Outtakes: Bipin Karma on set: Young Actor from Nepal in the Bustling Hong Kong Film Scene

Outtakes from a shoot with young actor Bipin Karma, you can read the full interview with the promising, rising young star in the November 2021 edition of Prestige Hong Kong. 

Star of Hand Rolled Cigarette, it's a phenomenal debut. The young nominee is heading to awards season. Fingers crossed. 

Signed with Model One agency-- that resemblance to Zayn Malik (without the awful tattoos!) paying off in some ways... 

First Action Hero: Bipin Karma: Actor from Nepal who leaps across the pages of Prestige Hong Kong, Nov issue.

First Action Hero: Bipin Karma: Actor from Nepal who leaps across the pages of Prestige Hong Kong, Nov issue. 

The hunt for exquisite Jade

For a profile of Hong Kong designer Barney Cheng, I did an extensive multiple day interview and shoot, marking the 25th anniversary of his eponymous brand. The popular designer has several celebrity fans, including Michelle Yeoh and model turned actress Celina Jade.

Between her packed film shooting schedule, I interviewed the actress regarding her long-standing collaborations with Cheng and we did several looks featuring Barney Cheng couture and jewellery, as an accompanying piece to the main article. Everything you see in the left picture is from Cheng's design house. While photographer Ruby Law was taking perfect snaps of the perfectly poised Jade, who was studded with rubies and glittering diamonds, I was taking BTS shots in my often blurry phone camera. I posted this picture on social media for my.. 10s and 12s of followers!

What followed was... unprecedented on the account. An avalanche of trolling and hate speech, the likes of which I have never seen, bombarded the page. A mixture of bile filled comments in both Chinese and English. Apparently some... crazy person... in China? In some God-forsaken artery in Kowloon?.... slammed us for the shoot and feature as they hated Celina Jade for dating or breaking up some guy. Allegedly. We would delete the comment and three more would pop up the following day. Someone very unemployed who had time to write near-essays of virulent trolling.

For the record, Jade was a wonderful interview, a thorough professional at the shoot and lovely to work with. So the spewing that we read online was shocking.

We don't know if it was a bot or some aggressive person with severe mental issues, but it was relentless for weeks on end and we had to turn off the comment section on both the official account of the magazine and my personal account. Oyve.

The perils of fame, fandom with a pinch of cray cray.

On the plus side, the normal somnambulism of our social media account has never seen so much fire and ire. ..

A Certain Age - at Prestige.

Madhuri Dixit performs at IIFA 2013

The power of Bollywood (and the wide Indian diaspora being what it is - especially online!), thrilled to bits that one of the most read/clicked on feature at Prestige.com is my littl' chat with la Dixit.

Check it out here --> A Certain Age
http://prestigehongkong.com/2013/09/certain-age

Madhuri Dixit: A Certain Age: Exclusive interview with a Bollywood Queen

A CERTAIN AGE

Amid the melee of the International Indian film Academy Awards (IIFA) weekend, P.Ramakrishnan found himself in a select audience with MADHURI DIXIT, dancing diva and living dream



NOTES:

Being a true-blue Bollywood fan, I have lived it up professionally. Have interviewed all the (living!) greats including Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aasha Bhosle, Hema Malini... and now, Madhuri Dixit.

Being a hardcore Sridevi fan (the blog is indeed mine), this was a conflicting assignment.

Have to say, Madhuri Dixit was magic. Something about her indeed...

Entire feature up online at Prestige. com

Command Performance

Bollywood king Shah Rukh Khan has a simple aim: to put a smile on his fans' faces at home and abroad with his films, the actor tells P. Ramakrishnan.

"I don't know if the Hong Kong audience will identify with our style of action - bu it has that element of humour and thrills"

Shah Rukh Khan, of Chennai Express.

It is hard to measure the magnitude of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's fame and popularity. Long known as "King Khan" for his box office drawing power, there are fan sites dedicated to him in Asia, but even fans from Estonia, Mexico, Chile and New Zealand wax eloquent about his dimples, his hair, the intensity of his eyes and his smile.

Thanks to subtitled and badly dubbed DVDs that reach far-flung frontiers, there are few places on earth where that face and tousled hair aren't recognised.

When asked about his broad appeal, Khan says, "I have never tried to analyse my fans, why they love me, why they want my picture … I'm just glad to have them. Whenever I travel and see the response and love, I am humbled. I just want to hug them all."

If he didn't have his arm in a sling, the Indian superstar probably could have hugged thousands of his fans from Hong Kong and elsewhere who saw him in Macau last month. As he walked, bracketed by beefy bodyguards, into the Venetian Macao to co-host the 14th International Indian Film Academy Awards, the fanatical frenzy he inspires was difficult to miss.

Shah Rukh Khan & Deepika Padukone in Chennai Express

Not bad for a father of three who turns 48 in November and who first erupted into the national consciousness as a TV star in the military themed tele-drama Fauji ( Soldier) 25 years ago. With appearances in more than 75 films since making his cinematic debut in 1992, the Indian Muslim actor's next appearance will be in Chennai Express, whose worldwide release is timed to coincide with the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr.

Chennai Express is an over-the-top action-comedy about a man's journey from Mumbai to a small Tamil Nadu town and what happens along the way after he falls in love with the daughter of a crime boss. The film is expected to do exceptionally well in India and the overseas Indian (non-resident Indian) market on which Khan has an unshakable grip. Khan stars in a staggering seven out of the 10 highest-grossing Indian films of all time in the overseas market, and an impressive 12 out of the top 25.

"There's no one to beat Shah Rukh Khan's magnetic draw," says Sunil Datwani, who has bought rights to several of Khan's flicks over the past decade to show Hong Kong cinema-goers. "Of course the South Asian community comes out in full force, but there's even a Chinese Bollywood fan club. And several British and American fans you can spot in the crowd."

Within the Indian film industry as well, his contemporaries are in awe of the actor, who has turned romancing with a strumming guitar and outstretched arms into a signature art form of its own.
"I was a huge Shah Rukh Khan fan when I first met him and did my first film," says his Chennai Express co-star, Deepika Padukone. "Now, even after meeting him several times and working with him the second time around, I'm probably a bigger fan. He is just … amazing. Just … wonderful," says the actress, who made her film debut in Om Shanti Om (2007), which was produced by and co-starred Khan.

Khan brushes off the praise. "When I hear such things, it's nice but they are being too kind. They are wonderful actors and it's just their affection for me that translates into their kind words."

As Chennai Express' release date nears, its lead actor doesn't sound anxious about how the film will be received. "It is a Rohit Shetty [directed] film, and he makes these big, big movies, and the stunts and action are just amazing," Khan says. "I'm a huge Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee fan. Even without subtitles, I can sit and watch their films for the comedy and action. I don't know if the Hong Kong audience will identify with our style of action - but it has that element of humour and thrills. I hope they … enjoy it too."

