Indian films gain fans, influence -- even in Hollywood

I Am Kalam," with Harsh Mayar, left, and Gulshan Grover

Hollywood movies may still dominate the world market. But the United States does not boast the world's largest film industry -- and the country that does, India, is more and more becoming a player on the international scene.

As well as right here, in what may not quite accurately be called the movie capital of the world anymore.

With some 1,000 releases per year, India's movie output is, by one measure, almost double this country's: According to the Motion Picture Association of America, 560 major and independently distributed films were released here in 2010.

The scope and popularity of Indian movies is also apparent here, especially this month. The ninth annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles starts Tuesday and runs through Sunday, April 17. Indian movies screen on a regular basis, as well, at several Southern California multiplexes, including Laemmle's Fallbrook 7 in West Hills.

"Often, these will be some of the higher-grossing films that we play at the theater," noted the art house chain's president, Greg Laemmle. "When we have a film that works, like `3 Idiots' or something like that, the opening weekend numbers will be massive."

That comedy starring Aamir Khan - one of the two reigning superstars of the glitzy, Hindi language Bollywood cinema - did better at Fallbrook than such English-speaking hits as "The Ghost Writer," "City Island" and "Crazy Heart."

"My Name Is Khan" -- which starred the other current King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan (no relation to Aamir) -- was Fallbrook's fourth-highest grossing film of 2010.

That said, the audiences for first-run Indian movies come almost exclusively from South Asian communities. Despite the popularity of "Slumdog Millionaire" - the director and lead actor of which were British - Bollywood's melodramatic, break-for-a-dance-sequence-

every-15-minutes and stage-a-lavish-wedding conventions have yet to catch on with Western filmgoers the way,

"Zokkomon," with Sheeba Chandha, left, and Anupam Kher

say, that Hong Kong action film style did around 15 years ago.

IFFLA Executive Director Christina Marouda said, however, that her festival is changing that.

"About 65 percent of the attendees are South Asian," said Marouda, a Greece-born fan of Indian films. "The rest are very diverse. We especially program our `Bollywood By Night' section for the non-Indian community, for people who just want to watch a fun film."

That includes both typical examples of the Bollywood formula and stuff from a newer wave of filmmakers influenced by American indies and other Western forms of storytelling.

"`Mumbai Diaries' is one of the good quality films from Bollywood, even though it doesn't have the traditional song-and-dance," Marouda said. "`Wedding Planner,' on the other hand, is full-on Bollywood; they dance all the time."

That's just the tip of a Himalaya-sized iceberg of diversity that informs Indian cinema. To start with, the much-discussed Bollywood - slick Hindi movies made in the country's media capital Mumbai (formerly Bombay, hence the B) - contributes just around one-third of the nation's film output. Most regions, from the northwestern Punjab to southeastern Bengal, make their own movies in local languages.

The far southern Tamil- and Telugu-speaking film industries are almost as thriving as Bollywood - and their movies often do as well at theaters in diaspora communities here, in the Middle East and throughout the British Commonwealth.

Since Hindi and English are the two lingua franca of India, though, the better-financed Bollywood films - which can afford to be dubbed or subtitled - travel best both in and outside of India. They also exert a remarkable unifying effect on a subcontinent that's long been, and still often is, riven by religious hostility.

"Historically, that region has had Hindu-Muslim conflicts for centuries," noted Gitesh Pandya, New York-based editor of the website boxofficeguru.com and a U.S. marketing consultant for Indian films. "It's refreshing to see that the box office in India, the big Hindu country, is ruled by Muslim actors. It's one of the great things about Indian society: People don't

"Peepli Live," with Sitaram Panchal, center

look at that religious barrier when it comes to entertainment."

Another thing egalitarian, capitalism-loving Americans should like about India: There's a lot of money there. And it's flowing back and forth between South Asia and Hollywood.

All of the major studios have operations on the subcontinent, not just distributing American product to India's ever-growing theatrical and television outlets, but sometimes making films for the local market. IFFLA's closing night gala presentation, for example, is the world premiere of "Zokkomon," a family adventure produced in India by Disney.

It also works the other way around. In 2008, India's vast conglomerate Reliance ADA pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks operation, basically financing the mini-major studio's production slate for years to come.

"India has become an emerging player in financing at a time when a lot of money from hedge funds or Europe or wherever it might be has dried up," Pandya observed.

"In India, the economy has not been as hurt by the recession as it has in other parts of the world. Major players there have money to invest that could eventually save many Hollywood companies. I think, in the next three years, that's only going to increase, not decrease."

Uday Kumar is the U.S. business head of Reliance's Media Works subsidiary. From his Burbank office, Kumar has overseen the establishment of the 140-screen Big Cinemas chain - which shows both Indian and American movies - in this country, and explores ways to use Reliance's huge communications resources to deliver and promote entertainment with increasing efficiency.

"In the last 10 years, we have seen the evolution of the Indian film business from privately owned, privately funded, unorganized money as the driving force to corporatized, public entities that are now doing the business of entertainment," said Kumar, who'll be part of an IFFLA panel titled "Hollywood's Evolving Relationship with India" next Saturday.

While he doesn't expect Bolly - or any of the other Indian "woods" - to supplant Hollywood anytime soon, Bangalore native Kumar foresees only growth for his country's cinematic influence at home and abroad.

"Obviously, the Reliance Group is interested in growing our entertainment business vertically, as a global player," Kumar said. "I'm sure that it's just a matter of time before what you saw emanating out of Hong Kong happening with India. Many more `Slumdog Millionaires' and all of that is going to happen."

Virginie Ledoyen Christina DaRe Jamie Lynn Sigler Jennifer Garner Maggie Gyllenhaal