Titanic and Avatar producer Jon Landau’s untimely passing (on 5 July 2024) has come as a shock to both people who knew him closely and to the industry at large. I had the rare chance to meet him when he visited India in March 2012 to promote the special release of Titanic‘s 3D version. Following his visit to Mumbai, he arrived in Delhi where we met at the newly launched PVR Director’s Cut luxury cinema at the Promenade Mall in Vasant Kunj. Jon was visibly impressed with the cinema’s plush interiors and screening quality.
As part of his promotion tour, Jon brought along his best producer Oscar statuette for Titanic. And that became a memorable moment for me, to hold an Oscar for the first time – a historic one no less – given Titanic bagged a total of 11 record-tying Oscars (at par with Ben Hur and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King).
My photo of Jon posing with his Oscar is part of my ongoing F[r]ame photo series.
We had a great chat for THR where I asked his views on how people in India considered Titanic an Indian film.
I also took a couple of books I had on the making of Avatar for Jon to sign. He signed my copy of ‘Avatar – A confidential report on the biological and social history of Pandora’ with the line “See you on Pandora”.
Thank you Jon for we’ll always see you, because Pandora lives in us.
Nyay Bhushan 