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Rakeysh Omprakash Mehras Rang de Basanti

The New Bollywood:

No Heroines, No Villains
by Thessa Mooij

entioning the word Bollywood and-a-half hours long, taking its time to bers, Urdu poetry, Victorian melodrama, and usually elicits eager claims of unroll storylines of epic proportions, often folk theater with its stock cast of baddies, damsels familiarity. After all, Monsoon involving the breakup and make-up of in distress, strict fathers and enduring mothers. Most of all, masala films are firmly rootWedding and Bride and Prejudice were inter- extended families. Some six to eight songs national hits. But even though the directors, and intricate choreography, in which the ed in Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Their Mira Nair and Gurinder narratives easily play out over Chadha, respectively, pay tribute to the celluloid phe- As films that tackle social and political issues several centuries or even milfeaturing the nomenon they grew up with, make inroads, traditional Bollywood song- lennia, dynasties both family lives of divine their works are essentially and-dance epics are just part of an Indian and mortal. In Southern Western crossover films. One India and parts of Southeast character in Bride and Prejucinema that resists easy stereotyping. Asia, actors are revered like dice characterizes Bollywood gods, with film stills or dancing as petting a dog with one hand and screwing in a light bulb actors themselves participate, are used to posters serving as altarpieces. Some tradiemphasize the storys emotional high points. tional Indian dance performances can take with the other. That Bollywood formula is sometimes all night retelling these stories, with villagers Most people might be familiar with snippets of Bollywood via Western musicals, described as masala, which actually means a and performers enraptured until sunrise video clips or DJ remixes. But Bollywood is mixture of food spices. In this case, it means announces another day. They all know how much more than movie characters breaking a celluloid combination of nineteenth-century the story is going to end, but they come for out in a funny dance. A typical film is two- Parsi plays with their song and dance num- the artistry with which it is told.