Khan, who won several acting honours for the dramatic My Name is Khan (2010), knows his latest film's surreal antics and slapstick will not be everyone's cup of tea.

"When I do a serious film like Chak De India ( Go! India), Swades ( Homeland) or My Name is Khan, there is a realism to the performance to go with the style of the movie. If I did that in a film like Chennai Express, it would be completely out of sync," he says. "You mould your performance and character according to the movie - as any actor would."

And are there any fears of the film not getting into the club of films grossing 100 million rupees (HK$12.7 million) at the home box office? "None," he says with quiet confidence. "The figures are irrelevant. I just want to do better movies, better roles; work harder every Monday when I hit the set to make as many people happy as possible. I don't count the money a movie makes, I want to count the smiles that audiences have when they leave an auditorium."

Chennai Express screens at UA iSquare from Friday

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Command performance

Chennai Express
In Hindi with English Subtitles
Aug 9 (Fri) 21:50 (IMAX)
Aug 10 (Sat) 21:50(IMAX)
Aug 11 (Sun) 18:30 (IMAX)
Aug 12 (Mon) 21:30 (House 2)
Aug 13 (Tue) 21:30 (House 2)
Aug 14 (Wed) 21:30 ( House 2)
Tickets: HK$150-$200
Venue : UA iSQUARE, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tickets at Morning Star, Tel: 2368 2947


Produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Red Chillies Entertainment, Chennai Express will hit theatres worldwide on Eid - 9th August 2013.


Flashback: My first interview with Shahrukh Khan when he came to HK here.

Born Identity: Abhishek Bachchan in Hong Kong: A Prestige Exclusive

Royalty has been mostly abolished in post-colonial India, and yet, if there is a prince of Bollywood, let the title land on the head of Abhishek Bachchan. P.Ramakrishnan has an audience with the uncrowned heir apparent. 

PORTRAIT: Earl Wan


A SIGNIFICANT PORTION of Bollywood’s charm breezed through Hong Kong this past winter, in the guise of actor and scion Abhishek Bachchan, 37. He comes with very little of the neurosis expected of someone born to the magnitude of his family’s fame and fortune; his mother is Jaya Bachchan, a Member of Parliament and an erstwhile actress of merit; his wife Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan’s name precedes the hyperbolic tag “the most beautiful woman in the world”; and his father, legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, is, indubitably, the most famous Indian alive. There’s a disproportionate amount of celebrity that perpetually engulfs the young man’s life, his own included, as film actor and producer.

“You know, I’ve tried to explain this before. Unfortunately, people interpret it for arrogance, but I’ve never known any other life,” he says, as tries to shed light on life under the spotlight. “As a child growing up, this was normal. Part of our daily routine was, when I was kid…I thought everyone’s father beat up 50 guys, 2,000 people waited to see their father outside the gates of the house, just to see him wave. All my friends’ parents were famous film stars. It was a very privileged upbringing and a blessing…and I don’t know any different life.”

With round-the-clock scrutiny just outside the palatial Bachchan residence in Mumbai, what is it like to live such a fishbowl existence? “We actually live in a nice house, not a fishbowl,” says Bachchan with a laugh, his toothy grin all too recognisable to those who’ve seen any of his 50-plus Hindi films. “You know, the tabloids bribed our neighbours and got on to the roof opposite our house to get a snap of Aishwarya the year we got married. For others it might be a bit much, but we’re used to it. My father explained this to me years ago, if you’re going to be an actor, then this is part of the game: the camera will always be on you, you’re going to be scrutinised, you will be photographed – if you’re not ready for it, then the profession is not for you.”

But the profession was for him. Fresh from the success of his last film’s release, Bachchan landed in Hong Kong without the missus and their one-year-old daughter Aradhya, yet another photogenic addition to the thespian dynasty. In town for The Young Executives Group’s Grand Ball at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, which raised money for the City of Joy Aid organisation, he’s no stranger to the city, having performed here and in Macau before.

After a long flight from his film location to Central, he doesn’t take his shades off as we strike up conversation and the photographer sets up. Not an affectation of his celebrity, but a guilty confession. “Have really dark circles and puffy eyes, a long shoot and long flight – I look like a Panda dude!” he says with his infectious (and loud) laugh.

Ever the performer, later that same evening he’s got his tux and professionalism on as he caters to the besotted-by-Bollywood brigade at the charity gala, and as the shimmering sari-clad ladies ooh-and-aah over him the actor is in fine form, ready to pose for many an i-cam without a complaint.

Once voted the most eligible bachelor in India (a step ahead of Rahul Gandhi no less) before he married Miss World, Bachchan had many an Indian aunty thrust their eldest born bachelorettes into his vision line when he made his appearance in town. “The tags that the media sticks to you, you’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt,” is all he’ll say. “I am grateful to the well-wishers. If it wasn’t for them, would any actor have a career? “You need the audience on your side,” he explains, as the citizens of his fandom engulf him on a daily basis. “I think I’d start worrying the day it all stops – when they don’t want you any more. Then it’s a slip-and-slide spiral. I’d seriously worry then!”

When it comes to catering to the audience, Bachchan has it down to a science. Having studied in the US, the actor honed his craft under a Western ideology and translated it to Hindi cinema. He’s thought it through on how the audience of 1.2 billion (and counting) would like to see their hero on screen.

“In cinema, in the movies, the audience has got to get behind the protagonist and they’ll give you 15 minutes to do it. That’s all you have. Within those first few frames, they have got to root for this guy…and if you haven’t achieved that, you won’t achieve it in 20 minutes, and definitely not in two hours. Our audience wants a hero, it needs a hero to look up to. Think about a cinema auditorium – you’re always seated below, looking up at a giant screen, and they want to like the guy from the get-go.”

That working philosophy fits into the jigsaw puzzle of his decade-long career, a cinematic CV that’s spotted with sparkling hits and abysmal flops. As a fan of films – all films, not just the ones churned out of Bollywood, the largest film-making factory in the world that releases 400 movies per annum – Bachchan is as much part of the industry as he is a ticket-buying consumer. “For me, the audience is always right – they’re spending their hard-earned money, and if they don’t like it, no amount of publicity or prayer can make a film a hit. “Look at a film like the James Bond series. With a ready-made fan base, they kick-start every film with a bang, letting the viewers know Bond is back. Kick-ass action, the hot girls and gadgets, the title sequence. You’re already rooting for the guy by the time the titles roll. The same track can run through a Mumbai musical.”

