The Best Entertainment Era

On the second day after returning to Los Angeles, Ronan asked someone to find a few episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and took the time to watch it.

He is not interested in this variety show, but he has seen a movie related to it, and it is still a very successful type.

It was also one of the very few Indian-related movies that Ronan watched when he was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Like Andy Lau's Three Idiots in Bollywood, it left an extremely deep impression on him.

Netflix talked with the TV station about the authorization of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which reminded Ronan of this work and related news that he had seen on the Internet.

If I remember correctly, the title of that movie was Slumdog Millionaire. It seemed to be a movie about Indian society and life, but it was actually a typical American Dream movie.

Otherwise, it would not be recognized as Oscar, and won the best picture in a certain Oscar in 2009 or 2010.

The time period that Ronan can remember is probably around 2010.

I still have a vague impression. I seem to have seen it on a certain Internet news. Slumdog Millionaire is adapted from Indian literature. The one from The Train.

Ronan can't remember the specific name of the director.

After all, the other party is not like Michael Bay, James Cameron and Spielberg, whose films are not only widely circulated, but also famous.

Ronan remembered that the name of Bangbei was known to many junior high school students at that time.

This one really blew up a world for himself.

The man who was born when Mars hit Earth, lives up to his name.

As for that literary work, Ronan has never read it, and he only remembers one Indian writer, Tagore.

Now that he thought of Slumdog Millionaire, Ronan immediately called Connie, saying that he had read an Indian literary work related to Who Can Be a Millionaire some time ago, and forgot the specific name, let her Go find it now.

Thanks to the relatively close cooperation between Relativity Entertainment and India, and the fact that English is widely used in India's cultural class, Connie quickly found many famous English works.

Having served as Ronan's assistant for many years, and also in charge of a team of assistants, Connie knew very well that there are some things that shouldn't be asked, so don't ask them.

Besides, anyone who can achieve great success will look weird in some way.

Connie knew very well that Ronan and even Relativity Entertainment as a whole attached great importance to adapted movies, while original movies received less attention.

Every issue of the New York Times bestseller list, she will send it to Ronan's office on time.

In the past year, the bestseller lists in some English-speaking countries will also be collected by the assistant team and sent to Ronan's office.

Connie first read and summarized the collected related Indian literary works, and soon found a book in which the protagonist participated in the Indian version of Who Can Be a Millionaire.

This is also the only work related to Who Can Be a Millionaire.

Connie is very efficient,

On the afternoon of the second day after Ronan confessed, he saw a copy of India in the office.

This book is called Questions and Answers. It is the work of the Indian writer Vikas Swarup. He is a diplomat. Connie briefly introduced the basic situation: It is not listed in the UK. People from the Indian branch of the industry purchased it and sent it by air express.”

Ronan nodded slightly, picked it up and looked at it: Question and Answer?

Connie continued: This is the only Indian literary work I have found so far that is related to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It was only published in India in the second half of last year. It was Vikas Swarup Written in London while stationed in England on official duty.

She did a great job: People from Embassy Pictures have privately inquired that Vikas Swarup was inspired by the cheating incident of British Army Major General Charles Ingham.

Ronan didn't know much about variety shows, and had never heard of them. He asked, What cheating incident?

Connie obviously did enough preparations: Ingham was accused of cheating on the British TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2001, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 15,000 pounds after trial. fined and dismissed from the military.

Ronan's heart moved, and his eyes fell on the Question and Answer in his hand. In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the protagonist seemed to be accused of cheating when he was about to win the grand prize.

I understand. Ronan said, I'll read this book first.

After Connie left the office, Ronan opened the cover and looked at it seriously, just like everyone in the upper-middle class in India is proud of being able to speak English, and this book is also in English.

Although it is British English, there are certain differences from American English, but for Ronan, there is no obstacle.

Told entirely in first person, it tells the story of a Mumbai orphan who wins a billion rubles on the TV variety show Millionaire but everyone thinks he cheated.

