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No
getting away from Bollywood in Britain
By Subroto
Mukherjee
GlobalomNet
Media Service
Preeya Kalidas |
‘More from Bollywood is to come this year. A
festival of films from South Asia, mostly Bollywood films, will be
staged for eight months this year. The festival will bring
hundreds of Indian films to scores of theatres across Britain.
There will be seminars, discussions and a whole range of
accompanying events.
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Om Puri |
“I
love you, you love me, but O no,
here’s my dad!” That is how one British critic summed up Bollywood
cinema.
Right or wrong it really meant that British critics are now looking at
Bollywood films. How long could they not, with one Indian film after
another making it to the top ten in Britain.
Dil Se was the first to surprise everyone by making it to the top ten.
Not bad for a film that sought to reach movie-goers in a South Asian
population of 2.5 million. It did better than what many films got trying
to reach movie-goers in the whole of the British population of 59
million.
Now it has become routine for an Indian film to be among the top ten
draws. And this has drawn attention from several critics looking to see
what this is all about.
The jewel in the crown of the new attention is the musical Bombay Dreams
being produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the West End theatre district.
Webber is arguably the most successful man in world theatre.
For a generation now his musicals like Phantom of the Opera, Cats and
Starlight Express have dominated theatre in London. To see a West End
show in London today is almost synonymous to going to a Webber musical.
And now Webber is producing Bombay Dreams, a musical where the music is
being done by A.R.Rahman, not himself. The star is all south Asian.
Preeya Kalidas plays the lead role opposite Raza.
Much of the music will have the flavour of A.R.Rahman’s songs already
heard. Dil Se inspired Webber, and a song from Dil Se will launch his
new production. A human train appears to start off the play with the
song ”Chhaiyaan-chhaiyaan” Several other songs spring from
Rahman’s hits, but some will be new. Oscar winner Don Black is doing
the lyrics.
The musical to be staged at the 2,200-seat Apollo Victoria theatre goes
on show from June 19. The play is booked for at least a year, but is
expected to run much longer than that.
The South Asian stars are dreaming already of staging the play on
Broadway. But Webber’s production company, The Really Useful Theatre
Company, will test the mood of the audiences in London first.
The play was made possible in great measure by Shekhar Kapur, who sought
to persuade Webber, even though Webber seemed to have needed little
persuasion. Shekhar Kapur has brought new respectability to Bollywood -
though serious figures like him and Amitabh Bachchan do not speak of
“Bollywood” but of Indian cinema. To most Brits, and not a few South
Asians, the name Bollywood has stuck.
After the success of films like Masoon and Mr India, Shekhar Kapur made
a name in the West with Bandit Queen and again with Elizabeth, which was
nominated for an Oscar. That was the first time an Indian director had
directed a mainstream Western production.
Bollywood has come to be noticed in all sorts of ways. After the success
of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le
Jayenge, much of which was filmed in Britain, many Indian films are now
being shot in Britain. Mohabbatein, and then K3G (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi
Gham). Many more productions are on their way from Bombay to Britain.
And unexpectedly a play in English on a Bollywood film drew wide
attention. The Tamasha Theatre Company based in London adapted Hum Aapke
Hain Kaun for stage in English. The play notched up 175 performances for
more than 44,000 people - a record for a South Asian play in Britain.
The play called Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral, was staged
in London and in many other towns across Britain. The play was reviewed,
and largely praised, in all leading newspapers in Britain. From seeing
something on Bollywood, many turned to seeing something from Bollywood.
None went further in that direction than Lagaan. That was partly because
it had two English actors, and a story that would strike a chord with
the British. But largely, also because the film had the kind of
production tone that Western audiences can accept.
The film’s distributors prayed for that Oscar for a new lease of
success. But Oscar-less, the film did a lot less than it was expected
to, successful as it was. But it was a refreshing change to see Lagaan
playing at theatres such as one facing Piccadilly Circus in London, a
theatre where no film from India could be staged before.
Bollywood has inspired at least two films on Bollywood. One of them,
Bollywood Queen, has been completed. The lead role is played by Preeya
Kalidas, the Gujarati girl playing the lead role in the musical Bombay
Dreams. Another film, Johnny Bollywood has gone into production, with Om
Puri playing a major role.
More from Bollywood is to come this year. A festival of films from South
Asia, mostly Bollywood films, will be staged for eight months this year.
The festival will bring hundreds of Indian films to scores of theatres
across Britain. There will be seminars, discussions and a whole range of
accompanying events.
And to mark the golden jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth, a big
Bollywood show will be staged in Blackpool in north England later this
year.
The Bollywood fever is on. Selfridges, the most fashionable of
department stores in London, will run a 24-day Bollywood theme at its
stores on Oxford Street in London and in Manchester through May.
Bollywood sets will be created, there will be Bollywood dancing, and
many stars will visit the store. Two designers have created a set to
match Dimple Kapadia’s house at the store.
And the conservative Victoria & Albert museum is launching an
exhibition of Bollywood posters in June. The exhibition will cover
various phases of Indian cinema. Some poster painters will be flown in
to complete posters right at the Victoria & Albert museum.
The difficulty this year will not be where to find Bollywood; there is
simply no getting away from Bollywood in Britain this year.
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