Sky Arts - Ready when you are, Mr Patel

Director
Roger Michell

India produces more films than any other country in the world, and the majority of them are made in and around Bombay. Ready When You Are, Mr Patel follows the actor Harish Patel (best known to British audiences as Changez in Roger Michell's groundbreaking 1993 adaptation of Hanif Kureishi's novel, The Buddha of Suburbia, for which he auditions during the course of this documentary) on a typical day as part of the city's bustling film industry as he races from one job to another.

The film observes Patel as he works a typically long day in the chaotic atmosphere. He is currently acting on three different films, and must constantly change costumes and character to meet the demands of the different directors, from his part in the morning as (appropriately), a harrassed film director, to his afternoon performance as a comedy villain, to a final stint as a sultan/arms trader, followed by a surprise audition for the BBC, sprung on him by his agent, who has been hitherto unable to contact him.

This is a cheerfully chaotic film which exposes the astonishingly fast turnover of the Indian film industry, and the trials and pitfalls of the hectic system, contrasted with a personal view from the centre of the maelstrom.