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tent of the lyrics. But Im always dependent This makes masala films an acquired Reflections from within the Industry taste for Westerners, who are used to seeing Last June, the Mumbai industry descend- on whether a story is conducive to writing a a ninety-minute feature about one protago- ed upon the Dutch capital of Amsterdam. song, whether it has certain sensibilities. Perhaps even more so than other cinenist chasing after his or her goal. Indian The International Indian Film Academy audiences would want to know what their (IIFA) organizes its annual awards cere- mas, masala films reflect changes in Indias parents are like, to whom they are married, monies abroad to promote Indian cinema society and politics. You can analyze India and where their kids are. Seeing the protago- on an international stage. Actors and from the films, said Akhtar. Art records nist deal with an overbearing bari ma actresses revered by billions in Asia, Africa, hopes, fears, pride, and humiliation. Behind (grandmother) or a corrupt cousin gives and Arab countries walked around amidst the glamor and the dances you can see our them crucial information about the protag- the clueless locals, chased only by their contemporary aspirations. In the Fifties, there was idealism and hope in politics and onists morals. arduous Dutch fans of South Asian descent. The film industry in Bombay is not fond One of Bollywoods most prominent cinema. Prosperity seemed just around the of the moniker Bollywood, even though lyricists, Javed Akhtar, explained the differ- corner, but since there was a socialist climate, they invented the word in the Eighties. In ence between his films and those of the rich people were the bad guys. In the Seventhe nationalist Nineties it became a sign of Dutch film professionals filling the room: ties there was a breakdown of our instituweakness to suggest a connection with European films tend to deal with one emo- tions, martial law, the rise of vigilantes and American blockbusters. Even the city itself tion, or one problem. You can see them as the angry young man. The Eighties saw a dip was renamed Mumbai in a nationalist cam- short stories; whereas, an Indian film is in politics, music, films, and art. The induspaign, although many filmi people continue more like a novel. If you would make a film trialization of the Seventies had led to the to call it by its old name. One politically cor- in India called It Happened One Night, peo- rise of a middle class that was different from rect alternative is Indian cinema. That ple would feel cheated! They want larger- the landed gentry. They were the first generwould leave no distinction between the than-life stories. Indian sagas have to have ation to get educated on a massive scale. During the rule of the Hindu BJP party musical blockbusters coming out of Bom- every emotion in the book. In our first talkie bay, films shot in any of Indias twenty-one from 1933 there were fifty songs! There was from 1994 to 2004, masala films reached high languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Tamil or never any doubt that we wouldnt use songs. levels of technical excellence, providing picTelugu, and documentaries about social As a lyricist, I write to an existing tune and I ture-perfect visuals and soundtracksbut issues. The Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, try to solve a narrative problem in the con- with storylines and attitudes reflecting the partys conservative stance, whose world film classics emphasizing family values spawned what Indians call and religious patriotism. parallel (the equivalent of That decade produced art-house) cinema, would Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayfall in the same category as enge (1995), still shown in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis the Maratha Mandir TheHindi blockbuster Devdas. ater in Bombay, and reThe other suggested cently pronounced the moniker, Hindi cinema, is longest running film in also a bit of misnomer, India. The film cemented since that would suggest, the career of actor Shah for instance, that PariRukh Khan, now Bollyneetaa film made by a woods most powerful player. Bengali director and based He plays a London-based on a Bengali novel, but student who meets a fellow financed out of Mumbai Indian Londoner on a train is basically Hindi. And in Switzerland. After dropstrictly speaking Mumbai ping his ladies man act, culture is Marathi, not they must overcome her Hindi. Some Tamil films parents objections to the are based on the masala pairing. Only by returning formula, but would that to her native Punjab with make them Hindi, too? To its yellow mustard fields, confuse things further, and embracing the ways of non-Hindi cities like Kolthe old country, are they kata (the modern spelling fully accepted. of Calcutta) and Lahore in The film was an instant Pakistan have already been hit because of its portrayal dubbed Kollywood and of hip young NRIs (nonLollywood respectively. resident Indians), who also Politically correct film peoflocked to see the film all ple call it Hindi cinema, over the world. For the first but the rest of the world time, British and American calls it Bollywood. The audiences of Indian defilm business is one of the scent who saw their lifecountrys few industries styles partly reflected in the where caste, religion or film, turned out to be a tribe truly does not matter, force to be reckoned with. as long as you bring money Actor Shah Rukh Khan, or desired skills. In view of who previously played psythat mix, masala film seems Onirs My Brother Nikhil is the first Bollywood film to deal with AIDS. chotic bad guys, broke like a good compromise.
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Devdas

through with his first role as a romantic hero with a naughty college-boy persona. The packaging was slick, the production values high, but the message was retrogressive: return to the motherland and its family values. Heres what turns my stomach, writes Indian journalist Jerry Pinto in Outlook India, a current-affairs weekly. In all mainstream cinemathe hero must stand for us, so that we can vicariously live out our fantasies, winning the pretty lady, beating up the goons, spritzing politicians with a machinegun. Now what fantasy is it where the hero says he wont whisk off his heroine and marry her without his father-in-laws permission? Where is the anarchic potential of love that was always celebrated in Hindi films? The films Pinto refers to (Sujata, Bandhini, Pakeezah) were made in the Sixties, when violence started flaring up, and the early Seventies, when that violence led to martial law, and with it a subsequent loss of faith in institutions. Anarchy is a luxury few people can afford in real life. It is an ingredient of the dream factory. Viewers can revel in their heroes rejection of rejection.

