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Bad scripts, flimsy characters and poor-quality production are hindering Indian cinema as it attempts to capture new global audiences, leading industry figures say. Top actors, filmmakers and executives say India needs to raise its game if it is to replicate the success of “My Name Is Khan,” which recently became the biggest Bollywood movie of all time on overseas revenue.

The movie has taken $39 million worldwide since its release in February, including $17 million outside India, distributors Fox Star Studios said, hailing it as Bollywood’s first truly global film.

Its success is being seen as a possible model for crossover films, as Indian cinema looks to recover from a 14 percent decline in revenues to 89.3 billion rupees ($2 billion) in 2009.

The overseas market — which makes up 7 percent of India’s total film-industry revenues — fell 30 percent last year, hit by the economic downturn, poor-quality films and fewer releases after a strike by Bollywood producers.

“My Name Is Khan” actor and co-producer Shah Rukh Khan said increasing involvement by Hollywood in India was key.

The United States accounts for up to a third of Indian cinema’s overseas market and a number of US studios, including Warner Bros., Disney and DreamWorks, have struck deals with Indian production houses in recent years.

“Bollywood is lagging very, very far behind in three areas,” Khan told a media and entertainment conference in Mumbai this week. Indian filmmakers need to understand the Hollywood format “and not adhere to our own stubborn narratives,” he said.

“The sooner Indian film companies realize that screenplay writing is not an art form but a science, the faster our films will grow.”

Help is also needed to develop the special-effects sector and bring the discipline and organization that are “woefully lacking in the business of films,” Khan said.

Indian cinema, particularly Hindi-language Bollywood, has a tradition of making highly stylized films involving set-piece song-and-dance routines, with some actors often working on up to half a dozen films at the same time.

A total of 242 Bollywood films were released in 2009, according to an industry report by auditor KPMG, but with few succeeding at the box office, even domestically, there have been calls to favor quality over quantity.

Bollywood has been looking to diversify into more contemporary subjects in recent years but “My Name Is Khan” director Karan Johar said the current standard of home-grown scriptwriting was still “shoddy.”

“We have the people, we have the infrastructure, we have the mobilization but we don’t empower writing, and that’s of paramount importance,” he said.

Actor Irrfan Khan, who starred in the Oscar-winning hit “Slumdog Millionaire” and “A Mighty Heart,” called for greater depth and better production values.

Vijay Singh, chief executive of Fox Star Studios, which distributed “Slumdog Millionaire,” said seeking “crossover” hits did not mean compromising Indian films’ specific cultural and social themes.

But better content, combined with targeted marketing and distribution, could help raise the profile of Indian cinema, its stars and wealth of back-room talent, Singh said.



Agence France-Presse