Bollywood struggles in Hollywood
Bollywood’s reigning Numero Uno, Deepika Padukone doesn’t have a single release this year as she gears up for Vin Diesel’s XxX:The Return Of Xander Cage where she’ll be sharing screen space with three other leggy lasses. Miss World 2000, PeeCee after the American sitcom Quantico is all set to essay a villainous character in the action comedy, Baywatch.
So what makes our Indian celebrities leave the comfort of the mediocre Hindi show business, travel to the other side of the globe where they are relatively unrecognised, hire managers and agents, give screen tests and audition for roles? Is it to do with the talent pedigree the current crop of actors are feeding on? Or a desire to make it big in an elite White World?
The answers lie in the questions itself. Deepika, having proved her worth as an actor, sees this not just as an opportunity to conquer an unknown territory, but also one where she gets to work with the actors East has been in awe of. Having been a game changer in Bollywood, there is every reason for her to believe that she’ll be one there too and not follow the path of her predecessors. On the other hand, Priyanka Chopra with her glitzy fan following, has overshadowed most of her male co-actors and hence it only makes sense that she has decided to pursue more films there. However, we only see actresses or actors donning character roles enter these foreign tentpoles. The leading Bollywood man knows this isn’t his workspace and would not venture in this high risqué zone. 3 Idiots actor, R Madhavan who has worked in Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn, believes that Indian actors lack the capacity to establish themselves in an international set-up. Anil Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, both stalwarts in the Indian film industry, have worked with the biggest names of Hollywood as well, gone on tea parties and have played perfect hosts to their American counterparts, but nothing seemed to have transcended into more film offers or international limelight for them. One mention by the International Media and our domestic paparazzi goes overboard to paint them as the new besties in town. The only actor who seems to have gone beyond all the bewildering labyrinth and you-blink-and-you-miss roles is Irrfan. With Jurassic World, Life of Pi, The Amazing Spider Man, Inferno and NY, I love you to his credit Irrfan has had each movie add to his envious Hollywood career and one can only hope that other Indian actors succeed in replicating his success story.
Now, while Hollywood might claim to have better scripts, technology and work-culture, truth is that it doesn’t have much to offer as far as meaty roles for the brown skin are considered. The only ones our actors end up with are chauffeurs and businessmen, invariably showcasing our culture, diligence or abject poverty. Excited and nervous for her big debut, Padukone claimed to have bagged the role only due to her Indianness and sees this as a movie where her ethnicity is on display.
It’s only when our actors get to portray a role that goes beyond ethnicity can we say the Indian actors have truly arrived on the Hollywood scene. That is when the Industry or the Oscars wouldn’t be so white. Until then we’ll have to wait for a paradigm shift to metamorphosis the manner in which Hollywood perceives its foster cousin.
