From LA to Mumbai

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Bollywood's finest — read Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Shabana Azmi, Om Puri et al — have been making their presence felt in Hollywood for a while now. But now, it seems like Hollywood is opening up even more to the film industry here. At a recent press conference, Wolverine star Hugh Jackman expressed his desire to work in Bollywood films, although, “I may also have to learn how to dance to be a part of the industry I suppose,” he admitted Kristen Stewart and Brad Pitt too have expressed a keen desire to work with Bollywood stars. While the former believes that Hrithik is a very good-looking actor, Pitt on the other hand still wishes to work with Aishwariya Rai.
And not just our veteran actors, younger ones like Ali Fazal (best known for his role as Joy Lobo in 3 Idiots) are being approached for Hollywood projects like Fast and the Furious 7.
“As a person starting out in the film industry, to have got an opportunity such as this was not only fun, but very exciting too. I have always wanted to see how Hollywood works and this is the perfect chance. I love being a part of entertainment and acting. But this is a completely different set up that I will be working in,” Fazal says.
Another actor who will soon be seen in a mainstream H’wood production is R. Madhavan, who has a role in the remake of the cult horror film Night of the Living Dead.
Actors like Amrish Puri, Victor Banerjee, Kabir Bedi and Roshan Seth were among the first to “cross over” to Hollywood, and it seems that Hollywood is finally ready to return the “favour”. “In the last five years, the boundaries that segregated one film industry from the other have thinned, thus allowing globalisation to permeate through the wall. This has also brought recognition and fame to both film industries. Over the past decade, with the increase in revenue, films have also improved. While commercial viability may not be much for such films, creating a stage to successfully launch a crossover will take time,” says director Luv Ranjan.
There is a certain belief that Western studios and actors are merely trying to cash in on Bollywood box office potential. But film critic Mayank Shekhar disagrees. Shekhar says that even with a growing economy, it will take a lot of time for the Indian film industry to reach the same financial prosperity as that of Hollywood’s. “A normal American television serial episode will cost the same as one of the most expensive Bollywood films. Therefore, a 100-crore film in India is nothing compared to the 5,000-crore club that most (H’wood) actors are a part of. While the Indian economy may take time to grow up financially, commercial viability of films that involve actors from Hollywood as well as Bollywood will be based on the footfall they receive. A Hollywood star acting in the film may help in increasing the footfall tenfold,” he says.
At a time when the two industries seem to have developed a close bond, Taran Adarsh believes an interesting phase is in the offing that will not abate anytime soon. “Despite our country not being too rich to afford making Bollywood and Hollywood crossovers, such films provide entertainment and people enjoy watching them,” he says, “At the same time, let’s not count our chickens before they are hatched.”