Saturday, October 07, 2006

Biblical Bollywood

I discovered a couple of interesting tidbits about the movie One Night With the King, a film based on the Biblical account of Esther and King Ahasuerus that premieres next Friday (Oct. 13). Despite being made by the same production company who did The Omega Code, the film appears to have potential. [Stop laughing.] Not big-time, I-love-this-film-more-than- anything-I've-seen-all-year potential, but something more like, at-least-the-production-value-was-pretty-good potential and OMG!-the-costumes-are-fabulous potential.

Believe it friends. Reasons why this film will be good even if it's bad:

  • The costumes were designed by Neeta Lulla best known for her work on Devdas, alternate title, The Most Ornate Film of All Time.
  • Most of the film was shot in palaces in Jodhpur, India.
  • Aradhana Seth, production designer for Deepa Metha's elements trilogy, lends her skills to the production team.
  • Most importantly, supermodel Aditya Bal is rumored to be in the film. (Have you seen him?)
Admission #1: I'm not going to lie. I don't have high hopes for writing of the film. The Christian industry isn't exactly known for writing prowess. At the same time, anyone who reads this blog knows I'm a sucker for eye candy. In fact, if they had the wherewithal to throw in a dance number, I'd add One Night With the King to my favorite movies list, no questions asked. Hopefully, I'll be pleasantly surprised by the quality of writing.

Admission #2: I'm a little disappointed that the casting directors chose lead actors who look so, well...European. I guess there weren't enough Middle Eastish looking folks who applied? In fact, I'd go so far as to say Ms. Tiffany Dupont looks American--like an American girl playing dress up in some really exotic clothing. As for the king--played by Mr. Luke Goss is best known for his time in the British boy band pop duo, Bros--he looks quite stately--like a member of King Arthur's Court. [Oh! Wrong continent!]

[Notes: Click the photos above to enlarge. The production notes from which I gleaned these gems are here. Official website here.]

2 comments:

Daddy's Girl said...

Hi there, just a note to say I love your blog. Very interesting. I actually agree with you on 'One Night with the King'. Any word on who'll be playing Esther? I heard Juanita Bynum lobbying for the role a while ago and thought to myself, 'God, I hope not'. Anyway, will definitely be checking you out again. Check out my Bollywood-related blog when you have a free sec: http://www.ilovelovelovedharmendra.blogspot.com.

Gigi said...

Isn't Tiffany black? she looks mixed to me... so that helps w/ the exoticness on her part... then again she grew up in the deep south-- suppose if you've got enough white genes in you & you can 'pass' [I cringe at the backwards connotations of that term] you do whatever you can to get by [yikes]. I suspect the indian spin was good to save some production $$ I kept wondering what was going on with the extras... anyway the costumes rocked & the sets were beautiful. The story of course is awesome, and we now have Purim as a fun & yummy reminder