From December 8, T&T will again feature as the backdrop to another international feature-length movie as filming begins on Scandalous, starring soca star Machel Montano, actress Natalie Perera and Bollywood star Kabir Bedi.
A Bollywood-style Caribbean musical, Scandalous puts Montano in a romantic role as Lee de Leon, a singer who finds himself entranced with Anita Panchouri, the doting daughter of a deep in debt Indian businessman.
Anita, played by Perera, falls for the romantic Lee and decides she wants to be with him, just once, before she enters a loveless marriage for the sake of her father's future. But her designs on Lee do not escape Nikhil (played by Trini-born UK actor Valmike Rampersad), the territorial younger brother of Anita's fiancee, who picks up on the attraction. When Nikhil learns the true state of the dismal Panchouri finances the family's been hiding, he sets about a plan of revenge that will destroy Anita and her father and crush her chances of true love, a release said.
Scandalous was written by Claire Ince, a New York-based writer who won a grant to help make the film at the Bahamas International Film Festival's Filmmaker Residency in 2008."Drawing on the influence of Shakespeare and his familiar themes of marriage, tradition and destiny, Scandalous tells a universal love story played out at the intersection of Indian and African culture that is unique to the twin island republic," says Ince.
The movie will be directed by Todd Kessler, an American film and television writer, producer and director. Among his credits are director and producer of the feature film Keith and show runner and co-creator of Nickelodeon's preschool series Blue's Clues.
The Producers will be Ancil McKain and Steven Brown. McKain is a T&T born film and television editor whose credits include IFC's hit reality series Film School; the feature film Evergreen, which premiered at Sundance; and Jesse Moss's AMC Special, RATED R: Republicans in Hollywood.
Brown has worked on critically acclaimed independent films, including two projects for actor/director Robert Duvall; The Apostle which won many national and international awards, including three Spirit Awards and an Academy Award nomination, and Assassination Tango. His past films include highly successful studio and independent pictures such as Wild Things, Grosse Pointe Blank, Dazed and Confused, Big Momma's House, Down with Love and Double Impact.
In addition to Montano, Scandalous will see many other notable local faces such as Teneille Newallo and Michael Cherrie. Other local faces working assiduously behind the scenes to make Scandalous a success including: Lorraine O'Connor, line producer; Princess Donelan, locations manager; casting director, Penelope Spencer and Yah Mari Cole, production co-ordinator.
Scandalous will be shot entirely in T&T at various locations and the soundtrack will be recorded by Montano and produced by him and Keshav "Lazabeam" Singh. Some of the sponsors assisting in the production of Scandalous are: Junior Sammy Group of Companies, Rent-a-Amp, Digicel, the Tobago House of Assembly, Blue Waters, Caribbean Airlines and Hilton Trinidad.