Film commemorating Mumbai terrorist attacks finds home away from home
Arts
A BLOCKBUSTER based on the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks has finished filming in South Australia.
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Featuring Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), Anupam Kher (Silver Lining Playbook), Armie Hammer (The Social Network) and Nazanin Boniadi (Ben Hur), Hotel Mumbai tells the story of the bombings through the eyes of the survivors.
The terrorist strikes lasted four days, killed 164 people and wounded a further 308.
Hotel Mumbai is directed by South Australian filmmaker Anthony Maras and was shot at Adelaide Studios, which was transformed into the interior of Mumbai’s iconic Taj Mahal Hotel – one of the terrorist attack targets.
South Australian Film Corporation CEO Annabelle Sheehan said the movie was a good representation of the local film industry’s ability to cater to location requirements.
“You’ve got fields, wine, beaches, and deserts not so far away, even some great forests. You do have incredible array of locations and ways in which South Australia can stand in for other places in the world,” she said.
“The ease of shooting here means that when you get everything in alignment, people then realise that everything they need is quite close.
“They’ve taken the advantage of our fantastic building and transformed sections of it into looking like the interior of a major Indian hotel.
“It’s so important to have diversity on and off screen, and for local filmmakers like Anthony to tell international stories featuring bravery and resilience in the face of violence and tragedy.”
Sheehan said it was also a privilege to have well-known actors working in Adelaide, which could help to build South Australia’s reputation as an elite film destination.
The film also engaged 350 local cast and crew and South Australiana post-production company Kojo to work on post-supervision, picture and sound services and visual effects.
The 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai was carried out by Islamist militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba and involved 12 co-ordinated shooting and bombing attacks.
Hotel Mumbai will celebrate humanities highest ideals – compassion, courage, resilience and an unwavering desire to live – through the perspective of the characters.
The movie was also produced locally with the help of the South Australian Government after it recently boosted the South Australian Film Corporation’s funding by $1 million in a bid to attract Hotel Mumbai and other feature films to the State.
South Australian Arts Minister Jack Snelling said 2016 was shaping up to be a very exciting year for the state’s screen industry.
“Securing Hotel Mumbai underscores the importance of the state government’s ongoing investment in the SAFC and the state-of-the art Adelaide Studios,” Minister Snelling said.
“There's no doubt that the calibre of films being made right here in Adelaide is on the rise. In fact, our entire state is fast becoming one of the most preferred places for both on-set and location filming. Hotel Mumbai also proves just how flexible our studios are. Filmmakers really get the best of both worlds in South Australia.”
Production Partners in Hotel Mumbai include Screen Australia, Xeitgeist Entertainment Group, Ingenious Media and the South Australian Film Corporation. The film is a co-production between Arclight Films, Thunder Road Pictures, Electric Pictures and Cyan Films.
The film is expected to be finished in June 2017. A premiere date is yet to be set.
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