From: dea@vccnorthd.its.rpi.edu (Anirban De)
Subject: Re: CITY OF JOY ( Movie with Indian Actors )
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Distribution: usa,local
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 23:55:46 GMT

In article <1992Apr14.120655.2915@arizona.edu> anurag@numu.uucp (Anurag Shankar) writes:
>In article <92105.100316SXK125@psuvm.psu.edu> SXK125@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>>In article <1992Apr14.83613.20991@ms.uky.edu>, naveen@ms.uky.edu (Naveen Goud)
>>says:
>>>
>>>Hi Guys,
>>>
>>>Yesterday I saw the commercial of the movie , CITY OF JOY on the FOX
>>>television
>>>network. I think it is supposed to release soon probably next week or so.
>>>
>>>The reason I am interested in is there are some indian actors in it.
>>>The main character is Patrick Swayze, and among the Indian actors I saw (in
>>>the
>>>commercial) Ms. Shabana Azmi, Mr. Amrish Puri. I think this film may have been
>>>shot in India or in indian sub-continent.
>>>
>>>Thanks ,
>>>
>>>- Naveen
>>
>>       If I am correct this film was shot in Calcutta.  There was some
>>problem in Calcutta during its shooting.  Some organizations protested and
>>the shooting was suspended for quite sometime.
>>Susmit Kumar
>
>Well, it so happens that I attended a special preview of this movie last
>night here at the Univ. of Arizona.  The film "City of Joy" was almost 
>entirely shot in Calcutta, and stars Patrick Swayze, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi,
>and numerous other indian actors/actresses.  The movie is based on a novel
>by Dominique Lapierre (of "Freedom at Midnight" fame), however, the screenplay
>only captures the essence of the novel (it has changed the details quite
>substantially).  I highly recommend the novel - it is quite uplifting.
>The main character in the novel is a polish priest who opts to live among
>the slums of Calcutta, and a rickshaw puller.  In the movie, they have changed
>the main characters to an angry american doctor (played by Patrick Swayze), 
>probably because the american audience can relate to something in the movie, 
>and the rickshaw puller.
>
>The performances by the actors/actresses are quite good (including even
>Patrick Swayze!).  The movie overall is quite good, though I would have 
>preferred to see a more faithful reproduction of the novel.
>
>I also happened to catch Patrick Swayze on a late night show a few weeks ago,
>where he stated that there were protests early on against the movie (and that
>homemade bombs were thrown on the set with the intent only of scaring the 
>crew as against injuring them).  He said that these protests slowly diminished
>because, as he observed, "people realized that we were doing a good thing".
>
>Anurag


	I tend to be more releived that the film deviated from the novel. 
I remember feeling quite disgusted when I read the novel. The general spirit
of the story may be true. But the attempt of the author to sensationalize
the story with various types of exaggerations and wrong emphases was totally
repelling. A film faithfully following such a storyline would have created
a lot of controversy (not to say that it wouldn't do that as it is..)
which would simply have deflected attention from the more important
issues.

	I think the Polish priest of the novel was subsituted by the American
doctor to avoid any scope for misinterpretation of religious intentions.  I have
talked about it in another posting. However it is only a guess. 

Anirban (dea@rpi.edu)