S.F. Bay Area Couple Produces Bollywood Film

By LISA TSERING

India-West Staff Reporter

HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. - Entrepreneurs Krishna and Renuka Pullat would like to bring some Silicon Valley savvy to the Bollywood film industry, and they're starting on a big scale.

"I've been looking at the way business is conducted in the film industry, and I see a lot of room for improvement," Krishna Pillai told India-West, smiling expansively as he looked out over a luxe launch party at the couple's hillside home Nov. 1.

The Pullats have formed a production company called Kria Entertainment, with offices here and Mumbai, and are eagerly awaiting the release of Kria's first film, Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav, as early as December of this year. The Pullats screened a few songs and treated guests to a poolside preview of the fast-paced action comedy at the party, and have put out word in the community that Kria is seeking investors.

Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav is a tale of two down-and-out lovers, Padma (Mausumi) and Laloo (Suniel Shetty), who are trying to steal back some jewels originally stolen by Padma's father's business partner. Thanks to Laloo's ineptitude, the partner is now dead and only he knows the combination to the bank safe where the jewels are held. The couple decides to enlist the help of two thieves, Prasad (Johny Lever) and Yadav (Mahesh Manjrekar), to help them plan a big bank heist, but they get ensnared in a love quadrangle along the way. Manjrekar directs, and Anand Raj Anand heads a team of music directors on the project, which is budgeted at around $1.25 million.

Shot almost entirely in Cape Town, South Africa, the film is around 90 percent complete, said Pullat.

The film's memorable title received surprisingly little resistance from the notorious Bihar politician of the same name, despite said politician's propensity to throw a monkey-wrench into projects that he deems offensive (Yadav took SABe television producers to court last year over their spoof "Ramkhilavaan C.M. and Family").

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