Indian Cinema Today

Todays India is experiencing a significant growth in the computer and services industries. With increasing numbers of city dwellers aspiring and reaching middle-class security, they are less interested in anarchy and more in stability. Women are joining the work force in ever-greater numbers. Thanks to cable TV and a newfound prosperity, Indian tastes are changing. The classic masala flick tried to cater to an all-Indian audience. By casting a broad narrative net of

humor, melodrama, tears, and laughterall sprinkled with multicolored confettiproducers wanted to catch both the older farmhand who saves up all week for a movie ticket and the young, wealthy urbanite. Multiplexes charging high ticket prices have sprung up in cities and towns, accessible only to the upper-middle classes. Less well-off viewers make do with soap operas that are challenging taboos even more than feature films are. In response to the changing sensibilities of urban, middle-class audiences, the more adventurous producers are searching for something different. More film-school graduates are getting their first break in an industry where the big stars have typically passed on the baton to their children, regardless of their talent. These educated first-time directors are bringing new stories to Bombay, or new ways of telling old stories. Some producers are placing their bets on new talent outside the usual recruiting pool of acting dynasties such as the Bachchans and Kapoors. As a result, there have been a few films that seem to be breaking away from the formula, whether its in style, content, or production methods. Most of themBlack, My Brother Nikhil, Rang de Basanti, and Being Cyrushave been shown in the U.S. through NRI-targeted distributors or art-house theaters like the ImaginAsian in New York. A lot of the young generation directors are students from film schools, explains Onir, director of My Brother Nikhil, who presented his film at the Asia Society in New York last June. Born in Nepal, he is a graduate of comparative literature at Kolkata Jadavpur University and trained as a filmmaker in Berlin. After the New York screen-

ing, he took his film to Germany, where he showed it at the annual Bollywood & Beyond festival in Stuttgart. They do not belong to the Bollywood dynasty, and hence the films are much more experimental. Since audiences are rejecting ninety percent of formula Bollywood films, filmmakers are looking at how to get audiences into the theaters with new ideas and treatments. British filmmaker and writer Nasreen Munni Kabir has played a major role in popularizing the genre through U.K.s Channel Four documentaries and through several books. She has just completed two documentaries about the actor Shah Rukh Khan, The Inner/Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan, released on DVD by Eros Entertainment last September. According to Kabir, audiences in India are ready for a change. It seems that the days of anarchic love are numbered. The characters are allowed to be more human today in films, she says. In the Fifties, which to me was Bollywoods best period, they were more human too, but they had a different kind of morality. Now they have to do with the complexities of living in a modern India. Audiences are less bound to social rules. They understand through their own living that life is a struggle. There is scope for more complexity. I think that comes from watching Indian TV soaps; some of them talk about the difficulties of living with a mother-in-law, and so on. All these taboo areas of family relations are now examined. In 1996, Canadian director Deepa Mehtas Fire sparked riots in India because of the taboo subject matter of her film: the love between two women. Theaters were stormed in protest against the films portrait of two lonely women finding solace in each others arms. The producers of My Brother Nikhil, director Onir and main actor Sanjay Suri, werent going to take the same risk. Their film deals with the reaction of a young mans family when they find out he has been infected with HIV. Their main concern was not to focus on Nikhils sexuality or even how he contracted the virus in the first place. Instead they focused on Nikhils environmenthis partner, family, friends, colleagues, and authorities. The subject matter might suggest arthouse drama, but My Brother Nikhil aims at Bollywood audiences, with a mainstream cast (top actress Juhi Chawla and veteran Victor Bannerjee), a successful soundtrack, and an innovative marketing campaign by major distributor Yash Raj Films, in which young Bollywood stars ask the public: I care for Nikhildo you? The film is one of the few commercial productions to be financed independently. The film starts with a message saying its not based on a true story, explains Suri. We had to put it there to pass the censor; they wanted us to avoid any kind of controversy coming from anywhere. The law we mention in the film [isolating HIV positive citizens] is really true, and the story did hap-

