Hollywood paparazzi should try getting used to curries and Masala Chai. For they could be following such A-list stars like Brad Pitt, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson to India in the next 12 months.
The unprecedented number of films to be shot in India by well-known directors like Francis Ford Coppola and Wes Anderson led the influential trade publication Variety declare last this week in a headline: Hollywood Dips into Bollywood.
The combined budget of India-bound films, including the one based on Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi, exceeds $500 million.
It is not just the shoots in India that have grabbed the attention of the American media including The New York Times. The Times ran a lead story last week in its business section about a deal Will Smith, one of Hollywood's few $25 million-plus stars, has struck with India's UTV company to produce mainstream films.
Involved in Bollywood-Hollywood co-productions are studios like Sony and 20th Century Fox. The UTV films and the ones the Anil Ambani-owned Adlabs company is producing with Ashok Amritraj in Hollywood will have nothing to do with India, and that makes the growing bond between Hollywood and Bollywood even more interesting.
Hollywood is also actively engaged in producing Hindi language films in India, with Sony expected to be a significant partner in Devdas director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya.
Adding to the excitement is the deal Disney and other Hollywood studios have struck with Indian movie animation companies. Hollywood insiders compare the development to American businesses discovering IT talent in India a few years ago.
"There is no clear answer why all of a sudden these things are happening," UTV Chairman Ronnie Screwvala told Rediff India Abroad in a telephone conversation from Mumbai. "But one thing is clear: The old mindset in India had clearly undervalued our capabilities."
Want some more proof of how Hollywood and the West are embracing Bollywood? Inside Man -- the Spike Lee-directed, Denzel Washington-starring thriller and a worldwide hit -- is currently the No 1 film in North America on DVD. The film starts and ends with A R Rahman's Chaiyya Chaiyya from Mani Ratnam's Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dil Se.
