would respond to me," Bernath says. "But I found the Hindi film industry very warm and encouraging. I even had a few offers before the work on Kisna was completed."

Overseas market

Films are one of India's biggest exports and those like Lagaan and Monsoon Wedding have broken the traditional boundaries of colour and culture.

Spurred by this, Bollywood producers are trying to go global in all aspects of film-making, be it technical or artistic.