Salman is still doing Marigold

The film-maker says he met Salman Khan after his release and noticed that he is doing great. “He’s happy to be back and with his family, and he seems eager to start off on this film.” Carroll believes that “when accidents happen to famous people, they tend to make the front page” and says it’s the same in Hollywood. Relieved that Khan has been released from judicial custody, Carroll says that when he first came to India last year, he’d read about Khan’s bad-boy image. “But when I got to know him better, I realised that the person I met is not the person I had read about. And I’m a pretty good judge of people.”

Scheduled to begin filming in March next year, and budgeted at US $10 million, Marigold is a love story between a B-movie American actress and an Indian dance choreographer who trains her for a Bollywood film she is hired to act in. To be filmed in English (“Initially we’d planned two versions, but we’ve decided not to do a Hindi version now”) and to be released in the US and across the world as a typical Hollywood studio film, Marigold is being perceived in Bollywood as an undoubtedly prestigious international vehicle for all the Indians involved. Insisting that he picked Khan because he felt the actor had immense potential to become the first crossover star from India, Carroll says he became fixed upon the Hum Aapke Hain Kaun star “after I saw a lot of his movies in which I noticed his spontaneity and his spark”.

The film-maker, who in 1999 directed Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Phillippe and Gillian Anderson in Playing By Heart, says Salman’s sense of humour has an American strain. “Besides, he has this boyishness which is just perfect for the role. Also, he speaks English not just well, but colloquially, which is exactly what the requirement was.”

Opposite Khan, the producers are in the process of casting an American actress. “Either a big name or an emerging name. The main requirement is that she must be able to sing, and she should be willing to dance,” Carroll says. He also reveals that they are currently negotiating with a handful of American stars, and will have the female lead cast in the next week or so.
“We’ve been very specifically asked not to give out names,” says Sidharth Jain, Vice President, Hyperion Pictures India, the company producing Marigold. “But it will most certainly be an actress that audiences are familiar with.” At least a few big names including Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears and Gwyneth Paltrow are being tossed around, but Jain says it is too early to confirm anything.

“Along with the script, we’ve sent out a videotape of song clips from Bollywood films to every actress we’re considering for the role,” Carroll reveals. “That’s so they have an idea of the kind of song-and-dance numbers we’re going for.” And much to his own pleasant surprise, the director says, “most actresses were very excited”. Of the opinion that America is ready for a Bollywood-style musical, Carroll explains that an awareness about India is just about setting in. “Bombay Dreams is coming to Broadway next year, and the US is still dancing to the Bollywood tune of the new Addictive song,” he points out.

Asserts Willard Carroll, director of the Hollywood film that begins shooting in India next March *Rajeev Masand* Screen Com Nov 10, 2002
Putting an end to industry speculation that Salman Khan has been replaced in the Hollywood film Marigold following the actor’s recent brush with the law in a hit-and-run case, American director Willard Carroll reveals that the *Maine Pyar Kiya* star is still very much a part of the project. “When I first heard about the incident in California, my reaction was to just stick with it. This kind of news is always disturbing but I knew there would be many versions of the story. I didn’t panic,” the film-maker says.
At a recording studio in Mumbai where Carroll is currently collaborating with the film’s music composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, he insists that contrary to rumours, he never approached any other actor for the lead following Khan’s arrest. “In fact, it was Salman himself who very graciously volunteered to bow out of the project if we felt his arrest could cause any inconvenience to the film,” Carroll adds. And although he did meet Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Vivek Oberoi recently, “those were just social visits. The only projects I discussed with them were possible future films”.