Sunday, Jul 6, 2008
Despite a massive international market and a huge impact on pop culture, the outrageous musical eye candy of Bollywood remains almost invisible in America.
Jan 28, 2003 | How do you take your Bollywood?
Old school, with a plump heroine scampering around a tree to sarangi music? Or millennial -- a sculpted hero in an Armani suit descending from a helicopter, and racing around Sydney or Amsterdam in a convertible? Then there's the latest version, Bollywood lite, as bastardized by American filmmakers (see Daisy von Scherler Mayer's comedy "The Guru," opening Jan. 31) or viewed through post-colonial British eyes, as in Andrew Lloyd Webber and A.R. Rahman's delightful stage show "Bombay Dreams" or the cross-cultural love story "Bollywood Queen," premiering this month at Sundance.
From Madison Avenue to mainstream film and TV, Bollywood is becoming as ubiquitous as chai, even if few Americans have actually seen an Indian film. To some hardcore fans, its adulteration is as distasteful as green tea mocha chai with soy milk, but others are hailing a new generation of Indian filmmakers who expand the Bollywood formula with exciting results. Yes, the singing and dancing is still there, for the most part. (Thank God!) But films like "Kaante," a straight-faced and marvelously fun musical "Reservoir Dogs" rip-off, and Deepa Mehta's Canadian comedy "Bollywood Hollywood" are attempting to use the archetypal characters and masala formula in a whole new way.
Western directors, too, are turning east. Willard Carroll ("Playing by Heart") has signed Indian superstar "shirtless" Salman Khan for a $10 million musical called "Marigold," opposite an as-yet-unnamed American actress and featuring songs by Truth Hurts and Indian composing team Shankar/Ehsaan/Loy. Gurinder Chadha, director of the British hit "Bend It Like Beckham," recently announced that she has signed screen goddess Aishwarya Rai for a musical version of "Pride and Prejudice."
Even straight Hollywood films like "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago" are getting their nerve up to try the musical form in earnest. And a wave of appealing new indies out of India tackle grittier subjects ranging from terrorism to rural water rights to the status of women. In 2003, some of the best new and vintage Indian films are on display at festivals in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto and other venues. The Palm Springs International Film Festival, which wrapped Jan. 20, featured no fewer than 12 important new Indian films, while the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival promises as many as 20 films, including the U.S. premiere of "Bend It Like Beckham" (which opens March 12 in New York and Los Angeles). Along with the wide selection of subtitled DVDs now available, this represents the best-ever opportunity to explore one of world cinema's most intriguing frontiers.
Last year, the success of "Monsoon Wedding" (which director Mira Nair described as "a Bollywood film on my own terms") and the Academy Award nomination of the gorgeous musical epic "Lagaan" led Bollywood watchers to predict, a bit prematurely, that Indian movies had arrived in America. But for the most part, their fans here have consisted of a tiny cult, and regrettably few self-described film experts really know anything about Bollywood at all.
Why is it that the world's biggest, noisiest and most colorful entertainment phenomenon hasn't yet reached the consciousness of mainstream America?
Most of the people I've asked agree on one thing: marketing. "I think the marketing and distribution has been a little undisciplined and unprofessionally handled," observes Amitabh Bachchan, at 60 still a reigning superstar and the only Indian star to be immortalized at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Bachchan also heads the International Indian Film Academy Awards, a huge, yearly event with revolving international venues. "I wish some of America's discipline and management philosophy would be taken by India," he says. "We are the largest filmmaking country in the world, and the sheer demographics would put our stars as more visible than some of the Hollywood stars."
Sometimes, too, Indian filmmakers pull some pretty stupendous gaffes. Last year, "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" made over $1 million on only 73 screens in its opening weekend in the United States. It was the biggest ever opening for an Indian movie here, but its producers didn't report the figures to Variety or Exhibitor Relations promptly, losing out on the chance to place the film in the U.S. top 10 and make international news.
Another mainstream Hindi film that's just hit theaters, and stars the sultry Bipasha Basu, has the title "Jism." The word means "body" in Hindi, by the way. Yes, the filmmaker and actors all speak English (but apparently not well enough).
Outside the ethnic press aimed at Indian immigrants, Bollywood films are rarely advertised or promoted to U.S. audiences. And let's not forget the piracy, death threats and scary Mafia connections (one major star, the Stallone-esque Sanjay Dutt of "Kaante," has even served hard time for stockpiling weapons). The industry's lack of discipline is legendary; it's not unheard of for an Indian film star to turn up hours late for a shoot, or for films to be shot without scripts. Sons, daughters, nieces and remote third cousins of industry players are regularly foisted on the public as "new discoveries" who, thankfully, tend to burn out after a single film.
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