:00:23. > :00:31.Friday evening in Wolverhampton. And its movie night. I'm excited to
:00:31. > :00:41.watch this film, I can't wait to see it. These guys aren't here to see
:00:41. > :00:47.Hollywood heroes, their heroes come from Bollywood. It is the premiere
:00:48. > :00:57.of Yamla Pagla Deewana two. Bollywood is also planning its next
:00:58. > :00:59.
:00:59. > :01:06.British adventure. -- already planning. This year, the world's
:01:06. > :01:16.biggest film industry celebrates its Centenary. It captivated a billion
:01:16. > :01:36.
:01:36. > :01:46.people. And how it bounced back from cinema was here at the Palladium. In
:01:46. > :01:46.
:01:46. > :01:49.those days, this was 52 years ago. He is back in dreamland. It was an
:01:49. > :01:58.absolute dream palace. It still is when I am reminiscing and looking
:01:58. > :02:04.back 50 years or so. Still thinking of those days, the glory days.
:02:04. > :02:12.days belonged to his father, the man who brought Bollywood to Britain.
:02:12. > :02:18.His legacy lives on. His heart still pumps to Bollywood beat as does so
:02:18. > :02:28.many across the Midlands. Why? The ever live long ago in a distant
:02:28. > :02:34.
:02:35. > :02:41.land. -- the answer. The Lumiere Brothers organised a
:02:41. > :02:51.screening in Bombay in 1896. The Times of India called it the Miracle
:02:51. > :02:58.
:02:58. > :03:03.of the Century. In 1913, he unveiled this. India's first feature film.
:03:03. > :03:13.One that ultimately spawned a multibillion dollar industry.
:03:13. > :03:23.the early days, moustaches and bids have certainly gotten shorter --
:03:23. > :03:24.
:03:24. > :03:29.beards. Traditionally performed in a kind of pantomime. Such a deeply
:03:29. > :03:39.religious community. It was a no-brainer. It lasted 4000 years.
:03:39. > :03:40.
:03:40. > :03:46.They're going to be fine for the next 100. That's pretty good.
:03:46. > :03:53.wasn't all gods and goddesses. In the 1920s under British rule, life
:03:53. > :04:02.in India was pretty tough. Millions went hungry. In a craved escapism.
:04:02. > :04:08.What better than a good old love story. --? Bollywood's obsession
:04:08. > :04:18.with romance had begun. Surprisingly, early Bollywood was
:04:18. > :04:21.
:04:21. > :04:28.pretty racy. And they say Indians don't kiss. I was shocked to see
:04:28. > :04:37.that early black film that had a kiss in it. I've never seen that
:04:37. > :04:42.before -- that early black and white film. The best was still to come. In
:04:42. > :04:51.the 1930s, thanks to technology, India's screen idols began to talk
:04:52. > :05:00.and most importantly, sing. This 1936 film about the life of a Hindu
:05:00. > :05:10.saint was a huge hit. Millions came to see it. Thanks largely to the
:05:10. > :05:19.
:05:19. > :05:24.Apache song and dance numbers -- patchy. -- catchy. The songs were
:05:24. > :05:34.related to the films that people watched and enjoyed it. Music was
:05:34. > :05:34.
:05:34. > :05:44.everywhere. After dinner, in India you have a song. It is significantly
:05:44. > :05:47.better. Song is a massive part of people 's lives. They were able to
:05:47. > :05:56.convey sentiment through song that they couldn't necessarily convey
:05:56. > :06:05.through dialogue. The song and dance were symbolic of love that couldn't
:06:05. > :06:12.be spoken openly between people. the end of the 1930s, India was
:06:12. > :06:22.producing more than 200 films a year. They were largely a Dutch
:06:22. > :06:23.
:06:23. > :06:33.religious -- religion or romance, but that was about to change. In
:06:33. > :06:37.
:06:37. > :06:47.1943, Indian cinema got political. The makers of Kismet told British
:06:47. > :06:49.
:06:49. > :06:56.cinema -goers their song Go Away Foreigners. There were several films
:06:56. > :07:02.that were anti- British. Surreptitiously they heed the
:07:02. > :07:12.message. The British are soon realised they had been fought and
:07:12. > :07:13.
:07:13. > :07:19.tried to arrest the songwriter Buddy went into hiding. -- been fooled.
:07:19. > :07:26.was part of a growing movement. A growing quit India movement. The
:07:26. > :07:29.British knew the time had come when they would have to hand India back.
:07:29. > :07:39.Kismet was part of the whole resistance that was going on in the
:07:39. > :07:43.
