‘Ball & Chain’
A friend of mine was assistant producing a 2nd gen arranged marriage comedy in Texas called The Arrangement. The movie starred Lisa Ray, Purva Bedi, Sunil Malhotra and Kal Penn 1.0, the Kalpen we knew before his career so happily blew up. The production deal went all pear-shaped, and I heard nothing more about the fate of the movie.
I just found out that the film found distribution via Lions Gate and went direct to DVD in March this year. It’s now called Ball & Chain. Watch the trailer. It’s the same loathing-turns-to-love premise of Ray’s Bollywood/Hollywood and Pretty Woman, with all the arranged marriage clichés spread brightly under the sun. Predictably, a lot of the average Joe reviews are weak.
Here’s another clip, but the trailer is more interesting.
on Thursday, September 21st, 2006, 6:39 pm in Film, Kal Penn, Video clips › 
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A friend of mine worked on this film as well, and word on the street is that the producers (a woman named Taylor MacRae, a guy named A.V. Shankardass, and the actor-turnned-producer Kiran Rao who runs a website called Hollywood Masala) all refused to pay their actors after the film was completed (they disbanded their company, kept the investor’s money, and screwed their actors). There was a huge legal issue afterward, but prosecution of the 3 producers was impossible because of international financing (and the fact that they were able to take shelter from their corporation which they disbanded so that they wouldn’t be held liable). Everyone should know that’s what went down. I think Kal Penn has talked about this from time to time (that would be a great interview idea). Lion’s Gate was somehow able to acquire the film recently.
In any case, it’s a piece of garbage.
Yeah..looks like the same old stuff.
Looks like the Aamir-Preity story line from Dil Chahta Hai, plus pratfalls and people getting hit in the nuts.
RE: comments by “in the know”…
I’m not sure where you got your information, but get your facts straight. I initially pitched this film for a friend of mine (the Director) and brought some of my actor friends into this project. All of the actors (including your “friend”) knew that I didn’t control any of the financing. You can check IMDB for the real Producers on this project.
Sometimes independent films have issues with running out cash. This project was no exception. Even though I wasn’t one of the money guys, since my friends were involved, I took money out of my pocket to cover some of their expenses. This was meant to help the actors while the financiers did their jobs - not so misinformed people could group me with people that owed money.
I still hang out with some of the actors from this film on a regular basis. While we are all disappointed with how it turned out, they don’t seem to accuse me of anything - especially hoarding their money! They seem to know that I suffered financially on their behalf but if your “friend” disagrees, he/she can contact me directly. I have nothing to hide and I return phone calls.
burned!!!
didn’t you “know” kiran was a friend of manish’s?
Thanks! Just put it at the top of my netflix queue.
Ugh! Enough with the lame arranged marriage scenarios already! Desis are not just defined by arranged marriages, for god’s sake! A plea to the desis in Hollywood - get better writers!!!!!
looks dumb.