As is being reported all over the place (for instance, in Variety), Uma Thurman has been cast in Marjane Satrapi’s The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir.  Oh, and also Dhanush.  Who is often referred to in these articles as a Bollywood star.  Is that accurate?  I’m not sure.  I have my issues with the name “Bollywood” (see the name of the blog!), but if it is ever an appropriate term, it would be for the Hindi language Bombay-based industry.  And Dhanush has only been in one of those, and it wasn’t exactly a typical one anyway.

But, forcing myself to move on from that, this is pretty interesting news, right?  In a bunch of ways.

First, it’s a movie based on a novel by Romain Puértolas in which the main character is Indian, travels to Paris, and then to Africa.  Apparently, Satrapi has been dedicated to maintaining that international flavor and casting actors from all over the world.  Good for her!  And it’s hard to resist making assumptions about how her own international background (as outlined in her Persepolis books) influenced that decision.  But really, we shouldn’t need an elaborate back story for someone to insist on casting actors who are actually from the same place as their characters.  We should just always expect it, because it makes sense!

Dhanush is a really good choice, I think, having seen “Kalovari Di” five thousand times (at a minimum) and nothing else he has ever done.  Because he is extremely watchable, but at the same time comes across as more of a regular everyman type than a Movie Star.  It’s the same vibe you get from Irrfan Khan and Om Puri and Anil Kapoor, all of whom the Variety article point out as previous successful crossovers.

(I had this on repeat on my ipod for like a month back in 2012)

I am a little bitty bit frustrated by the whole “crossover!” excitement, since this isn’t exactly the newest thing in the world.  A big name Hindi film star, sure, that would be exciting.  But someone on Dhanush’s level moving back and forth between industries isn’t unprecedented or even that recent.  Om Puri has successfully navigated between industries his entire 30+ year career.  As has Naseeruddin Shah.  Not to mention Shashi (Shashi!).  But, sure, it’s unusual if not unprecedented, so still news worthy!  You get those headlines Dhanush!  Well, those articles following the headlines which are all just about Uma Thurman.

(Shashi!)