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pen. We put all our money in thisfriends money, insurance money, and savings. We could not afford any kind of controversy. We wanted the film to be released. We could have argued with the censor, but we couldnt afford any kind of delay. The film is a modest success in India having been received positively by the mainstream media. It continues to be screened, and is also shown at AIDS awareness events in smaller towns or remote regions. Director Onir says some people bring their families to see the film in order to out themselves. But so far, the film has not been picked up by any of the Bollywood distributors in either the U.S. or the U.K., as NRI audiences are thought to be interested in nostalgic romances that reinforce their idea of the motherland they left behindrather than in bold new productions that highlight changes in that same motherland. Its a big problem for us, says Onir. Mainstream Bollywood distributors in the U.S. or U.K. are not willing to take risks and invest in advertising and promoting this kind of film. Because overseas audiences supposedly dont want to see films like My Brother Nikhil, they dont want to fund them. I think the second-generation NRI audiences would be interested in seeing a film like ours, but they dont get an opportunity to do so. We need a little bit more support for changing India and changing Indian cinema from the usual singing and dancing around trees. Some literary adaptations highlight the differences between classic Bollywood and filmmakers who are pushing against the boundaries. The blockbuster Devdas (2002) is based on a novel by the Calcutta author Saratchandra Chattopadhyay, whose literary classics from the early twentieth century inspired no less than forty screen adaptations. Devdas and his other works deal with weak Brahmin men whose upper caste stands in the way of happy marriages with their lower-caste childhood sweethearts. With a budget of $10 million, Devdas is the most expensive film ever made in India. A baroque fable with a distinctly unhappy ending, it features the worlds best-known Bollywood actors, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Ray (Bride and Prejudice). Devdas is masala at its most glorious. It takes visual vibrancy and sweeping emotions to the max, not an easy accomplishment in a genre that is already ruled by the motto more is more. The film has a highly polished look with sensually saturated colors, spellbinding choreography, and a memorable soundtrack. Partly cofinanced by French producers, it premiered at Cannes and made $5 million in North America alone. Parineeta is another screen adaptation from a Chattopadhyay novel, but it is almost the polar opposite of Devdas. Its world premire took place in Amsterdam during the 2005 IIFA Awards. Compared to Devdas, Parineeta is a study in restraint, apart from a hammed-up finale that feels tacked on.

Overall, Parineeta is a refined piece of work by producer Vidhu Vinodh Chopra, who has built his career making high quality features (Mission Kashmir, Munnabhai MBBS). Parineeta went on to screen in the highly selective Forum section of the International Berlin Film Festival. First-time feature director Pradeep Sarkar, a Kolkata native who has worked in advertising, shifted the story to 1962, a time of social unrest. Sarkar focuses on the familys faded Bengali gentility, giving the women a mid-Sixties glamor similar to Wong Kar-wais vamps from In the Mood for Love and 2046reminders that during that decade, Asia embraced pop culture, just like the rest of the world. After the premiere, Parineetas main actor Saif Ali Khan spoke about making the film: My mother [actress Sharmila Tagore and great-granddaughter of Nobel-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore] sent me a text message to say she is really proud of this film. Shes never done that before. Shes Bengali and theyre quite touchy about their art. Its the first time Ive worked with a lighting person who created so many shadows, as opposed to light. Comedy actor Khan was an unusual casting choice for the tortured soul of Shekhar, who gets stuck running the family business instead of following his heart. He yearns for a music career and the orphan girl he grew up with, but social mores stand in his way. Although mainly a love story, the film shows a family holding on to better days while Kolkata is burning. The films restraint makes it stand out from the usual masala fare. Producer Chopras risk in casting Khan has paid off. In Hindi cinema we are very melodramatic. Its all over the top. Its very

