Kaizad Gustad's Boom is representative of Bollywood's own indie wave. While his film cost Rs 20 crore, most others cost less than a fifth of that

Boom. Amitabh Bachchan in a white suit and a silver yak-hair wig. Bo Derek in a wet-and-wild gold sari. Padma Lakshmi, Katrina Kaif and Madhu Sapre in costumes that will redefine the word risqué in the Indian context. A simultaneous release in 54 countries in August. Ads in Vogue. A co-promotion with ftv in 120 countries. Rs 20 crore in the making. This is the Ayesha Shroff produced, Kaizad Gustad directed Boom, and it embodies all that is the new Bollywood.

"This isn't some drivel with a marriage and seven songs," barks producer Shroff into the phone at the Bandra, Mumbai office of her company, Quest Films. The vivacious Shroff, wife of actor Jackie Shroff, who stars in Boom, and one-time film actress (she starred in the Hindi version of The Blue Lagoon) is presumably speaking to an agent representing Boom in an international market. "It's a hot movie and you can tell them we will not budge on our terms."

Boom is representative of Bollywood's own indie wave. It is just one among a clutch of offerings and works in progress that is labelled 'independent cinema' irrespective of provenance and has an eye on the overseas markets. Gustad's film may have cost Rs 20 crore, but most others cost less than a fourth of that.

The motivation for most makers of independent cinema comes from the success of Bend it Like Beckham and Monsoon Wedding -both have taken on the mantle of crossover cult classics-in the US and the UK box office. Bollywood's dismal performance in the domestic market-thus far in 2003, only 8 or 9 movies, out of a total of 120 releases can be labelled successes, according to Komal Nahata, Editor, Film Information-and the saner economics of making a film targeting western markets (See The Economics Of Going Global) has encouraged film makers to take the plunge. And the US' and the UK's growing fondness for crossover films (those made in a particular cultural context, but that appeal to audiences in a different culture) has helped. Director Shekhar Kapur says it may be difficult to "pinpoint the exact reasons" for the growing popularity of Indian cinema in the West, but reckons it could have something to do with "the boredom of being exposed to the same cultures in Western cinema and the need to look outside". Kapur's next film Paani, about an Indian city that runs out of water in the year 2040, is targeted at a global audience. As is Ketan Mehta's 1857-The Rising, which is being made simultaneously in English and Hindi; Mehta is in talks with 20th Century Fox for a global distribution deal. "Universal themes with Indian talent are starting to get recognised (in the West)," says Mehta.

So, there's actor-director Rajat Kapur, whose Raghu Romeo, the story of a barman's capers, will be screened at the Locarno film festival in August. Crossover Films' (it's a Chatterjee Group company), Rules (Pyar Ka Superhit Formula) which ceo Nirja Shah says, "is definitely looking at a US, UK, Canada release", Subhash Ghai's Jogger's Park, Vashu Bhagnani's Out of Control, six films from Eros Multimedia, and Deepak Tijori's Oops!. "Jogger's Park may not do business in B- and C- centres," shrugs Ghai who couldn't, or so it seems, be any more nonchalant. "We are planning a worldwide release of the film in the first week of August." And the list goes on.

THE TASTE OF INDIAN CURRY Indian film pros will increasingly work in the West

Spot the Indian: Shah (second from left) plays Nemo Blame it on it. It was the great Indian Infotech story that created a brand for the country, its people, and culture in the US, akin to what the predominantly-trading Punjabi community did in the UK. When you work with people, read coverage in the mainstream media about them, and see them becoming heads of global organisations, it becomes easier to accept their films (and their cuisine). It helps when a few film-makers of Indian origin (think M. Night Shyamalan, Mira Nair, Tarsem Singh) make the news with their motion pics. "India's success in the it sector has aroused curiosity about the country and its people," explains Director Shekhar Kapur. whose directorial venture Elizabeth almost won an Oscar. Still, despite talk about Aishwarya Rai being/not being (oh, it was a false alarm) the next Bond girl, choreographer Farah Khan's work with Reese Witherspoon, and Hollywood's interest in A.R. Rahman (especially after his music for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Bombay Dreams which, for the record, was choreographed by Khan), and reports about everyone from Hrithik Roshan to Salman Khan featuring in Hollywood productions, it will take some time for Indian film pros to become part of mainstream Hollywood. It took time for African Americans to do so, Antonio Banderas and Chow Yun Fat never did (albeit after promising starts), and Penelope Cruz is discovering that it isn't easy to be Spanish in Hollywood. Ergo, whether it is Naseeruddin Shah turning out as Captain Nemo in the just-released The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Alka Yagnik's voice and Anu Malik's music forming part of a medley (Hindi Sad Diamonds) in Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge, India, Indians, and Indianness is still about that touch of the exotic. Only, the trend is accelerating. And the familiarisation of the exotic bodes well for Bollywood.

