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Cinema
Formula Films of the
Future
Bollywood, Hollywood and Gollywood
by Rajesh Talwar
 It can be said without any exaggeration that India, represented through
Bollywood is the only country in the world that produces a cinema that in
market terms poses some kind of challenge to Hollywood. There are certainly
many places in the world today where it gives the American film industry a
run for its money, which would include amongst others countries such as
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
English cinema, despite its substantial contribution, does not really have a
distinctive status and is generally happy to be clubbed with Hollywood. Most
viewers are not even aware that a particular film was made in England and in
the global public view - outside the island country - it is more or less
synonymous with Hollywood. They do make films in Europe of course, but with
the exception of something like ‘Life is Beautiful’, which actually
reached out to a global audience because of the Oscars, most European films
are viewed only within the country of origin or within the continent at any
rate.
The rest of the world may see French, Italian and Polish films in film
festivals that showcase ‘art cinema’ but there is no serious money being
made by the Europeans. Within Europe perhaps the French are the most upset
at the American hegemony, and do their best to promote French cinema. Films
represent culture and it is upsetting for the French to see American muscle
power in theatres in their own country, because somewhere the more
cultivated Frenchman believes that American cinema represents ‘low culture’.
Low or high, there is little the French can do about it.
Unlike the French, Indian cinema on the other hand not only dominates its
home turf but is also viewed globally. This global audience is not confined
to Non Resident Indians although they certainly represent an extremely
important consumer. Nationalities other than Indian all over the world watch
Indians films - and it is a growing market.
Indian films are watched all over the Middle East. There are also viewers in
South East Asia. In Africa they command a sizeable audience within the
native population. I have found viewers familiar with Indian actors and
actresses in Somalia as well as Liberia. Anton, a Dutch friend who has
worked in Uganda for many years once asked some Africans why they watched
Indian films when they couldn’t even understand the language. ‘Oh, the
acting is so good,’ was the reply he received, ‘you don’t need to understand
the language.’ ‘You mean the acting is so bad,’ said Anton.
A friend of mine, Narendra Laljani, who lives and works in the UK, told me
this story of how he was once invited to a meal at his Professor’s house.
The Professor was recently married and proudly introduced Narendra to
Natasha, his Russian wife. During the course of the meal, Narendra and
Natasha became engaged in a serious discussion about Raj Kapoor’s movies.
The Professor was visibly rattled and soon his patience ran out.
‘Who on earth are you talking about?’ he wanted to know. Narendra had to
explain to him in Hollywood speak that they were talking about the John
Wayne of Indian cinema!
Yet, it is not only Russians like Natasha who grew up watching Indian films
during the Indo Russian great friendship years but much of Eastern Europe
under communist influence as well. Hollywood movies could not be screened in
those territories, being as they were a product of the evil, capitalist
West.
Bollywood now makes good money in the UK and in the US with the strong NRI
population living there. Hollywood is also now trying - with some moderate
success in the metros - to make inroads into India.
Indian cinema needs better marketing, according to veteran film director,
Shyam Benegal. Three years ago, a couple of South Indian films starring the
South Indian star Rajnikant did rather well in Japan, traditionally part of
the Hollywood empire. Their success prompted some journalists from Outlook-
India magazine to do a story investigating the reasons for the success. A
Japanese was quoted as saying that Indian cinema could easily appeal to them
(the Japanese) because of shared cultural values. Notions of family loyalty,
a brother sacrificing his life for his sister (from one of the Rajnikant
film’s in question) - all these themes held resonance within the Japanese
mindset. Another Japanese pointed out that in sheer physical terms the five
feet seven average Indian resembled the Japanese more than a six-foot
something American star. The Indians needed to do good dubbing in different
languages and more importantly go in for good marketing if they wanted to
make serious inroads into what is now traditional Hollywood territory.
In the West, Indian films are quite often rubbished as shoddy, formula films
with song and dance routines. This may be true for some films, but equally,
it could be argued many Hollywood productions are terrible.
Indian films, it is said, all stick to a formula and there is often little,
if any, story line. However Hollywood too has its formulae.
One formula used in Hindi films is to pander to the different religious
communities in the country. Thus, a blockbuster like Amar, Akbar, Anthony
has Amar as a Hindu, Akbar as a Muslim and Anthony as a Christian providing
religious identification to three major religious communities in the country
together with a ‘feel good’ factor by all three being actually brothers who
were separated in childhood. What is Hollywood’s formula, if any? Well, they
too will make films in which there is a friendship between a white American
and an African American and this is not very dissimilar to the Amar,
Akbar, Anthony model if you look at it carefully. The appeal here is to
ethnic and not religious identification.