rare to see an actor who holds his own in a classic story. In the climactic moment he looks at his father and just walks away; I really dont recall a Hindi actor who underplayed a role like that. Underplaying has paid off for Saif Ali Khan, who is playing the role of Iago in an upcoming Indian screen version of Othello. In the past year, Khan has emerged as an actor of substance. After portraying yet another breezy playboy in Salaam Namaste (2005), he is surpassing his Parineeta performance in this years surprise hit, Being Cyrus. Made by first-time director Homi Adajania and a handful of first-time producers, this drama, drenched in black humor, was first screened in the U.S. to a sold-out crowd at New Yorks South Asian Film Festival in December 2005. Three months later, the film was released worldwide by Eros International, a mainstream Bollywood distributor with an office in New Jersey. This is also Indias first ever English-language film. Having middle-class Bombay characters speak English doesnt require a great stretch of the imagination. At the Parineeta press conference, Saif Ali Khan, who was educated in England, became slightly uncomfortable when Dutch journalists of Indian descent started firing questions in Hindi at him. Khan plays Cyrus, a rootless drifter who ends up in a curious mnage trois with a sculptor, who has exchanged pottery for industrial-strength pot, and his gaudy wife, whose libido goes into overdrive the minute she sees Cyrus standing on their doorstep. Cyrus manages to survive the disastrous dynamics in this particular household, but when he travels to Bombay to deal with the rest of the sculptors family, the plot takes a dark turn.

A scene from Homi Adajanias black comedy, Being Cyrus.

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Diya Mirza (with umbrella) and Saif Ali Khan (with racing glasses) star in Pradeep Sarkars remake of Parineeta (A Married Woman).

The sculptors older brother is abusing their ancient father, hoping to speed up the old mans demise so he can inherit his Bombay building. Cyrus takes pity on the man and tries to help him, but ultimately, he pursues a plot of his own. Having grown up in foster homes and still bearing the visible scars of that experience, Cyruss demons come to chase him in this Bombay episode. Director Adajania clearly enjoys visualizing those demons in the form of flashbacks, using sound effects and bold stylistic choices that are unusual for Bollywood. Comic relief is provided by veteran actor Boman Irani, a friend of the filmmakers father and undoubtedly one of the forces that gave the young director his first chance. His pomposity as the greedy older brother comes with a great deal of cursing in Parsi slang, which sent the audience in New Yorks ImaginAsian Theater howling with laughter. Since the film is not subtitled, non-Hindi speakers can only guess at the colorful content of Iranis curses. By Western standards, this is a particularly well-made indie drama. By Bombay standards, however, its a watershed moment. India has produced its fair share of world-class art-house cinema, but this film is special because it has been made in the Bollywood environment with big commercial stars, and it has been marketed through regular Bollywood channels. With a running time of ninety minutes, the film has no dance numbers or any other musical interludes, and the emotions are toned down, apart from the apparently hilarious Boman Irani. If the film had been released five years ago, I would have said theres no market for it in India, said trade journalist Komal Nahta on the BBC radio show Film Caf. Its not the usual Hindi film. But now there are a growing number of people who like to see such films, which is why the film had a reasonable start in Bombay.
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Like Hollywood, Bollywood is fond of hijacking material from successful films from all over the world, whether Hollywood, New York or Hong Kong. In Black (2005) director Sanjay Leela Bhansali magnified the painful suffering that was already present in his previous blockbuster Devdas. Black is a songless, danceless film that is based on the play Aatam Vinjhe Paankh, which was inspired by William Gibsons play about Helen Keller, The Miracle Worker. One of Bhansalis previous films, Khamoshi, had dealt with the same problems of deaf-mute people with no system to make sense of the world around them. Sadly, Khamoshi flopped as it may have been ahead of its time in 1996.

New Yorks ImaginAsian Theater presents U.S. premieres of many Bollywood films.

