Will The Hollywood-Bollywood Jodi Work?

What’s common between My Name Is Khan, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, We Are Family and the forthcoming Bipasha Basu starrer Dum Maro Dum?  They are all joint Hollywood-Bollywood productions. The good news is that you can expect many such co-productions from now on, because Hollywood and Bollywood, two of the world’s leading film industries have joined hands to promote joint film production and commercial cooperation. By helping in the creation of a Los Angeles-India Film Council to encourage Indian film production in LA, the film industries will co-ordinate to strengthen production, distribution, technology, content protection and commercial cooperation.

One of the key objectives is to guarantee Indian productions can benefit from the 20-25 per cent tax incentives Hollywood producers can avail in Los Angeles. Rajiv Dalal, India head of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) said, “We look forward to continued commercial cooperation with the US film industry on joint investment and co-productions, which will increase economic development and job growth in both nations.”

“This declaration reinforces our city’s commitment to attracting international productions. In the past year, we have already seen Hindi movies such as My Name Is Khan and Kites filmed in Los Angeles and we enthusiastically welcome further Indian production here,” said Antonio Villaraigosa, the city’s mayor.

Hollywood studios like Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, Sony, Warner Brothers, Disney and Fox are part of the talks. The Indian delegation, headed by producer Bobby Bedi and Film Federation of India president, L Suresh, with other representatives from Reliance Big Entertainment and UTV Motion Pictures, is in Los Angeles for a two-day summit with these studios.

Some recent joint ventures with Hollywood studios and Indian ones include Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, Lahore, Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hain, Khichdi, We Are Family and Do Dooni Chaar. Upcoming joint ventures include titles like Zokkomon and the Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu starrer Dum Maro Dum.