Bollywood’s growing ambitions accompany Indian investment in Hollywood

Bollywood calls in Rambo for strike on U.S. cinema." So screamed a recent headline in India about Sylvester Stallone’s contract to star in a local movie. Indians are excited not only about the prospect of American influence in Bollywood, India’s Hindi-language movie industry, but also that of Indian influence in Hollywood. It will take more than Rambo, however, for the world’s two largest movie industries to smash cultural barriers in each other’s nations.

Signing an American movie star is a coup for producer Sajid Nadiavala and a first for Bollywood. But Mr. Stallone isn’t the first American in the movie business to have discovered India. Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio is negotiating a $500 million partnership with Mumbai-based Reliance Big Entertainment. Reliance Entertainment announced earlier at Cannes that it would also bankroll eight Hollywood studios owned by Nicholas Cage, George Clooney and others.

There are high expectations on both sides. Consider "Vivek," a contributor to bollywoodbuzz.in, who thinks the addition of Mr. Stallone to a Bollywood cast might add "more substance" to the local flick. "Substance" is not a word usually associated with Mr. Stallone, who is best known for shoot-’em-up roles like Rambo and Rocky. But any import from Hollywood may very well bring fresh air to an industry saturated with sequins and song-and-dance routines.

On the flip side, Bollywood’s growing ambitions accompany Indian investment in Hollywood. Amit Khanna, chairman of Reliance Big Entertainment, says that his firm will "approve what goes into production" at the eight studios the Indian multinational is financing. Add to that Reliance’s investment in 240 movie screens around the U.S., and suddenly India seems ready to deliver its product in America. Two Reliance-financed Bollywood productions, "Broken Horses" and "Kite," are slated for limited releases in the U.S. within the next two years.

But how real are these expectations? When it comes to globalization, cultures operate differently than economies. India’s fast-growing economy may be receptive to foreign investment, but this doesn’t mean its movie business is too. The "Rocky" star is unheard of in rural parts of India and is unlikely to prove much of an attraction to the millions of fans who follow their Bollywood stars almost as obsessively as they follow their cricket stars.

Conversely, while the notion of India may charm American investors, moviegoers are a different market. Indian productions may fascinate film studies majors and Manhattan art-house audiences, but it’s unclear whether they’ll appeal more broadly.

Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University in Virginia and author of "Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing the World’s Cultures," argues that movies are about familiarity. "A feeling of comfort has to be there" for a movie to succeed, he says. That is the reason that "Americans don’t like foreign movies," Mr. Cowen says. A Bollywood movie with Indian cultural themes and actors sells tickets with the Subcontinent’s three-million strong diaspora in the U.S., but not with the average American.

Indian moviegoers, too, are seeking familiarity. So far Hollywood seems to understand that in India, one must do as the Indians do. In November, Sony Pictures released "Saawariya," the first Indian movie financed from abroad. "Saawariya" has Bollywood written all over it: song, dance, love story -- all the usual ingredients. Hollywood knows what sells in India; it is not about to replace a formula that sells 3.6 billion tickets annually.

In India, Hollywood simply cannot be itself. It is unable to compete with a local industry that already churns out more than 1,000 movies a year. With a mere 5% share of the market’s revenue, Hollywood’s regular American products are considered second-tier. As Mr. Khanna puts it, Hollywood is forced to play by Bollywood’s rules. "The days of cultural imperialism are over," he says.

With such limited cultural prospects, the Hollywood-Bollywood story is limited to a financial side. Yet, some predict that as India liberalizes, the movie landscape may alter. "If India becomes like Bangalore then more Indians will start watching Hollywood," Mr. Cowen explains, referring to the whiz-bang technology capital of India, populated by upper- and middle-class youth. As more Indians get wealthier, their tastes will reflect that currently exhibited only by the upper classes.

Even then, it is unlikely one industry may replace the other. In India, Hollywood will become at most an alternative form of cinema for a greater number of Indians. Bangalore may love Rambo, but there is no shortage of fanfare for Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood’s premier actress, in the city. Americans, too, may start warming to Indian culture, but the long reign enjoyed by the likes of Mr. Stallone is not about to end. Globalization can wage a long war to remove barriers between nations, but this is one battle it is not going to win anytime soon.