Bollywood meets Hollywood in new film

The film is in English, but the songs are mostly all in Hindi. Hollywood has just brought out its first film set entirely in Bollywood, a cross-cultural romantic comedy which opens across Britain, India and America tonight.

Marigold is an effort to use the big money of Hollywood studios to woo India's vast audiences - but will it attract a wider appeal?

New territory

Marigold is Hollywood's first proper footing into the land of Bollywood. India has the world's biggest cinema-going public and American studios have been keen to cash into the lucrative market for some time now.

The big studios, including Warner Bros and Sony, all want to be included in an industry that is predicted to rise from last year's £1.1bn £2.2bn by 2011. But with £9 of every £10 spent on indigenous films, they've decided to conquer by keeping native.

Fighting for space

But with the mighty giants in the Bollywood-distributing world such as Eros International already with the lion's share of the market, will there be room for Hollywood to flex its minuscule muscles?

Pranab Kapadia of Adlabs, the Indian company that co-produced the film, believes that Hollywood's distributing power can enable Bollywood to reach a wider audience.

Already partnered

This isn't the first time that the world's two most powerful film industries have crossed paths.

Shiraz Hasan's Hollywood entertainment show, Tinseltown TV, which was aired in over 130 countries helped bridge the gap and his Hollywood.tv streamlines gossip and celebrity news from both industries.

In his London diner, songs from Bollywood blare in the background while pictures of American actors decorate the walls - a sign that Bollywood is integrating into popular culture.

Reaching out

So far Bollywood films are mainly shown in areas where British Asian communities dominate but Marigold is being shown in mainstream theatres, which means wider advertising and therefore a greater number of potential cinema goers.

Bollywood star Salman Khan says this film is a one-off for him - because speaking English consistently was challenging.

But if Marigold succeeds at the box office, he might decide to improve his language skills...

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?