He notably flinches at the expression, “Bollywood” and refrains from using it in his lexicon. “Well, I, like other actors from India, have an issue with that word – the implication is we’re secondary to Hollywood, an imitation of American movies – which clearly it’s not. Our storytelling history is musical, be it the Ramayana or the Mahabharat; our Hindu philosophies are sung; there’s a metre and rhyme to it, with a lot of emotion and melodrama. We may not display our emotion as subtly as a British film perhaps, but it’s our way of telling a story. And at the end of the day, movie making is a narrative unfolding – how we do it, versus how ‘they’ do it. The presumption that Indian cinema has been copying Western since they made musicals in the 1950s and ’60s is inaccurate. Being part of the film fraternity, I’m just not comfortable with the phrase ‘Bollywood’ – even though it’s in the dictionary!”

As fans of Indian cinema encroach across European borders, the Bachchans are a known commodity, be it Berlin, Budapest, Brazil or the Bronx; all locations they’ve filmed in over the years. “Indian cinema isn’t moulding its form to cater to other audiences – it’s exactly the opposite, others are viewing Indian cinema with fascination and with awe. We don’t have overt sexuality; our musical numbers are perfectly polished; be it an eight or 80-yearold, you can watch a movie as a family.”

For an actor who’s watched De Niro and Pacino as much as Kumar and Khanna, the oeuvres of the American and the Indian actors are vastly different. “I’ve never had to conform my acting or tone it down to fit into Indian films. I studied in the US, but what I learned most was, I need to connect to the audience. It’s got nothing to do with the pitch or changing my style or making it louder to cater to the Indian cine-goer. It all depends on character. I’ve essayed a vagrant bum from Calcutta where I was louder than the industrialist I played in another film. They were different people, one from the street, the other a rich man. They would physically and vocally be different. You don’t have to spoon-feed the audience, they get it.”

Read full feature at Prestige magazine's official site here: Born Identity.

• Out now in Prestige magazine across Asia; i.e. in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia. Thrilled that the feature's gone regional as it reflects the mass appeal of Indian cinema and its denizens.
• Pics by ol' Hong Kong/UK buddy, Earl Wan.
• Shot at Four Seasons,  Hong Kong.
• Exactly 10 years ago - I spoke to Abhishek Bachchan here.

Sridevi's Top Ten Dances: India's Greatest Actress was a phenomenal dancer albeit not a trained one!

My feature for Filmzine.

By P.Ramakrishnan

Long before the term 'item number' hit the Hindi film vernacular and the Indian tabloids, southern sensation Sridevi was uplifting the cinematic experience with her dose of glamour, grace and dancing style in Mumbai's movie musicals. Her dances are a highlight of many a movie that are otherwise unwatchable, particularly in the drivel of the 1980s/early '90s!

Sridevi had an innate, untutored talent for dance, she never studied the art unlike her South Indian contemporaries like Meenakshi Sheshadri, Jaya Prada, Bhanupriya, Radha or famed film rival and Kathak-exponent Madhuri Dixit. What she did have was natural rhythm and a treasure-trove of myriad expressions that enchanted choreographers. The audience couldn't wait to get to the part where Sridevi let loose on the big screen with her magical moves in films that often had little else.

Sridevi's sizzling act on screen was often partnered with non-dancers like Rajesh Khanna, Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor and the like, much to the chagrin of choreographers. But they were left unperturbed as the opportunity to work with "the great Sridevi" was compensation.

She could do any number with ease, be it classical, modern or a western number. You wanted her to break-dance and emulate Michael Jackson? Done. Do a navasara-nritya under the shadow of the Natraj? No problem. Seduce on screen in monochrome chiffon saris? Done, and how! She made the template of the seductive heroine drenched in a wet sari, singing to entice the hero/the entire audience! 

Sridevi was a Jack(y) of all trades, no step beyond her reach, no expression beyond her faculty. Like her Tamilian predecessors Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini, Rekha, it was the unspoken yet acknowledged rule that to rule Bollywood, acting chops and scintillating beauty wasn't enough; you had to dance like a dream.

And even in the garish technicolour dream sequences of the ‘80s, Sridevi shone through. Whittling down the list to just ten song/dance sequences is hard (with nearly 75 Hindi films and roughly six songs in each, that's a lengthy cinematic CV) but here's what it, roughly, boils down to:




10. Main lagti hoon Sridevi
Choreographer: Saroj Khan
Singer: Aasha Bhosle
Music: Bappi Lahiri
Film: Nakka Bandi (1990)

Never heard of it? Youtube it. The film Naaka Bandi is God-awful, but the song is a complete delight. The lyrics are deliciously loopy. The choreography isn't perfect but watch Sridevi in her cheeky, unadulterated best as she mimics yesteryear actresses. Note her comic timing and getting the gist of her predecessors in two-second shots. Irreverent but without being rude, Sridevi, as always, gets it right.


9. Morni baaga maan bole aadhi

Choreographer: Saroj Khan
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Shiv Hari
Film: Lamhe (1991)

Oh what a song! What a film! What a performance! Five-time Filmfare winner, Lamhe was the most surprising flop under the Yash Raj banner, yet the film walked away with the most astonishing bounty of awards and acclaim. This isn't the big jhatak-matak number that Sridevi was most oft famed for. Simple, subtle, a reinterpretation of a traditional Rajasthani folk song, its magic.

Megha re megha, Mohe chedo na and Morni were a series of songs Sridevi performs as Pallavi, the older woman Virendra Pratap Singh (Anil Kapoor) falls for. It’s hard to pick which of the three numbers were better than the other, but for argument’s sake, lets elect Morni. The undulating sands, the gorgeous (Neeta Lulla’s National Award winning-) outfits, the intricate movements and expressions, its heaven on the ear and easy on the eye.


8. Main aisi cheez nahin

Choreographer: Saroj Khan
Singer: Kavita Krishnamurthy and Mohd Aziz
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Film: Khuda Gawah (1993)

Although Sridevi was in a league of her own like her Goliath co-star Amitabh Bachchan, the two superstars appeared on film together just thrice; Inquilab (1984), Aakhri Raasta (1986) and, the best of the lot, Khuda Gawah (1992). The dance perhaps best captures the unspoken yet palpable sense of competition the reigning royals of Bollywood had while sharing screen-space. The engulfing costumes can barely tame the leonine Sri from giving the number her almighty all. Even Big B’s left watching her agape at the ferocity of his leading lady and was most notably eclipsed by the lunar charms of Chandni herself. 


7. Dushman dil ka jo hai 

Choreographer: Chinni Prakash
Singer: Kavita Krishnamurthy
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Film: Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993)

It’s the song that inspired Amitabh Bachchan to send a truck-load –not a bouquet, but a damn truck!--of flowers to Sridevi’s house much to her sheer joy and self-professed embarrassment. Roop Ki Rani... was excessive in every way, the over-the-top mishmash of every Hindi film plotline and cliché was an expensive and expansive venture. It was a lengthy yarn which left audiences yawning.

