INDIAN COWBOY
A Love Love Story
A Romantic Comedy With a Desi Flavor!
A NIKHIL KAMKOLKAR MOVIE
INSIDE
Talking Points
Press Releases
About The Film
About The Soundtrack
Director’s Statement
Stills
Filmmakers
Filmmaker Bios
Cast Bios
Sales Agent/Filmmaker Contact Information
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
TALKING POINTS
INDIAN COWBOY is a timely, contemporary, diversely-cast romantic comedy showcasing the South Asian Diaspora talent that has played at several festivals including in New York, Toronto, Seattle, San Diego and Washington DC.
INDIAN COWBOY features an exciting soundtrack showcasing South Asian talent such as Karsh Kale, Kam Dhillon, Alms For Shanti, Karyshma, and Shaheen Sheik.
INDIAN COWBOY stars SHEETAL SHETH, last seen in the ALBERT BROOKS film, “LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD”
INDIAN COWBOY stars SUNDRA OAKLEY, next seen on CBS as a contestant on the SURVIVOR : COOK ISLANDS reality show
INDIAN COWBOY stars DEEP KATDARE, whose debut film, AMERICAN DESI, was a hit in the independent film circuit, and reached the Top 25 on the VARIETY national boxoffice charts. Deep also starred in the Broadway cast of ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’S BOMBAY DREAMS
INDIAN COWBOY is being marketed using such avenues as SOCIAL NETWORKING, BLOGGING, etc., to reach a dispersed niche audience in a fragmented media space
INDIAN COWBOY belongs to the South Asian independent film movement that parallels Bollywood (Indian film industry)
INDIAN COWBOY is an INDIE FILM TO THE MAX and was completed using AMERICAN EXPRESS credit cards, unlike the films of established South Asian filmmakers such as MIRA NAIR (MOONSOON WEDDING), or DEEPA MEHTA (WATER), or GURINDAR CHADHA (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM).
INDIAN COWBOY was written and directed by actor/filmmaker NIKHIL KAMKOLKAR, who quit his job at MICROSOFT CORPORATION in Redmond to pursue his passion to tell stories via cinema.
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
PRESS RELEASE – ENTERTAINMENT DESK
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: NIKHIL KAMKOLKAR 917.453.7357
Motion Picture Soundtrack For Nikhil Kamkolkar’s “INDIAN COWBOY” Released in North America
“Rock on! Fall in Love-Love”, says Nikhil Kamkolkar, director of INDIAN COWBOY, announcing the release of the soundtrack album for his romantic comedy with a Desi (South Asian) flavor. “There is more to the South Asian music scene than Bollywood”, Kamkolkar goes on. “The amount of talent out there cross-pollinating new genres, bringing together a rich musical heritage mixed in with their own experiences is very exciting. This album gives you a taste of where we are headed!”
INDIAN COWBOY is written and directed by Nikhil Kamkolkar - an immigrant from India now living in New York. Inevitably perhaps, this soundtrack is very diverse in its sensibilities. It offers an exotic blend of music. The sixty-minute-plus soundtrack CD, delivers Bollywood-inspired indie rock, Bhangra from the U.K., desi diva Falu’s sultry vocals, Karsh Kale’s blend of soaring Indian classical vocals with electronic tabla and electronica, the velvety “Indian Cowboy” title track by Uday Benegal and Jayesh Gandhi’s talented band Alms For Shanti, and several cutting edge Indie bands and artists from Seattle to New York and beyond. A trip-hop style rendition of “L’Amour” from Georges Bizet’s Carmen – a ‘trip-hop’era in French – is a good example of this album’s musical diversity!
Asked to describe the soundtrack album, Kamkolkar declares “It’s a perfect date album. Play it in your car while riding with your significant other!” Kamkolkar is pursuing innovative marketing techniques, including social networking on myspace.com, for this album and his film’s upcoming release. “We are giving away a free MP3 download of the title track featuring Alms For Shanti on www.myspace.com/kamkolkar. This is where our audience hangs out, and we love to hang out with our audience”, he adds with a smile.
Artists featured include Karsh Kale, Alms For Shanti, Gabrielle+G.A.R, Spyglass, Leslie Nuss, Val Emmich, Falu with Karyshma, and Kam Dhillon, and the album is now available at several retail outlets including amazon.com. The film itself will soon be released in selected theatres in North America.
Also check out: www.myspace.com/kamkolkar for continuous updates and a free download of the title track from INDIAN COWBOY.
About Filmmaker Nikhil Kamkolkar: Nikhil Kamkolkar graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and worked both in technology at Microsoft, and in special effects at Softimage in Los Angeles. His focus remains telling unique stories cinematically.
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
THE FILM
INDIAN COWBOY is a contemporary, diverse romantic comedy about a South Asian writer, Nick, who wants to experience “love” at its most glorious and with the obligatory happy ending.
Sapna, a visitor from India whose beauty is matched only by her sarcastic wit, insists that all true “love” ends in tragedy, pointing to such classic stories as Romeo and Juliet, Laila and Majnu as proof.
