"Bollywood goes Europe ? im Ma?anzug !

Isaar, the unique Indian tailor, sets off on an adventurous trip across Europe to his once faithful customers, in hope of new orders, the reunion with old friends and in hope of love.

Marco Wilms accompanies Issar on his trip through European cities, living rooms and mentalities.

This final journey is also Issar?s last chance to fulfill a secret wish: his first role as Bollywood star ? in Europe?s first Bollywood documentary!"

"This is how I met Issar 4 years ago:

It was in Thailand during the rainy season. I had a job interview, I was running late and had to take a motorbike taxi. On the highway it was raining the proverbial cats and dogs. When I eventually reached the address of where the interview was I was soaked to the skin. Right next to the place was a tailor?s shop. Issar, the Indian tailor, offered me tea and lent me one of the suits still waiting for collection for the interview. With this ? my first ever ? tailor-made suit I got the job. I found a new friend and have loved tailormade suits ever since.

Issar was leading a double life. The name on his business card said Mike. Supposedly because that made it easier for foreign customers to remember his name. In actual fact he had named himself after a rich, snobbish gangster from the film China Town. This criminal called Mike has a much more respectable twin brother ? a typical slightly nerdy Bollywood crooner. Both parts were played by Indian superstar Shammi Kapoor ? Issar?s idol. The film was a fable about the dark and light sides of the human soul. Or about how fate can mercilessly push people in one or the other direction. And why would the hardworking little tailor Issar choose to name himself after the gangster and womaniser Mike?? In Issar?s chest, too, there are two hearts beating.

When Issar, aka Mike, first told me about his unlived film star dream, this immediately made me think of the mythological Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler. The hero leaves his normal environment and sets out for strange and distant lands to try and find a special elixir which changes his life. Issar?s journey to distant Europe ultimately also becomes a journey to himself.

As we wanted to bring Issar?s Bollywood dreams to life in the best possible way ? creating scenes like the one in the film Sangam which was shot in the permanent snow of the Swiss mountains ? financing took slightly longer. During this period Issar had to undergo serious bypass surgery and at times it looked like he might not be able to realise his dream. Nonetheless, we set out on our big adventure in the summer of 2005. At times it felt like I had adopted the role of the son looking after his father. But maybe this is only because Issar reminded me of my own father, of the impermanence of the human body and of the fact that one has to live one?s dream while there is still time.

Marco Wilms"

"Born in 1966 in former East Berlin, German Democratic Republic (GDR)

Completed apprenticeships as toolmaker, graphic designer and model

1990 Student in STAGE DESIGN at the Academy of Fine Arts, East Berlin, GDR

1991 Student in PRODUCTION DESIGN at the Film and Television Academy,

Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany

1993 Scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

at Michigan State University, USA

1998-99 Scholarship as FILM DIRECTOR from the German Academic Exchange Service

(DAAD) at Film Department, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand

ACTING WORKSHOP by John Costopulus from Actors Studio New York, USA

2000 CREATIVE DIRECTOR, DIRECTOR Music Clips, Shorts Production Berlin

Germany

Scholarship for Young Journalists in Bangkok, Story ?Angel on the Highway to

Death?

2001 Masterdegree as FILM DIRECTOR at the Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen

?Konrad Wolf? Potsdam Babelsberg, Germany

2002 Scholarship as FILM DIRECTOR from Stiftung Kulturfonds, Berlin Germany

2003 Scholarship as FILM DIRECTOR in Thailand from the German Academic

Exchange Service (DAAD); LECTURER at Filmdepartment

Thammasat University

TEACHER Documentary Workshop for DAAD in Saigon, Vietnam

2004 DISCOVERY CAMPUS MASTERSCHOOL

2005 Scholarship as FILM DIRECTOR from DEFA, Berlin, Germany"

"2000 NAAM DJAI ? THE RIVER OF THE HEART (61min)

documentary

2003 BERLIN VORTEX (82min) (German title: MITTENDRIN)

theatrical documentary for ZDF, Das Kleine Fernsehspiel

2005 TAILOR-MADE DREAMS (52 / 87min, 35mm)

(German title: MASSGESCHNEIDERTE TR?UME)

theatrical Bollywood documentary about a singing Indian made-to-order tailor who travels to Europe the first time and meet his old customers"