For 'Anaconda' director, India is Rajnikanth

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS): For Dwight Little, director of the new snake thriller "Anacondas - The Hunt For The Blood Orchid", India will always be Rajnikanth.

"In the 1980s, I came to India to direct a film called 'The Bloodstone'. It had Rajnikanth in a major role," Little told IANS in an interview over the telephone from Los Angeles.

"It was a medium budget English film that was shot in Bangalore, and Rajnikanth was fantastic in it. He had tremendous star presence and obviously is a fantastic actor," said Little about the superstar of Tamil cinema.

The experience has left a lasting impression on Little, who now wants to return to India to make another film. "I'm really hoping something crops up and I can go work in India. I am in love with the country."

He's also hoping that his film, the sequel to "Anaconda" in the late 1990s, does as well in the country. For a Hollywood film, "Anaconda" did brilliant business in India.

"That film ("Anaconda") really ran in India, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for similar success."

To shoot "Anacondas - The Hunt For The Blood Orchid", the crew went to Fiji. "The virgins forests and the waters that we shot have never been photographed in any film, ever. So the audience really gets a major visual treat.

"And Fiji also has a major Indian population, with whom I connected and it worked out very well. We also got some great tax cuts in Fiji, which helped even more!"

For the film on a group of scientists who head jungle-wards hunting for a rare orchid that is said to hold the nectar of everlasting youth, Little did tremendous amounts of research.

"I saw hundreds and hundreds of videos and photographs about anacondas - how the snake moves, how it attacks, how it eats, swallows the prey, how it digests, everything.

"Then I saw National Geographic footage of rainforests, the entire mistiness of the forests, sunlight filtering in gentle hues and then the rains - that's what I created for my film."

So as the group of adventurers enter the rainforests to look for the orchid that blooms only once in seven years, the lighting is mellow and chirpy.

But as the terror of the giant snakes, which guard the orchid, nears, it becomes dark and chilly.

"Shooting on water is always troublesome and we moved on an armada of boats - the actors on one and the rest with equipment and cameras.

"It is always difficult to follow up a smart sequel to a successful film but we've tried to make a focused, thinking horror film," said Little, who did not direct the original.

And though he won't make another Anaconda film he believes that the studios, Columbia Tristar, might make another one.

While his next film is "Lost Tribe" set in Africa, his dream remains: "I love adventure films and I do hope I'll make a film in India."