So when you look at a video, the dialogue and the music can be converted into any language, but the actors, the physical human being, cannot be translated. That’s where the race comes in. So there’s the yellow race, the black race, the brown race and the white race. The white race dominates the movies, and of late the black race has also got some prominence. The yellow race, while they have not been a global player, there has been big Chinese players. The talent of the brown race has not yet been exploited. That is our intention. The brown race as heroes and heroines and they can speak any language, with the modern dubbing technology.
The brown race is popular between Israel and Indonesia—it is their home race. Outside this space, you have to make them popular. So we are looking at movies with Asian themes and actors, global language, and high technology. You’ll see such movies coming out of India.
If we can now go into specifics, how many films do you plan to make in the next few years?
We plan to make at least five films in the next three years. These are global films. One films we have already launched and filming will soon start. It is on the life of Buddha and it has a budget of $100 million.
We will invest $200 million in all the films put together in the next three years.
The first film is the most expensive one—it’s a big epic, but the others are relatively small. We are only looking at global scripts. I have commissioned one more script.
All the content will be made in digital. When you enter a new segment, you need to have an angle, and our angle is technology. When these films are made, the fact that they will eventually also be viewed on PCs and mobiles will be kept in mind. They will be made accordingly.
Your first film has spiritual links. Is this going to be a theme across your films?
Buddha films is historical, not spiritual. This is why I resigned as the president of the Mahabodhi society. People thought I was spiritual. Spirituality puts off a lot of people.
The theme across all the films is brown people. The way I see it—the respect they command in the world is comparatively less. Brown people are not seen as entertaining people. They are not seen as people with knowledge. They are seen as working people. You need to project brown people through media. Only then will this perception change.
Have you personally faced this kind of discrimination abroad?
I haven’t, but my children do. They refuse to stay out of India. My daughter lived in America, my son in London, and they refuse to live there for long. The only place they like to live in is Singapore, because there is no discrimination there.
So here again, if you take Israel to Indonesia, there is no discrimination. Outside is all discrimination. Everyone faces it.
Look at how black people became prominent entertainers and how that helped reduce discrimination. Unless you have heroes and heroines who are popular globally, you will always face discrimination. Because they don’t relate to you, they don’t relate to your colour, to your style.
So you need a brown Denzel Washington?
You need more than that. You need a brown James Bond. Our people needn’t play second fiddle to anyone. They will be the heroes.
So the film production unit is a separate company or a unit within Spice Enfotainment?
It’s a separate company. It’s called M Films. But all the names will now change. We have engaged a new communications agency, The Brand Union, to come up with brand identities and strategy for all our new ventures.