Once rejected by Hollywood, British director Bharat Nalluri is now creating waves with his HBO movie Tsunami, the Aftermath, which has won an Emmy nomination in the miniseries/drama special category.
But it has not been smooth sailing for the Indian born filmmaker whose first Hollywood film The Crow: Salvation did not get a proper showing. "I just cannot figure out how Hollywood works," Nalluri had said seven years ago.
Though the film had a decent amount of buzz, its producers weren't clearly happy about the way it had shaped up, and thought that sending it to the video stores would cut their losses.
Nalluri, who had been declared by the influential trade publication as one of the top 10 directors to watch out for eight years ago, was nearly devastated by the Hollywood rejection
"But I am not going to quit making films," the director of many acclaimed TV films in Britain including Spooks had declared then.
And a good thing he didn't. Now his Emmy nominated film, which featured acclaimed artists like Tim Roth and Toni Collette, has become one of the most honored documentaries of 2006.
Nalluri, who went on to direct a number of TV episodes after The Crow was rejected by Miramax for theatrical release, also has a movie lined up for release early next year.
Called Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, the British comedy features academy award nominee Amy Adams (Junebug) and Oscar winner Frances McDormand in the title role. It is about a governess in 1938 who gets a taste of glamour when she goes to work in the home of an up and coming actress. One of Pettigrew's chores is to sort out the actress' unrespectable affairs.
Meanwhile, 41-year old London-based Nalluri who was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh says he has been planning to direct a film about the popular citizen's movements set in India, preferably in Andhra Pradesh.
