A New Era for Indian Actresses?
Mallika Sherawat will soon go to the Cannes Film Festival.
It is not often that a Bollywood actress plays for any team other than home.
It is simply not often that the opportunity comes along.
Nonetheless, Jackie Chan took an interest to Sherawat and cast her as an Indian Princess (surprise!) in his latest flick “the Myth”. Not only does she play Indian Princess on-screen though, but she will market the film by parading in diamonds and form-fitting indian-european fusion gowns at the festival. It is no surprise that she is taking such care with how she will present herself for she will be sharing the red carpet with some of her favorite internationally renowned stars and, as she admits, she has interests beyond simply promoting the film at this festival:
Unable to hide her excitement, Sherawat said she was delirious at the thought that she was going to share the red carpet with international stars like Bruce Willis. Admitting to harbouring ambitions of being cast in more international projects, she said there was a stereotype thinking that all James Bond girls had to be American or Latinos role but with Hally things changed. “Insha allah, if God so wills, I want to show that Indian actresses have the talent to play even the lead roles in international films,” she said.
It should be interesting to track the “leakage” of more Bollywood stars into the international film industry’s sphere. I imagine a flashy, singy, dancy drama about a man wrongfully accused and sentenced to death for some crime he did not commit, complete with shimmies and twirls all the way down the green mile. Now that would be culture.
But what might the repercussions really be? Would Bollywood as we know it today die? Would musicals wane to the point of extinction as they did in Hollywood? One day we might be saying “I want more lipsinking sirrealism please, with more glitter, and dye, and wide-open flowery fields.”