As the twain meet...

With Hollywood stars evincing an interest to act in Indian films, ANIL ZANKAR sees a clear shift in focus which could lead to co- productions starring Indian and foreign artistes.

``WHAT DO you think will happen if Arnold Schwarzenegger were to act in Indian Films?'' was the question.``Well, then he will have to sing and dance'', was the spontaneous response of a South Indian producer. This was when Hollywood began to release its blockbusters dubbed in Indian languages in India. Hollywood films are virtually hogging about 60 per cent or more of the playing time in countries like France, Germany and Japan. But they have hardly made a dent in India and China.

Ours has been a truly desi cinema - a well-established brand with its audiences. Hence the Hollywood-threat perception is not felt by the Indian film industry. But in this epoch of globalisation collaborations, JVs are the order of the day. So we are beginning to hear about Hollywood stars being interested in acting in Indian films. So far, instances of our stars in their films and their stars in our films have been rare.

The first one of course was Sabu. Zoltan Korda (brother of famous Alexander Korda) picked him up as a boy, from the Mysore jungles and cast him in his ``Elephant Boy'' directed by Robert Flaherty. Thereafter Sabu featured in ``Thief of Baghdad'', ``Jungle Book'', ``Drums'' and many other Hollywood films. This was in the 1930s and 40s. Sabu also acted with Vittorio De Sica in ``Hello Elephant''. Mehboob Khan brought Sabu to India to play the role later done by Sunil Dutt, in his ``Mother India''. But somehow it didn't work out. I. S. Johar got a plum role alongside Peter O'Toole in David Lean's ``Lawrence of Arabia''. Incidentally David Lean was interested in casting Dilip Kumar in the lead role, but that did not happen reportedly due to Dilip Kumar's lack of interest. Nana Palshikar the character actor of Indian films (he acted in Nihalani's ``Aakrosh'' as Om Puri's father) had a small role in ``The Guru'' - a Hollywood film of the 1960s. M. N. Nambiar, the popular villain of Tamil cinema was the co- actor of James Cameron in ``The Jungle'', directed by Ellis R. Duncan. Shashi Kapoor played lead roles in some of the Merchant- Ivory productions like ``The Householder'' and ``Heat and Dust''. He also acted in Universal's ``A Matter of Innocence''. Zakir Hussain, the tabla-nawaz was made to play an important role in ``Heat and Dust''.

A few Hollywood actors have done lead roles in Hollywood films shot in India. Their Indian counterparts did only bit roles with them - I. S. Johar played a part in the Stewart Granger starrer ``Harry Black and The Tiger''. ``Bhowani Junction'' with Stewart Granger and Ava Gardner in the lead was shot in Pakistan. ``Octopussy'', the James Bond film with Roger Moore in the lead was shot in Jaipur and had several Indian faces in it. Good old Raj architecture peopled with Indian ramp beauties at the service of Her Majesty's secret agent!

But it is Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi who have truly brought a new dimension to our stars acting in films such as, ``The Perfect Murder'', ``East Is East'', ``City of Joy'', ``Madame Souzastka''. Inspector Ghote by Naseer and the Pakistani played by Om Puri in ``East Is East'' are a far cry from the days of Sabu, who satisfied the need of `the dark exotica' for the Western audiences. The significant aspect is that Naseer, Om and Shabana have created a position for themselves in International cinema while working in Indian films of all kinds. Tom Alter another brilliant actor of their generation must be mentioned here. He is virtually God's gift to film-makers with International cast. A man with completely Western looks, but equally fluent in English and Hindustani! He can hold his own against the best like Sir Richard Attenborough as he showed in Satyajit Ray's ``Shatranj ke Khiladi''. The likes of him cannot be seen any more. He should be more busy in the international arena, particularly in this age of globalisation. Somehow one feels that this actor's talent has not yet been fully utilised.

The reasons for this are not hard to seek. While Hollywood from its birth has thought globally, Indian cinema always thinks locally (although these days NRI audiences have become an important factor). It is under obligation to satisfy desi cultural tastes and they are quite strong. Secondly Hollywood has always worked far more professionally. They are not terribly innovative as compared to Europeans and Japanese, but they do have conventions and follow them rigorously. First of all, the scripts are written and worked upon much more in advance.You have instances of directors like Sidney Lumet having script-reading sessions with all the actors for about two weeks prior to shooting, like a theatre rehearsal. Even Marlon Brando and Paul Newman were bound by it. Interestingly Tapan Sinha one of our very senior film-makers has always followed this practice of rehearsing with actors prior to shooting. It has been a part of his contract with the actors. Compare this with our `functioning anarchy' in Mumbai where actors are doing multiple roles in multiple shifts for films with virtually non-existent scripts at times.

Hollywood has been a star promoting factory, but has also respected actors.That is why interestingly the best known Indian actors in Hollywood today are not Govinda, Salman or Shahrukh, but Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi. This should be a pointer to our stars desirous of making it big in Hollywood. There is always an element of curiosity in watching the mixture of races in terms of actors on the screen. Kabir Bedi was once a rage in a section of Italian cinema. But these could be passing attractions. It is rare for any actor to create a position in an alien culture. But the gain for cinema would occur when really credible stories start emerging. Otherwise what is the point in seeing our bad guys doing yet another weird act with phirangs. We do not have to suffer the absurdities of Gulshan Grover in Italian.

In the 1960s i.e., the heyday of art cinema in Europe, stars crossed borders much easily at the creative invitation of the directors. It is happening nowadays too, but out of necessity. Today faced with stiff competition from Hollywood, they are making `euro-puddings'. These are co- productions of two or three European nations combining to produce one film. But Indians are not in their ambit yet.

There is another area of hybrid film-making - the NRI films. Mira Nair after dwelling on dingy `real' images of India through documentaries like ``Indian Cabre'', proceeded into fiction like ``Salaam Bombay'' and ``Mississippi Masala''. The titles smell of the new shop being opened in the market place. Deepa Mehta served the lesbian curry and the double standards of those weird weird Indian men. After watching ``Fire'' it is hard to believe that there are any `normal' men in India! The India `exposed' through the news channels like BBC and CNN is not enough. Fiction wll help invent more `oriental' realities. Co-productions with Indian and foreign actors sound juicy. One can expect more here...

Satyajit Ray had expressed a desire to make a film on a part of ``Mahabharat'' especially the dice game episode with an international cast. He had the great Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune in mind for the role of Duryodhan. If only this film had been made!... But it will remain a tantalising idea forever.

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Section  : Entertainment
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