Remember that movie ‘The Guru' that came out a year or so ago? Probably not. It tanked. How about the Reese Witherspoon remake of ‘Vanity Fair' that just entered and exited theatres with moderately good reviews and barely a commercial whimper? Maybe. But you might've missed that one too. ‘Bend it Like Beckham?' Now we're getting somewhere. A lot of people actually went to see ‘Beckham,' as well they should have. It was a right entertaining film. Obviously what these movies have in common is neither their success nor their quality. It's Bollywood.

Bollywood, which refers to the Indian filmmaking industry known for its insanely long and melodramatic musicals, makes an interesting little case-study in cultural globalization. The filmmakers of Mumbai, India's capitol, were originally influenced by old Hollywood musicals from the golden age of American cinema, which they transplanted Indian music, dance and values into, until there was really nothing American about them whatsoever. And now Bollywood, or at least a watered-down, americanized version of it, is gathering steam here. Now that's culture-sharing.

Though we do live in a bit of a cultural stew, most Americans still tend to be rather ethnocentric about their movies. For example, I was very surprised to learn that Hollywood is actually not the filmmaking capitol of the world. After all, those Hollywood slouches only put out a measly 450 movies a year. Bollywood has got them beat by a very comfortable margin, cranking out over 1,200 a year. Who knew?

America isn't the only country capable of producing an infectious commercial culture. Everything and anything that's Indian - yoga, fashion, music - has suddenly now become more popular and mainstream in the west.

And the most famous actor in the world isn't named Tom, Brad, or Ben. It's Amitabh Bachchan, according to a recent worldwide BBC survey. No matter that even the smallest Hollywood films have budgets that dwarf the biggest that Bollywood has to offer. Brad Pitt's take for ‘Troy,' for example, was alone almost double the entire budget of the most expensive Bollywood production of all time. In fact, the exorbitant salaries of Hollywood stars may be one of the factors that will bring Indian movies home. While Hollywood is dragged down with exorbitant production costs, Bollywood is free to make and distribute as many movies as they please. And people watch them. Lots of people. Over half the world's population finds their primary source of entertainment in Indian celluloid.

Shekhar Kapur, a very prominent Bollywood filmmaker, is quite enthusiastic about the cultural force inherent in Bollywood. "Indian cinema," he says, is "explosive, because of the way it's catching on. Indian and Asian cultures are going to be recognized as the new pop cultures globally. Everything and anything that's Indian - yoga, fashion, music - has suddenly now become more popular and mainstream in the west. Indian movies can also make the crossover." Kapur sees a cultural invasion just around the corner. "The sheer size of the market potential would lead to a process of reverse cultural colonization."

Mira Nair, another prominent Indian filmmaker, is on the same page with Kapur. "I came from India to Harvard in 1976," she says, "and I was one of only three Indians in the undergraduate class. Five years ago, when I went back, Harvard had 1,500 South Asian students. Which means in five more years, America will be run by people who look like us. We bear no illusions about the elite anymore. We are the elite." Nair directed the critically acclaimed Bollywood - cum - London films ‘Salaam Bombay' and ‘Monsoon Wedding.' She also directed the aforementioned ‘Vanity Fair.'

Oddly enough, ‘Vanity Fair' isn't the only Bollywood musical take on a classic English novel being released this year. Gurinder Chadha, director of ‘Bend it Like Beckham,' has turned her hand to adapting Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice into a Bollywood musical set in India, England, and the USA. Yes, you read that correctly. Jane Austin is going to India. The film, called ‘Bride and Prejudice,' will be a Westernized version of Bollywood (shorter than three hours, and less melodrama), an alteration that Indian directors consider necessary to succeed in the west. Still, could this have happened at any other time in history? Jane Austin, literary queen of manners and polite society, acted out by Indians, with Indian music, and then sold back to England?

Another Indian cross - cultural import is the Andrew Lloyd Webber - Shekhar Kapur produced ‘Bombay Dreams,' a Broadway show that tells the somewhat worn out story (albeit in a new locale) of a destitute young man who finds fame and fortune. The young man is an Untouchable, the lowest Indian caste, and he finds his fortune in Bollywood. Never mind that ‘Bombay Dreams' has been called everything from ‘mind - numbing' to ‘inane' by critics. What really matters is that it is there, co - produced and co - written in an equal collaborative effort by Indian and Western artists.

While Hollywood is dragged down with exorbitant production costs, Bollywood is free to make and distribute as many movies as they please. Some signposts of the future: ‘Bend it Like Beckham' ‘Bride and Prejudice' ‘Monsoon Wedding' ‘Salaam Bombay' ‘Vanity Fair'

Like ‘The Guru,' which no one saw, ‘Bombay Dreams,' which no one liked, is a sign of the future. These Indian imports are no fluke. We've got two Bollywood style films with Indian directors being released this year, and a Bollywood musical on Broadway. Nightclubs across the country thump out Desi music, a combination of traditional Indian music and techno beats. Desi is so hot right now that Britney Spears and Jay - Z have both collaborated with Indian recording artists, and scores of underground DJ's sample Desi. Mira Nair and Shekhar Kapur may be overshooting the mark with their intonations of Indian culture taking over the US, but one this seems certain. With the opening of our borders and the increase in East - West communication, India may well replace Mexico as the most visible and influential minority culture in America. It already is in England.

That's the other side of globalization. At the same time that McDonald's pop up in India, Indian movies come into our theatres, Indian food to our cities, Indian music to our radios. America isn't the only country capable of producing an infectious commercial culture. Indeed. If Kapur and Nair are even a little bit right, then frat boys may soon be filling their dorm rooms with posters of Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood goddess, former Miss Universe, and star of ‘Bride and Prejudice,' instead of Carmen Electra and Pamela Anderson.

It's all part of a process called ‘Creative Destruction,' according to George Mason University economics professor Tyler Cowen. In a recently published book by that title, he argues that the cultural effects of globalization are not, in fact, the steamrolling of indigenous cultures (though he admits that does occur sometimes). He draws a parallel in ‘Creative Destruction' between the explosion of ethnic restaurants in the US and the worldwide expansion of different cultural art forms. Globalization, he argues, rather than destroying cultures, instead fills the cultural landscape with greater choice and richness. That has applied to the Beatles and Rolling Stones, Reggae, and, yes, McDonald's and Hollywood movies.

It will certainly apply to what may become know as The Bollywood Invasion.




Contributed by Sam Wardle, a writer and journalist in Asheville, NC. Reprinted with permission from aWorldConnected.org.

Want to see some of the films that forge these cross-cultural relationships? Check out our film list Global Envision's Extracurricular Learning.



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