Actress Daphne Zuniga (2nd L), who is in Mumbai shooting for Duane Adlers film, Heartbeats
Mumbai, 12th February, 2016: Das Films, Mediabiz, Bowery Hills Entertainment and Dance Network finished the shooting for Heartbeats – a cross-cultural romantic dance movie within 45 days.
Duane Adler, who created the top grossing Step Up Franchise (Gathered over 4,400 Crores in the Worldwide Box Office), directed the dance film, Make Your Move, wrote the screenplay and directed Heartbeats. The film has been produced by Sriram Das (November Man), Andrea Chung (Seoul Searching), and Karine Martin (Maïna).
Along with Duane Adler, the wrap party saw members form the star cast like Amitash Pradhan, Salman Yusuff Khan, Krystal Ellsworth along with other actors who were a part of Heartbeats namely, Babu Subramaniam (First AD), Prabal Panjabi, Vidya Malavade, Kishori Shahane, Aneesha Joshi and famous dance groups Desi Hoppers and FAMO.U.S. Crew.
Also present at the occasion was R. Madhavan who wished the cast good luck followed by, Anjali Khurana (Neerja), Sheetal Mallar, and Jackky Bhagnani and Sanjay Dayma (Writer of Lagaan).
Sharing his happiness on the occasion, Duane Adler, Writer and Director of Heartbeats said, “India has been good to us and the country is so accepting to foreigners. I hope our movie will encourage other foreigners to come and visit this special place. It’s a priceless experience our foreign cast will never forget.”
Andrea Chung, Producer of Heartbeats adds, “I’m so proud of my cast & crew; they worked so hard and I feel like a proud mother; at the same time I’m sad it’s over because we were having such a good time. Duane’s films have done tremendously well around the world. We will be releasing Heartbeats in over 50 countries. It could get released later this year. Again, it will depend on the US marketing team and what release date slot the distributor gives us. Then every other country gets planned accordingly.”
Actress Daphne Zuniga
Sheetal Mallar at the Wrap Party of Heartbeats
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation has produced original songs alongside composer Gingger Shankar (Academy Award nominee for Passion of the Christ); the soundtracks will feature traditional and current Indian music and American hip-hop and R&B.
Last year’s Emmy Winning choreographer for Dancing with the Stars, Tessandra Chavez has supervised the choreography along with two time Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa winner Shampa Gopikrishna who had also choreographed Bajirao Mastani.
The esteemed Ravi Varman who has won a lot of accolades for Barfi! And recently shot Tamasha is the director of photography. Also, Heartbeats will be Ravi’s first crossover into Hollywood.
Casting Directors Nalini Rathnam, Adler, Chung, Gopikrishna and Chavez had auditioned over two hundred candidates for the leading role and eventually offered the role to VIP actor Amitash Pradhan, a rising young star from the South who was given his first break by Dhanush. Salman Yusuff Khan of ABCD and Dance India Dance fame will play Pradhan’s rival and Dancer Krystal Ellsworth, known for her work in Fame and dancing back up for Pharrell Williams, Nick Jonas and Justin Bieber will be debuting as a lead in Heartbeats.
Rounding out the cast will see Mohan Kapur (Saanp Seedi), Marathi film actress Kishori Shahane, Justin Chon (Twilight franchise, 21 & Over), Daphne Zuniga (One Tree Hill), Paul McGillion (Tomorrowland, Star Trek), Vidya Malavade (ChakDe India) and Prabal Panjabi (Mere Dad Ki Murati), to support.
Duane Adler’s Step Up and Save the Last Dance are both ranked the top grossing Teen Romance films in America after the “Twilight Saga” Franchise and in the top 10 grossing Dance Films of all time. The first Step Up installment, which launched Channing Tatum’s career grossed over 750crores while Save the Last Dance which catapulted Julia Stiles to box office stardom crossed over 860 crores in theatres worldwide.
This will be the first feature film being co-financed by Dance Network based out of Nashville, Tennessee dedicated to making dance oriented content. The film is also co-financed by companies of the Mediabiz group and On the Road India which is the production services company in which Dileep Rathore is line producing.
Heartbeats is one of the few films where Hollywood meets Bollywood and is sure to emerge dance and romance with the beauty of Indian culture, people, customs, history and scenery.
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About Heartbeats: Heartbeats is one of the few films where Hollywood meets Bollywood. It is about an American dancer who travels to India for a week long wedding and falls in love with an Indian man who teaches her a new style of dance which helps her later on when she returns to the States. The movie will emerge dance and romance with the beauty of Indian culture, people, customs, history and scenery.
Duane Adler who created the top grossing dance Step Up franchise (over 4,400 Crores in the worldwide box office), who also directed the dance film Make Your Move, wrote the screenplay and is directing Heartbeats. Sriram Das (November Man), Andrea Chung (Seoul Searching), and Karine Martin (Maïna) and producing Heartbeats.end
