From Mumbai to Prince Edward Island: filmmaker writes Bollywood-inspired screenplay on the island

“I love the whole set experience,” said Bloch. “This is mainly why I entered [filmmaking] because it’s the effort of the whole team. “

Bloch, 33, now lives in Prince Edward Island. Last month, she won a $ 3,700 provincial arts grant to write her first feature-length screenplay, titled Bollywood romance. This is a teenage girl who is “half Indian and half white Canadian,” Bloch said. She said the screenplay would be conveniently located in Prince Edward Island and inspired by Bollywood movies.

“I always wanted to do a tribute [to] Indian movies from the 90s, which I saw growing up, ”Bloch said. “They inspire me enormously.

“The real idea of ​​Bollywood”

Part of the reason Bloch writes Bollywood romance is to show Western audiences the real Bollywood.

“A lot of people here have an idea of ​​Bollywood, but it’s not like the real idea of ​​Bollywood, you know. It’s just like the cliché, like these big dances and stuff,” she said. declared.

“I kind of want to speak with the Indian diaspora in Canada as well because there isn’t a lot of Indian content, and there is a lot of Indians in Canada.”

Bloch hopes to complete the script by February or March, then shoot the film in Prince Edward Island next summer.

“It all depends on whether I get funding for the film,” she said.

Bloch also hopes to hire a crew and cast from Prince Edward Island for the film.

Baker by day, filmmaker by night

Bloch and her husband moved to Prince Edward Island from India in 2019. Together they ran a Japanese and Korean restaurant and catering business in Mumbai. Then her husband was accepted into Holland College’s International Hotel Management program, and they decided to pack their bags and travel the world.

“We just wanted a better life,” Bloch said.

While Bloch has said moving to Prince Edward Island has been a big change for the couple, living here is also “a nice change of pace.”

“[In Mumbai] you have to constantly hurry and work, and here it is quite cold, ”she said. “You don’t have to work on weekends. You can go out, relax, enjoy the summer, which doesn’t happen there. “

The time and number of people it takes to make that two hour or ten minute or even one hour show or movie, it’s crazy.Jahan Bloch, filmmaker

Bloch has a day job as a baker, working from 4.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and writing his screenplay in the evenings.

“I keep jumping between the pastry chef and the film set,” she said.

“Always telling stories”

Earlier this year, Bloch and her husband directed a short film as part of Film PEI’s Film 4ward program, which provides training and production funds to Island filmmakers. Titled Paradox of life, the film follows a home caregiver named Arjun during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bloch is hoping the short will premiere at the Charlottetown Film Festival in October. The project is its first director, and doing it was a learning process.

“The effort and the energy and the time and the number of people it takes to make that two hour or ten minute or even one hour show or movie, it’s crazy,” he said. she declared.

But Bloch is not giving up the hectic life of cinema anytime soon.

It’s her passion, she said she loves the connection films can make with their audiences.

“It’s always about telling stories,” said Bloch. “You are going through the flow of so many emotions. So it’s just amazing.”

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