The film business like any other business is about making money. There are
huge investments at stake and producers want to be sure of getting a good
return. As society and the market changes, formulae too will change.
With India experiencing greater sexual freedom, many Bollywood films now try
and introduce one really sizzling number. In 2005, the sizzling number of
the year was ‘Kajrarey, kajrarey,’ danced on film by Ashwariya Rai,
Bollywood super star and ex Ms World. The track was played all over the
world, including in some New York restaurants. In 2006, it was ‘Bidi
lagayi key,’ a sizzling number by Indian sex goddess, Bipasha Basu. If
this is formula, well, then so are the car chases and stunts of Fast and
Furious 1 and 2 as are the traditional Bond antics and hi fi gadgetry
(though the most recent Bond film was a bit different).
Bollywood is also trying to woo the NRI audience in many ways, because they
now form an important territory especially in the UK and US, and they buy
their tickets in pounds and dollars. One of the ways is to adjust or shift
the formula a trifle. For instance the story could pair a Gujarati heroine
(to cater to the strong NRI Gujarati population) with a hero who is playing
a British or American born Indian. Another way of catering to the overseas
Indian population would be to do location shooting in that country (Kabhi
Alvida Na Kehna).
Can Hollywood be far behind? The producers of ‘Samurai’ were very careful to
get their act right as far as the Japanese were concerned. Japan is an
important territory yielding serious profits and they didn’t want to have
anything in the movie that would offend Japanese sensibilities.
In the globalized world of today, there is, expectedly, a sharing of
expertise already taking between Hollywood and Bollywood. Some aspects of
filmmaking are being outsourced to Bombay. Indian actresses, such as
Ashwairya Rai are finding main roles in Hollywood productions (The
Mistress of Spices). Hollywood movies are being dubbed in Hindi with
even their titles changed (Museum Key Andar Phus Gaya Sikander). It’s
big business, presently dominated by the Americans and to a smaller extent
the Indians, but newer smaller players such as the Koreans and Chinese are
also getting into the act. It’s not the same as making concrete blocks
though and America and India have a lead because they have both been making
a large number of movies for a long time.
Bollywood and Hollywood are both pulling up their socks to get that viewer,
be he in China, Mongolia or Greenland. Shekhar Kapur, director of ‘Elisabeth’
nominated for several Oscars, who is certainly savvy about the changing film
world, remarked in an interview last year how Spiderman 15 may be played by
an Indian or a Chinese. The point he was making is that cinema, being a
business has ultimately to satisfy the consumer. With India and China making
up nearly half the globe’s population, once their economic clout increases
and the capacity of the average Indian and Chinese to pay good money for
cinema tickets increases, producers will try to pander to their tastes. That
may be quite a while away, but there is good reasoning here.
With viewing turning global will there tomorrow be Gollywood (an amalgam or
merging of Hollywood, Bollywood and other emerging cinemas) churning out
formula films of the future and if so what will they look like?
I can suggest one formula and it is one that carves its formulaic appeal
along ethnic lines such as in the case of Hollywood cop films with a White
Cop teamed up with an African American cop. Perhaps ethnicity is not the
right terms. It may be more about skin color identification, one reason why
Russian looking Raj Kapoor was such a hit in the States and a darker Shah
Rukh Khan is more popular in Africa than say a fairer Aamir Khan.
Can I suggest a formula that is a little ahead of its times? If you want to
get world populations interested have a multimillion dollar production with
an American star (Tom Cruise), a South Asian (Amitabh Bachchan), A Chinese
hero (Jackie Chan) and an African hero (represented by someone like Denzel
Washington). Oh, its not that I’m ignoring the women. Just outlining the
ethno skin color selection principles involved which will apply, in a
modified way, to female casting as well.
Gollywood, that will represent the globalized film industry, will plan and
organize simultaneous global release in different global cities such as New
York, Nairobi, New Delhi, Beijing, Dubai and Moscow in major global
languages such as English, Hindi and Chinese. It goes without saying that
you not only have to have a good formula but you also need good direction,
music, sex and above all try and get an interesting story line fitted into
that formula.
Sounds fantastic?
It may not be this particular mix of stars, and the global cinema machine
may not be called Gollywood, but there certainly will be formula films of
the future that will cater to a global market.
February 17,
2007
Image under license with
Gettyimages.com
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