BOLLYWOOD’S GREEN CARD HOLDERS
Foreigners getting a foot in the Hindi film industry door are intent on making the most of it
Born in Australia and raised in Germany, Daniel Bauer, like most foreigners who arrive in India, wasn’t well-versed with Hindi. It’s also why the hair and make-up artiste had difficulty pronouncing his first celebrity client’s name—Aishwarya Rai. “To avoid embarrassment and [causing] offence, I called her Aish,” he says. After 12 years in Mumbai, Bauer’s Hindi has improved. The names of his clients—Deepika, Katrina, Kareena, Alia, Anushka, Vaani and Kangana—now roll off his tongue smoothly. Be it fashion shoots, commercials or movies, Bauer’s services are frequently sought.
A trailblazer no doubt, Bauer isn’t the only foreigner to have made it in the Hindi film industry. There are others who have made India home and risen through the ranks: British-Indian Katrina Kaif, Bahrain-born former
Miss Sri Lanka Jacqueline Fernandez, PakistaniCzech US model Nargis Fakhri and Mexican actress Bárbara Mori, among others. Earlier, the industry had the bald Bob Christo, a villain in over 200 films, and the Myanmar-born iconic Helen. Like her, there are other expats trying hard to find a fine balance between dancing and acting. Elli AvrRam is one.
A year after she arrived in India, the Greek-Swede signed her first film, Mickey Virus (2013). “We all think that the biggest struggle happens until we get our first film, but the true one [begins] after,” she says. AvrRam’s love affair with Bollywood began in Sweden, where she was both floored and devastated by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas (2002). She even remembers performing Hindi film songs with the Pardesi Dance Group in Stockholm.
With dreams of becoming a Bhansali heroine, AvrRam, then 22, arrived in Mumbai. “When I reached [India], I thought it would be filled with big bungalows and big families like in the films,” she laughs. “How lame was I to think that?”
Bauer, on the other hand, had a more exotic image of India in mind which the bustling Mumbai changed instantly. Its entertainment industry, he would learn, had a more spontaneous way of functioning— distinct from those in Europe and Australia, where he had earlier worked. “Living in India, no day is the same and rarely turns out as planned,” he says. “I think as a foreigner you should let yourself go and look at the situation with humour and positivity.” Bauer is keen to give back to the land which has given him success. With his make-up academy, he is ensuring that Indians get a chance to learn the latest skills and techniques. “I want to prepare students for what working in the industry is really like,” he says. “Our course is difficult and highly intense, but it produces artistes who can work anywhere in the world.”
It was Bigg Boss that gave AvrRam’s career the fillip it needed. “I would not be sitting here if not for Bigg Boss,” she says. “This industry is tough for an outsider, especially a foreigner. Reality shows are great platforms for both audiences and filmmakers to see you.” Director duo Abbas-Mustan offered her a role in Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon (2015) after her Bigg Boss stint.
Canadian-Moroccan singer-actress Nora Fatehi also saw her career advance after she appeared on dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. “Given who I am and my lack of privilege, I always knew that every opportunity I get—big or small— would be a stepping stone,” she says. She bagged two music videos after appearing on the show, one of them directed by choreographer Remo D’souza. Four years later, he cast her in the Varun Dhawan-starrer Street Dancer 3D (2020). Her songs, like ‘Dilbar’, ‘Saki’, ‘Garmi’ and ‘Naach Meri Rani’, have all become runaway hits, garnering millions of views. “I don’t want to be temporary here, ‘that girl who had a good run’. If I do difficult things, I know I will leave an impact.”
Today, the Hindi film industry employs several foreign professionals to work behind the camera—cinematographers like Carlos Catalan and Tetsuo Nagata, among others—but the problems faced by those on screen are peculiar. AvrRam’s skin colour, for instance, has brought her unwanted attention. “You automatically get a little bit uncomfortable. I have been close to leaving everything and going home but I know the passion I have and what a badass I am.” Looking at ‘Har Funn Maula’— a recent song featuring her and Aamir Khan—Sweden isn’t getting her back anytime soon. ■
—Suhani Singh
Sanya Malhotra tends to make a profound impression on her collaborators. She did so with Anurag Basu who directed her in a commercial much before she made her big Bollywood debut with the wrestling drama Dangal (2016). “You meet many actresses, but the individuality is missing. She has a personality that stays with you,” says Basu, who directed her in last year’s Netflix release, Ludo. Ritesh Batra recognised her “meticulous” approach while making Photograph (2019). “You can tell when an actor has read the script 300 times and knows it in their bones,” says Batra. “She’s always trying to make it better.”
For Malhotra, 28, it’s the only way to stay relevant in a competitive industry. “With every film, I’m learning something about acting and filmmaking,” she says, but adds that she remains clueless about the business aspect. Mainstream or independent, OTT or theatrical, Rs 300 crore blockbuster or a surprise hit, Malhotra has done it all since she first arrived in Mumbai from Delhi in 2014 to audition for TV show Dance India Dance. She didn’t make it far, but decided to stick around to pursue acting. Soon, casting director Mukesh Chhabra shortlisted her to play Geeta Phogat in Dangal. Malhotra ended up playing Babita.
With her latest release, Pagglait, Malhotra finally got to do a film where the narrative was centred around her character. “I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, wondering whether I will be able to shoulder a film,” says Malhotra. Writer-director
Umesh Bist and producer Guneet Monga had no such doubts. Malhotra has won acclaim from her peers for her perfect portrayal of Sandhya, a young widow whose nonchalant reaction to her husband’s death baffles her family. Much like the anxious and confused Miloni, her character in Photograph, Sandhya too internalises her emotions. Basu singles out Malhotra’s “nervous energy” as an asset because she “channelises it in a positive way,” he says. “She is not insecure about her craft. She waits for better scripts.”
It shows in Malhotra’s choices—Badhaai Ho (2018),
Ludo and a feisty dual heroine project, Pataakha
(2018). “I’m quite pagglait in that I do my own thing,” says Malhotra, for whom roles takes precedence over expanding her Instagram count or tracking box-office collections. “It’s my responsibility to find characters that inspire me, only then can they inspire other women,” she says. She is also always on the lookout for projects that allow her to utilise her dance skills.
“Every interview I say I want to do a dance film,” she says, “but maybe I’m not pushing enough.” Or maybe filmmakers are not seeing her Instagram feed enough. ■
—Suhani Singh