Here comes the Rain

Mar 26 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

THE success of Slumdog Millionaire has opened doors for Western film-makers as a North East film company discovered. Karen Dent reports.

A FILM-MAKING duo has just returned from a trip to India where they picked up valuable contacts and spiced up plans to expand their company.

Blue Rain Productions specialises in making films for a diverse range of ethnic and cultural groups in the North East and is the only company of its kind in the region.

Now the Gosforth-based business is looking to make, show and sell its documentary films in India. India is the second biggest export market in the developing world after China with an economy that is forecast to grow at more than 7% next year.

The well-established Indian film industry is also enjoying its moment in the international limelight after the multi-Oscar winning success of British director Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.

Blue Rain director Simon Constable, who runs the company with co-director Daniel Larson Sidhu, said: “We went to India to meet film production companies, look into film festivals, and to identify opportunities to sell our latest production Voices – The Southern African HIV Aids Crisis.

“There has been a boom in interest in the Indian film industry, following the success of Slumdog Millionaire, which means that there are even more opportunities for film-makers, and we’re keen to take advantage of that.

“Because there is such an established film industry in India, there is an abundance of expertise and plenty of scope for Western film-makers to make films of a high quality.”

The trip, organised by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), took place in February when Mumbai was going mad for Slumdog Millionaire.

“Mumbai was great, this is where Bollywood is,” said Mr Constable.

“It was just before the Oscars. You saw everywhere Slumdog Millionaire posters. It’s a docu-drama – we are documentary makers – and that was very inspirational for us.”