THE ART OF CROSSING OVER

Some of these films may actually go on to do well at the US and UK box office, but mere English dialogues can't render a run-of-the-mill Bollywood motion pic a global blockbuster. "I am being shown at least one crossover film a day by producers who claim to have created the next Oscar nominee," laughs Kishore Lulla, the largest distributor of Bollywood films in the UK and the US.

There's nothing wrong in aspiring for crossover greatness: After all, Bend it Like Beckham has grossed $24 million (Rs 110 crore) in the US, and Monsoon Wedding, over $13 million (Rs 60 crore), although neither is really a Bollywood creation. Next to these numbers, Bollywood's successes in the US, Devdas ($2.75 million, Rs 12.6 crore), Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham ($3 million, Rs 13.8 crore), and Lagaan ($0.84 million, Rs 3.86 crore) pale into insignificance. And for all those who thought Lagaan was a crossover, Aditya Shastri, MD of 20th Century Fox, India has just one thing to say. "Who did it cross over to? It was essentially seen by the Indian diaspora."

To succeed in overseas markets, especially the Mecca of movies, the US, Bollywood needs to focus on distribution. Lagaan was played on a mere 34 screens; Crouching Tiger... in 2,200; and Matrix Reloaded in 8,517. "That's really what a mainstream US release means," says Sunir Kheterpal, the Head of the media and entertainment practice at Rabo India. Put simply: it isn't all that easy for Bollywood to go global. "The overseas market poses unique challenges that the Indian film industry is not yet ready to take head on," says Shyam Shroff, the chairman of Mumbai-based Shringar Films. Ghai admits that Jogger's Park could do with some help on the exhibiting and marketing front and sees no reason "why it cannot make a mark at the worldwide box office" if that is forthcoming. Ghai's claim rings true: Uday Singh, MD of Columbia Tristar's Indian operation, believes 40 per cent of a "film's fortunes can be swung with a good marketing and distribution strategy". Unfortunately, he says, Indian producers lack the science to create these.

Bollywood's global chances would be furthered should 20th Century Fox, Columbia Tristar, or others of their ilk decide to distribute its films in overseas markets. Only, "Minimum guarantees, money-on-the-table, and other such rules that Bollywood operates by is not how we do business anywhere in the world," says 20th Century Fox's Shastri. If Bollywood wishes to go global, then, it needs to change the way it works, "get out of the system of simply selling overseas rights", as Rabo's Kheterpal puts it, and frame far more evolved marketing and distribution strategies.

AND THE SCIENCE OF STAYING THERE

THE FIRST REAL CROSSOVER Move over Sabu, Rajni is here

Making waves: The Japanese like Rajnikanth, that's it We know it isn't made in bollywood, but most industry insiders in India claim a Tamil motion pic, Muthu, was India's first real crossover. Starring southern film icon Rajnikanth, this film was the second-most successful foreign language offering in Japan in 1998 (Titanic was #1); it earned revenues in excess of $5 million in that country, far in excess of the total US revenues of Devdas and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Now, five years later Kandaswaamy Bharathan, President, Digital Studios, the company that distributed the film in Japan, has forged an alliance with a Chinese distributor to release Muthu in China. "I believe it will do well in China because it has various elements not usually seen in action-oriented Chinese films," says Bharathan. He can say that again.

Going global would also entail looking beyond traditional markets, and increasingly, Bollywood is waking up to this opportunity. TCG's Shah rattles off a list of hot markets: "DVDs in the US and the UK; subtitled prints in Europe and West Asia; television and cable in Mauritius, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Fiji; and theatrical releases in Sri Lanka." Indeed, a film maker who taps these markets could make a killing even with a limited release in the US and the UK.

That could happen sooner than some Bollywood insiders believe. Despite their disillusionment with the way Indian producers strike distribution deals, both 20th Century Fox and Columbia Tristar are looking to distribute Bollywood products globally; Fox is close to striking a deal to distribute Mehta's 1857-The Rising.

The emergence of a new generation of film makers, the entry of corporates such as Tata Infomedia, Applause Entertainment (an Aditya Birla Group company), and TCG, and the decision of financial institutions such as IDBI to enter the film-financing business (hitherto the domain of private money lenders, some with mob connections) could make Bollywood more professional in its approach to film making, although Shekhar Kapur strikes a contrarian stance by maintaining that the high-risk business model it follows actually boosts creativity.

In the US alone, the market for foreign films is estimated at $450 million (Rs 2,070 crore) a year. Bollywood's share of that today is a mere $20 million (Rs 92 crore). To grow this, Indian film makers won't just have to do great work: They have to focus on how they work, and refine their marketing and distribution strategies. The lure of the global market could well catalyse a change in Bad Bollywood.