Indubitably, the best bits of the film include Sridevi and some (not all!) of the dance numbers stand out. As dance director Chinni Prakash says, “When you see a dance, the first thing you see is the face and Sri is ex-ce-llent in the face.” See the multi-shots focusing just on her expressions near the end of the song's antra. Damn right, she’s excellent.

6. Tarapat Beete 

Choreographer: Gopi Krishna
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Rajesh Roshan
Film: Jaag Utha Insaan (1984)

One of Sri’s earlier (and better) films with the much-whispered about co-star Mithun Chakraborthy, Sridevi has three incredible semi-classical numbers in the film choreographed by the dancer of dancers, Gopi Krishna. The fact she gets her mudras bang-on and posture perfect without lengthy lessons makes her performance all the more laudable. Her kuchipudi number in the temple and her tandav is a work of art. As Bharatnatyam danseuse and Malayali actress Shobana says, “The fact the Sridevi’s not a trained dancer yet so good makes her one of my favourites.” Many would concur.


5. Nainon mein sapna

Choreographer: P.A. Saleem
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar
Music: Bappi Lahiri
Film: Himmatwala (1983)

The song that started it all? Perhaps. Sridevi was already a mega-star in regional films and with a flop like Solva Saawan with Amol Palekar behind her, she burst into the collective consciousness in flashes of orange and hot pink. In scintillating amrapali outfits among hundreds of pots and pans, feather dusters - don’t forget the feather dusters – its Sridevi shimmering throughout this metrical exercise. It ignited a slew of similar cutlery doubled as accessories dance numbers for the succeeding diabolical decade. Gori tere ang ang main is almost an exact sequel in Tohfa. The antics with her white-pant and white-shoe’d co-star Jeetendra (who on second-viewing appears notably stiff unlike her other limber dancing co-star Rishi Kapoor) is the defining image of the masala movie mayhem of 1983. Sridevi in her conical bra-like tops maintained a distinct lack-of vulgarity in an era otherwise crippled with it.



4. Classical music 

Choreographer: Saroj Khan

Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Film: Chaalbaaz (1989)

Who needs words? Like Janet Jackson, Sridevi made the country grove to her rhythm nation. Chaalbaaz was a tour-de-force double dose by the diva as she essayed both Manju and Anju with equal panache. Forget the comical duets in the film (award-winning Kisike haath and Tera beemar mera dil), watch the dances that Sridevi does in the early reels to instrumental beats, as she wraps each step with rage, fear and tears. It’s a new-age taandav that should not be missed as she whips the air with her long plaits and burns the carpet with her steady steps. It's high performance art. 


3. Kaate nahin kathe yeh din yeh raat

Choreographer: Saroj Khan
Singer: Alisha Chinai and Kishore Kumar
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Film: Mr India (1987)

For the past 25 years, Kate nahin katthe has lead the pack as the sexiest rain-drenched duet of all-time. Mercifully, choreographer Saroj Khan (who had a rather tumultuous relationship with Sridevi though their interlinked careers provided many of the aforementioned dance nuggets) kept non-dancer and one-step wonder Anil Kapoor, hidden in the shadows and she reserved the thundering steps for thunder-thigh’d Sridevi. It was raining amen. Every rain-song that’s followed (and there have been many done by younger and lesser stars) remains a pale imitation to this class act. As the adage goes, many have imitated, none have bettered.


2. Main teri dushman

Choreographer: Saroj Khan
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Film: Nagina (1986)

A song can't make a movie run is the axiom, but in 1986, Sridevi proved otherwise. Rising above a mediocre script filled with jantar mantars and snakes morphing into people and vice-versa, the highlight of the film is the climactic song that drew audiences in droves. As snake charmer Amirsh Puri’s been starts echoing across the halls of the haunted haveli, Sridevi starts undulating to the music in an erotic blend of sensuality and venom. As a genre, Nagina is a mystical, fantasy thriller but the real thrill is watching the curvaceous Sridevi dance in a flurry and flourish as her sequined ghagra spins around her evil sapera. As a dance, Main teri dushman is a trinity of genres amalgamated; movements from Punjabi folk, expressions and gestures from Bharatanatyam and Kathak's heady turns, all cobbled together for the seven-and-half minute finale. 


1. Mere haathon mein nau nau choodiyan 

Choreographer: Saroj Khan
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Shiv Hari
Film: Chandni (1989)

The song bursts into the screen four minutes into the movie and the beats have echoed across weddings from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Sung with the impish glee of a sixteen year-old by sexagenarian (at the time) legend Lata Mangeshkar, knitted with an infectious beat and complimented with memorably cheeky lyrics, Sridevi elevated a wedding song into an anthem.

As Yash Chopra says, “Sridevi gets very excited about a dance number. I’ll do this and I’ll do that, she says and puts a lot of her personal contribution as an artiste into each song.”

The song captures all of Sridevi in a nutshell; its got her child-like innocence and insouciance, her sauciness, her animated antics, her comic genius and her sultry act all rolled into one rocking number. Phew, that’s some number.

Sridevi was an ace actress who could dance; she wasn't a dancer who could act. There's a distinction. 

Show & Sell: Macau to host Shahrukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra

A night of song-and-dance in Macau showcased the best of Hindi cinema far from the magical, musical shores of Mumbai, the land where the term ‘Bollywood’ was born and bred as a distant, tan cousin of Hollywood. Now bigger than ever before, are you ready for an Asian invasion from the largest film industry in the world?

By P. Ramakrishnan
(ramakrishnanp @ hotmail. com)


As the constellation of Indian stars descended in Macau, working the red carpet as it led to the copious and cavernous CotaiArena, at The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, only a hall of its 15,000 seat capacity could shelter the largess of Bollywood and its fervid fans. The event, Zee Cine Awards, an annual affair that rewards the Hindi film industry’s best and brightest luminaries with a golden trophy on a dais littered with star dust. Many in the audience shelled out a dear dime to watch screen-icons live on stage, as a four-hour extravaganza, filled with song, dance and comic skits came alive far, far away from the film capital of the world, Mumbai.

The South-East Asian community (the Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis) descended en mass, filling coveted seats, as expected, but in the audience, there were many Macau residents, Chinese, Malaysian, Western faces, enraptured by the glitzy affair. Crossing cultural borders, the musical mayhem that lights Indian cinema finds a mélange of surprising fanatics.

Stella Choi, a PR representative from a major luxury brand, born and brought up in Macau, had a prime aisle-seat at the show at the Venetian. “I first saw the Indian film ‘3 Idiots’ on screen and loved it,” she says, with an unstoppable grin. “I loved it so much, I’ve seen it three times. And I can do the first steps in the song ‘All is well’ from the movie. I was so surprised that the college guy/actor in the film was 40 something years old! And the girls are all so pretty in movies.”

