Sphere of Influence

Its time for the Cannes film festival again. This year as well we have an Indian member on the jury - Nandita Das. Last year it was Aishwarya Rai. The Cannes film festival has been a place where Indian cinema leaves its mark. Be it, Aishwarya's dazzling dress last year(see below) or the fact that Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali will begin proceedings at the Cannes Classics session.

It has been pretty fashionable among young people in Western India at least to mock Indian movies, but I'm a die-hard fan. I might not like all Hindi movies, but I undoubtedly love all of them. Right from spectacular Mughal-E-Azam, melodious Arzoo (*ing Jubilee King Rajendra Kumar), cult-classic Sholay, Mithun's Disco Dancer where Bappi Lahiri shone, wildly popular Tezaab, all-time-favourite DDLJ upto present-day Yuva.
Finally it seems like Bollywood movies are starting to make an impact the world-over. I read recently that
20th Century Fox bought Munnabhai script to remake it in English. Now thats definitely very interesting. In fact in India, we dont realise how much Bollywood has spread all over the world. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how many Americans wanted to see Bride and Prejudice (not so good), or how many actually came to see Hrithik in Lakshya (excellent).

For that matter, its also heartening to see that 'Bend it Like Beckham' star Parminder Nagra has a really great role on the NBC series ER where she plays a doctor.
(For pictures of Parminder).
And of course there is Mr Kalpen Patel, or Kal Penn who starred in 'Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle'. (If you haven't seen this movie, then you are missing the time of of your life). Kal landed the role of Ashton Kutcher's best friend in 'A Lot Like Love' which was a mainstream Hollywood movie.
South-Asian actors and movies are starting to get more and more popular. I have an Armenian friend who comes from Yerevan and claims that Raj Kapoor movies (dubbed in Russian) are shown pretty regularly on national television. I also have this article about popularity of Bollywood in Indonesia.
(See here.)
Or for that matter there is this blog(hindifilmi) by a Finnish student doing his masters on Bollywood movies!!

Coming back to Cannes, Aishwarya Rai made quite an impression last year. She went on to make appearances on David Letterman, and Oprah. Undoubtedly she has done a lot to bring attention to Bollywood. (Notably she isn't event that good an actress, she just has a great publicist.) Of course there was also Lagaan, which could/should have made a bigger impression in world media. For all the hype in India, there was surprisingly little hype abroad.

In conclusion, the hindi movie sphere of influence is growing, steadily. And lets not forget the South Indian film industry which churns out probably more movies than Bollywood. Outside India, these movies are nearly as popular as Bollywood ones!!