You could be a Bollywood queen
2004-09-06 11:42
New Delhi - Indian film directors are recruiting young, fair and blonde leading ladies from abroad to reach out to a larger international market, it was reported on Monday.
A slew of new Bollywood films feature usually little-known actresses from Britain, South Africa and the United States, the Telegraph newspaper reported.
Flashy Bollywood director Subhash Ghai held lengthy auditions in London to find the female lead for his film Kisna. His latest discovery is British actress Antonia Bernath.
"My story needed Antonia," said Ghai, adding that she was busy practising the elaborate dance steps required in every Bollywood film. She plays the daughter of a British officer in colonial India who falls in love with an Indian boy called Kisna.
Another British actress, Annabelle Wallace, stars with Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan in Dil Jo Bhi Kahey (whatever the heart says), while South African model Ilene Hamann has a lead role in Rog (disease).
Five Hollywood actresses were shortlisted for Bachchan's next production, Viruddh (opposition), the report said.
The publicist of Dil Jo Bhi Kahey said the film required an international look because it was set in Mauritius.
"Money is the basis of all new Bollywood trends. The directors are trying to cash in on the Indian-foreigner romance and are using white women to get an overseas audience," said film critic Indu Mirani.
"I am not sure how this would work ... usually the white woman is spurned in the end, as finally it is still not acceptable for the Indian man to marry a foreigner," Mirani said.
"Though reality is no longer like this, Bollywood is 20 years behind." - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA