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EXCLUSIVE: Indian telecoms magnate BK Modi has thrown open the casting for the $40 million Indian epic he’s producing. Director Ashutosh Gowariker is looking for an unknown to play the 500BC Indian prince who became Buddha. Actors have until May 15th to submit to the Buddha-Movie website. “We felt that we needed a new face for our Buddha,” executive producer Michel Shane tells me.
Gowariker, who was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar for Lagaan (2001), plans to start shooting in India at the end of August. Modi is fully-financing Buddha through his Spice Studios. ICM has packaged the project and is handling international sales. Client David S Ward, screenwriter of The Sting, has penned the screenplay, based on Kyra Pahlen’s biography of Prince Siddartha, The Warrior Prince. The Dalai Lama is even credited as “consultant producer.”
Shane, executive producer of I, Robot and Catch Me If You Can, is pitching the project as “Gladiator meets Lawrence of Arabia.” He says it’s much more action adventure Little Buddha, Bernardo Bertolucci’s take on the same subject. I dunno. I’m sure these projects sound great on the celebrity Buddhist circuit, when you’re saying “namaste” to Richard Gere or Uma Thurman, but I just don’t know how much appeal they have in Des Moines.
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I think this is a great idea! And could have so much appeal to anyone all over the world. I’m sure people get sick of seeing white bread America actors saving the day. And to have open casting for someone who is actually Indian is far better than hiring Jake Gyllenhaal to wear lots of base. I, personally, can’t wait to see how well this does.
Several hundreds years ago Nepal was also part of india, that time there were no, bagladesh, pakistan etc…
The place was Lumbini, it is now part of Nepal. There fore we can say Lord Buddha was born in Lumbini,Kapilawastupura. But now Lumbini is belongs to Nepal.
Go to Google earth and select Lumbini, Nepal, then you can see photo of place where load Buddha was born.
Lord Buddha was Ultimate, best scientist,Philosopher, therefore you cannot find any person in the universe to act as Lord Buddha.
Buddha is of great interest to me and I too am eagerly waiting to see the film.
I agree that an Indian face would be much better. I know of a budding Indian actor, Kahlil Joseph, based in the US in LA. I had watched some of his work at UCLA, and on TV and also his Vivekananada – The Lion Between Matter & Spirit and I must say he has great talent. His name too is a curious mix (Christian & Arabic), a symbol of peace, so precious to the Buddha too!
His could be the face that will bring Gowariker fame.
Jane Johnson
Keanu Reeves?
I am an F.B.I. agent!
Buddha was not indian. he was not born in india. get ur facts right, people. he was born in a neighbouring country to india called nepal.
He was the prince of kapilbastu which is in nepal.
Current day Nepal was a part of the ‘India’ or to be more precise Nepal,India,Bangladesh,Pakistan as sovereign independent countries are only recent phenomenon.There never existed a region called Nepal during the time of Buddha.All of Indian subcontinent were princely states with a common culture & subculture (including Srilanka,Bhutan & most part of Burma or Myanmar) This culture in generic terms nowadays called Indian culture & hence the reference that Buddha was Indian…so get your facts right “somerandomguy” you really seem to have made a random statement.
You are living in the current day Mr whatever your name is, so before you make any comments you should wash your face and come to reality. Don’t make any statements which you are not aware of. Don’t live in the past, get your history book or try to read some Wikis. We are not saying Darjiling, Sikkim, Gantok and all part of Nepal as they were in the past.
The fact is everyone knows Buddha was born in Nepal and the place where he was born “Lumbini”- Kapilbastu is in Nepal. So please stop wasting your time and never make any funny comments like this.
Thats a piece of shit. Nepal was a country with a history even older than India, no wonder its 2067 in Nepal. Because, it a small politically unstable country does not mean that India can write or do whatever they like. Indians are trying to create a fake birthplace of Buddha in its Northern region, whereas Lumbini in Nepal has a culturally preserved birthplace from ages. I hate fucking Indians!!
India did not exist till British took over the country. It was Bharat or Hindustan as Moguls use to call it. Indians love to distort history. They destroyed a mosque because they thought some hundu diety was born there.
For your kind information neither there was India when Buddha was born nor the kapilvastu was part of India. India’s existence came only during the time of East India Company. Current India was build by then Moguls by aggregating small independent states. Nepal’s calendar starts 57 years before English calendar. East India Company never ruled in Nepal. Darjeeling, Sikkim, Gangtok etc currently in India were part of Nepal. You can still see majority of Nepali Speaking People there. I think this is good enough to correct your little mis-guided skill about Nepal. I know its not your fault. Indian schools have mis-leading information in their curriculum.
So before you publish anything on the web, make sure you give the correct information to the world, please dont make the website like your Indian schools.(always misleading information)
Totally agree what Mr Kabin said. Nepal is such a country who fought against British who were ruling over India. They could not defeat Nepal. However, they took some part of Nepal such as Darjeeling, Sikkim, Gangtok when British were ruling India. So never misguide anyone saying that Buddha was born in India. Imagine if some one says that TajMahal is of Nepal then how Indians feel? So stop trying to hurt others and try to grab their prestige.
Feel sorry to those who have misguided information.
It doesn’t matter. Both of these countries have same heritage, culture,religion and racially identical. You are saying something similar as “UK and USA do not have same language, same cultural & religious roots etc”. During Buddha’s time and for thousand years, it was ruled by single empire.
Actually their roots are different. Nepaleses history is rooted in Bon while India is rooted in Hindu but in terms of the film I don’t think it really matters, as long as they get someone who looks right it doesn’t matter where they are from. In Memoirs of a Geisha you had a Chinese actress playing a Japanese character, in Elizabeth you had an Aussie playing a British monarch and it still worked. Though I suppose it would be nice to give a Nepalese actor an opportunity only because their industry is tiny compared to Bollywood so they don’t have much of a chance to make it big.
Actually their roots are different. Nepalese history is rooted in Bon while India is rooted in Hindu but in terms of the film I don’t think it really matters, as long as they get someone who looks right it doesn’t matter where they are from. In Memoirs of a Geisha you had a Chinese actress playing a Japanese character, in Elizabeth you had an Aussie playing a British monarch and it still worked. Though I suppose it would be nice to give a Nepalese actor an opportunity only because their industry is tiny compared to Bollywood so they don’t have much of a chance to make it big.
Its not about who Buddha looked like. Its about giving correct information to the world. Why do you Indians always have problem giving fact to the public? You Indians look and speak like Pakistanis, so can I say India is the part of Pakistan?
Smartypants, Nepal was actually a modern state originating during the rise of the nationalistic movement in the 17-18th century. Historically, the Indian Empire stretched from Iran to Vietnam. While its not terrible to say Siddhartha was an Indian prince; however, it is incorrect to say he was Nepalese. Thanks for playing though.
some scholars say it is more likely the Prince we now call the ‘Buddha’ was born in Persia.
Adhir Kalyan + 20lbs of muscle and you’ve got your lead.
I know the historical Buddha would have fought some wars, before he became Buddha but isn’t an action, adventure movie kind of opposite to the Buddha’s message of peace and non-violence?
I don’t know I just find it hard to picture a man who spent years sitting under a tree to attain enlightenment suddenly doing some kick ass moves. I guess we’ll see how t turns out.
Producer Michel Shane is the not the first bit of miscasting with this project, but it might be the most fatal. Kyra Pahlen wrote a marvelous book, but its been on a downhill spiral ever since. Shane’s desire to make an action adventure film about the Prince of Peace is bad enough, but then to mock well known and serious fans of what Buddha really stands for is adding insult to injury. He’s not clever to generate a bad PR problem before the film is even in the can, although once it is, it seems clear it will end up in the same place anyway: an embarrassing failure with no audience to be found. Advisors to His Holiness would be wise to pull his name from any association this project.
Buddha was born in India. Doesn’t matter which specific part. The idea is great. But there’s no one compare to Buddha to play his role. But the idea of the true story is appealing. Hope the facts are not changed.
By the way Sri-Lanka was never a part of India. Sri-Lankan Quene married Price Vijaybha who was an Indian.
I know historically before Buddha became Buddha he would have partook in wars and stuff like that but doing an action adventure movie about him doesn’t that go against his peace and non-violence beliefs?
I don’t know, I just find it hard to imagine a guy who spent years sitting under a tree attaining enlightenment suddenly stabbing people and cutting limbs off. Oh well I guess we’ll see what it like when they do the movie.
I know historically before Buddha became Buddha he would have partook in wars and stuff like that but doing an action adventure movie about him doesn’t that go against his peace and non-violence beliefs?
I don’t know, I just find it hard to imagine a guy who spent years sitting under a tree attaining enlightenment suddenly stabbing people and cutting limbs off. Oh well I guess we’ll see what it like when they do the movie.
Better select a Sri Lankan for that role. Buddha only visited Sri Lanka and venerated many places. The chronicle of Mahawamsa tells many stories about Buddha and his visits. I would be nice to include some of them in this production.
Everyone is buddha so what’s the problem? India has always been in Des Moine, even before there were buddhas.
Excellent comment
Honestly, who gives a flying you-know-what about what plays in Des Moines? An action-orientated version of the Buddha story is probably going to be aimed more toward the international market than the US one anyway.
India had and still have 4 castes and upper classes Brahmans, king and high rank warriors belonged to Aryan nation and they were not Germans, they were Slavs at that time. Most Indian rivers still have Slavic names.
Producers have to be very careful not to violate the sentiments of Buddhists. According to Buddhism, nobody can be equated to Lord Buddha. As such, nobody should be acting as him. Long time ago there was an Indian film, I think called “Angulimala”, based on a story during Buddha’s time. In that film, the filmmakers used statuees of Buddha instead of any actor.