Indeed they are; with a bevy of beauty queens with silken sashes (six Miss Worlds, two Miss Universes and two Miss Asia Pacifics have all ended up on screen), it’s almost a prerequisite for a leading lady to enter the Hindi film industry with a sparkling tiara and title at hand. To break into Bollywood, it’s near impossible for an actor without a notable surname to make it to ‘hero’ status; the industry is notoriously nepotistic where nearly every contemporary actor is the son of… somebody with a film credential! The current lot of stars are mostly progeny of other actors, directors, writers and carry the rewards and burden of fame that comes with showbiz.

And what a business it is; with an average of over 800 films released each year in 24 Indian languages, the Indian film industry earns roughly US$2.2 billion. Budgets of Hindi films seem paltry when compared to American, the most expensive Indian films cost less than US$5 million to make. It’s not just the billion plus population of India, but beyond country lines, the entertainment industry finds audience and eye-balls from Georgia to Japan.

Which perhaps explains why the distinctly Indian show was staged in the foreign shores of Macau. Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO of Zee television network says, “With each edition of Zee Cine Awards, it has been our earnest endeavor to take Indian cinema in all its glory and splendor beyond national frontiers and leave a memorable footprint at an exciting new global destination each year. The response from Macau has been overwhelming to say the least.”

Concurring with Goenka, the CEO of one of the largest television networks in the world, Edward Tracy, President and CEO of Sands China Ltd, says, “The Venetian Macao couldn’t be happier about hosting the Zee Cine Awards this year. It’s such an outstanding event, and the CotaiArena is the perfect choice for a venue.”

With the telecast of the show to air on television in over 167 countries, 600 million viewers globally have the opportunity to watch the festivities. In comparison, this year’s Golden Globes hosted by Ricky Gervais saw 17 million viewers. For some, Pitt, Jolie and Cruise means nothing, where Bachchan, Khan and Kapoor resonate deeply.

Such is the mass appeal of Indian films that even Hollywood has to kowtow to the facts and figures; reports suggest over 1.8 billion people watch Western films (ie English language movies) each year, but over 2.8 billion pairs of eyes watch Hindi movies (not counting the other regional films that also churn out of India), either in its original format, or in subtitled, dubbed versions.

The numbers are astounding, and yet, as avant-guard Indian film director and producer Anurag Kashyap says, “Well, in the West, Bollywood is there for comic relief. Whenever we say the word Bollywood, they move their bodies, do a song-and-dance.”

Indeed they do. For all its international viewership, fiscal success and fanclubs, Hindi cinema doesn’t perhaps garner the respect or critical acclaim of an Akira Kurosawa film. Rarely will you see an Indian film listed in the Academy awards under the Best Foreign Film category. The escapist fare rarely does well at film distribution and exhibition fairs at Cannes or Korea. But does it matter?

When asked if he can be the cross-over star to jump into the Western hemisphere and bring Bollywood to the international arena, leading actor Shahrukh Khan says, “We don’t need to go to them, they are coming to us.”

At the press conference held at the Sicily Room Convention center at The Venetian Macao, international representatives from Singapore, UK, US, Fiji Islands and international cable networks had set up shop. When a blonde-blue eyed media rep from Time Out gushed to Shahrukh Khan in broken Hindi, “Main aapki sabse badi fan hoon,” [I’m your biggest fan], Khan humbly held the palm of his hand to his heart and bowed.

The format of the Hindi film, with its requisite song and dance, is in fact what’s bringing in an increasing global audience. Despite its non-linear, often nonsensical narrative and the purple pleasures of its picture-perfect scenes and scenarios - the latest Hindi films are beautifully shot and have a technical finesse that’s a far cry from its predecessors - there’s an order in the chaos that provides real pleasure to the reel endeavor. This year, Khan’s own films premiered not just in regions with a strong South-East Asian population but in Germany, Japan and Russia. The fan-following in non-Hindi speaking Malaysia is so large, Khan received the title of "Datuk" (equivalent to British Knighthood) from the governor of Malaysia's southern Malacca state.

Gone are the days of dancing around trees, singers and Grammy-nominees Ashanti, Tina Turner, Akon have collaborated in Hindi films. The Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Rowland, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin have suffused Bollywood beats and tracks into their own. When Indian actors graced the stage of the Golden Globes last year to give an award, Emma Thompon and Paul McCartney whistled in delight at their sight.

Khan is more than right, Indian films are not shape shifting to suit audiences abroad, but the audience is adjusting its view of Hindi films.

As Time magazine columnist Richard Corliss, with a self-professed ‘diagnosis of Bollywood fever’, says, “A cinema marked by vigor, visual ingenuity, signposts to a land so remote and exotic it is measured in decades, or ten time zones. These are territories I can explore for years, yet not exhaust their riches.”

To be sure.




SIDE BAR

The A-to Zee of Bollywood, Cliff’s notes on the crème de la crème of Mumbai’s glitterati who glistered in Macau during an eventful weekend;

The Reign of Khan


SHAHRUKH KHAN: Part of the trinity of Khans who are the definitive leading men of Bollywood (which also includes Aamir and Salman Khan - no relation) Shahrukh Khan, 46, is often called ‘King’ Khan for his unprecedented reign at the box-office. Perhaps the sole exception to the rule of being a leading man with no link nor lineage in the film industry, a once stage and television actor kicked off his remarkable cinematic career back in 1992. Two decades and 75+ film appearances later, he is one of the most influential (and wealthiest) men in Mumbai who brings his oft imitated and rarely repeated gimmicks and gumption to the screen.

The Seminal Scion


RANBIR KAPOOR: If ever there was one to the manor-born, it’s the fourth generation Kapoor, Ranbir, who’s family has been in the film industry since the 1920s. All the Kapoor men have been in the film industry in some way or form for so long, its hard to imagine the Hindi film industry without a Kapoor anecdote or antecedent. At age 25, when Ranbir appeared on screen after a brief tryst of studying abroad, the scion continued tradition as expected by gracing the silver-screen. As one of the young heartthrobs of the nation of a billion plus, Kapoor teeters well between being seen as a capable actor and a shirtless poster-boy.

The Dreamer, the Dancer

SHAHID KAPOOR: Perhaps better known for his stylised and indomitable dancing skills on screen and stage, young Shahid Kapoor has the burden of being the eldest son to multi-award winning actor and director Pankaj Kapoor - and the inevitable comparisons that arise with such a precedent. Though a competent actor of note, he dreams of being known more for his turn as a thespian instead of those perfect turns he does with a leading lady during an unforgettable song-and-dance routine.

The Beauty Queen


PRIYANKA CHOPRA: At age 19, Priyanka Chopra was one of the youngest beauty title holders (Miss World 2000) to slip into Bollywood and take it by storm. Unlike most of her contemporaries, Chopra has zero relatives linking her to the film industry; she’s the eldest daughter in a family of doctors. She won Miss India and Miss World consecutively over a decade ago, that garnered enough attention from film producers to make a beeline towards her crown and glory. With a quiet confidence and a killer bod, the wonderfully articulate Chopra is slowly etching a niche in the fiercely competitive industry.

