Oscar-winning cinematographer to shoot Bharadwaj's AIDS film

Mumbai, March 1 (IANS) It looks like Bollywood's wedding to Hollywood is going to be a prolonged affair. "Omkara" director Vishal Bharadwaj has invited one of Hollywood's top-notch cinematographers Guillermo Navarro to shoot his short film on AIDS.

Coincidentally, Navarro has won an Oscar for his cinematography in "Pan's Labyrinth".

"I asked him before the Oscar. And Guillermo has agreed," Bharadwaj told IANS.

"I got to know him through my friend Matthew Robbins, who's writing my next film. Robbins has worked with 'Pan's Labyrinth' director Guillermo de Toro. I just took a chance on Navarro for the 11-minute AIDS film that Mira Nair is executive-producing on behalf of the Bill Gates Foundation. To my surprise Navarro readily agreed."

Bharadwaj will start shooting the film titled "Blood Brothers" from March 10. The movie's story is credited to Robbins.

"In my opinion no Indian film has got an international cinematographer of this stature before."

Navarro has photographed major films like "A Night At The Museum", "Hellboy", "Spy Kids" and "Stuart Little".

"It would be in the thriller format. We don't want to preach to the audience. We want to entertain them. The message shouldn't come out as boring. All of us directors - Nair, Farhan Akhtar, Santosh Sivan - are making films on various aspects of the HIV problem.

"My theme in 'Blood Brothers' would be that life doesn't end with AIDS. It can actually be a new beginning."

While Bharadwaj has teamed up with Navarro, US-based Indian filmmaker Mira Nair is all set to shoot "Shantaram" with Amitabh Bachchan and Oscar nominated actor Johnny Depp, who is also producing the film.

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