[icernet] Bollywood Dreams

[Arul Selvan MIC]

It's common to hear that India's new gods are its film stars. Hindu
imagery is indeed the dominant religio-cultural form in a vaguely
secular industry (many of whose leading artistes are actually Muslim).
Much is made of the enormous social power that celebrity confers on
them, the mass adoration and enthusiasm they generate. This is not lost
on the political class, either. Two of Bollywood's biggest stars, Vinod
Khanna and Shatrughan "Shotgun" Sinha, have just been handed,
respectively, the Tourism and Health Ministry portfolios in India's
federal cabinet. I remember being in southern India when Marudur
Gopalamenon Ramachandran (MGR), the former superstar of Tamil cinema
turned chief minister of Tamil Nadu, died. The news anchor announced
that a number of suicides had come in the wake of MGR's death. And
before that, 22 people had killed themselves hoping their death might
aid MGR's recovery. 

Inevitably the word kitsch comes up. But Bollywood is finally going
global, aided by the spread of the Indian diaspora, but also helped by a
new Western interest. Baz Luhrmann has acknowledged that his Moulin
Rouge is an homage to the Bollywood musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber has
teamed with A.R. Rahman, the maestro of the Bollywood soundtrack, to pen
Bombay Dreams, a theatrical salute to Bollywood. Last year's Lagaan was
the first Bollywood movie to be nominated for an Oscar, while Devdas,
the most expensive Indian film ever made, was the first to be selected
to screen at Cannes. 

Source:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14544