Bollywood and Beyond: A Century of Indian Cinema

0:00:03 > 0:00:06Indian cinema is now over 100 years old.

0:00:06 > 0:00:09And from humble beginnings, it's gone on to become the largest,

0:00:09 > 0:00:11most diverse film industry in the world.

0:00:11 > 0:00:14Reflecting the hopes and dreams of a nation.

0:00:14 > 0:00:18That's what's probably unique about Indian cinema.

0:00:18 > 0:00:22That...it has hope in it.

0:00:22 > 0:00:24Who?

0:00:24 > 0:00:26You.

0:00:27 > 0:00:30We rely heavily on emotions. We're an emotional country.

0:00:30 > 0:00:35That's what our nation relies on. Our hope is based on emotions.

0:00:38 > 0:00:41I love cinema, I've always loved cinema,

0:00:41 > 0:00:44and for me cinema is the greatest art.

0:00:44 > 0:00:47And Indian cinema, I think, is particularly unique.

0:00:47 > 0:00:49MAN: How disgusting!

0:00:49 > 0:00:51- ALL:- How disgusting.

0:00:51 > 0:00:54In this film I'll see the hopefuls and the people who train them.

0:00:54 > 0:00:58And hunt down some of the biggest stars in the industry.

0:01:00 > 0:01:02My journey will take me across India

0:01:02 > 0:01:05and lead me all the way back to London.

0:01:07 > 0:01:11Now, in the time that we have, this is a bit of a whistle-stop tour

0:01:11 > 0:01:14through the films that I think define Indian film

0:01:14 > 0:01:17and also what makes it unique.

0:01:19 > 0:01:22If you haven't seen a Bollywood film before, they're known for

0:01:22 > 0:01:26their song and dance routines and spectacular action.

0:01:26 > 0:01:29Rathore. Vikram Rathore.

0:01:29 > 0:01:32But now a new wave of art house films

0:01:32 > 0:01:35and independent hits have made India a serious global player,

0:01:35 > 0:01:38and business is booming.

0:01:39 > 0:01:42I see this business going through an exponential shift

0:01:42 > 0:01:43over the next few years.

0:01:43 > 0:01:46This really is a golden age of Indian cinema.

0:01:50 > 0:01:52Don't angry me.

0:01:58 > 0:02:02APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

0:02:07 > 0:02:10Thank you.

0:02:10 > 0:02:16My experience of going to the cinema in the '60s was with my parents,

0:02:16 > 0:02:20with my family, on a Friday, Saturday or a Sunday,

0:02:20 > 0:02:26our family, and 40,000 others, which means about three Indian families,

0:02:26 > 0:02:32all descended on these three cinemas in the centre of Southall.

0:02:32 > 0:02:33And there were queues...

0:02:33 > 0:02:39I should explain that in a queue, I guess in the West,

0:02:39 > 0:02:41means an ordered line of people...

0:02:42 > 0:02:46..just chatting and looking at their watches waiting to go in.

0:02:46 > 0:02:50A queue in Indian terms means, "Let's go!"

0:02:50 > 0:02:53And everybody is one little aperture, it's like a funnel,

0:02:53 > 0:02:56and everyone just pressing in, and that's what it was like.

0:02:56 > 0:02:58We would get in, we would get our seats

0:02:58 > 0:03:01and there would be laps on laps on laps.

0:03:01 > 0:03:04Health and safety didn't exist at that point.

0:03:04 > 0:03:08It was just, pack as many people as you can into the cinema hall.

0:03:08 > 0:03:12And the reason why people like me

0:03:12 > 0:03:17and families, and particularly kids, kept on going back was that

0:03:17 > 0:03:24Hindi movies for us was the closest we got to a cultural injection

0:03:24 > 0:03:28from the land of our ancestors.

0:03:32 > 0:03:35If you want to get under the skin of the Indian film industry

0:03:35 > 0:03:38you have to start here in Mumbai,

0:03:38 > 0:03:40the home of Bollywood cinema.

0:03:42 > 0:03:46Every time I visit I'm surprised by the sheer pace of change.

0:03:46 > 0:03:49Elaborate towers reach ever higher

0:03:49 > 0:03:53and this city more than any other projects India's global ambition.

0:04:02 > 0:04:04And even after all these years,

0:04:04 > 0:04:06the city is still clearly obsessed my movies,

0:04:06 > 0:04:10their stars and fairy-tale lifestyles.

0:04:10 > 0:04:12They don't call it the City of Dreams for nothing.

0:04:15 > 0:04:17You don't have to look hard for examples

0:04:17 > 0:04:19of how devoted Indians are to cinema.

0:04:19 > 0:04:22Take the Big B for instance. Amitabh Bachchan,

0:04:22 > 0:04:25affectionately known as the Big B,

0:04:25 > 0:04:28is without doubt the biggest movie star on Earth.

0:04:28 > 0:04:31It's a position he's enjoyed for nearly four decades

0:04:31 > 0:04:34and demonstrates more clearly than anything

0:04:34 > 0:04:36the amazing power that cinema has in India.

0:04:44 > 0:04:48I'm making my way across town to the starry Mumbai suburb of Juhu,

0:04:48 > 0:04:50where the great man lives.

0:04:50 > 0:04:52We've heard that on Sundays

0:04:52 > 0:04:55when he's in town, there's always a crowd outside his house,

0:04:55 > 0:04:59but on Sundays he comes out and gives little...

0:04:59 > 0:05:02people blessings to the fans.

0:05:09 > 0:05:12We're outside Amitabh Bachchan's gate.

0:05:12 > 0:05:15Now, as you can see, I'm not the only person who knows that

0:05:15 > 0:05:17he's going to be here.

0:05:17 > 0:05:20Hundreds of people have made the pilgrimage to Amitabh's house.

0:05:20 > 0:05:23TRANSLATION: We've been standing here for three hours.

0:05:23 > 0:05:25Braving temperatures in excess of 40 degrees

0:05:25 > 0:05:27in the hope of a glimpse of their idol.

0:05:28 > 0:05:32Some of them have come literally from thousands of miles away,

0:05:32 > 0:05:35all over India, to come over here to catch a glimpse of him.

0:05:35 > 0:05:41I mean, this is kind of...demigod worship exemplified.

0:05:44 > 0:05:48We've been here about half an hour now

0:05:48 > 0:05:50and the crowd's really built up.

0:05:51 > 0:05:54It must have been like this outside Graceland.

0:05:54 > 0:05:55I can't think of anywhere else that

0:05:55 > 0:05:59people would gather outside this sort of way.

0:06:12 > 0:06:17And there for just a few seconds is the man himself.

0:06:19 > 0:06:25It would be impossible to believe that none of us have had failure

0:06:25 > 0:06:28in our lives and that all of us have had continued success all our lives.

0:06:28 > 0:06:31It's difficult to comprehend the level of devotion

0:06:31 > 0:06:34that Indians bestow upon stars like the Big B.

0:06:34 > 0:06:36But thankfully Anupama Chopra,

0:06:36 > 0:06:39an industry insider with her own movie review show,

0:06:39 > 0:06:42has agreed to give me a window into this crazy world.

0:06:42 > 0:06:47Why in India are the movie stars so worshipped?

0:06:47 > 0:06:51You know, I had in fact done a long feature for The New York Times

0:06:51 > 0:06:55on exactly this. The sort of devotion and the praise

0:06:55 > 0:06:58and, you know, some guy walking from somewhere in Utter Pradesh to

0:06:58 > 0:07:02Bombay because that is a form of penance that God make him, OK.

0:07:02 > 0:07:04Where do you see this? It's impossible.

0:07:04 > 0:07:07I don't think Brad Pitt has this. I don't think Tom Cruise has this.

0:07:07 > 0:07:09It's just these people.

0:07:09 > 0:07:12And so I try to explore exactly this, that

0:07:12 > 0:07:15what makes us so crazy about movie stars?

0:07:15 > 0:07:20And one hypothesis is that the early films were all mythologicals

0:07:20 > 0:07:24and costume dramas and many of them were about religious subjects

0:07:24 > 0:07:27where you literally saw stars as gods.

0:07:27 > 0:07:30And those were the first few years of Hindi cinema.

0:07:31 > 0:07:34To get to the bottom of how Indian movie stars reached their

0:07:34 > 0:07:38present day demigod status, we need to start 100 years ago

0:07:38 > 0:07:40in the silent era.

0:07:43 > 0:07:46Raja Harishchandra, made in 1913, is thought to be the first

0:07:46 > 0:07:49Indian movie and was a tale of gods and goddesses,

0:07:49 > 0:07:52which established the format for the new medium.

0:07:53 > 0:07:56But little has survived to the present day.

0:07:56 > 0:08:00And so the best place to start is the National Film Archive in Pune.

0:08:00 > 0:08:04Here a small but dedicated group of archivists struggle to

0:08:04 > 0:08:08preserve the few surviving examples of early Indian cinema.

0:08:14 > 0:08:17The founder of the archive, PK Nair,

0:08:17 > 0:08:20recalls the romance to early visits to the cinema.

0:08:29 > 0:08:34I watched the movie inside the cinema hall by sitting on the floor.

0:08:34 > 0:08:39Floor means it's filled with sand, white sand from the beach.

0:08:41 > 0:08:43And the chai wallah and the others

0:08:43 > 0:08:45used to come every ten minutes

0:08:45 > 0:08:48because the interval was there, it was single projector.

0:08:52 > 0:08:54So there used to be a number of intervals.

0:08:54 > 0:08:57So they used to come every now and then

0:08:57 > 0:09:00and offer you tea or coffee or whatever it is.

0:09:08 > 0:09:11Because early negatives and prints contain silver,

0:09:11 > 0:09:16many were stripped of their precious metal and lost for ever.

0:09:16 > 0:09:20Then in 2003 a fire at the National Archive tragically wiped out

0:09:20 > 0:09:25many of the prints that PK Nair had painstakingly collected.

0:09:25 > 0:09:29One precious survivor is the 1943 film Kismet.

0:09:32 > 0:09:36It's the story of a pickpocket who falls in love.

0:09:36 > 0:09:38And in its day proved a massive hit,

0:09:38 > 0:09:42giving India its first superstar, Ashok Kumar.

0:09:43 > 0:09:48For the first time movie stars were calling the shots.

0:09:48 > 0:09:51The first company of note at that time was a company called

0:09:51 > 0:09:53Bombay Talkies.

0:09:53 > 0:09:56And this was formed primarily by two people,

0:09:56 > 0:09:58Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani,

0:09:58 > 0:10:01who were both stars of the screen at that time.

0:10:01 > 0:10:04So in a way the closest equivalent I guess in America would be

0:10:04 > 0:10:06United Artists.

0:10:06 > 0:10:10And these guys would be like Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin

0:10:10 > 0:10:12and people like that.

0:10:12 > 0:10:15Actors who had formed their own studio.

0:10:15 > 0:10:19The early talkies were more than just popular entertainment.

0:10:19 > 0:10:23In the run up to Indian independence, films like Kismet

0:10:23 > 0:10:24sent a very clear message.

0:10:31 > 0:10:34While India was still under British rule there were censorship

0:10:34 > 0:10:38restrictions on what can be filmed and what can be said on screen.

0:10:38 > 0:10:41But clever film-makers could see the enormous appeal of the new medium

0:10:41 > 0:10:44and found neat ways around the censor.

0:10:44 > 0:10:49They told censors at that time, "This is a war film.

0:10:49 > 0:10:53"It promoted the effort for the war."

0:10:53 > 0:10:56So that is why they got this exemption.

0:10:56 > 0:11:01So they managed to put in an anti-British song

0:11:01 > 0:11:05- in effect paid for by the British? - Yeah.

0:11:05 > 0:11:07That's quite clever, isn't it?

0:11:13 > 0:11:16Whilst on the surface the protest songs in Kismet

0:11:16 > 0:11:18were aimed at the Japanese invader,

0:11:18 > 0:11:21the spirit of resistance they represent was aimed directly

0:11:21 > 0:11:24at India's colonial masters.

0:11:24 > 0:11:27The audience knew it was meant for the British.

0:11:27 > 0:11:29That is the greatness of the film.

0:11:39 > 0:11:43So it seems that from the very beginning, songs which appealed to

0:11:43 > 0:11:46the common man played a central role in Indian cinema.

0:11:48 > 0:11:53What is the purpose of the song, the musical number in Hindi film?

