Indian films now have a global audience

Now an essential part of India’s ‘soft’ diplomacy, films, however, have remained a free enterprise with little push from the government. India’s effort at promoting cinema abroad is minuscule compared to, say, the US or France. It has remained an independ

From the erstwhile Soviet leaders humming the popular Hindi song “Awaara Hoon” in the last century to United States President Barack Obama mouthing superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s (SRK) dialogue sums up in a nutshell the global reach and lure of Indian cinema. Starring SRK and a character playing Obama, “My Name is Khan” (2010) is the best example of an Indian film promoting universal brotherhood amidst a climate of Islamophobia and hate politics.

Now an essential part of India’s ‘soft’ diplomacy, films, however, have remained a free enterprise with little push from the government. India’s effort at promoting cinema abroad is minuscule compared to, say, the US or France. It has remained an independent and commercially-driven enterprise, much like yoga. On the reverse, many foreign governments offer Indian filmmakers attractive packages inviting them to shoot in their locales and make their lands popular.

Morocco, in North Africa, celebrated 100 years of Bollywood (Hindi cinema) at the Marrakech film festival even before Mumbai did. Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan are household names in Morocco, Egypt, Algeria etc and visiting Indian tourists are compared to Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif. Indian film and TV serials’ popularity in West Africa is widespread. “Everything stops in our homes at 7.30 PM when they start,” says Richard J A Boateng, President, Film Directors’ Guild of Ghana. Bollywood-smitten Boateng produced, directed and enacted the lead part in “Mr India”, the first Ghana-India co-production. He is working on his next, ‘Khafa’.

Across the world, a mix of nostalgia and brand loyalty, sustained for generations, is growing. Besides their popularity among 30 million Indian and South Asian diaspora, Indian films are winning new audiences in places with scarce India connections.

The latest is SRK lending his voice to King Mufasa in the Hindi version of Jon Favreau’s Disney classic “The Lion King”. His son Aryan will enliven the character of Simba. Ranveer Singh has lent his voice to Ryan Reynold’s avatar as an adult superhero in the Hindi version of Deadpool 2. Tiger Shroff is dubbing for the Hindi version of SpiderMan: Homecoming. It shows how Hollywood franchises are adding Bollywood star power to win new markets.

Streets in the Soviet bloc were once named after Raj Kapoor. Today SRK has a Malaysian royal title ‘Datuk’, akin to a British knighthood. Taking note of the fact that Khan had made three films in that country and had promised more, the government bluntly told local critics: “SRK promotes Malaysia better than we would if we advertised.”

After long years of Sivaji Ganesan and M G Ramachandran (MGR), superstar Rajinikanth nowreigns wherever the Tamil diaspora reside in large numbers. His ‘Kabali’, dubbed in nine languages, had its global release in the US before India. It was also Malaysia’s first international coproduction. Telugu cinema is also fast gaining foreign markets. Multilingual “Bahubali: The Conclusion” earned USD14 million overseas. Revenues earned by Indian movies overseas nearly tripled in 2017, with box office collections outside of India growing to USD367 million.

India’s neighbours fear importing Indian films as that hurts local industries. Many of them end up having grey markets. But in China, Aamir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’, ‘PK’, ‘Dangal’ and “Secret Superstar” have broken records. ‘Dangal’ minted over USD190 million in China – double its domestic box-office takings – and became the highest-grossing non-Hollywood movie of all time.

At their summit in Wuhan, President Xi Jinping reportedly told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he had seen ‘Dangal’ and enjoyed it. Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale quoted Xi telling Modi that “it would be a good idea to expand this, and more Indian films should come to China and more Chinese films should go to India”. China has become an aspirational market Given their complex relationship, the SinoIndian box office bonhomie may well lead to better cross-border cultural understanding and narrow the trust deficit between the two Asian giants. And who knows, provided India import Chinese films on reciprocal basis, its soft power may well work diplomatic wonders where hard power has made little headway in resolving issues. No wonder Pakistan bans the import of Indian films, each time there are tensions, to keep the bilateral pot of rivalry and suspicion simmering.