![]() The third film had an Islamic focus, hoped to capture the fancy of some of over 1.5 billion Muslims population worldwide, and used an autistic man to showcase religious profiling in the US. ![]() The film sank in the Indian market and left no mark anywhere else in the world. In this film a Hispanic leading lady, a lot of Spanish dialogs, and a New Mexico and Mexico setting were used as hooks to lure in some fraction of the 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Another similar example is that of Kites. The film fared poorly in the domestic market and created no blip in the Box office that caters to a billion Chinese speakers. ![]() Thus Chandni Chowk to China filmed in China and used Chinese actors, had a martial arts focus, and even a leading lady who was supposed to be half-Chinese. The makers picked a demographic, and it had to be one that was fairly large, and then tried to fuse elements into their films that would entice that demographic. Recent efforts in Bollywood to crossover also seem studied ones. Subjects that are acceptable to the Western audiences (like incest and pedophilia) will never be palatable to general Indian audiences outside a small niche of multiplex viewers. Similarly, the “Indian” (though never Bollywood), film Monsoon Wedding was a quintessential crossover film, that did poorly in the domestic market in India. It ended up being just that and not doing well at all in the home market in China. So the film was made mainly for crossover audiences. Similarly Malaysian born Michelle Yeoh had already gained popularity as a Bond girl a few years before, and was picked despite her lack of Mandarin. ![]() Chow Yun-Fat was well known from the John Woo actions thrillers and had been seen in a few HW productions already, so this was favored over his inability to speak fluent Mandarin. So when he decided to make Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the Wuxia genre with three strong female warriors, and a master who connected them together, he did not pick a traditional Chinese tale set way back in the past, but a rather contemporary tale set in the past, and used two actors who were not Chinese and were already somewhat known in the west. As someone who went to film school in the US and trained under Spike Lee, it is not surprising that the man is in touch with Western audiences. This one got him nominations and awards galore. What about Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? Ang Lee was coming off two successful Chinese films, Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman (both quite popular in the West), when he directed Sense and Sensibility. It could be thought of as an Indie film that made it big, sort of like a mammoth Little Miss Sunshine. So why do we think of Slumdog Millionaire as a crossover film? Is it the fact that it is based on an Indian novel? Or the fact that it has a completely Indian cast? Can we think of Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto as a crossover film? I would propose that Slumdog Millionaire was never intended to be, nor was it ever supposed to be a film that needed to crossover. This is why no big studio film from HW is ever thought of as a crossover film – they have already expanded to the far reaches of the world, and depending on content, enjoy varying success in these regions. Such films go beyond the traditional markets in the home country, or already exploited by films from the country, and usually end up making a lot of money. Let me put forth my definition of a crossover film. Which brings to mind the questions – what is a crossover film and what content would make a successful crossover film? So is it a quest for glory per se in the form of recognition in the West, or is it sheer size of the market for movies in the rest of the world that is driving these endeavors? The attempts so far have seen marginal to no success. Both Slumdog and Crouching Tiger not only won critical acclaim but also became big money spinners in the West. Of late every Bollywood producer wants to make the ultimate film, one that will crossover and become our own Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or Slumdog Millionaire.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |