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Gone are the days when an English Movie had sad openings and had to be got down before they even completed a week. The Young India of the 21st Century is attracting the west. Current Junta is comprised of the English-educated urban crowd which loves to hag-out in a multiplex nearby with pop corn and friends. No wonder, India is hot destination for Hollywood.

Slumdog Millionaire can be probably said as the most famous product of the Hollywood-India Connection. The movie received a huge response world over and Indians went gaga over it. It made a celebrity out of a local girl, Freida Pinto and we proudly covered it when she became No. 2 in the year’s fastest rising star. Even the latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace released in India a week before its American opening. The pundits are just amazed by this whole phenomenon.

The Indian and US business leaders have come up with a task force to help foster the relationships further. The recommendations of committee set up by the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) included opening of market, exchange programme, Setting up an Indian counterpart of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, devising plans to negotiate global trades etc.

The strategic tie up will help both the industries as they are the biggest in the world both by output and popularity. Also the the big Indian population abroad are a huge revenue source for both parties. They just need to plan their approach so that both get equal profits. Lets just hope that this new marriage of Hollywood and Bollywood lasts long.

Source: ibnlive.com

Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle had a lot of Indian actors like Anil kapoor   Saurabh Shukla, Irfan Khan etc. The movie got recognition at Oscars; Golden Globe awards and many more .The success of the movie saw British filmmakers making a beeline for casting Indian actors to lure global audiences.

The filmmakers are trying to assure success of their films on the lines of Slumdog Millionaire. There are many new films which are in the production stage like the Indian Summer. The directors see India as a fascinating and extraordinary place. They are also of the opinion that whatever happens in India is going to affect them too.

NRI filmmaker Gurinder Chadha, who directed the box office hit Bend It like Beckham in 2002, is currently making Its Wonderful Afterlife, a film set in London. It stars versatile Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi and is a comedy about a British Asian mother’s attempts to marry off her daughter, which leads to a bout of serial killing.

The filmmakers say that even Bollywood has woken up to the potential of the East-West mix. The film Kites which  stars Hrithik Roshan is currently being shot at Los Angeles, Las Vegas and India and will be screened at Cannes. The screening is done to ensure that the global audiences are well aware of the movies being made.

It is good to see the east and the west cinemas blending, audiences are in for some good movies!

Source : The Finacial Express

There is something about a US Return Green card holder that makes girls in Indian cinema weak in the knees. How else would one explain Bollywood’s obsession with the NRIs. It all started with the growing consumption of Indian cinema abroad. And if one film needs to be picked which epitomizes and romances the NRI it has to be the evergreen Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ). This opened the floodgates for movies like Pardes, Yaadien and later Swades and others which followed the same path.

Though that was more than a decade and a half ago, Bollywood stories still seem to include an NRI angle. Take the latest release Delhi 6 for example. It has the main protagonist played by Abhishek Bachchan which is an NRI. There is also Dev D which has Abhay Deol essay a modern Devdas, again a foreign return. Over the period of time the stories keep on changing, however the presence of an NRI as the lead for the movies has continued.

There is more than one reason for the presence of NRIs in Indian movies. The main reason of course is the international audience the other is that NRI stories make for very interesting viewing at they touch upon the ‘Indianess’ of an individual not living in India. It’s a common spirit that binds all Indians and cuts across.