The English Rose

KATRINA KAIF: The anglo-Indian former model (with an English mum and a Kashmiri father) Katrina Kaif has made it to the upper echelons of Bollywood, one film at a time, polishing her once non-existent command of the film vernacular all the way to being a contender to the top slot. No one’s quiet sure of how to encapsulate the unprecedented success of Kaif, who’s mostly known for his polished demeanor more than her dialogue delivery. In a visual industry that relies heavily on a pretty picture and pulchritude, she makes for fine, refined pixels.

Beauty and the East


VIDYA BALAN: Actress Vidya Balan came into the game a little late, but she proved herself to be the game-changer. A versatile actress of note, Balan did over 300 commercials, acted on television and auditioned multiple times before she hit the screens in 2005. With classic south Indian looks, the curvy belle of the Bollywood ball is not model-size but is its model citizen. Known for her finely tuned performances and opting for roles and films of merit, Balan may not spin box-office gold all the time, but her performances go for gold every time.

Men of Mumbai: Shoot and Interview with Three Aspiring Actors in Bollywood: Aanaahad, Dushyant Yadav and supermodel Inder Bajwa

In a city where dreams are born and die each day, millions – and we do mean millions – head to Mumbai with stars in their eyes as they come from all over India, to set their eyes on the silver-screen of Bollywood – the largest film industry in the known world. Hoping against hope that a ticket to Mumbai’s magical movie screen shall ignite them into the stratosphere of fame, wealth and unimaginable adulation. It’s a tough ring to get into, in an industry where nepotism rules and luck favours few. The contenders are…

Aanaahad
Aanaahad has the gait and presence of a supermodel, tall, buff with chiseled features and near-perfect diction. With an award-winning film already released last year (Lahore, a blood, sweat and tears tale of the life of a struggling kick-boxer), we met and shot the actor while he was rehearsing a play. With a film now out on DVD, he’s already ahead of the game. Having just signed a sci-fi film under production as we go to publication, he’s a leg up on the newcomers that litter the streets. On screen, he appears ruthless, his tendons tearing up his opponents as his unflinching gaze never loses focus. In his love scenes, you’re never sure if he’s going to kick or kiss the girls and make ‘em cry. It’s all an act of course, the soft-spoken actor came down from Haryana (northern region of India) to “make it in Mumbai”, a mantra we heard often.

Dushyant
Like Hollywood or any of the western counterparts that is besieged with reality TV, India has its own brand of mind-numbing reality-TV stars and lingo. As a former journalist who found easy fame on Indian MTV, on a reality show called Splitsvilla - which he won - Dushyant is the young newcomer on the block, still in awe of the fame and fortune that’s so visible in the affluent parts of Mumbai, where the super-rich and the impoverished live next door to each other. He’s hoping to sign an ad-campaign, a TV show, a movie, anything to take him from the newcomer status to a more gilded status-quo.


Inder Bajwa
If there is such a thing as a supermodel in Mumbai, the uncrowned king of the catwalk would be Inder Bajwa. His posters stare out of many a campaign that stream across Mumbai city and he’s strutted his stuff on so many catwalks, he can’t remember how many shows he’s done over the past six years. He came from a village in Punjab, where his family still is, and soon was on speed-dial with every major designer in India (a booming fashion industry that’s bound to make global waves in the near future). Bajwa’s already jaded with the glitz and glam of the industry that genuflects to him. Having represented India at the Mr World competition held earlier this year in Korea, he stands on the precipice of Bollywood, waiting to sign a film to take him into another league. As one of the highest paid male models, he’s already in a league of his own, but the bumpy road to film fame, lies ahead.

Words: P.Ramakrishnan
All photography: Sayan Sur Roy

Reel Masala: Hong Kong Tatler looks at the delirious joy of Bollywood

In this world of India's screen idols, Cruise and Roberts are unknown entities but the Khans, Bachchans and beauty queens dominate celluloid dreams. P.Ramakrishnan welcomes you to Bollywood.

A long row of heads snake to the ticket counter outside Ega Theatre on a scorching Sunday afternoon in Chennai, India's fourth largest city. It's the first weekend show of the Hindi film Daud, meaning Run. It stars two of India's hottest stars and the film's music is simmering on the charts. Luckily, a scalper is selling tickets for 250 rupees, equivalent to US$5.50, while the real value is only 50 cents. "Good action. Heroine hot. Super-hit songs, on-lee two-fifty," over enunciates the illicit salesman.

In the large amphitheater, a minute before the film begins, the curtains draw apart to taped music and lights illuminate the mammoth screen. Many in the audience are considerably well attired and the entire film-watching exercise is mink-coated with a bygone formality of attending a screening. One expects glamorous stars to take centre stage under a shower of flashbulbs but other than a uniformed usher seating a late attendee, there's nary a celebrity in sight.

As the titles reel across, someone shouts a laudatory comment in the local dialect as the main protagonist's name appears in bold. The hero doesn't appear in the film until the premise of the tale is established. Ten minutes into the movie, a mini commotion erupts when he finally does show his face. Dozens in the audience whistle, a few more clap. When the heroine's famous locks sway side to side in slow motion as the camera pans across her back, there's more catcalling and applause.

During a particularly well-executed action-shot, people hurl pennies and lemons onto the stage in the most blatant act of deference hitherto unseen outside of temples littered across the city. In obscure towns and villages across India, temples to movie stars are erected, but to see the deification in action is an eye-opener.

As the musical reaches its crescendo overly enthusiastic fans take the stage and start dancing to the hit song. The screening is halted. Lights come on. The police come in and some of the dancers swoosh back into their seats while the more fanatical are escorted out. The show continues.

Most fans cannot remember what the first film they watched was about, but most also never forget their first tryst with Mumbai's magical movie mayhem, aka Bollywood, the all-singing, all-dancing euphoria that leaves even the most jaded critic bemused, if not amused. There's nothing quite like the success of excess, which defines the mammoth Hindi film industry.

With an ever expanding audience of more than a billion, Bollywood can be seen as an alternative to Hollywood's clinical and polished products. The phenomenon has been subtitled or translated across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and now is brimming over to Western cultures. Hollywood should take note of this crouching, or should that be dancing, tiger.

Across Asian cinemas, indigenous movie industries have buckled under the global takeover of Hollywood. Incapable of competing with the monstrous budgets and effect-laden extravaganzas such as the Star Wars sequels and prequels or the Harry Potter series, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Malay audiences have shown their back to their respective film industries, which were already ailing in the losing battle against piracy. The Hong Kong film industry used to produce nearly 700 films per annum, but that figure spiralled down to 400 in 2003.

