BOLLYWOOD CHAT -
Dr Surender Bhutani -
India being a soft power in the international arena is also being appreciated in the western countries for its engaging mass appeal of Bollywood films. The audience, both non-resident Indians and as well as the western people love to see spicy Bollywood films which are full of songs and dances. The profile of India has changed largely because of Bollywood films as well as the profile of the Indian diaspora. In remote European countries hardly anyone will know the name of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or for that matter the name of Sonia Gandhi, the President of the ruling Indian Congress Party. But there are thousands of young boys and girls who are enchanted by Shah Rukh Khan’s films. His life size big posters are decorating their rooms and they are playing his film songs like ...you are my Sonia or Chhaiyan Chhaiyan from Dil Se. The same history is being repeated in other big cities of western Europe, Canada and America. In some markets, such as Germany, Bollywood is catching on a wider audience. At the Berlin International Film Festival tickets for Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name is Khan were sold in five seconds. Some tickets were reportedly auctioned on eBay for 1,000 Euros.
It is no secret that Hollywood films are on the decline both, domestically and overseas markets, whereas the demand for Bollywood films is ever increasing. Earlier Indian films were popular in the neighbouring countries and in the Gulf where there is a sizable Indian population. Then there was a trickle from Africa. Now there is a strong base of 22 million of Indian origin in western countries who are always clamouring for more Bollywood films as it helps them to identify themselves with the Indian culture in any form.
The rise of India as an economic power has started since 2001 and it is in the same decade when the appeal of the Bollywood films also increased rapidly for the western audience. They wanted and they want a big change and the sentimentality of Indian melodramas started appealing to them. For a couple of hours they can come out from their cuckoo’s nest and visualise a new dreamy world with oriental taste. This change of taste may not linger on for a long time, but it does give them a temporary relief from their mechanical life. In the multiplexes or sitting in front of their TV sets, they feel a novel experience which they normally don’t feel in their day-to-day life. After all there must be something enchanting; otherwise why must almost two billion people in the Indian sub-continent, neighbouring countries as well as the Arabian Gulf daily find Bollywood films so soothing.
The success of Oscar-laden Slumdog Millionaire, written by an Indian diplomat, Vikas Swarup and a British film made with Indian actors in Mumbai did fantastic business earning around $380 million globally. It has opened the eyes of big producers in Hollywood: how to tap the Indian actors and Indian film scenarios for their future productions? The tie-up between Anil Ambani, a high profile Indian industrialist and Steven Spielberg, a noted Hollywood director is a clear cut example how to produce joint ventures for the global audience. Mira Nair, based in the USA, has produced and directed many successful movies such as Moonsoon Wedding, Kamasutra and Namesake. UK based Gurinder Chaddha is another name in a series who has given interesting films like Bride and Prejudice and Bend It Like Beckhem. Noted Indian director Shekhar Kapoor, a nephew of legendary film star Dev Anand, had directed Elisabeth I a few years ago. Actors like Om Puri, Nasseruddin Shah, Amitabh Bachchan, Ashwariya Rai, Gulshan Grover and Kabir Bedi are in the constant demand to work for Hollywood films. Sky is the limit for joint ventures between the two great institutions.
Still Bollywood is a minnow as compared to Hollywood. It has to go miles before it catches up with Hollywood. Indian films generated revenues of only $2 billion in 2008 as compared to Hollywood’s $28 billion. But Bollywood has a bright future provided the Bollywood producers take the work as a proper industry and come out from the clutches of smugglers and criminals.
