Indian Actors Receive Warm Reception from Global Audiences

Berlin – Actor Raghuvir Yadav, beloved in India, drew international raves for his role in the crowd pleaser Peepli Live–India’s submission in the 2011 Oscar race. Last winter, the film debuted during the Berlin International Film Festival, was well received at the Sundance, Edinburgh, Melbourne, and São Paulo film festivals, and opened around the globe. India has the largest film industry in the world, producing around 3,000 films per year.

The tremendous achievement of Slumdog Millionaire coupled with the international success of Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name is Kahn, and the warm reception of Bollywood films on television in large markets such as the German speaking markets in the European Union, has encouraged film distributors that India-produced films appeal to global audiences. Amrapali Media Vision hopes to tap into this goodwill with its debut movie, Dear Friend Hitler– which takes its name from two letters Mahatma Gandhi wrote the dictator in 1939 and 1940.

Yadav stars in this film set in India and Berlin during the final days of the second world war. Driven by three main storylines, the plot primarily centers on India’s struggle for independence after being part of the British empire for hundreds of years. Gandhi, in writing these letters immediately before and at the beginning of the second world war, used the standard written greeting of his time. The film uses these letters, and a few scenes set in the dictator’s bunker, as a catalyst to tell a broader story about Gandhi and India at a turning point in the 20th century. Yadav portrays the dictator in this film.

The Himalayas as Backdrop for Director’s First Feature Film

Delhi, India – Not every first-time director has the luxury of shooting on location in the Himalayas. Director Rakesh Ranjan Kumar’s debut film had a 3 million dollars budget and is one of the most expensive independent films produced in the history of Indian cinema. His epic drama with sweeping landscapes shows that “History is a witness that things seeped in violence and injustice will ultimately fail,” says Kumar. His highly anticipated first feature film premieres at the prestigious Marché du Film film market that take place in tandem with the Cannes Film Festival.

Kumar marks his directorial debut with the Gandhi film”Dear Friend Hitler”–a movie that takes its name from two letters Mahatma Gandhi, the icon of peace, wrote the dictator in 1939 and 1940, on the eve of and at the beginning of the second world war. When drafting these letters, Gandhi used the standard written greeting of his time. He composed the first letter, hoping that he would be able to prevent the war.

Initially Kumar’s aspired to be a politician and proceeded to rigorously prepare himself to take the civil service examination. But after moving to Delhi and entering university, his focus completely shifted. “I developed a keen interest in cinema,” Kumar says. Theatre became his passion and Bollywood his destination.

Kumar grew up in a remote area near the India-Nepal border in a village that barely had a population of 2000. “The village still lacks basic facilities like electricity, schools and concrete roads,” he explains. “Almost all of the youth from my village are working in Mumbai or Delhi, doing petty jobs for survival. The primary school I attended was a small hut shelter for cows and buffaloes.” In Kumar’s hometown, cinema was basically non-existent.

While reflecting on his formative years, he recalls one of the fondest memories from his youth was “…akin to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,” he says. “I was enamored with a beautiful, well-educated rich girl from my village. Even though there were quite a few handsome eligible men vying for her attention, I was the only one she came to her balcony to see. Each day, for almost five years, I stood under her balcony at sundown, like Romeo.”

The director cites filmmakers such as David Lean and Sidney Pollack as having inspired him. “I am also greatly influenced by Mani Ratman’s style of visual presentation,” Kumar states.

It took almost two years to develop the script for Dear Friend Hitler. Initially the film was supposed to be a low budget movie, “But when my producer Dr. Anil Kumar Sharma got involved in the project, I was granted the liberty to exercise my creativity with utmost freedom.”

Kumar believes Raghuvir Yadav (Salaam Bombay!, Lagaan, Bandit Queen, Peepli Live), who stars in the film, was the perfect choice for the role. Avijit Dutt, a veteran stage actor based in India, plays Gandhi in the movie.

Gandhi Film Dear Friend Hitler Premieres in France at the Marché du Film

Cannes, France, 19 April 2011 – Amrapali Media Vision’s debut film is set to premiere May 11 at the Marché du Film, the most prestigious film market for the international film industry. The event takes place yearly alongside the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France.

The film Dear Friend Hitler, which takes its name from the letters Mahatma Gandhi wrote to the dictator in 1939 and 1940 on the eve of and during the first year of the second world war, is an historical drama, set in India and Berlin.

Director Rakesh Ranjan Kumar marks his directorial debut with this sweeping epic movie that focuses on India’s struggle for freedom after having been part of the British empire for hundreds of years.

Actor Raghuvir Yadav, who stars in the film, launched his movie career more than 30 years ago and has starred in international hits such as Salaam Bombay!—which was nominated for an Academy Award. In the mid-to-late 80s, he received the FIPRESCI Critic’s Award for his performance in Massey Sahib. In recent years, on the international film circuit, Yadav has had tremendous success with films such as Lagaan—which was also nominated for an Academy Award and Peepli Live.

On May 11 press and the global film community will have the first opportunity to see the film in its entirety.