0:11:53 > 0:11:59Songs have always been the part of a dramatic narrative.

0:11:59 > 0:12:04This has been millennium old tradition in our country.

0:12:04 > 0:12:07And that is what the cinema inherited.

0:12:07 > 0:12:10The very first talkie that we made was Alam Ara.

0:12:13 > 0:12:17It had, fasten your seatbelt, 50 songs.

0:12:17 > 0:12:20- 50?!- Yes. 5-0.

0:12:20 > 0:12:23But the song used to be two minutes long.

0:12:23 > 0:12:25But it had 50 songs.

0:12:25 > 0:12:29So there was never any confusion that whether we will have songs

0:12:29 > 0:12:30or we won't have songs.

0:12:35 > 0:12:37Simple lyrics loaded with a nationalist pride of a new republic

0:12:37 > 0:12:40was a sure way of capturing the public's imagination,

0:12:40 > 0:12:43and film-makers who chose the right songs

0:12:43 > 0:12:46could ensure their movies became hits.

0:12:46 > 0:12:52Raj Kapoor had a very canny ear for picking a good song

0:12:52 > 0:12:55and a catchy song.

0:12:55 > 0:13:00Like the one from Shree 420 - Mera Joota Hai Japani.

0:13:18 > 0:13:23The kind of films he made, I don't think anyone can do that today.

0:13:23 > 0:13:25Why is that?

0:13:25 > 0:13:28I think because they were so simple.

0:13:28 > 0:13:32And now suddenly everything is like snazzy,

0:13:32 > 0:13:36there's computer graphics, songs, there's expensive costumes,

0:13:36 > 0:13:38lavish sets.

0:13:38 > 0:13:42Whereas back in the day when films like Boot Polish and Awara,

0:13:42 > 0:13:44even Bobby for that matter,

0:13:44 > 0:13:48simple love story that just stormed the nation.

0:13:48 > 0:13:53A simple storyline with basic technique of shooting.

0:13:55 > 0:13:57Raj Kapoor was one of the brightest stars

0:13:57 > 0:13:59of the newly independent India.

0:13:59 > 0:14:02In Shree 420, which he also produced and directed,

0:14:02 > 0:14:05he plays the lead character.

0:14:05 > 0:14:09With more than a passing resemblance to Chaplin's Little Tramp,

0:14:09 > 0:14:10he proved hugely popular

0:14:10 > 0:14:13and the film remains influential to this day.

0:14:15 > 0:14:17Before starting any film of mine...

0:14:17 > 0:14:19and now even today...

0:14:19 > 0:14:22I see his one film Shree 420.

0:14:22 > 0:14:25I've seen that film more than 200 times.

0:14:25 > 0:14:31Because that film made in '50s or '60s, is today's film.

0:14:31 > 0:14:36Now, the interesting thing about Raj Kapoor as a film-maker is that

0:14:36 > 0:14:39what he did was he made populist film,

0:14:39 > 0:14:42he made films that had social messages,

0:14:42 > 0:14:46but as a creator of film he got to understand

0:14:46 > 0:14:49what every department on a film does.

0:14:49 > 0:14:53He understood the process like no other film-maker.

0:14:53 > 0:14:58Raj Kapoor was amongst the first stars to establish their own studio.

0:14:58 > 0:15:02In the process, began a dynasty that still rules the industry.

0:15:02 > 0:15:04One of his granddaughters, Kareena,

0:15:04 > 0:15:07is amongst India's most popular stars today.

0:15:07 > 0:15:09I was wondering, when you were a kid,

0:15:09 > 0:15:12at what point did you become aware that you were part of this dynasty?

0:15:12 > 0:15:15Well, I don't know. I don't think I was aware as such

0:15:15 > 0:15:17because I think everyone in the family for us

0:15:17 > 0:15:23it was like, it's a job, a passion that has become a job.

0:15:23 > 0:15:26So no-one really took success or being movie stars

0:15:26 > 0:15:29or big directors or producers or actors very seriously.

0:15:29 > 0:15:31It was just something that we loved doing.

0:15:31 > 0:15:34That was always the atmosphere that was around.

0:15:34 > 0:15:37And, for me, I don't think I ever thought of anything else

0:15:37 > 0:15:39apart from just becoming a movie star.

0:15:39 > 0:15:43I think that while I was in my mother's stomach

0:15:43 > 0:15:45I think I was ready to dance and sing

0:15:45 > 0:15:50and just kind of take off into the Indian film industry.

0:15:50 > 0:15:51It's in my DNA.

0:15:51 > 0:15:55In India we still have joint families here.

0:15:55 > 0:15:58Like, my son stays with me.

0:15:58 > 0:16:01There is more closeness,

0:16:01 > 0:16:05so I feel that that is a strength of the family.

0:16:05 > 0:16:08To be close and work together.

0:16:08 > 0:16:10We Indians are made in that manner.

0:16:14 > 0:16:17Kapoor's leading lady, Nargis,

0:16:17 > 0:16:19would also go on to become movie royalty,

0:16:19 > 0:16:22and the role which would propel her into cinema history

0:16:22 > 0:16:25was her portrayal of the iconic Indian mother

0:16:25 > 0:16:28in one of the most influential Indian films of all time -

0:16:28 > 0:16:30Mother India.

0:16:30 > 0:16:33It's an incredibly moving film about a young widow

0:16:33 > 0:16:36who struggles to bring up her two children,

0:16:36 > 0:16:39finding hope in the face of abject poverty.

0:16:45 > 0:16:46Mother India the film,

0:16:46 > 0:16:49I don't remember how many times I've seen it in my school days.

0:16:49 > 0:16:54And the character Birju left a very deep impact on me, and the mother.

0:16:56 > 0:17:00Mother traditionally has been respected,

0:17:00 > 0:17:02worshipped in our society.

0:17:02 > 0:17:04Mother is a god.

0:17:04 > 0:17:07You can't say that, "Once upon a time there was a bad god."

0:17:07 > 0:17:11So you can't say that, "Once upon a time there was a bad mother."

0:17:11 > 0:17:16So if you are praising the mother, admiring her, worshipping her,

0:17:16 > 0:17:17nobody can question you.

0:17:17 > 0:17:21So that is a totally bankable character, as a matter of fact.

0:17:21 > 0:17:25You can put your last shirt on it.

0:17:26 > 0:17:30Mother India, I would say, is a very beautiful performance,

0:17:30 > 0:17:34but Mother India started this image of suffering women

0:17:34 > 0:17:39because they were constantly looking out for the family

0:17:39 > 0:17:42and sacrificing themselves for the family.

0:17:42 > 0:17:44They were the suffering wife,

0:17:44 > 0:17:46the all-forgiving mother,

0:17:46 > 0:17:48the sacrificing sister

0:17:48 > 0:17:49and what have you.

0:17:50 > 0:17:55The decision-making roles always went to the man.

0:17:55 > 0:17:58If not the hero, then the villain.

0:17:58 > 0:18:02He was the more powerful of the lot. Women were the good person.

0:18:02 > 0:18:04We didn't live as an individual.

0:18:04 > 0:18:07Modernity is about the individual.

0:18:07 > 0:18:13And they never put themselves before the family or the community.

0:18:13 > 0:18:17It wasn't until the 1950s that women started to become represented

0:18:17 > 0:18:21in a more sophisticated way, with the rise of what became known as

0:18:21 > 0:18:26parallel cinema or what we might call art house.

0:18:26 > 0:18:31It was with the advent of parallel cinema that you started seeing

0:18:31 > 0:18:39women in greater complexity and maybe having shades of grey

0:18:39 > 0:18:43and certainly having a more independent voice.

0:18:43 > 0:18:47The '50s gave rise to the film-maker.

0:18:47 > 0:18:49So we had people who were cinema literate

0:18:49 > 0:18:52who were making films in India.

0:18:52 > 0:18:55These were kind of film-makers who were very aware and influenced

0:18:55 > 0:18:59by films from around the world and particularly from the West.

0:18:59 > 0:19:04So we had people like Guru Dutt, who made classic films like Pyaasa

0:19:04 > 0:19:06and Kaagaz Ke Phool.

0:19:06 > 0:19:09And he was influenced by people like Orson Welles,

0:19:09 > 0:19:11and you can see it in his framing.

0:19:15 > 0:19:19The godfathers of Indian parallel cinema, auteurs like Guru Dutt,

0:19:19 > 0:19:21were convinced that cinema has a power

0:19:21 > 0:19:24that goes far beyond mere entertainment.

0:19:27 > 0:19:30Despite a tragically short life and career,

0:19:30 > 0:19:32Guru Dutt left an enduring legacy.

0:19:36 > 0:19:39These are the people who have proved beyond any doubt

0:19:39 > 0:19:43that it was possible to make an extremely aesthetic, nice, sensible,

0:19:43 > 0:19:46intelligent film which can do great box office.

0:19:46 > 0:19:49They have done it again and again.

0:19:49 > 0:19:51Pyaasa was a very big hit.

0:19:56 > 0:20:00Pyaasa, or "thirst", is the tragic tale of the life and loves

0:20:00 > 0:20:02of a struggling poet.

0:20:07 > 0:20:10Guru Dutt stars and directs in a film that is thought to be

0:20:10 > 0:20:12at least partly based on his own experiences.

0:20:12 > 0:20:16And it's so beautifully made that it is commonly regarded

0:20:16 > 0:20:18as one of the greatest films of all time.

0:20:19 > 0:20:22He could talk through visuals.

0:20:23 > 0:20:28If you watch Guru Dutt's films, you can see the film was possible

0:20:28 > 0:20:30only with this kind of visual.

0:20:31 > 0:20:34Pyaasa, the script,

0:20:34 > 0:20:38could have fallen flat on its face with an inferior director.

0:20:40 > 0:20:44Another leading light of parallel cinema was Satyajit Ray.

0:20:44 > 0:20:48And in Apur Sansar, he launched the career of Sharmila Tagore,

0:20:48 > 0:20:50then just 13 years old.

0:20:52 > 0:20:55The first day's shooting was Apu gets married.

0:20:56 > 0:21:01He goes to this village and his friend takes him

0:21:01 > 0:21:05and he somehow has to marry this girl and he brings her back.

0:21:05 > 0:21:09And Apu and Aparna, that's my character,

0:21:09 > 0:21:11are waiting outside.

0:21:11 > 0:21:15And then Ray's voice rang out.

0:21:15 > 0:21:22He said, "Start sound. Camera. Action."

0:21:22 > 0:21:25And Soumitra opens the door and walks in

0:21:25 > 0:21:28and looks at me and says, "Come in."

0:21:30 > 0:21:32Means come in.

0:21:32 > 0:21:34And I cross the threshold,

0:21:34 > 0:21:39walk in and then he tells me, "Walk forward."

0:21:39 > 0:21:45I look up, "Look towards your right, raise your shoulder, sigh.

0:21:48 > 0:21:52"Cut. Excellent. Next shot."

0:21:52 > 0:21:56And then very soon after that we did that shot that everybody raves about

0:21:56 > 0:21:58when I go to the window.

0:22:00 > 0:22:06And overwhelmed with everything that's happened, I start crying

0:22:06 > 0:22:11and then there is a child and the mother playing downstairs.

0:22:11 > 0:22:15So I look through a torn curtain.

0:22:15 > 0:22:17Everybody has raved about that shot.

0:22:17 > 0:22:19Apparently it's the perfect framing,

0:22:19 > 0:22:23and it's like Mona Lisa, from whichever angle you see that.

0:22:27 > 0:22:31The World Of Apu would go on to become a hugely influential trilogy

0:22:31 > 0:22:34and gave Satyajit Ray his rightful place in

0:22:34 > 0:22:37the firmament of world cinema.

0:22:37 > 0:22:41But this low-key realist cinema was a far cry from what

0:22:41 > 0:22:43Indian cinemagoers were accustomed to.

0:22:46 > 0:22:50At that time, acting was very theatrical.

0:22:50 > 0:22:53I mean, usually what we saw, it was a bit OTT.

0:23:00 > 0:23:04He wanted to actually use the medium because he was hugely influenced by

0:23:04 > 0:23:11the European directors and Hollywood, so he had a different concept.

0:23:11 > 0:23:14And he created a bridge between his beloved Bengal

0:23:14 > 0:23:16and the rest of the world,

0:23:16 > 0:23:20but didn't reach out to the other parts of India.

