Caminho das Índias

*Caminho das Índias*
Caminho das Índias
Also known as	India: A Love Story
Genre	Telenovela
Created by	Glória Perez
Written by	Glória Perez; Carlos Lombardi; Elizabeth Jhin; Leila Míccolis;
Directed by	Marcos Schechtman
Starring	Juliana Paes; Rodrigo Lombardi; Tony Ramos; Márcio Garcia; Tania Khalill; Letícia Sabatella; Alexandre Borges; Débora Bloch; Christiane Torloni; Humberto Martins; Lima Duarte; Bruno Gagliasso; Marjorie Estiano; Cléo Pires;
Theme music composer	Vishal Bhardwaj
Opening theme	"Beedi Jalaile" by Sunidhi Chauhan
Country of origin	Brazil
Original languages	Portuguese; Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	203 (original run); 160 (international version);
Production
Production locations	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; New Delhi, India
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	50–80 Minutes
Original release
Network	TV Globo
Release	19 January –; 11 September 2009

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.

Written by Glória Perez, directed by Marcos Schechtman. Starring Juliana Paes, Rodrigo Lombardi, Letícia Sabatella, Tânia Khallil, Débora Bloch, Alexandre Borges and Bruno Gagliasso.

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.

Overview

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.

Plot

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.

Cast

Actor	Character
Juliana Paes	Maya Meetha
Rodrigo Lombardi	Raj Ananda
Letícia Sabatella	Yvone Oliveira Magalhães
Tony Ramos	Opash Ananda
Alexandre Borges	Raul Cadore
Débora Bloch	Sílvia Cadore
Tânia Khallil	Maria Eduarda de Moraes (a.k.a. Duda)
Márcio Garcia	Bahuan Sundrani
Bruno Gagliasso	Tarso Cadore
Marjorie Estiano	Tônia Cavinato
Humberto Martins	Ramiro Cadore
Christiane Torloni	Melissa Cadore
Caco Ciocler	Murilo Cavinato
Dira Paes	Norma Cristina Almeida (a.k.a. Norminha)
Anderson Müller	Abel Almeida
Isis Valverde	Camila Motta Goulart Ananda
Caio Blat	Ravi Ananda
Cléo Pires	Surya Ananda
Thaila Ayala	Shivani Mugdaliar Sundrani
Odilon Wagner	Michael Brown Johnson (a.k.a. Maike, Eric Brown)
Totia Meireles	Dr. Aída Motta
Antônio Calloni	César Gallo Goulart
Ana Beatriz Nogueira	Ilana Gallo Goulart
André Gonçalves	Mutineja Gopal (a.k.a. Gopal)
Betty Gofman	Dayse
Neuza Borges	Iracema (a.k.a. Cema)
Danton Mello	Amithab Ananda
Juliana Alves	Suellen
André Arteche	Indra
Maria Maya	Inês Cadore
Júlia Almeida	Léa Motta Goulart (a.k.a. Leinha)
Ricardo Tozzi	Komal Meetha
Paula Pereira	Durga
Rosane Gofman	Walkíria (a.k.a. Wal)
Victor Fasano	Dario
Cissa Guimarães	Ruth
Sílvia Buarque	Berenice (a.k.a. Berê)
Duda Nagle	José Carlos Gallo Goulart (a.k.a. Zeca)
Carolina Oliveira	Chanti Ananda
Ana Furtado	Dr. Gabriela (a.k.a. Gabi)
Blota Filho	Haroldo Estevanato
Luci Pereira	Ondina
Marcelo Brou	Guto
Mara Manzan	Dona Ashima
Thais Garayp	Ana
Mussunzinho	Maico
Priscila Marinho	Sheila
Marcius Melhem	Radesh
Cacau Mello	Deva
Ana Lima	Dr. Cecília (a.k.a. Ciça)
Darlan Cunha	Eliseu
Cláudia Lira	Nayana
Clarice Derzie Luz	Harima
Adilson Magha	Siro
Janaina Prado	Sonya
Luiz Baccelli	Barat Mugdaliar
Jacqueline Dalabona	Rhada Mugdaliar
Allan Souza Lima	Hadit
Alexandre Liuzzi	Pedro

Children
Actor	Character
Karina Ferrari	Anusha Ananda
Cadu Paschoal	Hari Hitid
Laura Barreto	Lalit
Nahuana Costa	Malika

Introducing
Actor	Character
Sidney Santiago	Ademir
Brendha Haddad	Rani Meetha
Vitória Frate	Júlia Cadore
Márcio Vito	Ramu Hitid

Special guest stars
Actor	Character
Vera Fischer	Chiara
Eva Todor	Cidinha
Elias Gleizer	Senhor Cadore
Murilo Rosa	Lucas Garrido
Maitê Proença	Fernanda Estevanato (a.k.a. Nanda)
Guilherme Zaiden	as himself (cameo)

Invited Actresses

Actor	Character
Laura Cardoso	Laksmi Ananda
Jandira Martini	Puja Hitid
Eliane Giardini	Indira Ananda
Nívea Maria	Kochi Meetha

Invited actors
Actor	Character
Osmar Prado	Manu Meetha
José de Abreu	Sacerdote Pandit
Flávio Migliaccio	Karan Ananda

And
Lima Duarte as "Shankar Sundrani"
Stênio Garcia as "Dr. Castanho"
Tony Ramos as "Opash Ananda"

Soundtrack