Indian hero in Costa Rican film: first indian artist in latin america

Prabhakar Sharan from Motihari, a small town in Bihar, has become the lively hero in the Costa Rican film "Enredados: la confusion" (entangled: the confusion). He is the first Indian to act as hero in a Latin American movie. This is also the first Latin American film made with the typical Bollywood recipe of songs and dance. By R. Viswanathan (Published first in www.theindiandiaspora.com) Prabhakar Sharan from Motihari, a small town in Bihar, has become the lively hero in the Costa Rican film "Enredados: la confusion" (entangled: the confusion). He is the first Indian to act as hero in a Latin American movie. This is also the first Latin American film made with the typical Bollywood recipe of songs and dance.

Prabhakar is settled in Costa Rica since 1997. The heroine in the film is Nancy Dobles a popular Costa Rican TV hostess. Famous local actors Mario Chacon and José Castro also appear in the film. The film cast includes a World wrestling champion and Hollywood actor, Scott Steiner. Panamanians, Colombians and Argentines had also collaborated in this film project.The director of the movie is Ashish Mohan who has directed block buster films such as Khiladi 786. The dance, music and action have been choreographed by Bollywood experts.The entire shooting was done in Costa Rica. Pacific Investment Corporation form Costa Rica has produced the film.

The film is being released on 9 February in Costa Rica with the President of the country as chief guest. It will also be shown in the rest of Latin America. The film is being dubbed in Hindi and English for the audience in India and US. The Costa Rican and Latin American media have given a lot of exciting coverage to Prabhakar's film and raised the expectations. The film is a romantic and action-filled comedy of Bollywood stereotype. Leo, the hero carries out a big robbery. But his life changes when he meets Shirley who becomes the love of his life. But it turns out later that he has to choose between money and love. He chooses love and decides to return the money. But confusion starts with an accident which is followed by a series of risky and funny situations leaving the viewer with suspense and confusion about the whereabouts of the money.

More information on the film project in the website www.enredadoslaconfusion.com The life story of Prabhakar is also like a Bollywood film script. Born in Bihar, Prabhakar did his studies in Haryana and tried Bollywood for acting but did not succeed. He then wanted to go to US but somehow ended up in Costa Rica. He fell in love with a local girl and married her. He ventured into textiles business and later shifted to trading, film distribution and Monster Truck Jam shows. His ventures failed and he lost money. He came back to India and lived in Chandigarh for two years from 2010. During this time, his marriage broke and his wife went back to Costa Rica taking back their daughter. Prabhakar was down in depression after the failures in business and marriage. But he did not give up. He went back to Costa Rica and this time fell in love with another woman and lives with her The film is the dream project of Sharan who has struggled and worked hard. His biggest challenge to convince the Big Bollywood to take seriously the little Costa Rica with a tiny population of just five million and insignificant film industry.

Many Indians do not know that the chiquitica (little in spanish) Costa Rica has got a big place in the history of Latin America and the world. It had abolished the armed forces in December 1948 and has been peacefully and democratically governed in the last seventy years while many countries of Latin America had suffered military dictatorships. This is even more remarkable in view of the fact that Costa Rica is right in the middle of Central America which has gone through devastating civil wars even upto eighties. The Costa Ricans are not just content with passive peace within the frontiers of their country. Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica successfully mediated to end the central american wars with the signature of a peace agreement in 1987. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech he said ¨ We are a people without arms and we are fighting to continue to be a people without hunger. Our children walk with books under their arms rather than guns on their shoulders. We are a symbol of peace for America.¨ Not a rhetoric. Preaching based on practice. Costa Rica has established a University for Peace (UPEACE) in 1980 which has attracted students from around the world. In 1869, the country became one of the first in the world to make education both free and obligatory, funded by the state’s share of the great coffee wealth. The literacy rate of Costa Rica is one of the highest in Latin America. With this, Costa Rica has positioned itself as the silicon valley of Latin America, attracting investment by American and even six IT Indian companies. Infosys, the biggest, employs about 300 Costa Ricans. Interestingly, the Muthoot Group from Kerala has invested in the Xandari resort hotel in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is one of the first in the world which combined its ministries of energy and the environment back in the 1970s and generates an impressive 99 per cent of its energy from renewable sources. In 1997, it introduced a carbon tax on emissions and used the funds to pay indigenous communities for their protection of forests. The country is a global pioneer in ecotourism. The Costa Ricans, known as Ticos, have a distinct spirit too. They do not say " bien" (well) when asked, Como esta ( how are you ). They say "Pura vida" which literally means pure life. But what the Ticos mean is ¨full of life¨ and "great". No wonder, Costa Rica comes on top of the Happy Planet Index with the the highest life satisfaction in the world.

In recent years, Bollywood has reached out to Latin America for location shooting, inclusion of Latinas in Indian films and coproductions. Pablo Cesar, the famous Argentine director, is currently making a film on Tagore's romantic encounter with Victoria Ocampo, his muse from Buenos Aires. Mathew Kodath from Kerala, settled in Honduras, has produced two films in Spanish. Bollywood music and dance are the latest craze in dance clubs and gyms across Latin America. The staff of the Indian IT company Cognizant in Buenos Aires have formed a 'Chak De India Ballet Group' which performs Bollywood dance shows. Prabhakar's film will be shown in the Costa Rican multiplexes of Cinepolis, the Mexican company which is one of the leading owners of multiplexes globally. It is the fourth largest largest in India with 280 screens and is targeting 400 screens with an investment of 150 million dollars. The Bollywood crew which stayed in Costa Rica for the shooting did not miss Indian food thanks to the three authentic and popular Indian restaurants 'Tajmahal' and 'Naan and Curry' owned by Kapil Gulati from Gurgaon who is settled in Costa Rica, bitten by the Pura Vida bug. The favorite dishes of Ticos, according to Gulati are: Garlic Naan, Rohan Josh, Samosa and Gulab Jamun. The Ticos enjoy the Bollywood music and the Henna Tattoo evenings in the restaurant. Costa Rica has a small Indian community of about two hundred. For Prabhakar, this film is only the beginning of his Latino movie 'entanglement'. He plans to produce more films and make a movie with Barbara Mori, the Mexican actress who was the heroine to Hritik Roshan in the Bollywood film "Kites". His next film might have a story connecting Indian and Latin American characters with shooting in India as well as in Latin America. Prabhakar's film ventures, which have taken the Bollywood formula to Latin America, will also contribute to enrichment of the Indian cinema with the 'Pura Vida' spirit of Costa Rica and the 'Celebra la Vida' (celebrate life) spirit of Latin America. R Vishwanathan, a former Indian ambassador to many Latin American countries. published original first in: (www.theindiandiaspora.com)

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