Nick and Sapna meet and fall in “love” and the question becomes, how will it end?
A fun, sexy, stylish, and irreverent romp through the conventions of Hollywood and Bollywood romantic comedies, and turning the obligatory romantic comedy clichés on their heads, Indian Cowboy is writer/director Nikhil Kamkolkar’s debut, and features exciting new music by South Asian artists including Karsh Kale, Alms for Shanti, Karyshma and Kam Dhillon.
FESTIVAL HONORS – OFFICIAL SELECTION:
RHODE ISLAND: Rhode Island International Film Festival
TORONTO: Toronto South Asian Film Festival [CLOSING NIGHT]
SEATTLE: Seattle South Asian Film Festival [CLOSING NIGHT]
SAN DIEGO: San Diego Film Festival
NEW JERSEY: Red Bank International Film Festival
WASHINGTON DC: Washington DC APA Film Festival
NEW YORK: New York Indian Diaspora Film Festival
PORTUGAL: Festroia, Portugal
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
THE SOUNDTRACK
INDIAN COWBOY is romantic comedy with a South Asian twist filmed in New York. Written and directed by Nikhil Kamkolkar - an immigrant from India now living in New York – this movie is perhaps consequently very diverse in its sensibilities.
The soundtrack album for INDIAN COWBOY is equally diverse and offers an exotic blend of music for your enjoyment. Packed with fourteen tracks, all mixed to flow from one into the other, this sixty-minute-plus album will deliver Bollywood-inspired indie rock, Bhangra from the U.K., the very talented South Asian artist Karsh Kale’s unique blend of electronic tabla rhythms fused with Indian classical vocals (a genre sometimes called “Asian Massive”), indie bands and artists from Seattle to New York, and even a French language ‘trip-hop’era!
So get in your ride with your significant other, pump up the volume, and ride out into the sunset! Artists featured include Karsh Kale, Alms For Shanti, Gabrielle+G.A.R, Spyglass, Leslie Nuss, Val Emmich, Karyshma, and Kam Dhillon.
Now available in fine retail stores, on amazon.com (search for “Indian cowboy soundtrack”), and, on cdbaby.com http://cdbaby.com/cd/indiancowboy
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Indian Cowboy was born out of a “what if”? What if two people with completely different ideas about what love is, come together and fall in love? This simple ‘what if’ provided the plot for “Indian Cowboy”.
A close friend was going through a dilemma at the time. His relationship, which he had believed was founded on “true” love, had sadly ended. Now how could he ever believe in love again? In this dilemma, I found the heart of the film.
Sapna, one of the characters in the film, declares – “every human being has to fight.” And it is true that for many among us, the dream of experienced and expressed love is either forever squashed by societal norms and pressures, or leads to an extremely difficult and secretive life. And in this struggle experienced by a gay character in the film, mixed with a dose of humor, I found the soul of the film.
Indian Cowboy came together as a romantic comedy that follows three interwoven love stories. The first is a classically tragic love story between three characters out of the Wild Wild West (inspired by my obsession for the Western genre in film and novel.) The second, a Hollywood-style romp between a surfer dude with a multi-cultural name, and his spirited girlfriend. And the third, the story of misfit souls who come together and learn to discover themselves.
Indian Cowboy takes all its characters on a journey that places them in conflict between themselves and others, and between their desires and their own ideals. I believe that change and growth cannot come about without conflict. If Romeo and Juliet were living in today’s world, they might not face their parents as the obstacle to the consummation of love. Instead, in today’s contemporary, diverse, mobile society, the obstacles they face may be their own desires and ambitions.
And in this milieu I found an ending for this film that is far removed from the drama of Romeo and Juliet, an ending based on compromise and collaboration, not sacrifice. An ending that will hopefully be appreciated by couples around the world, irrespective of cultural, geographic and religious borders.
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
TO REQUEST HIGH RESOLUTION STILLS, OR FOR ANY QUESTIONS ON USAGE, PLEASE CONTACT
STILLS
Deep Katdare (Star of AMERICAN DESI) returns as the
INDIAN COWBOY
SHEETAL SHETH (Star of LOOKING FOR COMEDY…)
PRODUCTION STILLS
Waiting for the Sun – Filming “Indian Cowboy” in New Brunswick
Filming a Scene in “INDIAN COWBOY”
A Technical Rehearsal for the Camera Department
Sheetal Sheth - The Artist Amidst the Technology
Nikhil Kamkolkar gets some makeup!
The Camera and the Actors equals Magic!
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
FILMMAKERS
Written and Directed by
NIKHIL KAMKOLKAR
Produced by
ANURA IDUPUGANTI
Production Designer
JORY ADAM
Costume Designer
ASIEL KNEELAND
Original Music Composed by
NOAH AGRUSS
DOUG CALIFANO
RICHARD SUSSMAN
Editors
DRINA LESSARD
MAKO KAMITSUNA
CLIFF BIRBROWER
Cinematographer
LEARAN KAHANOV
Casting
JOEL MANALOTO CASTING
Music Supervisor
MEGAN WENDELL
Sound Designer
MATTHEW POLIS
Unit Production Manager
PATRICIA IBANEZ
Featuring Music By South Asian Artists
KARSH KALE, KAM DHILLON, KARYSHMA & ALMS FOR SHANTI
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
FILMMAKER BIOS
NIKHIL KAMKOLKAR
Writer/Director/Actor
Born and raised in India, Nikhil Kamkolkar came to the United States to study at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. After graduating, he worked for Microsoft in Seattle for a few years, before he continued his training in the craft of acting, as well as in all aspects of film production including special effects at UCLA, Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, New York Film Academy, Silicon Studio and Hollywood Panavision.
While working and studying in Los Angeles, Kamkolkar was part of a team at Softimage that supported various special effects houses on projects like Godzilla, Shrek and Titanic.
Recently, he played the role of Anish Das in a production of Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink at the Missouri Repertory Company. He currently trains as an actor with Penny Templeton in New York City, has shot music and is in development with two feature film projects through his production company, Kamkol Productions.
ANURA IDUPUGANTI
Producer
Anura Idupuganti began her producing efforts with the award-winning short film Last Supper, starring Kohl Sudduth (Bowfinger). Most recently, Idupuganti line produced the Showtime production of Popcorn Shrimp, written and directed by Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction, The Opportunist), and starring rapper Master P and Ralph Maccio (My Cousin Vinny, Karate Kid). Idupuganti is an active member of the Director¹s Guild of America, and has been an assistant director for a variety of feature films and television shows, most recently for Sex and the City and Sleepy Hollow (Reshoots).
INDIAN COWBOY A Love Love Story
CAST BIOS
SHEETAL SHETH
“Sapna”
Sheetal was most recently seen as Layla on NBC in the much talked about TV Movie THE PRINCESS AND THE MARINE. Sheetal has starred in numerous films including the award winning AMERICAN CHAI (Slamdance and Gen Art Audience Award 2001), and the critically acclaimed, hot new film ABCD (Peter Travers raves ABCD as a ‘stunning family drama and an ‘extraordinary work’, Rolling Stone 4/01). Sheetal is a graduate of New York University, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tisch School of the Arts. She was also a part of the International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam where she benefited from gurus such as Kristen Linklater.
CARLA BORELLI
“Ma”
Carla Borelli landed a film contract at 20th Century Fox at the tender age of fifteen. During this period, she was featured and co-starred in numerous episodes of the then popular television series including CHARLIE'S ANGELS, IT TAKES A THIEF and THE NAME OF THE GAME. Now, she lives with her husband in New York City. She has also co-starred in Robert Altman's film O.C and STIGGS, and guest-starred in dozens of primetime television series and Movies of the Week as well as having created the role of "Connie Gianini" on FALCON CREST.
SUNDRA OAKLEY
“Vij”
A talented actress, Sundra will soon be a contestant on the 2006 Survivor: Cook Islands show on CBS. She received her BFA in acting from New York University. She has dazzled audiences with her intelligence, beauty and acting abilities in such theatre productions as: Dance & Drum Festival, Mule Bone, Spirit's Dance, M'Zawa Danz, Kings, and Dames at Sea. Sundra can currently be seen in Joe Fearless, an off-Broadway hit playing at the Atlantic Theatre. On television, Sundra has appeared in the Chris Rock Show, Life from LA with Michael Colyer, the 1999 Music Video Awards, and an episode of the hip and sexy show Sex in the City. Sundra enjoys dancing, choreography and has appeared in music videos for artists including Limp Biskit, Ed Michael, Shaggy, Phajia and Three Jays.
DEEP KATDARE
“Guru”
Since graduating from MIT, Deep has pursued acting and performed in theatre, television and film. His theater credits include Sampson in Romeo and Juliet and Claudio in Measure for Measure at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Wister LaSalle in The Disenchanted at The Player's Club, Mohammed (Understudy) in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife both at the Manhattan Theatre Club and on Broadway at The Barrymore Theatre, and Merlie Ryan in The Ballad of the Sad Café at T. Schreiber Studio. Deep has appeared on the FOX television drama New York Undercover, and in the short film entitled Vasarma's Lovers which is currently on the international festival circuit. Deep was most recently seen as the lead in the hit film American Desi and is currently in rehearsals for a production of Andrew Llyod Webber’s hit “Bombay Dreams” on Broadway.
JONATHAN SALE
“Skip”
Jonathan Sale received an MFA in Acting from San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and a BA in Theater and Spanish from the University of Richmond (VA). Other films include FOREIGN STUDENT (with Charles Dutton and Robin Givens), THE PRETENDERS (Winner- Best First Film, Long Island International Film Festival), and the still to be released NEUROTICA and THE ACCIDENT. Television: AS THE WORLD TURNS and SEX AND THE CITY. Favorite stage roles include: ROMEO AND JULIET (thrice as Romeo), MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Claudio), TWELFTH NIGHT (Feste) and KING LEAR (Edgar).