Uttara Choudhury

New York: Director Mehboob Khan wanted very badly to go to Los Angeles for the Oscars when his iconoclastic 1957 film Mother India was nominated for the best foreign language film.

But India was short of foreign currency, chronicled The Economist, and Khan begged the Indian government for money, writing; “I should be able to show that our government is also backing me. Otherwise, I will look small and lonely.”

Of course, it is shot with irony that Indian companies are now sweeping into Hollywood boulevard and not cutting a figure that is small or lonely.

As news spread Wednesday of DreamWorks’ planned $500 million-$ 600 million deal with India’s Reliance ADA Group, Hollywood paid close attention to the new Mumbai kid on the block.

The $1.5 billion debt-equity deal, which Reliance is expected to partly finance, will help Steven Spielberg and his Dream-Works cut loose from Viacom’s Paramount Pictures later this year.

The US media was quick to point out that foreign investment in Hollywood hasn’t always worked out so well, with Matsushita experiencing troubles as the owner of Universal Studios in the early ‘90s.

The Japanese were then followed down the same rocky path by the Germans.

But Variety, the trade magazine, noted that Reliance chief Anil Ambani is working cautiously on a mega-deal that is “mutually beneficial” for his business and Hollywood.

“After announcing a series of deals with major Hollywood stars, Reliance is working with DreamWorks on the one element that was missing at the megaconglom: productions to fill its pipeline,” Variety said.

According to Wall Street media and entertainment analysts, Reliance Big Entertainment stands “a favourable chance” of lasting in Hollywood because it already has struck deep roots in other related-entertainment areas in India and the US, such as the multiplex business. Reliance, which owns more than 170 cinemas in India, acquired 250 cinemas in 28 US cities including San Jose, Chicago and Washington.

It plans to show Bollywood films in its cinema halls strategically located in Indian-dominated neighbourhoods in the US. Big films coming out of Dream-Works could also play in these Reliance-owned theatres on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Any company with global ambitions needs a home-market advantage, and it also needs to have a Hollywood strategy,” Rajesh Sawhney, president of Reliance Big Entertainment, told The Wall Street Journal, though he declined to comment on the discussions between Reliance and DreamWorks.

The Reliance move into Hollywood could also throw up greater opportunities for “crossover” films.

Ronnie Screwvala’s UTV Motion Pictures has already co-produced The Namesake directed by New York-based Indian film maker Mira Nair.

UTV has also co-produced Indian-origin director M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening with Fox Searchlight, the Rupert Murdoch company,which is currently the No. 2 movie running in the US.

“Something like this has the latent potential of throwing up all sorts of grand opportunities for Indian actors and film makers,” said Bombay Dreams hero Manu Narayan.

Making it as a serious actor in Hollywood has always been the longest of career long shots. But the recent crossover commercial success of films like Bend It Like Beckham and The Namesake have opened more doors to the small but increasingly visible number of Indians trying to make a living in the US television and film industries.

“We are seeing a record jump in Indian producers financing the US film industry. There is change in the works from when I first started auditioning. The new scripts have more rounded Indian characters because you have Indian writers, directors and now producers coming up in Hollywood,” Pooja Kumar who has acted in Flavors, Park Shark Chronicles and Hiding Divya, told DNA Money.

Reliance also announced last month that it would bankroll movies by production houses connected to A-list Hollywood stars Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt.

It also said it plans to spend more than $1 billion in the next 18 months to expand its entertainment empire.

Source : DNA