The only industry to successfully flick off Hollywood has been Bollywood - where other than an occasional patronage of films like Titanic or Spiderman, the audience remains disinterested even in the dubbed-in-Hindi versions of Shrek, Matrix and Mission Impossible.

The Bollywood cast almost always gorgeous. All the beauty queens in the past decade that sprouted from India are currently starring in films. The heroes are paragons of virtue and the villains, pure evil. There is very little subtlety in emotion, the plots are more often than not predictable and yes, every actor - from the sobbing widow-mother and the moustached gangsters to the protagonists - must sing and dance on screen, regardless of talent or ability.

Playback artists provide vocals to the tone-deaf but telegenic cast, and choreographers can take up to two weeks to shoot a five-minute song sequence of the biggest stars dancing to their tunes. Gone are the days of dancing around trees in rainbow-coloured costumes. The latest flicks are executed with epic Broadway-style perfection. Dance director Farah Khan was nominated last year for a Tony for her work, which she fashioned for Andrew Lloyd Weber's Bollywood Dreams.

Unfortunately, Bollywood can never be taken too seriously. Whether it's a film about war, romance, ethnic conflict, Aids, cancer or any other tragedy, the lead will suddenly burst into song at any given elegiac opportunity.

So can an Indian film, without the standard commercial staples of song-and-dance, evolve like Hollywood did, shedding the dance dramas, in the natural evolution of cinema? The most famous man in India, actor Amitabh Bachchan says, "Indian movies come with certain expectations. A mixture of song and dance, comedy, drama, action, emotions are served together. If a film is offered to me without the usual elements, I see no problem in doing the film. I am not disheartened by commercial failure."

In his 30-year career, with more than 100 films in his cinematic CV he's done less than a handful of non-musicals. At the age of 62, he still dances with age-defying grace, even if the role demands him to be the grave patriarch in the film.

Reflecting on Main Azaad Hoon, or "I am Free", a serious, song-less movie, Bachchan says, "I think it was a very sensitive film, it was very dramatic film. Obviously, it didn't do as well as expected and that's the end of the story."

Starting off as a minor character artist, the thin, lanky Bachchan came from humble beginnings. His poet father couldn't launch his son in the movies - Bollywood is notoriously nepotistic. It took him nine films, in roles of varying length and quality, before his career took off in 1973 as the "angry young man" of the film Zanjeer ("Chains"). In his movies he fought corruption, gangsters, nefarious politicians and booted a dozen goons single-handedly while ultra-glamorous gals sashayed around him. He was the embodiment of a hero in the following decades and remains much loved by the nation.

His popularity was so strong in the '80s, that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi asked him to join politics, but his fame didn't register as well in the ballots. Returning to films, audiences flocked to see him again and now, 35 years since he starred his first film, he has acquired living legend status. "I am very grateful for the affection and support the people of my country have bestowed upon me, during my most difficult times as well as otherwise. As long as I have their support I will remain in the industry," affirms the Emperor of Indian cinema.

Currently, almost all the stars in Bollywood are progeny of yesteryear actors, producers or directors. Even Bachchan's son Abhishek, joined the constellation in 2000.

Shah Rukh Khan, the current young King of Bollywood, is the glaring exception. A stage and theatre actor who starred in television, he shifted from Delhi to Mumbai to court cinema, a daring choice that paid rich dividends. He starred in regular fare at first, but took on three negative roles in films Baazigar (Gambler), Darr (Fear) and Anjaam (Result). While the first two films were major successes at the box office, establishing him as a cult-figure, the last one bombed. Now he romances a bevy of Bollywood beauties in soft-focus, frothy romances.

For women, it's just as difficult to find a foothold in cinema unless their lineage connects them to the film industry. Since 1994 however, there's been a window opening for the fairer sex - sheaf through a catalogue of Indian leading ladies and each seems more glamorous and gorgeous than the last. Aishwarya Rai was Miss World, Sushmita Sen was Miss Universe, and Diya Mirza was Miss Asia Pacific. Gone are the days of buxom divas in sequins and garish gowns. Buoyant on their pageant-winning fame, producers almost immediately sign on the former models or beauty queens and roll out the red carpet. As pageantry work lasts but for a year, all want to keep their celebrity status alight and films enable them to do this.

Among the beauty queens, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen are head and shoulders above their competition. The first Indian actress to find her replica at Madam Toussauds's in London, Rai also appeared on the cover of TIME magazine earlier this year as the face of Bollywood and was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by the same magazine.

Her fame has crossed borders. She appears with Martin Henderson in the English film Bride and Prejudice this year. With upcoming films in the company of Michael Douglas, Meryl Streep and Brendan Fraser, her sari-strapped shoulders are poised for a global takeover. When Julia Roberts saw Rai at Cannes in 2002, she gasped, "She is the most beautiful woman in the world."

Sushmita Sen, the first Miss Universe to sashay into films, also in 1994, makes no pretences on what the directors are looking for. "At the set of my last film, I came out of my make-up room dressed to the hilt. My director, the cameraman and so on stood there looking at the pleats of my sari, if my hair was ok, if the nail-polish matched everything... and then I was asked to go change this, that and beyond. Film is a visual medium and I have no qualms about looking the part, as long as I don't look stupid!"

Sen hasn't made a heady splash at the box office. Her preference for off-beat, serious movies caters to a niche audience - she hasn't been part of a masala film. Masala, which is an amalgam of spices, is an oft-repeated phrase for a typical Hindi movie.

Respected producer Yash Johar, who recently passed away aged 75, previously said, "In the West, one goes to see a film with boyfriends and girlfriends. In India, you go with the entire family to see a film so it must have something for everyone." With his last three releases finding box office gold, he and his writer/director son Karan have found a winning formula. "There is no room for vulgarity or nudity, and the current trend of sexy movies is just a phase. A mass audience will eventually reject obscenity and we must think of socially responsible films for everyone," assures producer.

"My audience is no longer just the Indian market. We are selling our films around the globe. Prints of my latest movie have gone to Arab countries, Malaysia, England and Russia with English subtitles. We shot a part of my last film in New York and hired American dancers and actors for scenes, and they were so happy to join us. Shah Rukh's popularity has spread across the suburbs of New Jersey and New York - we had to get security for him." laughs Johar.

Films in India, in comparison to Hollywood, are made from modest budgets. The most expensive film ever made in Bollywood has Devdas (2002), a lavish visual spectacle that purportedly cost US$10.8 million. It has so far grossed $12 million at the box office. Most movies are made for a fraction of that cost. The highest grossing Indian film in the international market has been Monsoon Wedding, which grossed $30.7 million. The film was made for a budget of $7 million. The highest paid actors are Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, each getting anywhere between $700,000 and 900,000. Remuneration varies according to the length of the role, the producer and, a la Tom Cruise, back-end deals according to box office results.

