But, here is a surprise for Chadha's fans especially those living in the US. Last October, Chadha made a 10-day visit to Mumbai to shoot her first ever commercial, for the US based guitar company Gibson Guitar. The commercial Only A Gibson Is Good Enough/Empress, with Chadha's wacky brand of humour, and Bollywood's bright and vivid colours, costumes and a huge cast of extras, is currently airing on American television.
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In the commercial, an empress (played by Natasha Mago) attempts to please the emperor (Sumanto Chattopadhyay) with several gifts his painted portrait, a vintage car, and even jewels. But the emperor looks disinterested, until he hears the strains of a Gibson guitar played by a rock star (Mithun Poojari of the Mumbai-based rock group Pindrop Violence). The empress then takes the guitar from the stunned rock star and presents it to her emperor.
To give the real feel for Bollywood-style opulence, the commercial features 90 extras, dressed in colourful costumes, dancing girls, fire-eating men, an elephant, ornate thrones, one fountain, and three crystal chandeliers. And Chadha also cast Bollywood character actor from Lagaan and Ek Ajnabee -- Raj Zutshi, as the court official.
"We represent Gurinder in London and the US for commercials," says Korsan, from his office. "Gibson has its advertising agency Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, and they contacted me. They had seen Bride and Prejudice and said they really wanted her (Gurinder) to do this."
Korsan, his team and Chadha then travelled to Mumbai. The commercial was shot at Nitin Desai's studio near Khandala over two days.
"A LONG two days!" Chadha says via email. But it was mostly fun. "I'm comfortable with shooting in India and I work with a great team there. I know Raj Zutshi, of course, but the rest of the actors were cast in auditions in Mumbai," she adds.
Korsan, who had never worked in India, was impressed with the crew. "It was surprising how many there were as opposed to what we would have in America," he says. "The ratio, especially in the art and set constriction, was five men there to every one we would have here." He adds that the sets and costumes were all done by hand in India. "They hand-sewed the drapes, sewed the sequins on the silks -- everything was hand-painted, built by hand. Here, you would go to a prop house or wardrobe house and get what you wanted."
"It was totally different from working in Los Angeles," he adds. "Because here we are so restricted by the unions. Just financially, the currency worked much more in our favour in India. We would never have been able to do that spot here."
The commercial premiered on ABC World News on January 23. Then, last week, Korsan got an email from Kate Richardson, the Web Director of Gibson Guitar. Is seems the guitar company's customer service lines are flooded with queries about the rock star (Poojari) on the commercial. "It seems he is developing a bit of a following!" Richardson told Korsan.
"I auditioned him in Mumbai, but had no idea what an impact he would have on US rock fans," Chadha says. "So I may have created another star!" she adds, referring to the monstrous career of Keira Knightly, after she played the second lead in Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham. "The best thing is, Mithun knows nothing about it yet!"