Ever since Indian cinema had its inception, it had relied largely on the western cinema for inspiration and upgrading of technology. Even today, there are many instances where Hollywood is the mother ship for many innovations and experiments in Indian cinema. However, the one thing that sets our industry apart is the storytelling and content. The flavor of Indian cinema is quite contrasting to the Hollywood circuit and for that matter, international cinema. It has a culture of its own which cannot be neglected.
But in the last few years, even Indian cinema has begun grabbing the attention of the global industry. So, what are the parameters which make Indian storytelling get the right visibility and acceptance in the international platform. For starters, Universal emotion should be there in the film. For instance, in the recently released Baahubali, more than universal emotion, the local flavor was there in higher quantity so it could not garner the attention.
On the contrary, the Bollywood flick Dangal got it right. The universal emotion was there wherein a father sees his dream come true through his daughter. A father’s story with wrestling as the background and Olympics connection worked well. That type of emotion gets connected worldwide. Secondly, physical efforts are required for the protagonists. In Dangal Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan shows the contrast in his physique.
He did the same with his earlier movie PK. Coming back to Baahubali, the efforts when compared to international market is not beyond them. Secondly, there was not complete originality in the product and you could find references to few scenes from international cinema. Hence, the film has been able to appeal the NRIs but not the foreigners. On the other hand, Dangal is capturing foreigners like it did in China. If it gets released in any country familiar with Olympics, value will be there.
Last but not the least, promotion and pitching it in the right way is key to enhance the visibility and acceptance. As it is, Indian filmmakers have become smart. They are tying up with foreign teams for their films and increasing the quality of their product. On the other hand, our actors and actresses are penetrating into Hollywood and making their presence felt. By importing foreign teams to our cinema, they are spreading the word in their industry about our content.
Overall, by going through the above parameters, the day is not far when you will see a European sitting next to you in the theatre and whistling to a song or fight sequence.