0:23:20 > 0:23:23It's interesting because Satyajit Ray

0:23:23 > 0:23:28was never as popular within India as he was outside of India.

0:23:28 > 0:23:32And I wonder if that's to do with the fact that his films were

0:23:32 > 0:23:35social realism, they didn't have songs in them,

0:23:35 > 0:23:39he wasn't pandering to the masses at that point.

0:23:39 > 0:23:43Ray's sophisticated aesthetic came at a high price.

0:23:43 > 0:23:46By rejecting song and dance, he'd broken one of the cardinal

0:23:46 > 0:23:49rules of Indian cinema.

0:23:50 > 0:23:53Then sound came into cinema.

0:23:53 > 0:23:57We used to have 16 songs in each film,

0:23:57 > 0:23:5920 songs in each film,

0:23:59 > 0:24:02and our films were all musicals, like they were in the West.

0:24:02 > 0:24:06But we never came out of the musicals, we just stayed with that.

0:24:06 > 0:24:12And so for us, a film is not a musical because there's songs in it

0:24:12 > 0:24:15- because that's like a normal film for us.- Right.

0:24:15 > 0:24:19So, actually, when I look at Hindi cinema or Indian cinema

0:24:19 > 0:24:22and it's not just Hindi, it's Tamil, Telugu, everywhere...

0:24:22 > 0:24:24it's a bit like Broadway.

0:24:24 > 0:24:28Our films are like West End or Broadway musicals.

0:24:28 > 0:24:30- If you know what I'm trying to say.- Yeah.

0:24:30 > 0:24:34So it's not odd to us as an audience when people break into a song.

0:24:34 > 0:24:39Will you reject Italian opera because everybody is singing?

0:24:41 > 0:24:43You have kabuki in Japan.

0:24:43 > 0:24:47Would you condemn kabuki because, "Oh, it's not real.

0:24:47 > 0:24:50"Nobody moves or walks and talks like this."

0:24:50 > 0:24:52Would you say that? No.

0:24:52 > 0:24:56What people know us by also is the song and dance because when you

0:24:56 > 0:24:59go to Hollywood or when you talk to an English actor, when you say

0:24:59 > 0:25:01you're from the Indian movies, the first thing,

0:25:01 > 0:25:04and they have a beautiful smile on their face, is, "Wow!

0:25:04 > 0:25:08"The songs and the dances." Because that's what we are.

0:25:08 > 0:25:12So we shouldn't try to be something that we're not.

0:25:12 > 0:25:14We should be proud of what we are.

0:25:14 > 0:25:18I'll tell you one thing I said in the Birmingham Film Festival.

0:25:18 > 0:25:22I said, "I just saw Godfather last night."

0:25:22 > 0:25:25I said, "What a stupid film.

0:25:25 > 0:25:27"It's dumb. It's so boring."

0:25:27 > 0:25:28There was silence.

0:25:30 > 0:25:32I said, "Nobody was singing."

0:25:34 > 0:25:37And all the Asians started clapping.

0:25:37 > 0:25:41You know what? We sing. That is our culture.

0:25:43 > 0:25:46Therefore, for me, it's...

0:25:46 > 0:25:49I have grown up, my mother sang songs on my birthday,

0:25:49 > 0:25:52we sing songs in marriages, we sing songs in death,

0:25:52 > 0:25:55we sing songs when we do whatever.

0:25:55 > 0:25:58So that is how we grew up.

0:25:58 > 0:26:02That's our culture. Music is really part of our culture.

0:26:02 > 0:26:05And therefore our cinema,

0:26:05 > 0:26:09which is meant to entertain us, has to have that.

0:26:09 > 0:26:11Do you know, you got me thinking about the Godfather.

0:26:11 > 0:26:13I just think the big musical numbers are,

0:26:13 > 0:26:15"I made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

0:26:15 > 0:26:19- Yeah.- "Sleeps with the fishes." - Absolutely.

0:26:19 > 0:26:23Now, on film you want the best-looking guy

0:26:23 > 0:26:26with the best voice doing the best dialogue.

0:26:27 > 0:26:30When you want to hear a song, you want a guy or a girl

0:26:30 > 0:26:33with the best singing voice.

0:26:33 > 0:26:36Now, obviously the two always don't go together.

0:26:36 > 0:26:39And that's where the rise of the playback singer came in.

0:26:39 > 0:26:44Songs were so important that audiences were able to completely

0:26:44 > 0:26:50overlook and forgive the fact that their hero was not singing the song.

0:26:50 > 0:26:54Because the songs were that good and the songs were that important.

0:26:54 > 0:27:01And the kind of singers that emerged at that point then dominated

0:27:01 > 0:27:04the industry for the next 40 years.

0:27:04 > 0:27:07You had singers like Mohammed Rafi.

0:27:07 > 0:27:10You had singers like Kishore Kumar.

0:27:10 > 0:27:12Lata Mangeshkar.

0:27:12 > 0:27:14Mukesh.

0:27:14 > 0:27:17And Asha Bhosle.

0:27:18 > 0:27:23ASHA BHOSLE SINGS O MERE SONA RE

0:27:28 > 0:27:31It was playback singers like Asha

0:27:31 > 0:27:34who from the very earliest days

0:27:34 > 0:27:38helped transform mere actors into silver screen deities.

0:27:42 > 0:27:461947 I started my career in Hindi film.

0:27:46 > 0:27:51You know, at that time the equipment was very poor. One track machine.

0:27:51 > 0:27:56I sang one track machine with all musicians,

0:27:56 > 0:28:02one mic, and I'm singing, then duck, then flute.

0:28:03 > 0:28:08Flute's playing and then they're playing.

0:28:08 > 0:28:12After that I sang in Bombay, Mohan Studio.

0:28:12 > 0:28:15The studio is full of musicians,

0:28:15 > 0:28:20no place, so I sang outside studio.

0:28:20 > 0:28:24The one tree, they put mic on that tree,

0:28:24 > 0:28:29big mic, so big and I'm singing.

0:28:38 > 0:28:42Asha-ji has the most recorded voice in history.

0:28:42 > 0:28:46More than 12,000 songs in a career lasting more than 60 years,

0:28:46 > 0:28:48and she's still going strong.

0:28:52 > 0:28:54Fantastic.

0:29:00 > 0:29:04Isn't she amazing? She's over 80 and she sings like that.

0:29:04 > 0:29:08And she was holding back, we were sitting down in a room.

0:29:10 > 0:29:14Asha Bhosle's fame was still rising as the '60s arrived.

0:29:14 > 0:29:16But styles had changed

0:29:16 > 0:29:19and Indian cinema was moving in step with the times.

0:29:20 > 0:29:23This was also the era of Shammi Kapoor.

0:29:26 > 0:29:28Another member of the burgeoning Kapoor dynasty.

0:29:28 > 0:29:31While his brother Raj played the lovable everyman,

0:29:31 > 0:29:34Shammi made his name as a thoroughly modern playboy.

0:29:37 > 0:29:40Hindi cinema had always borrowed freely from the West,

0:29:40 > 0:29:42and in one of my favourite movies,

0:29:42 > 0:29:46the murder mystery Teesri Manzil, Bollywood embraced rock and roll.

0:29:48 > 0:29:50For classically trained musicians like Asha Bhosle,

0:29:50 > 0:29:52the new style proved a challenge.

0:29:55 > 0:29:58SHE SINGS

0:29:58 > 0:30:02- That was a very difficult song. - Why was that difficult?

0:30:02 > 0:30:03Because that...

0:30:09 > 0:30:13- That's very difficult to sing. - How did you prepare for that?

0:30:14 > 0:30:19First he came to me, "Can you sing?" I said, "Yes, why not?

0:30:19 > 0:30:21"I am a singer."

0:30:21 > 0:30:23He played song.

0:30:24 > 0:30:27It was very difficult. I can't sing this.

0:30:33 > 0:30:35And I said, "OK, I will try."

0:30:35 > 0:30:37I can't say no.

0:30:37 > 0:30:40I'm very stubborn too. I have to sing this.

0:30:49 > 0:30:52So 15 days I practised that...

0:30:54 > 0:30:58- Like that harm...- Harmonica. - Harmonica.- Yeah.

0:31:00 > 0:31:01Like that.

0:31:01 > 0:31:05SONG: Aaja Aaja

0:31:10 > 0:31:13So the 1960s, this is where I come in,

0:31:13 > 0:31:16in person because I was born,

0:31:16 > 0:31:19which made it easier to go to the cinema.

0:31:19 > 0:31:24And at that time, from memory, Southall had three cinemas.

0:31:24 > 0:31:29There was the Dominion, Century and Liberty.

0:31:29 > 0:31:33Those were the cinemas that just showed Hindi films all the time.

0:31:33 > 0:31:36It was a fantastic communal experience,

0:31:36 > 0:31:38we were all in it together.

0:31:38 > 0:31:41And people were singing along with the songs,

0:31:41 > 0:31:43people would applaud the hero.

0:31:43 > 0:31:47It was kind of pantomimic in its way, but it was just people

0:31:47 > 0:31:50getting involved, and that was kind of lovely cos everyone was doing it.

0:31:50 > 0:31:56And the trick at that time was for the men, particularly,

0:31:56 > 0:31:59to guess where the intermission was going to come in

0:31:59 > 0:32:02and then run out to get to the samosa

0:32:02 > 0:32:08and tea stall, behind which was one very old,

0:32:08 > 0:32:11very asthmatic lady,

0:32:11 > 0:32:15who was dealing with a queue of about 3,000 people.

0:32:15 > 0:32:18It would be somebody going, "Give me 18 teas. 35 samosas."

0:32:18 > 0:32:20And she was...

0:32:20 > 0:32:22HE COUGHS

0:32:23 > 0:32:25These were those plastic cups

0:32:25 > 0:32:29that as soon as you put hot water in it, they deformed.

0:32:29 > 0:32:31Those are the things that you had to carry,

0:32:31 > 0:32:34plus the bag of samosas as well.

0:32:34 > 0:32:38So I discovered at that point that there is a very specific

0:32:38 > 0:32:42Indian male sound for pain in public.

0:32:43 > 0:32:45And that is...

0:32:45 > 0:32:47Wee!

0:32:47 > 0:32:49Wee!

0:32:49 > 0:32:52For half the people, they would come back and the film had started.

0:32:52 > 0:32:54So they were coming back into darkness.

0:32:54 > 0:32:58They had no idea where their families were.

0:32:58 > 0:33:02And I don't think this is a racist thing to say, but in the dark...

0:33:06 > 0:33:11..Indian families kind of all do look and sound the same.

0:33:11 > 0:33:13And they would come in and they've got samosas in one hand

0:33:13 > 0:33:15and they would look around, come into darkness

0:33:15 > 0:33:17and not know where they are.

0:33:17 > 0:33:20And all they could think of saying was that very original,

0:33:20 > 0:33:22"Where are you?"

0:33:22 > 0:33:25To which someone would say, "Here."

0:33:25 > 0:33:28And they'd go, "OK. Here."

0:33:28 > 0:33:31And once there was a bright scene or something lit up, they'd go,

0:33:31 > 0:33:32"You're not my family!"

0:33:34 > 0:33:37There was one film more than any other

0:33:37 > 0:33:41that defines my childhood experience of Indian movies.

0:33:55 > 0:34:01Seeing the cinema of the world, Magnificent Seven, Mackenna's Gold

0:34:01 > 0:34:03and Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid

0:34:03 > 0:34:06and all these kind of films.

0:34:06 > 0:34:09And there are all these...stereophonic sound,

0:34:09 > 0:34:15all this was big stuff, and why can't we do it?

0:34:15 > 0:34:19For me and my generation, it was the equivalent of Star Wars.

0:34:19 > 0:34:21It was the Star Wars for my generation.

0:34:21 > 0:34:23I saw it in India.

0:34:23 > 0:34:27I then came back to Southall where it was on all three cinemas

0:34:27 > 0:34:30all the time for about three months.

0:34:30 > 0:34:32And because we had to go to the cinema every week,

0:34:32 > 0:34:34I saw it every week for three months.

0:34:34 > 0:34:40So we all sat down, Salim-Javed, writers, myself, my father

0:34:40 > 0:34:46and we all sat down and decided, let's do something big.

0:34:46 > 0:34:50When it was being made, cos it took that long to make,

0:34:50 > 0:34:54the film industry had started sniggering about it.

