Bollywood Goes Global


Written by Manam Iqbal • Features • November 2009

Hollywood and Bollywood have joined hands in a multi-million dollar venture to make six movies a year. So, is the world ready for an entertainment blitz?

Anil Ambani's Reliance group has tabled a colossal offer of 825M USD to DreamWorks at a time when recession has hit the world hard.

"Wow! It seems Bollywood has more money then Spielberg. That's amazing!" That is how Rohi Pandya, the New-York based film-maker reacted to the news.

Like any other Indian sector, Bollywood is also getting worldwide attention as it gets geared up to go global. Investors see today's India as a goldmine where one becomes one- million in no time. The Hollywood-Bollywood bond is a pathway to open doors for Indian actors to go international. It is a good reason to rejoice as it will be the first time that Bollywood stars will truly have bigger things to look forward to at a global forum. If we go by the earlier track record of Indian actors in the US, each time they have gone in feeling exuberant and come out feeling shallow.

Nearly 15 years ago, the formidable Shabana Azmi had excitedly trotted off to Hollywood to play a princess in Blake Edward's "The Return of the Pink Panther". She was cast as a wicked queen.

Finally, when the film was released, her role was abbreviated to worse than a walk-on part. Though the lady stood by the film, her fans all over the world felt disappointed. Shabana was never seen in an international project thereafter. Having learnt from her bitter experience, Aishwarya Rai has gone about her international career with utmost care and is said to be the only local star to have truly gone Hollywood with her most recent Pink Panther 2 and the not-so-recent Bride and Prejudice and Mistress of Spices. She refuses to play glorified walk-on parts or compromise with her star status back home.

In fact she was reportedly offered the role of Helen in "Troy", which she duly turned down. Apparently, she wasn't comfortable with nudity. But Indians have received better role offers when they were cast as Indians, like Ayesha Dharker in "The Mystic Masseur" by Ismail Merchant or Sharmila Tagore in Mira Nair's "Mississippi Masala".

Om Puri and Victor Banerjee have played central roles in "East Meets West" and "A Passage to India". But most Indian actors have always been given junior side-roles. Perhaps the best and only way for Indian actors to make a name internationally was to work with expatriate directors who would cast them in the Bollywood mould. However, all this will change as the two largest film-industries of the world get down to business. The nuptial knot between the two entertainment industries has brought India in the limelight giving the "India-Shining" image an extra sheen.

Anil Ambani with his co-partners Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider intends to produce quality movies of genres ranging from thrillers to comedy and love stories. The South Asian tycoon's Reliance Group is the third largest powerhouse in India holding stakes in telecommunications, energy and building infrastructure.

The American business magazine Forbes ranked Anil Ambani as the 6th richest man in the world. The story of Reliance's founder Dhirubhai Ambani is that of a turn-over from rags to riches. Starting as a dispatch clerk with A. Besse & Co. in Yemen at the age of 16 and returning back to his native land with 15000 in capital, he initiated a small company and called it Reliance Commercial Corporation. The primary business of the company was to import polyester yarn and export spices.

Its first office was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs with two assistants to help in the business. In 1965, late Ambani's partnership with Champaklal Damani ended and he started on his own. Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and none of his business deals had less then a 300% profit margin.

As Bill Gates put it, "If you're born poor, it's not your fault but if you die poor, it is your fault". He always believed the world to be full of opportunities and inculcated the same set of beliefs in his sons Mukesh and Anil who took the company to the pinnacle of success.

According to American billionaire investor George Soros who invested 100 million USD in Reliance BIG last year, Indian entertainment industry is destined to play a very crucial role in world entertainment in years to come. Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks before recently coming in to contract with the Indian investor finalized its divorce with Viacom's paramount pictures. The company was formed with much fanfare in 1994. But after an uneven run, it was sold to Viacom's Paramount in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Since then, Spielberg and his team were eager to part ways with Paramount which took place just recently.

After a speculation of almost three months the deal has finally been concluded. Anil Ambani Group will invest $550 million into Steven Spielberg's Hollywood venture DreamWorks to start a new studio. The reports say the Ambani's ADAG will invest the money as equity, while another $750 million will come as debt from leading investment banker JP Morgan Chase, resulting in a unique blending together of eastern and western movie culture. Expectations were high as South Asian audiences went agog over the newly-formed Indian-American partnership. Funding battle was tough for Spielberg because of evaporation of Wall Street financing in Hollywood, thus opening doors to foreign investment. To raise finance, Spielberg had to sell a half interest in the company to Reliance who was eager to get a toehold in Hollywood. Spielberg and Snider, in a statement, thanked Anil personally for his "foresight and fortitude over the past months".

To conclude, there would be profound changes in both Asian as well as American societies on different levels due to the first merger of eastern and western creativity. The culture of South Asian civilization will reach mass audiences throughout the world making better understanding and amicable relations between nations possible to quite an extent. Reliance, apart from bringing an economic boom as a result of the new project will also help in the amalgamation of western professionalism with eastern imagination.