This story is from June 7, 2011

Bollywood's firangi fixation

Meena Iyer / TNN / Jun 7, 2011, 00:00 IST

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Recent years have seen a large number of imports from the West. BT explores Bollywoood’s latest obsession

Bollywood’s recent obsession — importing fair-skinned actresses for their flicks — smacks of laziness.
If one guy does it, the other follows the same practice. The biggest names in the business — Subhash Ghai, Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Basu and Prakash Jha — are guilty of this herd mentality.
And we aren’t bagging the ‘real talent’. It’s usually the hand-me-down or marginal starlets that actually make it to B-Town.
Obviously, the girls are not to blame.It’s an opportunity of a lifetime. It’s this lazy approach on the part of our filmmakers — of importing ‘talent’ that begs scrutiny.

Surely, there are far more talented girls right here in India, who can speak better Hindi, move more gracefully to our filmi numbers and turn in better performances than some of the goris that come down to our shores.
One filmmaker went as far as saying that he prefers a gori to an Indian for a certain type of role because they are less inhibited Another maker who prefers home grown talent says, “Honestly tell me, has even one of these fair maidens left an indelible mark in all these years? With due respect to the Germans and Italians we blindly sign for our movies; most of them are struggling not only with the local language, they are struggling with getting their expressions right. What we have in the name of actresses, are white female robots... nothing more.’’

Foreigners In B-Town
Antonia Bernath (Kisna),
Giselli Monteiro (Love Aaj Kal),
Barbara Mori (Kites),
Sarah Thompson (Raajneeti)
Claudia Ciesla (Karma),
Rosa Catalano (Ek Second...)
Caterina Lopez (Bhindi Bazaar)
Fair Play
Filmmakers dish out on why they choose foreigners
More Than Once
Who: Brazilian beauty Giselli Monteiro
Big Break: Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal
Maker’s Choice: Imtiaz Ali confesses, “I was auditioning girls from all over the country to play the Punjabi girl opposite the Sikh Saif Ali Khan. I couldn’t find the right girl to play the 1965 ki gali mein rehne wali ladki, purane zamane ki. Giselli came to me through dress designer Anaita Shroff. She was to play Jo, Saif’s Caucasian girlfriend in the second half. She wasn’t right for Jo. But my wife who was there, suggested Giselli for Harleen. I looked at Giselli and realised she is Brazil’s Harleen. She didn’t know how to speak Hindi. But she had only two lines to speak, which we dubbed.”
Notes: The firangi fixation continued for Ali. He went on to sign Pakistan-Czech model-actress Nargis Fakhri for his next, Rockstar. She wrangled the role from the pretty Delhi 6 actress Aditi Rao who then became Ranbir’s secondary love-interest.
Who: Jacqueline Fernandez.
Big Break: Aladin, Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai and now in Murder 2.
Maker’s Choice: Says producer Mahesh Bhatt, “Globalisation means free movement of capital and talent. If Jacqueline Fernandez (who is Sri Lankan) makes my film sizzle I will certainly use her for my film. I am entitled to do so. But that doesn’t mean I’ll shut the door to local talent.”
Early Exits
Who: Sarah Thompson (Ranbir Kapoor’s Raajneeti co-star)
Big Break: Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti
Maker’s Choice: “I cast Sarah as an American girl. I can’t speak for others. But I’d never cast a foreigner as an Indian.”
Who: Antonia Bernath (a Britisher)
Big Break: Opposite Vivek Oberoi in Kisna
Maker’s Choice: “The intention is often to make cross-cultural international cinema. Also,a white-skinned model makes a very glamourous image in our films.”
Untested
Pop star Jennifer Lopez’s cousin Catrina Lopez is set to make her Bollywood debut soon. Chances are she will disappear as fast as Sarah.
Against
Ram Gopal Varma says, “We Indians only claim we love everything Indian. In reality, we love everything imported.We’re smitten by foreign clothes, perfumes, cigarettes, liquor and of course, foreign girls. Why do we have Caucasian chorus dancers in the item songs, when there are such good dancers in Bollywood? We swear by the slogan Mera Bharat Mahaan. Beyond that, we love everything from outside Bharat.”

About the Author

Meena Iyer

Meena Iyer is Editor, Bombay Times and a film critic for the Times of\nIndia. She's a veteran movie journalist - friend of the actors, confidante\nof the actresses, a champion of scoops on what's hot and what's not in\nBollywood. At home, she enjoys her cuppa Madras 'kapee' more than the\nEspresso in shopping malls or 'cutting chai' on film sets.

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