0:34:54 > 0:34:56They had started laughing and making little jokes and,

0:34:56 > 0:34:58"Ah, Ramesh is still making Sholay."

0:35:11 > 0:35:14Sholay is the story of two small- time crooks who are hired to help

0:35:14 > 0:35:17save a village from ruthless bandits.

0:35:17 > 0:35:20It's a Western buddy movie, Indian style.

0:35:35 > 0:35:37GUNSHOT

0:35:37 > 0:35:40Salim-Javed wrote that incredible script,

0:35:40 > 0:35:43copying pieces from many other films.

0:35:43 > 0:35:47But what they did is they took bits and pieces here and there

0:35:47 > 0:35:52and put it together in this way that had never been seen before.

0:35:52 > 0:35:56It then replicated itself by us kind of recreating scenes...

0:35:56 > 0:35:57This is slightly embarrassing.

0:35:57 > 0:36:01This is something like a counselling session.

0:36:01 > 0:36:05Recreating scenes of it in the playground or at people's houses.

0:36:05 > 0:36:08We would get together and go, "Which one are you going to be?"

0:36:08 > 0:36:10Inevitably they said, "You have to be Dharmendra

0:36:10 > 0:36:11"cos I'm taller than you."

0:36:11 > 0:36:14And you kind of go, "Yes, but I've got the voice."

0:36:16 > 0:36:20And in particular I remember, with some embarrassment now,

0:36:20 > 0:36:24try and replicate one song.

0:36:24 > 0:36:28SONG: Yeh Dosti

0:36:58 > 0:37:01APPLAUSE

0:37:01 > 0:37:03The number of bicycles I fell off trying to do that.

0:37:03 > 0:37:05And you know what? This is true.

0:37:05 > 0:37:07If you couldn't find a bicycle, you got a skateboard

0:37:07 > 0:37:08and you'd try to do that.

0:37:08 > 0:37:11And if you couldn't find a skateboard or a bicycle,

0:37:11 > 0:37:14cos obviously we were too young to ride scooters and motorcycles,

0:37:14 > 0:37:17you just got a little kid and you jumped on his back and you said,

0:37:17 > 0:37:20"You have to be the motorcycle."

0:37:21 > 0:37:23Sholay really did change the game.

0:37:23 > 0:37:26Crucially the songs weren't just decorative,

0:37:26 > 0:37:28they provided a narrative function.

0:37:28 > 0:37:32But critics had roundly dismissed the movie

0:37:32 > 0:37:34even before shooting was complete.

0:37:34 > 0:37:37People started saying, "What happened with this?

0:37:37 > 0:37:39"We don't know what Ramesh is doing."

0:37:39 > 0:37:41"What's he doing?"

0:37:41 > 0:37:45Yeah. "He's in Bangalore in some rocks making what? Who knows?"

0:37:45 > 0:37:48And they've been just shooting this movie and shooting this movie.

0:37:48 > 0:37:52A trade magazine, instead of waiting till the picture was released

0:37:52 > 0:37:55on Friday, brought out a special issue -

0:37:55 > 0:37:57"Why Sholay has flopped."

0:37:57 > 0:38:00- Oh.- The whole issue discussed

0:38:00 > 0:38:03why such a big film has flopped so badly.

0:38:03 > 0:38:07And obviously it was an extremely credible trade paper,

0:38:07 > 0:38:09so everybody believed it.

0:38:09 > 0:38:14Wherever we went people used to tell us that the basic idea was wrong.

0:38:14 > 0:38:16This could not have run and why.

0:38:16 > 0:38:19They would give us ten reasons that why this picture

0:38:19 > 0:38:21could not be a successful film.

0:38:21 > 0:38:23What were the kind of reasons they gave you?

0:38:23 > 0:38:26What was their reasoning to say this will flop?

0:38:26 > 0:38:30What is the lady's interest in the picture?

0:38:30 > 0:38:34It's too white and too masculine.

0:38:34 > 0:38:38The premiere itself was fairly kind of divided audience.

0:38:38 > 0:38:43I think maybe Raj Kapoor or someone else said that,

0:38:43 > 0:38:46"What is the friendship in this?

0:38:46 > 0:38:50"One friend is saying bad things about the other friend.

0:38:50 > 0:38:52"There's too much violence.

0:38:52 > 0:38:53"You start with the train sequence."

0:38:53 > 0:38:57- And people actually called it Cholay.- Right.

0:38:57 > 0:39:00And they said it was a flop, it's a disaster.

0:39:00 > 0:39:02- Cholay meaning chickpeas. - Meaning chickpeas.

0:39:02 > 0:39:05"Cholay. It's nothing."

0:39:05 > 0:39:08In the first week, in those same very trade papers,

0:39:08 > 0:39:12we gave a page, Salim and me,

0:39:12 > 0:39:17that we, Salim-Javed, writers of Sholay, guarantee that this picture

0:39:17 > 0:39:20will do more than one crore in every territory.

0:39:20 > 0:39:24Crore was a fantasy that time. No film had done one crore.

0:39:24 > 0:39:27So we had become a laughing stock.

0:39:29 > 0:39:31It wasn't until the film went on national release that the

0:39:31 > 0:39:35true audience reaction started to make itself felt.

0:39:35 > 0:39:40An exhibitor called me and he said, "I have to tell you one thing.

0:39:40 > 0:39:43"At interval these guys don't come out,

0:39:43 > 0:39:47"they don't have any Cokes or any of my snacks,

0:39:47 > 0:39:50"samosas and things like that."

0:39:50 > 0:39:56This is really rubbing it in. He's calling me to say,

0:39:56 > 0:40:02"Forget the ticket sales, my refreshments are not being sold."

0:40:04 > 0:40:07But he said, "Do you know why?

0:40:07 > 0:40:11"That's because nobody wants to get up from their seats."

0:40:11 > 0:40:14They had never seen a film like this before.

0:40:16 > 0:40:20That's an incredibly confident thing to do, to take out your own ad...

0:40:20 > 0:40:25But then we too were proved wrong because it did four,

0:40:25 > 0:40:27five time more than one crore.

0:40:27 > 0:40:30And when you see it in the theatre,

0:40:30 > 0:40:31we were a privileged family

0:40:31 > 0:40:33living in Bhopal,

0:40:33 > 0:40:35and there wasn't much to do apart from

0:40:35 > 0:40:37play cricket or shoot things.

0:40:37 > 0:40:39So one of the people working for us said,

0:40:39 > 0:40:41"Why don't you come and see a movie?"

0:40:41 > 0:40:44And it was a single screen, there were no multiplexes,

0:40:44 > 0:40:47and we sat there with the masses.

0:40:47 > 0:40:49And everyone was highly entertained.

0:40:49 > 0:40:53So there's something collective about that kind of audience

0:40:53 > 0:40:56that basically poor people looking up at the screen and Mr Bachchan

0:40:56 > 0:41:01was entertaining them with songs and dialogue and action.

0:41:05 > 0:41:09Sholay's enormous success established beyond any question the

0:41:09 > 0:41:13career of a man who would dominate the industry for decades to come.

0:41:14 > 0:41:17Through the '50s and at least some of the '60s,

0:41:17 > 0:41:19it was a very hopeful nation.

0:41:19 > 0:41:21Independence had just happened.

0:41:21 > 0:41:25You believed things would be good and things would be right

0:41:25 > 0:41:28and there was this whole Nehruvian Socialism and hope.

0:41:28 > 0:41:30There was a lot of hope.

0:41:30 > 0:41:34But by the '70s, that hope had been completely dashed to the ground.

0:41:34 > 0:41:38This gave rise to a character that became known as the angry young man.

0:41:38 > 0:41:43And in a way, I suppose, it was a kind of rebel

0:41:43 > 0:41:45but with lots of hidden causes.

0:41:45 > 0:41:50So for this new character that was going to be more meaningful

0:41:50 > 0:41:56to the Indian public, they needed a new kind of hero.

0:41:56 > 0:42:01The pretty boy romantic heroes of the '60s just wouldn't cut it.

0:42:01 > 0:42:05They needed someone who had the physical kind of athleticism

0:42:05 > 0:42:09and charisma of a Clint Eastwood.

0:42:09 > 0:42:13They needed somebody who had the voice of a Richard Burton.

0:42:13 > 0:42:17They needed someone who had the smouldering appeal

0:42:17 > 0:42:19of a Marlon Brando.

0:42:19 > 0:42:23And the acting chops of a Robert De Niro.

0:42:23 > 0:42:26Cue Amitabh Bachchan.

0:42:26 > 0:42:28Amitabh Bachchan was more than a movie idol.

0:42:28 > 0:42:31He was someone the man in the street felt they knew and could relate to.

0:42:31 > 0:42:34A truly working class hero.

0:42:34 > 0:42:38You had this man who was not traditionally handsome.

0:42:38 > 0:42:42I always said that he looked like somebody who had a bruised soul.

0:42:42 > 0:42:45- Right.- He had been hurt by something, someone,

0:42:45 > 0:42:47by just an indifferent society.

0:43:03 > 0:43:04His next film, Deewaar,

0:43:04 > 0:43:08tells the story of two brothers fighting over their mother's love.

0:43:08 > 0:43:11When the boys grow up, one becomes a policeman

0:43:11 > 0:43:15and the other becomes the biggest gangster in town.

0:43:20 > 0:43:22The confrontation between them

0:43:22 > 0:43:25is one of the most famous scenes in all of Indian cinema.

0:43:26 > 0:43:28Shashi Kapoor is standing there.

0:43:28 > 0:43:30Shashi was the policeman.

0:43:30 > 0:43:34He is an outlaw. And he comes in a car. He's a big man now, rich man.

0:43:40 > 0:43:44And he says thank you when he looks at him that he is in plain clothes.

0:43:57 > 0:44:00HE REPEATS LINE

0:44:00 > 0:44:02That's the beginning.

0:44:02 > 0:44:06- Mm-hm.- That both of them have taunted each other.

0:44:24 > 0:44:26HE REPEATS LINE

0:44:26 > 0:44:30Now when you were writing that, what were you feeling?

0:44:30 > 0:44:32Did you feel the same...?

0:44:32 > 0:44:36As I said, I get goose bumps when I remember it now.

0:44:36 > 0:44:41One night I was not able to sleep, so I thought,

0:44:41 > 0:44:45"OK, since I'm not able to sleep, let me try that scene."

0:44:45 > 0:44:48And I wrote it in one go.

0:44:49 > 0:44:52That's all. No line was added, no line was cut.

0:44:55 > 0:44:58Those trailblazing films of the early '70s established

0:44:58 > 0:45:02a recipe for mainstream Indian movies that would hold for decades.

0:45:02 > 0:45:04And even today,

0:45:04 > 0:45:08movie hopefuls are expected to master those same ingredients.

0:45:10 > 0:45:13In Dharavi, one of Asia's largest shanty towns,

0:45:13 > 0:45:16I've been told there's an acting school that has helped launch

0:45:16 > 0:45:18the careers of several actors,

0:45:18 > 0:45:21including kids featured in Slumdog Millionaire.

0:45:21 > 0:45:23And they start young.

0:45:25 > 0:45:29MUSIC PLAYS

0:45:41 > 0:45:43On Saturday mornings, these kids are taught

0:45:43 > 0:45:48everything from the latest dance moves to basic fight sequences.

0:45:48 > 0:45:52THEY TALK IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:45:56 > 0:45:58No!

0:46:00 > 0:46:04I decided to eavesdrop on one of Baburao's classes

0:46:04 > 0:46:07where the students are drilled in the highly emotional

0:46:07 > 0:46:10kind of acting for which Bollywood has become famous.

0:46:10 > 0:46:15THEY WAIL

0:46:18 > 0:46:22THEY SOB

0:46:26 > 0:46:30- How disgusting! ALL:- How disgusting!

0:46:30 > 0:46:33- How disgusting! ALL:- How disgusting!

0:46:34 > 0:46:39The teacher, Baburao, has himself made a film in which he demonstrates

0:46:39 > 0:46:42all the techniques needed to make it big on the silver screen.

0:46:42 > 0:46:46MUSIC PLAYS

0:46:57 > 0:47:01HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:47:27 > 0:47:30HE LAUGHS

0:47:34 > 0:47:37HE COUGHS

0:47:51 > 0:47:55THEY SPEAK IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:48:05 > 0:48:09HE LAUGHS MANIACALLY

0:48:09 > 0:48:11Kuldi Bhai.

