It all happened because I was introduced to Barrie Osborne, producer of Matrix, Face-Off, etc. He was the co-producer of The Lord Of The Rings.

I call him my mentor, my godfather.

When I first met him, he said encouragingly, "When an opportunity comes, I will call you."

One morning, in June 2003, I got a mail from Barrie saying, 'The time has come. How are you placed now?"

I started talking to studios, bankers and venture capitalists saying, "The Lord Of The Rings is coming to India. I need your support."

Believe me, I was thrown out of every place in five minutes. No one believed me. I was treated like a joker.

A friend then introduced me to the Aditya Birla Group. They had just floated an entertainment company, and they said, "I will give you the full freedom to get the work done here. Tell me whatever you want, and I will provide it. Show them Indians can also do it."

I felt great. They sponsored my travel to New Zealand and brought the work here. The producers of Return Of The King felt confident because a big company was backing me.

They wanted me to do a test shot. George Merkert and Kelley Ray came down and helped us on the test shots. The shots were done in two months.

Needless to say, the producers were impressed.

The truth is, they never expected such quality from India. Once they knew what we were capable of, they gave us the work.

George and Kelley had to leave then, leaving a totally Indian team to handle the work. It took us two-and-a-half months.

Not a single shot came back to us for any modification.

I consider it a prestige to be a part, however small, of a film like The Lord Of The Rings.

In the picture: Madhu and Hollywood producer Barrie Osborne