I couldn’t stop replying to the posts on the Aryan Bullshit on this site. Genetic tests have proven that there is no Aryan Dravidian divide in India. Its the construct of a diseased European mind, the Germans to be exact. Just look at their history. They were hunter gatherers and even cannibals in certain tribes as recently as 100 AD when India was well past its peak. Whilst Indians were living in Cities, Germans were hunter gatherers and were not even a united people until post 200 AD. And how would the Germans claim to be the most advanced people with such a history? They needed to fix their history. So they sought out one of the 2 most ancient and greatest civilizations in the world. India, with the other being China. No one would believe Chinese were actually Germans with a blast from the past so it would be convenient to appropriate the Indian history. So yes, Indians were actually Aryans, Germans from the past!! Now with that Rubbish being spread about as history the Nazis and other white supremacists went about their normal business! All this with about 300 years of technical and military supremacy whilst countries like India and China led the world for 7000 years and never boasted their superiority.
All Indians (and even Nepalese) are the same genes, the R1 haplogroup with a healthy mixing of the H haplogroup. H and R1 are native to the sub-continent with proof coming out that the Europea variant of the R1 having actually come from the sub-continent. Even more interesting is that research is currently on that even the S haplogroup came from India! And to add, its proven that modern European population was fathered by migrating middle Easterners who were considered “attractive” because they knew farming and the local hunter gatherer women fell for them.
So in this background what explains the “Aryan” bullshit? What prompts the Europeans to keep repeating this nonsense over and over again? When Archaeogenetics has completely dismissed this theory? An in-built inferiority complex given that the Western world (read Anglo-Saxon) has been in prominence only for the last 300 years of its existence?
I hope this Buddha movie depicts Buddha as he really was. With “Doubt Everything” as its central theme Buddhism is a part of my life even though I am a Hindu, thats Indian religions for you, no dogma of the Abrahamic sort! I hope its not a watered down version for the consumption of Western audiences for whom spirituality is a naked monks and Tantric sex.
And for all you Nepalese yelling away here, I cant help but wonder what the issue is! Vaishali and Licchavi kingdoms and the other Indian kingdoms were always one. Remember Nepal would not have been independent if it were not for the Sikh confederate defeating and evicting the Chinese. We are the same people and the same blood. Let us remember the greater united India of the past and remember our oneness as against bickering over nationality. After all India is a civilization and Nepal was always part of it. So Nepalese, please throw out all the dirty Europeans ideologies like Communism and return to your Nepalic/Indic way of life.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
Nepal was an independent country since pre-historic times and never colonised as was India. I agee with Lalitaditya that our culture and civilization is similar but that doesn’t mean you can mislead the world by saying that Buddha was born in India. And be aware that not all Nepalese are communists, we are democrats who accomodate all ideologies. Indian imperialism will eventually destroy India. India is a very bad neighbour.
By the way, can any Indian explain why they are constructing a mimick Kapilvastu as birthplace of Buddha in UP? What interest do you have in misguiding world by telling that Buddha was born in India?
I know the answer: Because you want more money from tourism…Bhikhari Indians…
……Astu….
You wrote a page full of story begging for trust from the world that Buddha was born in India. You can fool your Indian counterparts but not the WORLD. I know its not your fault. Indian schools have been teaching all this in their curriculum. By the way, why is India building another Kapilvastu in India. Are you giving re-birth to Buddha in India? lol. You (India) never existed before British ruled you. There were small independent stated before none of them were called INDIA. INDIA name itself came from East India Company. Read some other books than you were supplied by your school then you know the fact of the world. you can not be friend of anyone. look at the relationship you have with your neighbours. India is the place of promoting underworld mafia in south asia. and thats what you belong.
now get a life…
Get a life
It’s 2067 in Nepal?
I wish the Dalai Lama would be the creative consultant on these comments. The hostility here can only be diffused by a man of his patience.
I just got through chewing this one over with Buddha himself and she says that Buddha is beyond all time and space, whether it be Nepal, Des Moines or West Bromwich, and has a face that resembles a mirror, black, white, brown, yellow or green, depending on who’s looking. Furthermore, Buddha assures me we are all full of crap, and apparently includes him/herself in this strictly non-royal we. Peace’n'lurve to all’n'one (same thing).
I am absolutely happy regarding the Buddha movie, it will bring more convincing history over where and how Buddha was born.
The Indians should always see the napals as their blood and flesh as the History have said it all.
I can’t wait to see this movie, as I am tied of watching America and European movies.
Hon, The world is deep.
As of the teaching of Buddha, don’t confuse about this matter because Buddha never complained it. Buddha,Dharma and Sangha are united and Universal. Please don’t too confuse to choose, make the best as from The deepest and Honest your Heart..
Buddha was born in Nepal and world knows this truth.If this movie says he was prince of India,this movie gonna be in controversy.
I dont know why do we Bhatrtiya ppl always start arguments and deviate from the main topic. It was all about the actor who could justice the role of BUDDHA… and we all talking about nonsense … forget abt hundereds of years back … Nepal was a part of India.. (Bharat). I think the first thing we need to do is get the actual name for our country Bharat … hope that will destroy the partition created by the english and we become one again…..
PLEASE STOP…WE DONT NEED A NEW FACE FOR BUDDHA…FIND A NEW FACE FOR Ashutosh Gowariker’S MOTHER…
STOP THIS … PLEASE