Actresses Kareena Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai lead the way with deals of up to $500,000. Market savvy Rai, however, has made a killing with wise modelling contracts with major brands as a spokesperson for L'Oreal hair care products, Coca Cola, Fuji film and Nakshatra diamonds. And according to well-publicised reports, Rai landed a one-year $700,000 contract with Lux soap in India. Walk through Wanchai in Hong Kong, the airports of Singapore, or a mall in Paris and the fair, green-eyed Indian goddess stares out from various Longines posters.

Back at Chennai, the weekend premiere of Daud is over and the savvy illicit ticket salesman is still out on the street. When asked if he goes to see foreign films, he replies "I eat pizza. OK. Nice. But later I had dosa again; pizza is not very filling. In same way, English pictures are ok, but you need more action, like a Hindi picture."

Hong Kong Tatler, December 2004

Bollywood or Bust: Veer Zara, Yash Chopra's Epic to Screen in Hong Kong

Decked out in suits, saris and salwars, Hong Kong's Indian community will get together next weekend for the screening of an epic Bollywood musical as part of the annual Diwali festival. And full houses are anticipated for the three-hour India-Pakistan cross-border love story Veer Zara.

Bollywood king Shahrukh Khan leads a cast that includes Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee, with India's finest director/producer, Yash Chopra, at the helm. Rumours that the epic will be the 72-year-old filmmaker's last directorial venture have only raised expectations - and the price of the tickets. At HK$150 to HK$180 a head, the screening at Chinachem will be one of the city's more expensive cinema experiences.

Catering to Hong Kong's lovers of all things Bollywood has become a risky business. But the woman behind the Veer Zara screening, Deepa Datwani of Cineworld, is unperturbed: "The tickets have to be high because, unlike English films, the theatres don't share the profits with us. It's a flat price. Whether someone's in a seat or not, we're still paying for it and, us to make any money, we need at least 60 per cent of the hall to be full - which is never guaranteed. And we had to bid highly to secure the rights for the film in Hong Kong because competition has intensified." Indeed it has.

The venues for screening of Hindi films change regularly - from the massive Ocean theatre to the plush exhibition halls at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the cost of tickets has remained steep, regardless of the screening location.

"The Hindi movie industry is so unpredictable," Datwani says. "They change release dates at the last minute, so we can't book in advance when it's cheaper. In the past, we've lost deposits because the film in India gets delayed in production and we have to cancel our bookings.

"The venue is the most difficult thing we have to deal with. Whatever is available at short notice, we have to stick to that."

The first Hindi film to be screened in Hong Kong was Hum Aaapke Hain Kaun back in 1994 when, much to the surprise of organisers, all the $100 tickets were sold. Since then, Bollywood's best have made it to our shores reasonably regularly, with screenings held on average about once every four months.

Pamela Kapoor and Kamalesh Kalra were among the first to bring Indian films to local audiences and showed them at the Hong Kong Convention Centre, the Arts Centre and in universities. But they have now backed out of the game.

"There's too much competition, getting a cinema is so difficult and pricey," Kalra says. "And with the success of Indian movies internationally, the prices of buying Indian films have gone up, and we weren't seeing the returns in Hong Kong."

Meghna Agarwal, another organiser of local screenings whose father is a film distributor in India, imported Kal Ho Na Ho last year. "We didn't make a huge profit. We didn't have full houses for all our shows, so we just about broke even. For Indian films, there's nothing like word of mouth publicity, so most of our audiences we get through sending out e-mails and faxes. Advertising in papers and magazines doesn't help much."

Datwani agrees. "People have a general idea of what a film is like. If the cast is good and the music is good then they can predict what the film will be like. But it's a big risk on our part.

"Dev, which had a great cast and good music wasn't that successful. Audiences found the film too slow and attendance for later shows fell drastically."

Not unlike the Hollywood box-office, the only real money made is in the first weekend. "Two days after a film is released in India, DVDs of the film are easily available in Hong Kong. We have to show the film in the first few days, otherwise people will rather pay for HK$20 for a pirated disc - no matter how good the print - than pay HK$120," says Agarwal.

Will the gamble pay off for her latest venture? Datwani has her fingers crossed. "It's a big banner, the director is well known and it's a top cast, Shahrukh movies always do well and our biggest success was his last film, Main Hoon Na. With English subtitles, we expect anyone who's a fan of a musical to turn up."

By P.Ramakrishnan

Out of Character: Bollywood Goes for a Novel Narrative

Most mainstream Bollywood films tend to stick to a formula, reinforcing, good, clean, family values as white sari-clad heroines and dashing young heroes fall in love among fields of sunflowers.

But when 27-year-old Siddharth Anand got approval from producer Aditya Chopra to turn his screenplay into a film, the debutant director chose to push the envelope. Well, just a bit. In Salaam Namaste, the lead couple (played by Preity zinta and Saif Ali Khan) don't get married - they simply live together.

Not long ago, such a thing in a Bollywood film would have been scandalous. But times are changing. "We have to push the audience little by little," says Anand. "A live-in relationship isn't a big deal in Indian cities any more.

"As new directors, we have to push the envelope - but slowly. The film isn't provocative or scandalous. It's a young couple who live together. We're not there to shock anyone just for the heck of it. In fact, no one will be shocked by it in India. It's the NRI [non-resident Indian} market - the Indians who left India 20, 30 years ago and are still maintaining old standards. They need to see how far India has progressed."

Anand's family has a long association with Bollywood - his grandfather Indra Raj Anand was a screen writer in the 70s and is credited with about 120 films - but he turned overseas for inspiration.

"It came from F.R.I.E.N.D.S," he says. "When Star started showing the sitcoms around India, it was incredibly influential. They had the issues that youth did. I think audiences will recognise Monica, Ross and Joey-ish characters."

Big things are expected from Salaam Naamaste! Hong Kong 's Bollywood fans can see it at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday.

The film has come out under the banner of Yash Raj, India's oldest and most successful film production company, which has recorded profits of more than 300 million rupees ($53 million) in the past two years.

"I had co-written Hum Tum [Me and You] and the film was last year's biggest hit for the company," Anand says. "I wanted a young film, but the team of writers I had were just not getting the language right, so I wrote the story and screenplay. I guess script writing is in my genes."

The title uses Muslim and Hindu greetings - leading some people to think the film will be a caste - conflict romance. But Anand says there are none of those cliches.

"I'm glad the title of the film is going to mislead people because they're in for a complete surprise then," he says. "There aren't any fighting parents, no rich and poor tales and no culture clashes. This is a simple, musical romance and the only conflict is the inner conflict between a couple.

"The reason older filmmakers are struggling now is because they haven't adapted to the times - unlike Yash Chopra, who's in his 70s and still makes the biggest success because he's kept up with social and economical changes, and the attitudes and intelligence of the urban audience."

By P.Ramakrishnan