Bollywood … the New Hollywood?

Raj Kapoor did it in the fifties, Indian films and his pairing with Nargis was a hit with Russian audiences. His blue eyes did the trick, and Awara and Shri 420 sold overseas, but did not actually invade the West.

In 1958, a certain section of audiences in the western countries got to know of a young filmmaker called Ismail Merchant who had teamed up with James Ivory to make some memorable cross- over films on Indian themes. These caught the imagination and fancy of the pallid western cultures, where most of the issues discussed in these films didn’t even exist!

But slowly the scene changed, and in the late 1990s, when the Subhash Ghai’s Taal became the first Indian movie to enter the top 20 in the box office in the US and in the Top Ten in UK.. The film, starring the Miss World Aishwarya Rai, and shot in the scenic hills of Himalayas, Chail, coupled with the high energy music industry scenario, grossed US 1.08 million within the first ten days of its release in the US alone.

History was rewritten and Indian films were no longer `foreign’ to western audiences. A whole number followed, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, a love story about an ethnic Indian woman, grossed over USD 7 million in three months in the UK, Kutch Kutch Hota Hai on enduring and endearing love collected about USD 6 million in a little over two months. The western markets had tasted blood . Even film markets in traditional countries like Japan went in for Indian films, specially South Indian languages, Tamil film "Muthu" grossed USD 3 million in Japan alone. About 1.2 million Japanese watched the film -- a story of a feudal lord -- in little over three months while another Tamil film, `Yajaman", collected similar amounts in Japan.

The market is today, strong and growing. And with good reason. the Indians settled abroad, that section of the western society that actually triggered this phenomenon, have a collective per capita income of about USD 125 billion (which was almost half the GDP of India a few years ago), and a per capita income of USD 50,000. Their spending power aside, it was the sense of reconnecting, nostalgia and pure emotion which drove them to the theaters to watch Aishwarya singing and dancing in the rain, Anil kapoor’s exaggerated mannerisms and Rahman’s d\soulful music. The magic worked every time, and this time it worked on unsuspecting new people, the western audience. All this carved a whole new trade strategy, the result of which was the value of film exports expected to cross the US D 2,765 million mark in the next 6 years. Indian producers are now looking at exporting films to new markets in regions like New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Tanzania, Kenya, Malaysia and Indonesia besides the established markets of the US, UK, UAE and South Africa.

Of course, it would be prudent to mention that this performance is now accompanied by and in many cases, even fuelled by, the technological advances in film making techniques in India. The brains that drive outsourcing debates across the world were the pilots for the amazing creativity and effects for films too. Cinematography, sound and of course, scripts, all added up to a world class product, and a Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham was born. Skilled technicians need great locales and studios and India today has some really good ones. One good example is the Ramoji Rao’s Film city in Cybertech Hyderabad, a world-class studio. The largest of its kind in the world, it is spread over 5000 acres and has every facility and filmmaker can ask for.

Considering creativity as an important part of film making, Indian sensibilities used to be completely different from western attitudes. What is interesting is that films that are selling abroad are not cheap remakes on American themes but genuine Indian- ness stories, about feel good

Today there are actors, of Indian in origin, who are in demand for their acting prowess in foreign films, Om Puri, Roshan Seth, Naseeruddin Shah, Ranjit Chowdhury, Ayesha Dharkerare a few names. Indian music is going places it never wafted in before, the success of Bombay Dreams talks volumes. Even Bollywood songs are making forays in American films; Moulin Rouge had a popular Hindi film song, (though the depiction of some deities was in bad taste). Monsoon Wedding brought out the flavor of Delhi and the colors of an Indian (read Punjabi family) wedding. The film won accolades everywhere, grossing USD 13 million in the US alone. How’s that for a change in taste?

There have been Indian films that have managed nominations to the Academy awards, Lagan and Devdas. Lagaan’s new theme did the trick and suddenly the five continents were sitting up and taking notice of the team of village cricketers set to defeat their colonial masters, so they could be waived the farm revenue. The story smacked of a nationalist after taste, and was very widely appreciated. Devdas, premiered at The Cannes Film Festival last year was a legendry extravaganza of overdone costumes, loud music and overdone emotions, could not really hold the attention of the audience so could not meet the Oscar challenge, but Lagaan, with its resilient human spirit theme topped the popular cinema as well as critical cinema charts.

In real life terms, Bollywood’s slow but sure forays into Hollywood territory means a lot of changes to the basic functioning to the film-making machinery in Mumbai, even India. A recent study conducted by Columbia films for an Indian Film production house has found that effective scheduling and organized finances could bring down the cost of making a film by almost 8 %. In addition, the family owned production houses also need to be tightened in market terms, for the industry to be more professionally managed. In any case the films they made managed to gross USD 2.2 million in the US and more than USD 2.7 million in UK.

Indian marriages, happy Indian families with rock-solid values, love in the times of glamour….what have you. This actually makes their success even more interesting because for decades Indians have believed that the west doesn’t want to know about the week long Indian marriage celebrations, the song and dance sequences…. its all that and more. Actually the films that have bold and beautiful themes are, ironically, not the ones that are selling…its those with traditional Indian stories that are top grossers. Does that mean India has arrived? Or merely that western culture has grown tired of its pallid ness and craves warmth and color, the joy of love and the confidence of family ties. No one can tell. But the fact remains that Bollywood has stormed the domain of Hollywood like never before.

Debates are on, loudly discussing what makes one film so acceptable to western audiences? The formula seems to be a good script, no superfluous emotions and fantastic imagery. Hollywood has their own Spielberg, they do not need another one. They will appreciate a Meera Nair or an Ashutosh Gowatrikar, who can give them something different, interesting and entertaining. City life is slick, but Indian marriages are more colorful. Dramatic comedies, Indian milieu subjects with a witty, tight script and points of identification with an urban (in India, Metro), lifestyle seem to work well. Mythology, literary works and also voyeuristic insights into immigrant lifestyle seem to work well. Are the latecomers listening? There are already a dozen Indian Directors taking the lead. At this rate the second debate win a global scale will be another type of outsourcing…. not skills, but films, ready to show, fantastic films made in India marketed across the world, advantage USA.