Indian cinema's time to shine

Indian cinema is making its way to screens around the world and making waves. Bollywood, as the mainstream Hindi-language film industry is popularly known, has produced superstars like Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan whose paychecks rival -- or even surpass -- those of Hollywood A-listers. 
The film industry has also caught Hollywood's eye, with moguls cozying up to their Bollywood counterparts. And while the stereotype of the song-and-dance epic is hard to shake, filmmakers are cultivating a wider audience with more nuanced productions, reports the Nikkei Review.
Demand for Indian films is rising as more people from India and neighboring countries come to Southeast Asia to work. Theater operators are beginning to offer a variety of Indian movies. Singapore's Golden Village Multiplex, which operates 11 cinemas around the city-state, has screened 19 Indian films since the beginning of the year, compared with just three in all of 2014. It began showing Hindi films regularly in 2005, adding Tamil movies in the past few years along with some in Malayalam, another southern Indian language.
Sharanjit Kaur, director of programming at Golden Village Multiplex, says she sees "sufficient demand" from audiences to keep Indian titles on screens. An influx of Indian film distributors to Southeast Asia has helped ensure a constant supply of Tamil and Hindi movies. "Malays and Chinese enjoy them as well," Kaur said of some mainstream Indian films.
Indian cinema magic is winning fans across the globe. In the U.S., the audience is mostly ethnic Indians drawn to movies from the old country.
The number of screens is on the rise in the U.S. but the number of viewers per screen is falling. AMC Theatres, the country's largest multiplex operator, which controls 35% of the market, is trying to turn things around by targeting the growing number of people with Indian roots.
AMC has screened 53 Indian movies in the first half of this year, grossing $7 million. At its theater in Santa Clara, California, it recently showed "Katti Batti," a Hindi-language Bollywood romance subtitled in English.
"Bollywood is now culturally or morally more tolerant," said Tushar Jain, a 37-year-old employee at a technology company who brought a date to the movie. In "Katti Batti," the unmarried protagonists live together, something that was never shown before in conservative Bollywood movies, Jain said.
"Bollywood became realistic to reach a global audience," said Aditya Thakkar, 27, another worker at a technology company. "I recommended it to my Chinese friends and they liked it."
According to Sony Jalarajan Raj, an assistant professor at MacEwan University in Canada who studies the Indian film industry, it was Bollywood that first exploited its global connections as the country opened up its economy in 1991. Previously, the industry was focused only on Europe and parts of South Asia, and the films were mainly in Hindi.
"But now it is becoming a mixture of local languages and English. Switching of languages is appealing to the global audience. Indian films are now being exported to Turkey, Iran, the Middle East, Vietnam and everywhere else," Raj said.
Another factor in the growth of Indian cinema is the diaspora, which now has the money, power and mobility to influence people around the world. "These empowered people with Indian roots carry their entertainment products to all of these countries and unleash their cultures to other races through the medium of entertainment," Raj said, adding social media is playing a big role in expanding the fan base of stars.
Jehil Thakkar, head of media and entertainment at professional services company KPMG's Indian unit, estimates the $2 billion Indian movie industry does 10-15% of its business overseas. "It is still restricted to the Indian diaspora. Indian movies haven't quite crossed over." There are certain limits in viewership, but the business is growing fast. The Indian film industry, Thakkar said, is expected to grow 10-12% annually, reaching $3.5 billion in the next five years.
That growth has caught the attention of Hollywood. Walt Disney Pictures coproduced "Khoobsurat," a romantic comedy released in 2014, and "ABCD 2," a 2015 dance movie. The recently released "Brothers" was backed by Lionsgate Films and Endemol India.
Hollywood is also welcoming more actors from India. Irrfan Khan has appeared in several Hollywood movies, including "Life of Pi." Anil Kapoor, a successful Bollywood actor, appeared in the Academy Award-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire." 
"Quantico," a TV drama about FBI recruits that premiered on U.S. TV network ABC on Sept. 27, features Priyanka Chopra, a top Bollywood actress, in a lead role. The following day, Chopra tweeted: "Thank u for all the love for 'Quantico,' can't wait for you all to c episode 2 next Sunday!"
India, which makes roughly 1,000 movies a year, has an extremely diverse industry. According to KPMG's Thakkar, Bollywood accounts for about half of the Indian film industry, while southern cinema — films made in Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam and Kannada — make up about a third. Bengali, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and others account for the rest. Now Hollywood is taking a bigger piece of the box office pie.

 

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