:07:43. > :07:53.40s. The Brits were packing their bags. August 15, 1947, Independence
:07:53. > :08:00.Day for India. It came at a terrible cost. The subcontinent was carved up
:08:00. > :08:03.into two rival nations. India and Pakistan. In an instant, 10 million
:08:03. > :08:13.people became refugees. It was the largest mass migration in human
:08:13. > :08:18.
:08:18. > :08:25.history. Mother India. definitive, cultural film.
:08:25. > :08:33.remember watching this as a kid. Mother India, I think it was made
:08:33. > :08:37.after independence, it felt like that was putting down a dipole and
:08:37. > :08:46.making a statement about itself and the kind of country it is -- putting
:08:46. > :08:54.down a flagpole. She is very into poverty and must raise her children
:08:54. > :09:03.alone. -- thrown into poverty. She is forced to make a terrible
:09:04. > :09:11.sacrifices. There is nothing more epic than India finding itself as a
:09:11. > :09:14.country. And there's nothing more intimate than watching a family torn
:09:14. > :09:22.asunder and then this amazing matriarchal putting it back together
:09:22. > :09:30.again. It was my father's favourite film so I grew up with it as a young
:09:30. > :09:36.girl. Listening to all the songs constantly. Listening to him sing
:09:36. > :09:46.them particularly after he had had a few whiskeys. We would go, oh dad,
:09:46. > :09:46.
:09:46. > :09:56.it's so boring. And he would say, it's the true story of India.
:09:56. > :09:58.
:09:58. > :10:02.is probably one of the most iconic images in world cinema for me. It is
:10:02. > :10:10.such a beautiful film. She's put upon by a wealthy landlord who wants
:10:10. > :10:20.sexual favours. She just wants food to feed her children. It is a
:10:20. > :10:24.
:10:24. > :10:29.beautiful film. India's new found in the pendants -- independents had a
:10:29. > :10:39.surprising impact on the film industry. Censors banned the
:10:39. > :10:41.
:10:41. > :10:51.on-screen kiss. Actor Raj Kapoor could serenade style with his trusty
:10:51. > :10:55.
:10:55. > :11:05.pipe. -- his co-star. Filmmakers came up with increasingly
:11:05. > :11:11.
:11:11. > :11:15.imaginative ways to get around the censors. They used a feather.
:11:15. > :11:25.India got independence, it established a sort of Victorian,
:11:25. > :11:35.British attitude towards kissing. Instead of seeing a kiss, you would
:11:35. > :11:43.
:11:43. > :11:52.see a feather or a bird. -- prudish. Evil, immoral kissing. I still find
:11:52. > :11:57.it a bit odd. All in all, independence meant to kissing was
:11:57. > :12:07.banned in Indian cinema for more than two decades. Tens of thousands
:12:07. > :12:11.of Indians decided to come here to Britain hoping for a better life. He
:12:11. > :12:19.arrived in Birmingham with just two things, his family and a love of
:12:19. > :12:26.Indian cinema. He had his passion for Indian films. He orders wanted
:12:26. > :12:30.to do something for Indian film. They set up a society called the
:12:30. > :12:40.Eastern Film Society. They organised screenings in cinemas across the
:12:40. > :12:50.West Midlands. That meant Amarjit Sidhu got access to Bollywood's
:12:50. > :12:50.
:12:50. > :12:59.biggest stars. This is me standing there waiting to give flowers to
:12:59. > :13:05.this woman who was a superstar of her time, the early 60s. Even his
:13:05. > :13:14.childhood home was littered with film stars. When there was a
:13:14. > :13:19.premiere of an Indian film, we would have the actors who would come to
:13:19. > :13:25.promote their films in cinema, we would be there in the audience
:13:25. > :13:29.waiting to see them. What was fantastic for me as a young star was
:13:29. > :13:35.the fact that they would turn up to our house and they would stay with
:13:35. > :13:42.us and they would eat the food that my mother would cook. It was a
:13:42. > :13:49.fantastic experience. For a youngster to then go to school and
:13:49. > :13:56.talk about these great actors of the films. A fantastic time for me.
:13:56. > :14:05.Waking up in the morning and there would be brushing their teeth and
:14:05. > :14:15.getting ready. The mother would say to take the key to them. It was a
:14:15. > :14:20.
:14:20. > :14:30.fantastic experience -- tea. Bollywood stars are still coming to
:14:30. > :14:34.
:14:34. > :14:39.the West Midlands. He is Bollywood royalty. Today he is in Birmingham.