The reason is simple, how could a child from a slum be so knowledgeable? Just when the hero was being brutally tortured, a beautiful female lawyer appeared and rescued him.

Therefore, the male protagonist told her about his miraculous experiences, from orphanages to brothels, from train robbers to beggar gang leaders, every kind of suffering he experienced has become the most precious wealth.

The described content allows Ronan to see a plot that was very similar to that movie, but it is far more complex and rich than the movie.

The former Slumdog Millionaire was just a bizarre and exotic story for Ronan: a poor boy in the slums answered all the questions of the TV show correctly and won money and beauty.

But in the book, there are more descriptions about Indian society, culture, religion and other aspects. At first glance, it seems more like a portrayal of Indian society.

Of course, it is not clear to Ronan whether it describes real Indian society.

Ronan has been to India more than once, but he has only dealt with the wealthy class in India, and has no actual contact with the ordinary class in India. For him, what Indian society looks like is still based on the description of the Internet.

Such as defecation everywhere, such as the magical train, such as the plane that always plunges down from the sky, such as the super motorcycle performance of Indian soldiers in the military parade, etc.

After reading it carefully, Ronan confirmed that the previous Slumdog Millionaire was adapted from this book called Question and Answer.

However, less than 10% of the content of this book was filmed in previous movies.

The adaptation of that film, retaining the original framework, fully expresses the theme of both a quiz and a test of human nature.

As for the carefully portrayed Indian customs and complex plots, character relationships, etc., the film is basically simplified as much as possible.

This is undoubtedly a very smart approach. Whether it is a North American audience or a British audience, they are not interested in the social form of India at all.

The most typical one is the typical Hollywood-style happy ending of the film. The poor boy holds money and beautiful women in his arms, which is a very typical Hollywood-style movie fairy tale.

Ronan confirmed that Question and Answer was the original work of Slumdog Millionaire, and immediately asked Connie to collect more information, and at the same time transferred it to Robert Lee, so that the Copyright and Legal Department could obtain the relevant film and television copyright as soon as possible.

And it was not published in the United States, and if possible, even the rights outside India were bought out.

Compared with the possible gains in the future, this investment is nothing.

The original work can provide the basis for the adaptation of the film, and the big sales of the film will promote the hot sale of the original work.

The Indian branch of the Embassy Pictures made initial contact with the author of the original work, Vikas Swarup. Vikas Swarup was quite surprised that Hollywood could take a fancy to his work, and he didn't mean to hold the copyright and not sell it. The $2 million adaptation authorization offered is not outrageous.

Ronan also got more relevant information.

For example, the description of the lower society in India in the book seems very real, but the situation described by Vikas Swarup, who is a typical high caste, is not the same at all.

Vikas Swarup was born in a very good family. He admits that the purpose of his creation is not to criticize the social reality. Is there really a beggar blinding the eyes of orphans to benefit from begging, but these contents are written based on imagination and rumors.

None of this prevents Relativity Entertainment from buying the copyright. For Hollywood movies and American audiences, who cares what India looks like?

As long as a film can create commercial value and bring profits, Hollywood will never consider whether the content is true or reflects the social reality of other countries.

There are countless Hollywood movies that fictionalize the realities of other countries.

The situation in other countries in Hollywood movies is basically what most American audiences imagine, or what commercial interests demand, and what Hollywood must describe.

Robert Lee has negotiated with Max Brooks on the copyright of World War Z. Since Vikas Swarup has a strong intention to sell the film and television copyright, he just sent someone to India to discuss the copyright of Question and Answer .

He himself has been in contact with Universal Pictures in Los Angeles recently.

Since Relativity Entertainment obtained the copyright of the Fast and Furious series from Universal Pictures by taking advantage of the Universal Pictures deal between Vivendi and NBC, Robert Lee communicated with Ronan many times, especially Sha After Hai Entertainment and Warner Bros. successfully co-produced Batman: Begins, a new idea came up, wanting to promote the cooperation between Shahai Entertainment and Universal Pictures in film projects.