19 January (2009-01-19) – 11 September 2009 (2009-09-11)
Caminho das Índias (lit: Path to the Indies; English title: India: A Love Story)[1] is a Brazilian primetime telenovela produced and broadcast by TV Globo from 19 January to 11 September 2009, with 203 episodes.
The plot examines the differences in beliefs and values of the Eastern and Western world. Shot on location in India and Rio de Janeiro, it was Globo's first winning telenovela at the International Emmy Awards.
The title can be interpreted in two ways: it is Portuguese for "Route to the Indies" (literally) or "India's Way" (figuratively). The story is set during India's transition into a modern democracy, mostly in the period of the 1990s to 2000s, with many prominent flashbacks to the 1950s and 1970s. The story is equally divided between continents, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Rajasthan, India, with some scenes in Dubai. Themes include love, reason, sanity, insanity, and tradition versus modernity. The story highlights the contrasts of values and belief systems in the West and the East, told through families, their friends, and the complex mesh of relationships which connect them.
Reproduction of Ganges River to the telenovela India – A Love Story in scenographic city of Projac.
One of the main plot points is a forbidden love between castes. Maya, a charming call-centre employee in Rajasthan, comes from the Vaishya trader caste. While her parents try to arrange a marriage for her, she falls in love with Bahuan, which she declares to her parents. She does not understand Bahuan's misgivings until learning that he is the orphaned son of Dalit (untouchable) servants who were burned at the stake for accidentally touching their master's shadow. They plan a future together while her parents arrange a marriage to Raj Ananda, and Bahuan works toward his career, eventually becoming a partner in a Brazilian company.
Meanwhile, Raj falls in love with Brazilian Duda, who initially fights for Raj's affections but the cultural conflicts exhaust and disillusion her, and she turns away from Raj for a new love. Ravi then falls in love with a Brazilian woman, Camilla. As she tries to adapt to Hindu culture, she provokes conflict in the Ananda family of tradespeople, as Raj's younger sister Shanti aspires to become educated and eschews the traditional roles for women favoured by her mother. Ravi and Camilla eventually marry.
Production
Locations
Artistic and general director Marcos Schechtman and director Fred Mayrink traveled to India to write the telenovela's first scenes, which began filming on 1 October 2008 in the cities of Jaipur and Agra. In addition to 40 people from the Brazilian team, the telenovela had partnered with a local producer.[2] The modern architecture of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, also served as filming locations for the show at the end of October.[year needed][citation needed]
Sets and art direction
In order to recreate the environment for the story, three-city sets were constructed at Projac in Rio de Janeiro, totalling 11,500 square metres (123,785 sq ft). One of these sets imitates the typical architecture of the Lapa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while the other two attempt to recreate features of the Indian state of Rajasthan.
Indian culture and architecture are represented in the telenovela (top). Cléo Pires wearing a sari (bottom).
Using the cities of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Mumbai as references, the art director built 42 shops and a temple of Shiva, in addition to the street façade for a movie theater, and terracota-colored households of the four main Indian families of the story. One of the margins of the Ganges was also reproduced, through an artificial lake built near the entrance of the studio complex.
The art production team, led by Mario Monteiro, attempted to reproduce an Indian universe on camera. The Indian core of the telenovela received a very colorful ambiance, with Hindi inscriptions, in comparison to the clean aesthetics of the Brazilian scenarios. The sets were dressed with Indian items which were purchased or reproduced, and vehicles used in India were built by the team to fill the street of the artificial city.
The wardrobe was also carefully studied by Emilia Duncan. Women's traditional clothes, such as the sari were recreated, although with a bit of poetic license, thus bringing some clothing usually used in rituals for the everyday wearing.
