Imagine you are going to the equivalent of a Diwali release in this part of the world (Singapore, China,etc). This is Chinese New year time and I went to see a movie "The Protege" that had a slick trailer which seemed to project that this movie was a classic underworld doublecross movie with the drug trade as the backdrop. It also had a great star cast like Andy Lau and many local champs. But the movie is a distinct disappointment.
There is disconnect at many levels. You expect a slick thriller and what you get is a more of a poorly characterized emotional drama, almost zero action except for a starting chase scene and some amount of documentaryish film making. At one point of time the movie describes in Microsoft Powerpoint how the drug trade works. The movie was broadcasted by a Singapore media company and the pressure of balancing storytelling and preaching tells on it.
The other so called Chinese New Year specials dont even appeal at a trailer level. Well I am not saying that Chinese movies are bad. There are a lot of good Chinese movies. There are really superb Korean movies. The most successful genre in the recent past for these movies has been horror. Other big productions like 'Curse of the golden flower' starring Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li have focused more on the history showing battle scenes and women in tight corsets.
I think the best exports from this region are horror and historicals. The horror is more of the non special effects variety and appeals at a more basic level, especially the Korean ones. Compared to them, Bollywood doesnt own any key genre. In a way we own a style of movie making(emotional,dramatic) and a format ( songs, 2.5-3 hrs). And therein lies the problem when we start dreaming big. Most international audiences have difficulty with our style as well as the format.
The problem is that the format and style is critical to our commercial success. This type of filmmaking also has an international audience in places like Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Middle East and parts of Africa. But the key issue is that might still not appeal to the larger global audience.
So what is the best option? Do we start owning genres? Very difficult since we lack the depth, unless the masala entertainer becomes a genre. Or we try situational fantasies as a genre which is where probably Lage Raho Munnabhai belongs to.
Most of the critical acclaim has come when we have changed the format and made issue focused movies like a massacre or a biography. For instance the rights of the movie Undertrial has been bought by Hollywood.
But the biggest hurdle is that there is no commercial need to do so at all. Thanks to high disposable incomes, the going out culture, high price for satellite rights and a rich diaspora that laps up Bollywood , any well produced movie can aim to do over Rs.30 Cr on a budget of Rs.20-25 Cr. So jab itna tagda paisa banta hai maamu, tu duniya to jayegi bhaad mein.
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