In the last two years, revered veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan has reinvented himself from the angry young man to a patriarch with Hindu family values. In Black he plays against type as the drunk, washedup teacher. He tries to bring light to the deaf-blind-mute Michelle, who is a scared, violent girl, lashing out at everything she doesnt know or understand. Actress Rani Mukherjee, who like many Indian actresses is often limited to playing the role of a girlfriend or wife, does an excellent job in portraying Michelles fear of the world around her. With her teachers help, Michelle ends up graduating from university and starts a clinic of her own. Like Devdas, the set designs are larger than lifea theatrically empty mansion, long shadows and dark-blue hues. Filled with Christian imagery, the films look is reminiscent of John Woos Hong Kong films, Bullet in the Head (1990) and Hardboiled (1992), in which Woo punctuates gory violence with moodily lit churches and white doves. Bhansali successfully externalizes Michelles panic, which she conquers, only to end up caring for her Alzheimersafflicted teacher. Director Bhansali has taken Bollywoods preference for hautes motions, but has swung the pendulum in the direction of despair, away from the usual ecstatic happiness displayed in typical masala films. His portrayal of Michelles panic is not merely psychological, the way it would be portrayed in Western realism, but is utterly cinematicconveyed through set design, costumes and lighting. The film was more successful overseas than in India. Despite rave reviews and numerous awards, some rural audiences may have resisted this departure from the Bollywood dream factory. But Hollywood is paying attention. Bhansali is the first Indian director to have signed a production deal with a Hollywood studio, Sony Pictures Entertainment, to make a film in his own country and on his own terms. His Saawariya is not meant to be a potential crossover hit, but a full-blown Hindi production. As Bhansalis work suggests, on a creative front, things are definitely changing on and off the soundstages of major studios. With the social democratic Congress Party having taken over the reign from the conservative BJP party, staunchly patriotic and conservative themes may be a thing of the past. All of the aforementioned films are cowritten by their directors and/or producers respectively, so there seems to be room for directors developing their own voice. It may be too early, however, to call it a New Wave, and historically, there have always been innovative directors within the industry. Its new and its not new, says Nasreen Munni Kabir from her London office. Black and Parineeta are remakes. There is a tendency to look back. But younger filmmakers are looking for different subjects and their treatment of them is new. Theyre

