MUMBAI MASALA

Two German film students travel around Mumbai interviewing the stars of the Bollywood film industry and the big names working behind the camera, and filming them at work. A colourful and atmospheric documentary that gives a memorable insight into the engine room of this thriving industry.

The Hindi film industry is one of the hugest industries in the world and, in director Eva Wolf's home country, Germany, it is almost unknown. After stumbling upon the shoot of a dance sequence whilst on holiday in India, Wolf set out to record the workings of this vibrant and flourishing world. The commercial Hindi Film industry is centred in Bombay or Mumbai as it is now called. Commercial Hindi films are known locally as masala films. Masala means mixed spices and the films are known as masala because they mix all genres: for a masala film you need some action, some romance, some tragedy, a little comedy, and most importantly fantastic musical numbers.

The film is Eva's graduation piece from the Babelsberg Film Academy and is her first feature. Eva studied acting at Universidad Central, Quito/Ecuador and directing at the FU-Berlin. Since her graduation, she has been learning how to survive by making films. She has recently returned from Maharashtra in India where she has been shooting a documentary on Adivasis.

Country Germany Running Time 82 mins Format DV Director Eva Wolf Producer Andreas Sawall DoP Shaheen Dil-Riaz Ahmed Edit Andreas Zitzmann Featuring Karishma Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Anu Malik Print Source Superbox Film, Greifswalderstr. 203, 10405 Berlin T +49 30 44041112 E evawolf@cityweb.de