:14:39. > :14:49.Together with some local directors, he is checking out locations for his
:14:49. > :14:50.
:14:50. > :14:57.next film, a British film with a Bollywood style. It is based in
:14:57. > :15:03.Birmingham. It is a British film actually. I met up with my director
:15:03. > :15:12.and my producer to get an idea of where we would be shooting. That
:15:12. > :15:17.takes us straight into him. Abducting that other woman. We are
:15:17. > :15:25.based in Birmingham, we have lived here most of our lives. That is why
:15:25. > :15:34.the film is set here, there is a very large Asian community here.
:15:34. > :15:44.London is becoming very expensive. Birmingham has a lot of the
:15:44. > :15:50.facilities that we need. So, why not? The film is a gritty thriller.
:15:50. > :16:00.A genre that took off in the 1970s. It was a decade dominated by one
:16:00. > :16:17.
:16:17. > :16:27.man. Hollywood's Clint eastward. -- Bollywood -- Eastwood. He became
:16:27. > :16:30.known as the angry young man because he was very angry. There was a
:16:30. > :16:35.reason why audiences loved this new hero. Throughout the 1960s, I have
:16:35. > :16:42.been blighted a hunger and violence. The fledgeling nation's
:16:42. > :16:50.government was becoming brutal and corrupt. People wanted justice. So
:16:50. > :16:56.you had a lot of corruption, you had a lot of inequalities in society.
:16:56. > :17:06.There was a lot of frustration. I think the actor captures the sense
:17:06. > :17:06.
:17:06. > :17:16.of, if we are free, why is this not happening? It has been 15, 20 years.
:17:16. > :17:17.
:17:17. > :17:23.We want change, we want it now. It is strange because dirty Harry is
:17:23. > :17:29.often seen as erupting from American culture in a specific context. You
:17:29. > :17:32.wonder how that would have been applied in India. People felt
:17:32. > :17:42.frustrated that they want being represented properly by
:17:42. > :17:53.
:17:53. > :18:03.politicians, the police... They felt a craving for a fair go. Dirty Harry
:18:03. > :18:04.
:18:05. > :18:12.wasn't the only influence on Western Cinema. This film gave the industry
:18:12. > :18:18.its name, Bollywood. There was a time when they were... I know
:18:18. > :18:22.directors that have a DVD playing. And I am talking ten years back. I
:18:22. > :18:32.am watching what they are seeing in setting up the shot and copying it.
:18:32. > :18:33.
:18:33. > :18:39.Not so much any more at yes, it was outright plagiarism. In 1975
:18:39. > :18:48.Bollywood got really good. It took on the American genre of the
:18:48. > :18:54.Western. It came up with the most popular Indian film ever made.
:18:54. > :19:04.Sholay is a great example. It is a hodgepodge of different Johns. It is
:19:04. > :19:06.
:19:06. > :19:16.known as the curry western. -- different genres. It was pure cinema
:19:16. > :19:29.
:19:29. > :19:39.entertainment. That is my uncle. Look at that. Only he can fall off
:19:39. > :20:04.
:20:04. > :20:14.a terrific film. It had everything. I would go for the fight scenes that
:20:14. > :20:14.
:20:14. > :20:24.had Western influences. It had everything. It was masala a film.
:20:24. > :20:25.
:20:25. > :20:29.Bollywood still lacked a bit of spice. In 1978 actress Zeenat Aman
:20:29. > :20:39.changed it. When she took a shower in one film she became India's first
:20:39. > :20:40.
:20:40. > :20:43.sex symbol. The pressure of the water was so tremendous that I had a
:20:43. > :20:53.back at four weeks. That is what I got out of it.
:20:53. > :20:55.
:20:56. > :21:05.(LAUGH) It is very beautiful. You never get
:21:05. > :21:11.properly clean showering like that. It was nice to look at that, it yes.
:21:11. > :21:17.Some politicians try to ban the film's 16 but the crowds did not
:21:17. > :21:27.miss out. The censors gave in and the posters went up. The filmmaker
:21:27. > :21:27.
:21:27. > :21:32.was probably the most respected at that time - Raj Kapoo. I suppose he
:21:32. > :21:42.used his cloud to get this past. He also defied things by saying that is
:21:42. > :21:51.
:21:51. > :21:57.know that worked for the film but contrary to popular that belief, it
:21:57. > :22:03.actually did very well. I was nominated for an award. I did not
:22:03. > :22:09.when because what happens when your body overpowers you work, sometimes
:22:09. > :22:14.it is difficult for people to look beyond that. Bollywood's war with
:22:14. > :22:18.the censors was over but its greatest battle was yet to come. The
:22:18. > :22:22.introduction of video and video piracy in the 1980s had a
:22:22. > :22:26.devastating effect. Bollywood had overcome years of upheaval and
:22:26. > :22:33.adapted to great social change. Nobody could have predicted as great
:22:33. > :22:39.as threat could have come from technology. Bollywood was on the
:22:39. > :22:43.brink. Bollywood had had a rough ride. It meant that people were
:22:43. > :22:52.going in more numbers to the cinema and the cinema has always been the
:22:52. > :23:00.lifeblood of Bollywood. It is a Dark Age. My father went through a
:23:00. > :23:06.difficult time. I don't think he got over it. He spent his entire life in
:23:06. > :23:15.the Indian cinema and suddenly for him it was extremely difficult for
:23:15. > :23:21.him. I don't think he ever got over it. Pretty soon Bollywood began to
:23:21. > :23:25.fight back. And the 1990s I got richer. The country got its swagger
:23:25. > :23:30.back and the audiences wanted good old-fashioned family entertainment.
:23:30. > :23:40.Only this time they wanted -- they had big budgets and exotic
:23:40. > :23:49.
:23:49. > :23:59.locations. In to they had the backdrop of mountains. -- in
:23:59. > :24:05.
:24:05. > :24:08.'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' . film was a love story about two
:24:08. > :24:18.British Indians. It was a huge success both in India and in
:24:18. > :24:27.
:24:27. > :24:32.Britain. (SPEAKING INDIAN). It began with a man feeding pigeons and
:24:32. > :24:38.Trafalgar Square saying, here I am in this cold grey country when my
:24:38. > :24:44.land is calling me. The film has a sharp cut to two beautiful girls
:24:44. > :24:54.singing in a fantastic field. Again, the overseas audiences were
:24:54. > :24:59.
:24:59. > :25:04.saying, ah, why are we in the UK? need to go home. It was having an
:25:04. > :25:14.impact all of the world. Even English speaking British films were
:25:14. > :25:16.
:25:16. > :25:22.being made in the Bollywood style. In the film 'Bride and Prejudice'
:25:22. > :25:25.one actor was given a Bollywood makeover. I wanted to make that film
:25:25. > :25:35.because I was completely bought out by the relatively recent popularity
:25:35. > :25:39.
:25:39. > :25:44.in the cinema again. In 'Bride and Prejudice' wanted to make full Hindi
:25:44. > :25:49.song and dance musical. But I wanted to make it in English and make it
:25:49. > :25:54.accessible to the west. Wanted to bring it to the cinema audiences in
:25:54. > :25:59.and America... All of the world, and explain to them what the John was
:25:59. > :26:09.really about. Just as the world is catching on, Bollywood changed
:26:09. > :26:11.
:26:11. > :26:18.again. In 2009 there was another film, a gritty take no modern love
:26:18. > :26:23.story. Its characters were getting mixed up in drugs and prostitution.
:26:23. > :26:27.It only had one dance number. it is recognised as the film it
:26:27. > :26:31.really took the old world and the New World and slapped them together.
:26:31. > :26:37.If you want to see your classic Hollywood plot, you have that, but
:26:37. > :26:44.if you want to see an interesting new way of it, you have it too. It
:26:44. > :26:54.is a new movie. Bollywood's traditional song and dance routines
:26:54. > :26:56.
:26:56. > :27:03.is only seemed old hat for a new generation. West was best. We grew
:27:03. > :27:11.up watching Butch Cassidy and Star Wars. I got corrupted. When I saw
:27:11. > :27:17.the songs I could not go back. That happened at a very young age. The
:27:17. > :27:27.Star Wars generation is typical in that sense. Suddenly, this whole
:27:27. > :27:28.
:27:28. > :27:38.song list... Watching movies was far interesting than song and answers.
:27:38. > :27:42.
:27:42. > :27:46.-- dancers. I thought, I am going to make Indian Jones. He may not be
:27:46. > :27:51.stepping into Harrison Ford's shoes yet but his next film will further
:27:51. > :28:01.cement and between England and Bollywood. It looks to worth
:28:01. > :28:01.
:28:01. > :28:09.celebrating. -- at a history worth celebrating. I love the Bollywood
:28:09. > :28:19.stars, the storylines, the music. see Indian cinema getting bigger and
:28:19. > :28:19.
:28:19. > :28:26.better. I think without those films I would not have a sense of my