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tle room for character development moving away from stereotypes, and emotional plausibility. which is the most unusual thing. He played a similar role in this There is no villain, or a heroine; the years highly successful Rang de characterizations are changing. Basanti, which shows that an audiEvery generation has to find its ence exists for edgy drama with a own language, and theres a very political message. Khan plays an healthy atmosphere. I expect a lot ber-slacker and the ringleader of a of movement in Bollywood. Every group of fun-loving students who new film is redefining the genre. prefer motor bikes and techno For me, the most interesting of raves to attending classes. When a recent films is Munnabhai because young British filmmaker wants it continues the tradition of the them to play some of Indias first working-class hero. His encounters freedom fighters in her no-budget with the middle classes are very indie film, they slowly conquer funny. The films Kabir cites are their socio-political apathy. A pershorter (around two hours), conSanjay Leela Bhansalis Black, whose protagonist is blind, sonal tragedy fans the flames of tain less song and dance (although is an offbeat Bollywood film that has neither songs nor dance. their burgeoning indignation, and music remains a crucial compothey take matters in their own nent), and tap into the rich veins of hands. As this film and the Nineties psychological drama or social not what Bollywood is known for here. themessometimes subtly and sometimes Thanks to RTL2, Bhansali is by far the most hit DDLJ attests, young people in India and notthan is usual for Bollywood productions. popular Bollywood star in Germany. The abroad wish to recognize themselves on Typically, length and form have prevent- hardcore Bollywood lovers might be disap- screen, in films that take their lifestyle and ed Bollywood from making a big splash in pointed by a different kind of Hindi films; concerns seriously. Although it has a few highly infectious the West, as other Asian genres have done. whereas, other people wont watch the films And, while Bollywood will never become if they think theyll be seeing the usual Bol- and celebratory dance numbers, Rang de parallel cinemawhose main auteurs lywood flick with just too much schmaltz Basanti is not about extended families and big weddings. The marketing of this film has Satyajit Ray, Mani Kaul, and Buddhadev for their taste. Dasgupta are already revered in the West by A few adventurous producers and film- revolved around blogs and message boards, festival programmers, critics, and scholars makers seem to be breathing new life into where star Aamir Khan chatted with fans, alikethe question remains as to whether it Bollywood by making their own voices while the traditional media had to sit back can open the door for new young filmmak- heard rather than sticking to the rules. But and wait their turn for an interview slot. ers and help them find new audiences, both for real change to take effect, the industry Some eager film pundits have already proin India and abroad. needs to support them in terms of distribu- claimed Rang de Basanti the Black of 2006, This would be possible only if the indus- tion, marketing, and exhibition. Making but this was before Being Cyrus came out. Rang de Basanti broke our attendance tryproduction, marketing, and distribu- Bollywood a success in the West would tionis able to see the potential. Producers require the London and New York-based records, says ImaginAsian theater proneed to find the guts to fund films that are Indian distributors to market to non-NRIs. grammer Dylan Marchetti. We sold 4000 not projects, a term used in Bollywood to Unless international distributors pick up tickets in three weeks and after a couple of refer to mainstream films with big casts films for a wider audience, it will always screenings, there must have been some composed of mainstream actors, com- remain for Indian audiences only, says word-of-mouth buzz, because we started to ments Onir from Germany, where he is pre- Kabir. I went to see Stephen Chows Kung see an increase in non-Indian visitors. It senting My Brother Nikhil in the countrys Fu Hustle, which is distributed by Columbia crossed over because it had an original story, Beyond Bollywood festival in Stuttgart. It Tri-Star, and I can see why. Its brilliantly not copied from Hollywood, plus a great has to come from a creative need to risk and made, very entertaining, and you dont need soundtrack and a good cast. Its true that Rang de Basanti is closer to invest in something new. to know the whole of Cantonese culture to Gabriele Ammerman is a free-lance TV follow the narrative. Indian films are defi- Bollywood with its emotional overdrive and colorful dance scenes. But any film about producer from Germany who traveled to nitely more complex in that way. Amsterdam for the IIFA awards, hoping to Gabriele Ammerman thinks classic Bol- social issues had better pay extra attention to make some Bollywood connections. After lywood stands a better chance in Germany the emotional arc of its characters, and two major German channels, ARTE and than the newer, more adventurous films. Being Cyrus with its dysfunctional individuRTL2, started showing Bollywood films last To get a wider German audience, the films als does a better job of keeping its viewers year, she has seen a surging interest in the would need to get some PR first, then a good engaged, both emotionally and visually. India is a young country and is still genre, particularly among Germanys Turk- translation or a dubbing. All this will cost ish population and German teenagers who money, and I cant see anyone risking 200,000 defining itself. Should it give in to the lure of consider Bollywood hip, thanks to the emer- Euros to promote an unusual Hindi film here, growing consumerism and other Western gence of bhangra music and Bollywood club without any guarantee of getting the money aspirations? Should it hold on to its homethemes. Other Germans seem to appreciate back. Only if the Indian film producers invest in grown values? But how to do that without the dream world no longer offered by Holly- marketing and media relations, will their regressing into conservative sloganeering? The Hindu conservatives may have retreated wood or the European cinema. films have a chance on the Western market. Films like Veer-Zaara or Main Hoon Na Lagaan proved that Western audiences temporarily, but pride in the countrys indemay have a modern message thrown in, like were ready for a dose of Indian history, pendence is never far away. Perhaps its better not to look for this years a little feminism or the hope for peace dance numbers and even an hour-long between India and Pakistan, but still the cricket match. Producer/actor Aamir Khan Black, but to keep looking for the new talents masala recipe is the same as it was ten or has recently followed this up with two other who are slowly fighting their way through twenty years ago, Ammerman points out. historically inspired roles as a rebel against the Bollywood machine to get their vision Black and Parineeta show how Bollywood British rule. He played a mutineer in last on the big screen. After all, their films reflect filmmakers are experimenting with different years The Rising, which collapsed under the a country that is expected to play a big role I stories, settings and style. Right now they are weight of its historic pretensions, leaving lit- on the world stage of the new century.
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