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Growing Ties between India, U.S. Film Industries
Bollywood is in the limelight thanks to Slumdog Millionaire, a favorite to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Feb. 22. The film, released last November, has bagged 10 Oscar nominations and is the most successful example yet of Hollywood's attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Indian film industry. India churns out 1,000 movies a year, ten times the number from Hollywood, and the $2 billion Indian market is likely to double by 2012.
To get a bigger piece of the market in movie-mad India, the big U.S. studios are making deals with Indian stars, directors, and producers. Warner Bros., for instance, has signed India's Mira Nair to direct Johnny Depp in a film, Shantaram, to be shot largely in India. Indian-born director M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, released in 2008, was co-produced by 20th Century Fox and Mumbai media house UTV. Here's a look at the growing relationship between the world's two largest dream factories.