0:48:11 > 0:48:12Kuldi Bhai!

0:48:18 > 0:48:21HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:48:23 > 0:48:26After a few years, the narrative breakthrough, which had been

0:48:26 > 0:48:30made in the '70s by films like Sholay, was slowly forgotten.

0:48:30 > 0:48:33And while films still relied on the basic elements of song,

0:48:33 > 0:48:36dance and action, they had lost the plot.

0:48:37 > 0:48:40Basically, any semblance of plot there ever was

0:48:40 > 0:48:42just went out the window.

0:48:42 > 0:48:45Any semblance of emotional through-line went out the window

0:48:45 > 0:48:47and they went from set piece to set piece.

0:48:47 > 0:48:50Welcome to the '80s.

0:48:50 > 0:48:55Now, I think the '80s have got a lot to answer for in terms of fashion...

0:48:55 > 0:48:56AUDIENCE CHUCKLES

0:48:56 > 0:49:00..in terms of music and certainly in terms of film,

0:49:00 > 0:49:02and particularly in Indian film.

0:49:02 > 0:49:05They were really derivative and, you know, they were trying to

0:49:05 > 0:49:10kind of ape Western films in all the worst kind of ways, you know?

0:49:10 > 0:49:13There's the fashion, you had kind of weird techno music that

0:49:13 > 0:49:16came in and it was kind of like what does this mean?

0:49:16 > 0:49:20This means nothing, absolutely nothing to me at all.

0:49:20 > 0:49:23So I kind of fell out of love with Indian cinema at that point.

0:49:23 > 0:49:27The late '80s was probably the worst period of Indian cinema, I feel.

0:49:27 > 0:49:30I hope I'm not hurting anybody.

0:49:30 > 0:49:31HE SIGHS

0:49:31 > 0:49:33Because? What?

0:49:33 > 0:49:36I think the kind of stories that were written,

0:49:36 > 0:49:38the kind of films that were made,

0:49:38 > 0:49:44the level of work in each department, whether it was music, lyrics,

0:49:44 > 0:49:49acting, direction, cinematography, visual effects, I mean anything.

0:49:49 > 0:49:51It was all...not good.

0:49:51 > 0:49:53MUSIC PLAYS

0:49:53 > 0:49:56The angry young man became a superhero

0:49:56 > 0:50:00and the '80s was the absolute low point, you know,

0:50:00 > 0:50:01the bottom of the barrel which was

0:50:01 > 0:50:05when they were just doing these hideous dances in awful costumes

0:50:05 > 0:50:09and there was nothing. I mean, the women had nothing to do.

0:50:10 > 0:50:14# Super, super, super, super, Superman... #

0:50:14 > 0:50:18By now, light borrowing had turned into outright theft.

0:50:18 > 0:50:20In the '80s, everything from Superman to the latest

0:50:20 > 0:50:24Hollywood action thriller would get the Bollywood treatment.

0:50:24 > 0:50:27Films had become a cynical way of making money and Bollywood movies

0:50:27 > 0:50:32of the '80s are so bad that some of them are strangely watchable.

0:50:32 > 0:50:36You can't just steal but that's what they did for years and years.

0:50:36 > 0:50:39Well, copyright meant the right to copy, I think that was the reason.

0:50:39 > 0:50:42You know, I'd interviewed Robin Bhatt,

0:50:42 > 0:50:46who was a very successful writer, about 15, 17 years ago

0:50:46 > 0:50:48and they had taken Lethal Weapon

0:50:48 > 0:50:51and stolen elements of it and made it into a film called Sadak,

0:50:51 > 0:50:53a very successful film with Sanjay Dutt.

0:50:53 > 0:50:57So I said to him, "But, Robin, you know, where is your talent in this?"

0:50:57 > 0:50:59And he said, "My talent lies in knowing what to steal."

0:50:59 > 0:51:01THEY LAUGH

0:51:01 > 0:51:03In those years, it was like

0:51:03 > 0:51:04you make these superhero movies

0:51:04 > 0:51:07and it was easy to spend money on it,

0:51:07 > 0:51:10it was easy to think that we can make money out of it

0:51:10 > 0:51:11until you actually...

0:51:11 > 0:51:14There's a burn-out.

0:51:14 > 0:51:17But nothing is pushing forward or breaking new ground

0:51:17 > 0:51:19or making new cinema.

0:51:20 > 0:51:22HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:51:22 > 0:51:24But at the dawn of the new millennium,

0:51:24 > 0:51:28a new kind of Indian cinema did finally come into being,

0:51:28 > 0:51:32characterised by films designed to appeal to the Indian diaspora.

0:51:33 > 0:51:36A new international aspect dominated storylines

0:51:36 > 0:51:40and the modern era of Indian cinema had begun.

0:51:42 > 0:51:46I think film-makers realised that there was an audience

0:51:46 > 0:51:50outside of India that was watching their films.

0:51:50 > 0:51:52Also, India had opened up its borders,

0:51:52 > 0:51:55there was more investment going into India.

0:51:55 > 0:51:58There was a middle class that was growing exponentially.

0:51:58 > 0:52:00Indians were beginning to travel a lot more

0:52:00 > 0:52:03so those influences were a lot closer to home.

0:52:03 > 0:52:04Satellite TV arrived.

0:52:04 > 0:52:08You know, it wasn't quite as easy to just steal stuff from Western

0:52:08 > 0:52:12films because people knew where the source was,

0:52:12 > 0:52:14what you were stealing, where you were stealing it from.

0:52:14 > 0:52:16And also, within that growing middle class,

0:52:16 > 0:52:20there was a sense of pride as well about being able to achieve,

0:52:20 > 0:52:24about India being able to be a world player.

0:52:24 > 0:52:26Generally, what's happening is you have

0:52:26 > 0:52:28two set-ups for films in India now.

0:52:28 > 0:52:31You have the single screen, which is the large, almost Shakespearean type

0:52:31 > 0:52:37of theatre with the stalls, you know, for the poor people

0:52:37 > 0:52:42and the balconies for the slightly better-off and...

0:52:42 > 0:52:46Generally, large single-screen theatres, they're called,

0:52:46 > 0:52:52which contribute about 30%, 20% of a film's revenue.

0:52:52 > 0:52:5680% of it, if I'm getting my maths right, is now the multiplex

0:52:56 > 0:52:59and that multiplex is a very expensive ticket in comparison

0:52:59 > 0:53:04and representative of an emerging middle class in India

0:53:04 > 0:53:05that has a bit of money to spend,

0:53:05 > 0:53:08that is also quite aware of what is happening in the West

0:53:08 > 0:53:11in terms of exposure to television and films

0:53:11 > 0:53:14and would like to be stimulated in a similar way.

0:53:14 > 0:53:18What happened was film-makers started just to focus on that

0:53:18 > 0:53:19multiplex audience.

0:53:19 > 0:53:22You know, the urban, the educated, the slightly more nuanced,

0:53:22 > 0:53:25sophisticated, satellite-shaped audience

0:53:25 > 0:53:28rather than the rural audience

0:53:28 > 0:53:30and I remember doing interviews in the '90s with directors

0:53:30 > 0:53:33and they were like, "You know, who cares about that village?

0:53:33 > 0:53:34"We're done.

0:53:34 > 0:53:36"So now all our stories are going to be New York

0:53:36 > 0:53:39"and everyone's like falling in love in Australia or London."

0:53:39 > 0:53:44I mean London was like our back yard. Every second story was London.

0:53:44 > 0:53:47# You and I, you and I

0:53:47 > 0:53:49# We're like diamonds in the sky... #

0:53:49 > 0:53:51A whole wave of films that presented

0:53:51 > 0:53:54the newly attainable dream of a Western lifestyle,

0:53:54 > 0:53:59and the consumer culture that went with it, had taken over.

0:53:59 > 0:54:05# I knew that we'd become one right away... #

0:54:05 > 0:54:08Global movie studios could see the opportunity

0:54:08 > 0:54:11and suddenly India was flooded by the likes of Sony, Warner Bros

0:54:11 > 0:54:15and Disney all hoping for a piece of the action.

0:54:15 > 0:54:17Initially, when foreign companies came in,

0:54:17 > 0:54:18there was a lot of excitement,

0:54:18 > 0:54:21but they did not understand the Indian market.

0:54:21 > 0:54:26They had their own executives from abroad, they just did not know

0:54:26 > 0:54:30how to handle the chaos and the lack of transparency of the Indian market.

0:54:30 > 0:54:34It's only the experts who had spent their lifetime dealing

0:54:34 > 0:54:37and doing business in this market who understand how it works.

0:54:37 > 0:54:40The studios have all come in and many of them

0:54:40 > 0:54:43have already built their hands making local product in the early

0:54:43 > 0:54:45years, so Sony made Saawariya,

0:54:45 > 0:54:48Warner Bros made Chandni Chowk to China.

0:54:48 > 0:54:50All of these films were just God awful.

0:54:50 > 0:54:54Disney made Roadside Romeo with Yash Raj.

0:54:54 > 0:54:57None of them worked and I think there was a certain arrogance

0:54:57 > 0:54:59that we'll just walk in and, you know,

0:54:59 > 0:55:02people in Burbank will decide what people in Bollywood should be doing.

0:55:02 > 0:55:03It doesn't work like that.

0:55:03 > 0:55:06It's a very unique market, it's a very specific market,

0:55:06 > 0:55:09it's a very relationship-driven industry.

0:55:09 > 0:55:14It's a different place and I think that the studios quickly realised

0:55:14 > 0:55:18that it's not going to work. You can't walk in and just sign cheques.

0:55:18 > 0:55:21MUSIC PLAYS

0:55:21 > 0:55:24While global movie studios lost huge amounts of money

0:55:24 > 0:55:26trying to seduce the middle class Indian market,

0:55:26 > 0:55:30the domestic Indian industry was doing just fine without them,

0:55:30 > 0:55:34giving the old recipe of song and dance a modern twist.

0:55:34 > 0:55:37I'd fallen right out of love with Indian films,

0:55:37 > 0:55:40particularly at that time, and then a friend of mine basically said,

0:55:40 > 0:55:43"Have you seen any of these films that are out?"

0:55:43 > 0:55:46And I said, "No, not really. I went off them a few years ago.

0:55:46 > 0:55:47"It's not for me."

0:55:47 > 0:55:50I was kind of enjoying the Indiana Jones films

0:55:50 > 0:55:53and all the stuff that was coming out of Hollywood.

0:55:53 > 0:55:55And he said, "You should take a look."

0:55:55 > 0:55:59And the film he handed me had dance sequences in it,

0:55:59 > 0:56:01the like of which I hadn't seen before.

0:56:01 > 0:56:05The '50s and '60s, it was mainly classical,

0:56:05 > 0:56:07and it was mainly the women who were doing it.

0:56:07 > 0:56:11I remember Rajesh Khanna's one dance move was this...

0:56:11 > 0:56:13LAUGHTER

0:56:13 > 0:56:16That was it. Amitabh's was this.

0:56:16 > 0:56:18LAUGHTER

0:56:18 > 0:56:20But slower, obviously, I've sped that up.

0:56:21 > 0:56:26But this was a kind of real hybrid and the film was Dil To Pagal Hai.

0:56:26 > 0:56:30MUSIC PLAYS

0:56:30 > 0:56:32Bringing an international attitude

0:56:32 > 0:56:34to the Indian staples of song and dance

0:56:34 > 0:56:37prove to be a real challenge for choreographers.

0:56:38 > 0:56:41When I started the first film, Dil To Pagal Hai,

0:56:41 > 0:56:45the style was a very Indo-contemporary style,

0:56:45 > 0:56:48which is not the normal Bollywood ... what you see.

0:56:48 > 0:56:52It was more...

0:56:52 > 0:56:55Like a Western Indian style, very unusual.

0:56:55 > 0:57:00Not really Indian Indian and not really Western,

0:57:00 > 0:57:03it was a mix, a very fine mix.

0:57:03 > 0:57:05I think that is what the Shiamak style is,

0:57:05 > 0:57:09it's where you don't know if it's Bollywood or Hollywood, it's neither.

0:57:09 > 0:57:14MUSIC PLAYS

0:57:14 > 0:57:19Were you kind of at all nervous about the reaction

0:57:19 > 0:57:20and how did you deal with that?

0:57:20 > 0:57:22I was nervous, I was petrified,

0:57:22 > 0:57:25I thought it would never work because it was too Western.

0:57:25 > 0:57:27I even told Yash, I said to Yash Chopra, "You must know that

0:57:27 > 0:57:29"it's never going to work, my style."

0:57:29 > 0:57:31He said, "I want your style."

0:57:31 > 0:57:35I said, "But it's not Bollywood, I can't do that. I can do what I know."

0:57:35 > 0:57:37He said, "No, I want that only

0:57:37 > 0:57:39"because the story's about a choreographer

0:57:39 > 0:57:43"and there's Madhuri there and there's Karisma Kapoor there."

0:57:43 > 0:57:45So I said, "OK, Madhuri, let me see."

0:57:54 > 0:57:57There was a song I did with Karisma and Madhuri.

0:57:57 > 0:58:00It was in a small little area and they were competing,

0:58:00 > 0:58:03the two best dancers in the industry,

0:58:03 > 0:58:06and it was like a battle, a dance battle.

0:58:10 > 0:58:14MUSIC PLAYS

0:58:16 > 0:58:17And it was quite difficult

0:58:17 > 0:58:21because suddenly they had to do these jazz or contemporary movements

0:58:21 > 0:58:23and they're used to doing only Bollywood stuff

0:58:23 > 0:58:26so they were like blown out of their heads, they had to adjust,

0:58:26 > 0:58:30but they worked so hard that it just turned out to be a cult film

0:58:30 > 0:58:32in the end so I was happy.

0:58:36 > 0:58:42Can you spot the actors who can dance and the actors who can't?

0:58:42 > 0:58:45It's very easy to get somebody.

0:58:45 > 0:58:48I'm still trying to pin you down to exactly...within ten seconds.

0:58:48 > 0:58:51- Is it grace? Is it co-ordination?- See?

0:58:51 > 0:58:53You moved your arms extremely well now.

0:58:53 > 0:58:55See? That means you can dance.

0:58:55 > 0:58:56THEY CHUCKLE

0:58:56 > 0:58:58Come. We're going to teach Sanjeev a step.

0:58:58 > 0:59:01CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:59:05 > 0:59:07- Sexy boy.- Fat guy at the front. OK?

0:59:07 > 0:59:10- So...?- Step together.- Yeah.

0:59:10 > 0:59:14- Step...together. Now, we're going to add the pelvic with it.- Right, OK.

0:59:14 > 0:59:16So, we're going to go...

0:59:16 > 0:59:18HE IMITATES BEAT

0:59:18 > 0:59:20You know you're quite good.

0:59:20 > 0:59:23CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:59:26 > 0:59:30I've just realised the one thing that those moves, those dances did,

0:59:30 > 0:59:34was stop aunties requesting songs at weddings

0:59:34 > 0:59:37because prior to that, they would say,

0:59:37 > 0:59:40"Oh, come on, play that song from Kati Patang."

0:59:40 > 0:59:44And then this. Aunties trying to keep up with that would be too much.

0:59:44 > 0:59:45BOYS CHEER

0:59:45 > 0:59:49Left, right, left. Left, right, left. Left, right, left.

0:59:49 > 0:59:53But then there was a surprising development.

0:59:53 > 0:59:54After a few years,

0:59:54 > 0:59:57dreaming of new lives in New York or London,

0:59:57 > 1:00:00Indian film-makers turned their gaze back,

1:00:00 > 1:00:05reclaiming the elements of Indian cinema that made it unique.

1:00:05 > 1:00:08There were a lot of films being made for the people of Indian

1:00:08 > 1:00:10origin living outside of India.

1:00:10 > 1:00:12I didn't do too many of those, you know?

1:00:12 > 1:00:17I remember when we were making Lagaan, people were saying...

1:00:17 > 1:00:21I mean there were many reasons why Lagaan was not supposed to work

1:00:21 > 1:00:24and some of them were the fact that it was not a romantic film shot

1:00:24 > 1:00:28in Switzerland where the actors and actresses were not wearing DKNY

1:00:28 > 1:00:30and you were wearing totis and bundis

1:00:30 > 1:00:32and you were speaking in Awadhi.

1:00:33 > 1:00:36I decided that if this film has to be produced then

1:00:36 > 1:00:39I have to produce it myself and I was never a producer

1:00:39 > 1:00:42but I got into production in order to get that film made.

1:00:45 > 1:00:48Lagaan is a Raj-era drama about a group of Indian villagers

1:00:48 > 1:00:51who are forced to play cricket against their British oppressors

1:00:51 > 1:00:54in a match with life-or-death stakes.

1:00:57 > 1:01:01And the film won the hearts of audiences all over the world.

1:01:03 > 1:01:08- Finally, got the damned creature. - Good shot.- Thank you.

1:01:08 > 1:01:11Anyway, it did really well and all of us were really pleased.

1:01:11 > 1:01:15It did really well in Germany, in the UK, in the US.

1:01:15 > 1:01:19It was nominated at the Academy Awards for Foreign Language

1:01:19 > 1:01:22so we were really thrilled, the entire team was really thrilled

1:01:22 > 1:01:28with the kind of emotional connection it had with people across the globe.

1:01:28 > 1:01:31Music and dance is an essential part of...

1:01:31 > 1:01:33- Indian cinema. - ..Indian cinema.

1:01:33 > 1:01:35Is that part of a formula

1:01:35 > 1:01:38or is that something to do with how Indians are?

1:01:38 > 1:01:41Music and song...

1:01:41 > 1:01:44- helps you to sharpen an emotion. - Mm-hm.

1:01:44 > 1:01:46So, you've seen Lagaan.

1:01:51 > 1:01:55When the film begins, there's no rain, it's not raining.

1:01:55 > 1:01:57And the village is going through troubled times,

1:01:57 > 1:01:59it hasn't rained for two years.

1:02:00 > 1:02:05And then they see this cloud. And they get electrified.

1:02:05 > 1:02:08Man, it's going to rain and there's a song over it.

1:02:08 > 1:02:13MAN SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:02:13 > 1:02:16THUNDER CRACKS

1:02:19 > 1:02:22CHILDREN CHEER

1:02:22 > 1:02:27MUSIC PLAYS

1:02:30 > 1:02:35And they sing with abandon because they feel it's finally going to rain.

1:02:35 > 1:02:37THEY SING IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:02:42 > 1:02:45And the cloud comes and it passes, it doesn't rain.

1:02:49 > 1:02:53And they're left stranded and it's like a deep dejection.

1:02:53 > 1:02:58- Now, this sharpening of emotion happens because of that song.- Mm-hm.

1:02:58 > 1:03:01If you remove that song, the story will still remain the same,

1:03:01 > 1:03:05it's a place where it hasn't rained, and the story will move on.

1:03:05 > 1:03:09But the fact that they get so excited when they see one cloud

1:03:09 > 1:03:13and the whole village starts celebrating the rain as it's

1:03:13 > 1:03:17about to approach, so that song helps you to sharpen the emotion.

1:03:17 > 1:03:20THUNDER CRACKS

1:03:25 > 1:03:29SHE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:03:33 > 1:03:37Now, the interesting thing about Aamir Khan is that he's been able...

1:03:37 > 1:03:39In a way, he's kind of like a George Clooney

1:03:39 > 1:03:43in that he's political - small P - he's got a social conscience

1:03:43 > 1:03:47so he makes interesting, social conscience films

1:03:47 > 1:03:53but the film that he then acted in which caught everyone by surprise

1:03:53 > 1:03:55was 3 Idiots.

1:03:55 > 1:03:58THEY SPEAK IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:04:00 > 1:04:04The story of 3 Idiots is there are three friends and one of them

1:04:04 > 1:04:08has disappeared and the other two are looking for him.

1:04:08 > 1:04:13The whole film unfolds with these two friends on a journey

1:04:13 > 1:04:16searching for their lost friend, they've lost contact with him.

1:04:16 > 1:04:19And they're trying to figure out where the hell he is.

1:04:33 > 1:04:383 Idiots, I think, was the most basic simple story, you know,

1:04:38 > 1:04:42about three college students and I don't think there's ever been

1:04:42 > 1:04:45a greater film in the recent years as that.

1:04:45 > 1:04:48Did you know it was going to be a success? At what point did you know?

1:04:48 > 1:04:52I think it's the best narration from a director that I've ever

1:04:52 > 1:04:54heard in 15 years of my career.

1:04:54 > 1:04:57- Explain the narration.- The reading.

1:04:57 > 1:05:00When he approached me, he called me to his office and he was like,

1:05:00 > 1:05:03"I'd like you to hear the script."

1:05:03 > 1:05:06And for four hours, he read out the entire script

1:05:06 > 1:05:10and I actually stood up in his office

1:05:10 > 1:05:15and I was clapping on my own that I'd never heard something like this.

1:05:15 > 1:05:18In 3 Idiots, Aamir plays a rebellious college student

1:05:18 > 1:05:20who defies the cold hand of authority.

1:05:32 > 1:05:343 Idiots, Rancho was a lot of me,

1:05:34 > 1:05:36I walked out of every class in the Film Institute.

1:05:36 > 1:05:41They failed me, I'm a failure, they failed me, I didn't get my diploma.

1:05:41 > 1:05:43Excuse me.

1:05:43 > 1:05:453 Idiots was a huge hit,

1:05:45 > 1:05:46at the time of its release,

1:05:46 > 1:05:50the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time.

1:05:50 > 1:05:52At its heart lies a clever reinvention -

1:05:52 > 1:05:56the angry young man of the '70s has been transformed.

1:05:56 > 1:05:57The action hero reinvented

1:05:57 > 1:06:00as a sensitive, lovable man of the people.

1:06:02 > 1:06:03Excuse me.

1:06:03 > 1:06:10Because I am very, very culturally connected with my culture,

1:06:10 > 1:06:13with India, and I want to live and die here,

1:06:13 > 1:06:19I love the way this country is, the people of this country,

1:06:19 > 1:06:23I think perhaps that resonates in my writing and in my movies

1:06:23 > 1:06:26and maybe that is why most Indians connect with it...

1:06:26 > 1:06:29because it is their culture.

1:06:29 > 1:06:31We do not have all day!

1:06:31 > 1:06:33Rancho, who is Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots,

1:06:33 > 1:06:37a lot of all that came into that character.

1:06:37 > 1:06:41So I mean I relate to that character totally and I'm so glad

1:06:41 > 1:06:43so many people liked it.

1:06:43 > 1:06:46We rely heavily on emotions, we're an emotional country,

1:06:46 > 1:06:49that's what our nation kind of relies on -

1:06:49 > 1:06:51our hope is based on emotions.

1:06:51 > 1:06:53And he just got everything right.

1:06:55 > 1:06:58THEY SPEAK IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:07:04 > 1:07:05Yeah.

1:07:11 > 1:07:13Who?

1:07:13 > 1:07:14You.

1:07:19 > 1:07:23I really loved 3 Idiots, I thought it was great.

1:07:23 > 1:07:28You know, it was devoid of any violence,

1:07:28 > 1:07:32it didn't need car chases, it didn't need explosions,

1:07:32 > 1:07:37it didn't need any of those things that I'd come to associate

1:07:37 > 1:07:40with the excess of Hindi films.

1:07:40 > 1:07:43And in many ways, I think,

1:07:43 > 1:07:48it's a film that harks back to some of those films of the '50s and '60s.

1:07:48 > 1:07:53I think there's a simple storyline, I think it's well written,

1:07:53 > 1:07:57I think it's well acted and I think the songs are great.

1:07:57 > 1:08:00MUSIC PLAYS

1:08:00 > 1:08:05It was old school, classic romance transformed on-screen.

1:08:07 > 1:08:10It was nice, it was simple and I loved it.

1:08:13 > 1:08:15Hindi film has been my kind of main experience.

1:08:15 > 1:08:20I haven't really seen too much of regional films.

1:08:20 > 1:08:23I've always known that they've played an important part.

1:08:23 > 1:08:27Satyajit Ray's films were obviously Bengali films

1:08:27 > 1:08:30and I'd seen a couple of those but, you know,

1:08:30 > 1:08:32I'd heard about how big

1:08:32 > 1:08:36and important the Tamil film industry was, for instance,

1:08:36 > 1:08:41but I just thought, "I don't speak the language, maybe it's not for me."

1:08:41 > 1:08:44And then people started telling me, "You know what?

1:08:44 > 1:08:46"Some of their films are pretty good.

1:08:46 > 1:08:48"I mean the production values are fantastic

1:08:48 > 1:08:50"and the shot selection is amazing and you should have a look."

1:08:50 > 1:08:52So I went to Hyderabad.

1:09:02 > 1:09:04Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad

1:09:04 > 1:09:07is the largest film studio in the world.

1:09:07 > 1:09:13Over 1,100 acres of ready-made movie sets, locations and sound stages

1:09:13 > 1:09:17all set against the evocative backdrop of the Deccan Plateau.

1:09:21 > 1:09:24Every day, thousands of tourists come from far and wide

1:09:24 > 1:09:28to marvel and gawp at the movie-making process.

1:09:28 > 1:09:32It's like the tour at Universal Studios but on a much larger scale.

1:09:35 > 1:09:37Here, punters can do everything from play

1:09:37 > 1:09:39a cameo in their favourite movie...

1:09:42 > 1:09:44..to having a go at special effects for themselves.

1:09:47 > 1:09:51But I'm here because alongside all the tourist attractions,

1:09:51 > 1:09:53there are a number of real movies in production.

1:09:54 > 1:09:57MUSIC PLAYS

1:09:59 > 1:10:02This one's a low-budget transvestite teen comedy.

1:10:11 > 1:10:15I've been invited to visit the set of a truly epic film called

1:10:15 > 1:10:19Baahubali, the highest budget movie ever made in Southern India.

1:10:21 > 1:10:23It's a fantasy with the scale and ambition

1:10:23 > 1:10:24of The Lord Of The Rings

1:10:24 > 1:10:26and the director, Rajamouli,

1:10:26 > 1:10:29is giving me a privileged peek behind the scenes.

1:10:29 > 1:10:33The story is very much layered but if you take the plot,

1:10:33 > 1:10:35it is quite simple.

1:10:35 > 1:10:40It is about a father who is murdered, a son who is thrown away,

1:10:40 > 1:10:45presumed dead, and he comes back and avenges the father.

1:10:45 > 1:10:49The story, if you take the plot, it is so simple.

1:10:49 > 1:10:52This film actually is a film of families, it's a film of deceit,

1:10:52 > 1:10:56it's a film of treachery, it's a film of all of those.

1:10:56 > 1:10:58My character in this film,

1:10:58 > 1:11:00the only thing that he needs is the throne,

1:11:00 > 1:11:05and that's where he's getting at and to be there,

1:11:05 > 1:11:08he will get everyone out of the way, whether it's his brother or

1:11:08 > 1:11:13whether it's his parents, so it's a hard, mean machine.

1:11:13 > 1:11:16The sheer ambition of Baahubali dwarves anything ever made

1:11:16 > 1:11:20by Indian regional cinema and with so much at stake,

1:11:20 > 1:11:22no footage has been revealed.

1:11:22 > 1:11:25But I can tell you that they're drawing upon the finest

1:11:25 > 1:11:28martial arts and technical professionals from around the world.

1:11:28 > 1:11:31Just goes to show that today, the massive commercial potential

1:11:31 > 1:11:34of films which appeal to Indians all over the world,

1:11:34 > 1:11:37allows for truly epic movies to be produced.

1:11:39 > 1:11:44The biggest film I have done before is 1/8 the size of this.

1:11:44 > 1:11:47Luckily, the market was also expanding.

1:11:47 > 1:11:50Where is the market expanding to and from?

1:11:50 > 1:11:53Mainly, it's US but now we are taking to

1:11:53 > 1:11:55so many parts of the world.

1:11:55 > 1:11:59Telugu is a race that started moving out of India in the early 1900s

1:11:59 > 1:12:04and they moved in to places like Malaysia, Taiwan, the Middle East.

1:12:04 > 1:12:08The second big migration happened after the rise of the IT boom

1:12:08 > 1:12:09that happened in America

1:12:09 > 1:12:12so you see a lot of Telugus who have settled in many different

1:12:12 > 1:12:15pockets of America, who obviously continued with their culture

1:12:15 > 1:12:18who are still modern in their thoughts and approach.

1:12:18 > 1:12:23So they kind of found that big Telugu industry in America.

1:12:23 > 1:12:28Telugu audience are very dedicated to film.

1:12:28 > 1:12:32Actually, if you can go to a big star film release

1:12:32 > 1:12:34in the smaller towns,

1:12:34 > 1:12:39you will see the print being carried on a carriage with music

1:12:39 > 1:12:42and dancing and throwing flowers and garlands on the print,

1:12:42 > 1:12:45the film print, all the way to the theatre

1:12:45 > 1:12:47and then from the theatres, you'll see 60-foot,

1:12:47 > 1:12:5570-foot cut-outs of the hero, garlanded, being pulled over the star.

1:12:55 > 1:12:57It's quite an experience.

1:12:57 > 1:12:58THEY CHUCKLE

1:13:00 > 1:13:03Another way in which the film Baahubali is breaking new ground

1:13:03 > 1:13:07is in how the latest cinematic technology is being employed

1:13:07 > 1:13:09to tell ancient mythical stories.

1:13:10 > 1:13:14Will this be entirely a physical set or will there be CGI?

1:13:14 > 1:13:19There's a lot and lot of CGI involved.

1:13:19 > 1:13:25When it comes to CGI, our principle is the thumb rule.

1:13:25 > 1:13:31The thumb rule is anything that the actors interact with is live.

1:13:31 > 1:13:34Anything that they don't interact with is CG.

1:13:35 > 1:13:38And because we wanted scale everywhere,

1:13:38 > 1:13:41it has to be scale length, it's impossible for us

1:13:41 > 1:13:45to actually build anything that we are imagining.

1:13:46 > 1:13:50Cutting edge visual effects have become an enormous growth area

1:13:50 > 1:13:51across the country,

1:13:51 > 1:13:55tapping into the world-leading IT sector and mainstream

1:13:55 > 1:13:59Bollywood cinema has also grasped the exciting new opportunities.

1:14:01 > 1:14:04I remember, as a kid, going to see Bollywood films

1:14:04 > 1:14:06and every time there was a special effect,

1:14:06 > 1:14:09- there was a little bit of me that was sick.- Yeah.

1:14:09 > 1:14:11I kind of vomited inside.

1:14:11 > 1:14:13I never vomited outside because it's not my style

1:14:13 > 1:14:15but on the inside, I did.

1:14:15 > 1:14:18Just the quality of technique in Indian cinema has

1:14:18 > 1:14:21improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years.

1:14:21 > 1:14:24When you see some of the very interesting movies being made here,

1:14:24 > 1:14:27they could have been made anywhere in the world in terms

1:14:27 > 1:14:30of the quality of the cinematography, the quality of the sound,

1:14:30 > 1:14:32and in fact, the quality of the visual effects.

1:14:32 > 1:14:35I mean a lot of the visual effects in movies in the west are actually

1:14:35 > 1:14:38being outsourced here to India.

1:14:38 > 1:14:42What we didn't have earlier was we had the ability to technically

1:14:42 > 1:14:46work to a brief but we didn't have film-makers here who were

1:14:46 > 1:14:49actually creating those briefs for these organisations

1:14:49 > 1:14:51and you do have that today.

1:14:51 > 1:14:55I can't think of anybody else who has created a science-fiction

1:14:55 > 1:14:57franchise in Indian cinema.

1:14:57 > 1:14:59You must be the first.

1:14:59 > 1:15:01Yes, I think I'm the first, yeah.

1:15:01 > 1:15:02You're a pioneer.

1:15:02 > 1:15:05So can you just explain how that came about?

1:15:05 > 1:15:08Did you always envisage that there would be three or four

1:15:08 > 1:15:09- films in a story?- No, no.

1:15:09 > 1:15:15One day, I saw Lord Of The Rings, I saw all three parts of it together.

1:15:15 > 1:15:18I said, "If they can do it, why can't we? Let me try."

1:15:20 > 1:15:22The result was Krrish,

1:15:22 > 1:15:24a blockbuster franchise

1:15:24 > 1:15:26which has already had three

1:15:26 > 1:15:28hugely successful instalments.

1:15:29 > 1:15:31Krrish was a journey.

1:15:31 > 1:15:34The first half where I established that he had a lot of powers

1:15:34 > 1:15:36but he didn't know what to do with them.

1:15:36 > 1:15:40And in the second half, we show how he uses his powers.

1:15:40 > 1:15:45And then the third, Krrish was a full-blown superhero film

1:15:45 > 1:15:49with a supervillain and all the characters in the film.

1:15:50 > 1:15:54Aside from the commercial success of this new franchise, films like

1:15:54 > 1:15:58Krrish have created a world-class Indian special effects industry.

1:15:59 > 1:16:03We have got good technicians in India.

1:16:03 > 1:16:07So I said, first of all, I will make Krrish 3 with Indian talent,

1:16:07 > 1:16:12so I hired Shah Rukh Khan's studio - Red Chillies.

1:16:14 > 1:16:1899% of the Indian films, when they are made,

1:16:18 > 1:16:20they do a lot of special effects,

1:16:20 > 1:16:25but they don't get time for special effects.

1:16:25 > 1:16:31I finished my film and I gave them 18 months to do the special effects.

1:16:33 > 1:16:36I said, "I should give the Indian talents a chance,

1:16:36 > 1:16:41"so that they also get used to it, and then when we make other films,

1:16:41 > 1:16:44- "they will be more experienced." - Mm-hmm.

1:16:48 > 1:16:50Indian cinema has clearly come a long way

1:16:50 > 1:16:53since the cheesy rip-offs of the early eighties.

1:16:56 > 1:16:58And Indian films have evolved,

1:16:58 > 1:17:03the production values now are as good as anything in the West.

1:17:03 > 1:17:08We've got to a point now where Indian companies are investing

1:17:08 > 1:17:11in Hollywood production houses,

1:17:11 > 1:17:16buying into DreamWorks, co-financing.

1:17:16 > 1:17:19You've got it the other way round, you've got companies like Disney

1:17:19 > 1:17:25that have bought UTV and created Disney India to make local content.

1:17:25 > 1:17:28As the Indian movie industry has developed at an exponential rate

1:17:28 > 1:17:32in recent years, with a huge growth in global revenue,

1:17:32 > 1:17:35multinational film studios like Sony and Disney

1:17:35 > 1:17:37have learned from their previous attempts to

1:17:37 > 1:17:41crack the Indian market and adopted a much smarter business model.

1:17:41 > 1:17:43We're actually the Indian arm of the Walt Disney Company,

1:17:43 > 1:17:46and what the Walt Disney Company is doing in India is being able

1:17:46 > 1:17:50to understand what the audience tastes and preferences are.

1:17:50 > 1:17:52It's not like you're just taking one product

1:17:52 > 1:17:55and saying it's a one size fits all, you're actually modifying it

1:17:55 > 1:17:59to suit the local tastes and preferences of an audience there.

1:18:01 > 1:18:02In recent years,

1:18:02 > 1:18:04Indian cinematic tastes have widened,

1:18:04 > 1:18:08to include new genres like sci-fi and historical fantasy.

1:18:08 > 1:18:11But they haven't left more traditional fare behind.

1:18:11 > 1:18:15HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:18:15 > 1:18:20Chennai Express is a great example of how the industry has moved on.

1:18:24 > 1:18:27SHE INTERRUPTS IN SONG

1:18:27 > 1:18:31A classic Bollywood romance with great songs and major stars,

1:18:31 > 1:18:34it was financed and distributed globally,

1:18:34 > 1:18:38and became one of the highest grossing films in Indian history.

1:18:38 > 1:18:40What I think is really interesting over the last few years

1:18:40 > 1:18:42is that studios have come in here

1:18:42 > 1:18:44and started making local language movies.

1:18:44 > 1:18:47Realising that India really is a local market,

1:18:47 > 1:18:51and that we like our own heroes, our own heroines, I mean,

1:18:51 > 1:18:54we are a movie-obsessed nation.

1:18:54 > 1:18:57There are three billion admissions in this country every year,

1:18:57 > 1:19:00which is pretty much half the population of the globe.

1:19:00 > 1:19:02If you think about that, it's a pretty staggering statistic,

1:19:02 > 1:19:06to imagine that three billion footfalls go into

1:19:06 > 1:19:08movie theatres in this country every year.

1:19:08 > 1:19:10In cinema, what really counts at the end of the day is

1:19:10 > 1:19:12- how many people have seen it. - Mm-hmm.

1:19:12 > 1:19:16And we have more people to offer than any other country in the world.

1:19:16 > 1:19:18And the thing with the multiplexes,

1:19:18 > 1:19:20which have now started to come in, is that they've

1:19:20 > 1:19:26kind of allowed room now for other kinds of Indian films to be made.

1:19:26 > 1:19:29So, in addition to the blockbusters that we still have -

1:19:29 > 1:19:31the latest of which is Dhoom 3,

1:19:31 > 1:19:33which kind of broke all box office records,

1:19:33 > 1:19:36people are flocking to them as they always did -

1:19:36 > 1:19:40but there's also emerging quieter voices,

1:19:40 > 1:19:45in a resurgence of parallel cinema, or art cinema.

1:19:45 > 1:19:48Recent successes like The Lunchbox

1:19:48 > 1:19:49and Dev D have proven

1:19:49 > 1:19:51that Indian arthouse - or "parallel" cinema -

1:19:51 > 1:19:55has been resurrected, and has managed to reach out to what

1:19:55 > 1:20:00were previously mainstream audiences both in India and around the world.

1:20:00 > 1:20:04The line between art and commercial cinema has blurred

1:20:04 > 1:20:06over the last decade, and we've seen more and more of that.

1:20:06 > 1:20:09In the '80s you had movies that were art cinema,

1:20:09 > 1:20:10they were watched on dual version,

1:20:10 > 1:20:12they'd probably get a theatrical release

1:20:12 > 1:20:15of two or three prints in the key cities, and that's pretty much it.

1:20:15 > 1:20:18And they would win national awards and be critically appreciated,

1:20:18 > 1:20:21but a mainstream audience would still not have access to them

1:20:21 > 1:20:23unless they saw it on television.

1:20:23 > 1:20:26But today, you've got movies like Dev D or Kai Po Che!,

1:20:26 > 1:20:30films that we have made in the last five years that are actually

1:20:30 > 1:20:33themes that might have been called art cinema in the '80s,

1:20:33 > 1:20:37but which are actually enjoying massive commercial success today.

1:20:38 > 1:20:43The most recent break-out hit from out of left field is The Lunchbox.

1:20:43 > 1:20:47It's an intimate story about a lonely man who exchanges

1:20:47 > 1:20:49love letters with the woman who makes him lunch.

1:20:49 > 1:20:53A surprise commercial success, it's also won awards

1:20:53 > 1:20:56and critical acclaim at festivals around the world.

1:20:58 > 1:21:01This is the biggest myth that we have lived with all these days,

1:21:01 > 1:21:06we have been told that our cinema does not have that kind of reach

1:21:06 > 1:21:10and people don't want to watch films from India, and really,

1:21:10 > 1:21:16they are films, if we make them more universal, we can always reach out.

1:21:16 > 1:21:18It happened with Lunchbox, it happened with Wasseypur,

1:21:18 > 1:21:20it's happening with...

1:21:20 > 1:21:24- And Lunchbox has been released in some 91 countries.- Mm-hmm.

1:21:24 > 1:21:27I saw it in London.

1:21:27 > 1:21:28It has found a commercial audience,

1:21:28 > 1:21:31and that's a film that we actually marketed and distributed in India.

1:21:31 > 1:21:32And it did tremendously well.

1:21:32 > 1:21:34It is an English film at the end of the day,

1:21:34 > 1:21:39with a very Western sensibility, a very European style of film-making.

1:21:39 > 1:21:43It takes its time, the pace of the narrative is slow

1:21:43 > 1:21:45and it tells a very intimate story,

1:21:45 > 1:21:46but it resonated tremendously

1:21:46 > 1:21:48- in India, it did great business. - Mm-hmm.

1:21:48 > 1:21:51But what's really interesting is, you've got your

1:21:51 > 1:21:53mass commercial entertainers working at the same time.

1:21:53 > 1:21:55It's not like they're going anywhere,

1:21:55 > 1:21:57so a Salman Khan or Akshay Kumar movie today

1:21:57 > 1:22:00is still doing great business, but a Lunchbox and a Kai Po Che!

1:22:00 > 1:22:03are also doing great business. So the audience tastes have broadened.

1:22:03 > 1:22:05It's still the same guy going and watching both movies,

1:22:05 > 1:22:06but he wears a different hat.

1:22:06 > 1:22:09When he goes in to watch Akshay Kumar he leaves his brains at home,

1:22:09 > 1:22:11and he says, "I'm just going to have a good time."

1:22:11 > 1:22:15My journey now is almost at an end, and it's strangely fitting

1:22:15 > 1:22:19that my last encounter with Bollywood should be here in London.

1:22:19 > 1:22:21I'm on the set of a brand-new thriller which is

1:22:21 > 1:22:23currently shooting at Tower Bridge.

1:22:23 > 1:22:27The film, Phantom, stars Katrina Kaif and Saif Ali Khan,

1:22:27 > 1:22:30and it's a truly international production.

1:22:30 > 1:22:32The journey is very international,

1:22:32 > 1:22:37because Kabir likes to shoot in exciting places, so we made an effort

1:22:37 > 1:22:42to shoot in Kashmir and Beirut, and to shoot...

1:22:42 > 1:22:43This is probably the easiest part.

1:22:43 > 1:22:46We shot in north India, which was quite rough,

1:22:46 > 1:22:48because it's very crowded.

1:22:48 > 1:22:51It's not easy to set up a camera and make something look

1:22:51 > 1:22:53the way it is, because there are people everywhere for a start.

1:22:53 > 1:22:56Somehow in England we're trying to put people in the background,

1:22:56 > 1:22:59whereas in India we're trying to get rid of them.

1:22:59 > 1:23:00SANJEEV LAUGHS

1:23:00 > 1:23:03While always keeping an eye on the box office,

1:23:03 > 1:23:05commercial Indian cinema now has the confidence

1:23:05 > 1:23:07to make more challenging movies too.

1:23:07 > 1:23:11When I joined films, we were told to put our personal thoughts

1:23:11 > 1:23:16and feelings onto a back burner and to do what is required,

1:23:16 > 1:23:19because ultimately we're catering to a market,

1:23:19 > 1:23:22and now that market is becoming very much like we think.

1:23:22 > 1:23:25So that's very exciting and liberating, that you can think

1:23:25 > 1:23:28and have ideas and act on a sensibility that is yours,

1:23:28 > 1:23:32rather than trying to cater to what I would call

1:23:32 > 1:23:35a simple people in a simple way.

1:23:35 > 1:23:41It can get more interesting in terms of stories that people wouldn't have

1:23:41 > 1:23:44made five or ten years ago because they wouldn't have seen

1:23:44 > 1:23:46any financial value in making that story,

1:23:46 > 1:23:47they would have called it niche.

1:23:47 > 1:23:49When I started my career,

1:23:49 > 1:23:52Aditya Chopra said I'm a multiplex hero,

1:23:52 > 1:23:59meaning I'm not Shah Rukh Khan, doing things for all India.

1:23:59 > 1:24:01And that I should focus on something like that,

1:24:01 > 1:24:06and now, just a few years later, a multiplex hero would have

1:24:06 > 1:24:09many takers for being an extremely lucrative professional.

1:24:09 > 1:24:12But now, I've got choice.

1:24:12 > 1:24:16So I can go and see Lunchbox and feel fulfilled,

1:24:16 > 1:24:19I can go and see Dhoom 3 and feel fulfilled,

1:24:19 > 1:24:23and - as I did - I can go and watch them both...

1:24:23 > 1:24:25and feel doubly fulfilled.

1:24:25 > 1:24:27Where it's headed?

1:24:27 > 1:24:33A lot of people look to Bollywood as a surviving film industry that

1:24:33 > 1:24:36hasn't been totally taken over by Hollywood,

1:24:36 > 1:24:38and even though in our industry we have films like

1:24:38 > 1:24:41Transformers releasing, and we get a bit nervous, saying,

1:24:41 > 1:24:43"Damn, we've got Transformers releasing next weekend,

1:24:43 > 1:24:46"what's going to happen?", but they haven't taken over yet.

1:24:46 > 1:24:48HE SHOUTS IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:24:50 > 1:24:53While Indian audiences may have acquired a taste for

1:24:53 > 1:24:55Western production values, the stories that appeal to them

1:24:55 > 1:24:59somehow remain fundamentally Indian.

1:24:59 > 1:25:03Actually, India is the only country where Hollywood films don't do well.

1:25:03 > 1:25:08And surprisingly, I had a meeting with guys at Sony Pictures,

1:25:08 > 1:25:11it's the only country where the business of Hollywood cinema

1:25:11 > 1:25:14- has decreased in the last five years.- Why is that?

1:25:14 > 1:25:17Because there's been a lot of co-financing, a lot of mergers.

1:25:17 > 1:25:21I think culture. I was very surprised when I was told,

1:25:21 > 1:25:24but I think it's because we're really different

1:25:24 > 1:25:30in terms of culture, and we've still resisted the influence.

1:25:30 > 1:25:33If we made great films, like Raj Kappor used to make,

1:25:33 > 1:25:35and catered to that market

1:25:35 > 1:25:37and organised international distribution,

1:25:37 > 1:25:39there would be an alternative to Hollywood,

1:25:39 > 1:25:42and there is a large section of the world

1:25:42 > 1:25:45that isn't American, that isn't basically...

1:25:45 > 1:25:49That doesn't think like a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

1:25:49 > 1:25:53- You know?- Mmm. - So there's a market there.

1:25:53 > 1:25:55SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:25:55 > 1:25:59The phenomenal growth of the global market for Indian movies,

1:25:59 > 1:26:01combined with its huge potential,

1:26:01 > 1:26:04mean that Indian cinema is developing at an astonishing rate,

1:26:04 > 1:26:07with films being made in every genre

1:26:07 > 1:26:10and appealing to all of India's diverse population.

1:26:12 > 1:26:15This really is a golden age of Indian cinema, as I see it,

1:26:15 > 1:26:19and I think as most people working here today in cinema see it.

1:26:19 > 1:26:21It's a time when all sorts of genres are working.

1:26:21 > 1:26:23As long as you're delivering an entertaining film

1:26:23 > 1:26:26that engages your audience, you don't need to be tied down to one

1:26:26 > 1:26:29sort of cinema, which you were for years in India earlier.

1:26:29 > 1:26:32And art and commercial cinema today are not really words

1:26:32 > 1:26:35we use at all, it's either a good film or it isn't.

1:26:42 > 1:26:45From the '50s song epics of the early years,

1:26:45 > 1:26:47to the golden age of parallel cinema,

1:26:47 > 1:26:50from the angry young man to hi-tech sci-fi,

1:26:50 > 1:26:53Indian cinema has come a very long way.

1:26:58 > 1:26:59From humble beginnings,

1:26:59 > 1:27:04it's broadened into a massive global industry.

1:27:04 > 1:27:08But somehow managed to retain a distinctly Indian identity.

1:27:08 > 1:27:09HE CRIES OUT IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:27:12 > 1:27:16Today, Indian films are reaching far beyond

1:27:16 > 1:27:18the traditional limits of Bollywood.

1:27:20 > 1:27:26So I kind of found myself falling in love with Indian film...

1:27:26 > 1:27:32in a kind of deeper and more meaningful way than I ever did.

1:27:32 > 1:27:35Because all the stuff that I got from Indian films

1:27:35 > 1:27:38from being a kid, all the nostalgia stuff,

1:27:38 > 1:27:42the sounds, some of the visuals,

1:27:42 > 1:27:44and the language of my parents

1:27:44 > 1:27:47and some of those very Indian moves in dance and music,

1:27:47 > 1:27:49are still there.

1:27:49 > 1:27:53So I think Indian film right now is great.

1:27:53 > 1:27:57I think it's involved in terms of its production values,

1:27:57 > 1:27:59how it looks, how it's edited,

1:27:59 > 1:28:02all the technical things are still great,

1:28:02 > 1:28:04and all the things that I used to love about it,

1:28:04 > 1:28:09I now understand the reasons why I love it.

1:28:09 > 1:28:11Thank you very much. Goodnight.

1:28:11 > 1:28:13CHEERING

1:28:16 > 1:28:19MUSIC: Zoobi Doobi by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal