Cinema and Globalization
May. 2nd, 2007 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mcgillianaireFor many, Japan and Indian cinema may seem poles apart, but for those who know a little bit about the connection, this post may not come as much of a surprise. Earlier this afternoon, I came across 2 YouTube videos (under LJ-cut) of Japanese girls dancing to popular Tamil movie songs. I don't know the origins of either video but from what I could tell, they were both taken in Japan!
Very few Indian films are shot in Japan, but interestingly, the earliest film to be made almost entirely in the island-nation was "Love in Tokyo", starring Joy Mukherjee* and Asha Parekh. The movie released in 1966, more than forty years ago! Since then, few attempts have been made to use Japan as a film locale. Fast-forward nearly three decades and we arrive at 1995. This was the year Tamil action-hero, Rajnikanth, starred in the Tamil blockbuster, Muthu** (or Kiss), for which he won several awards in India. Somewhy or another, Muthu made it all the way to Japanese screens, where it was dubbed into the vernacular and renamed Odoru Maharaj (The Dancing Maharaj). Since then, Rajni has become a huge hit with the Japanese, and there are several online references to his growing popularity in the island-nation. Here are a few excerpts:
A group of Rajni fans posing in front of a train in Japan.
"Chandramukhi is being released in Japan with Japanese subtitles. Rajni’s earlier film —Muthu— was a smash hit in Japan and the actor is already a well-known face in that country. When Chandramukhi was released, ten Japanese nationals, die-hard fans of Rajni, came all the way to Chennai to see the movie."
----
"Here comes Hase Kawa from Osaka, a die-hard fan of superstar Rajnikanth and who has come all the way from Japan to watch Chandramukhi. Kawa says airily: 'He’s a fantastic hero. He sweeps us all off our feet. What if I’m a monk, I enjoy his films, and I am willing to go to the other end of the world to watch them...And so are my friends here with me...' Ever since ‘Muthu’ hit the Japanese theatres a decade ago, Kawa had actually travelled to Chennai at least eight times to watch as many Rajni films as possible and hopefully meet him too. He has not succeeded so far. But that would not deter him from coming here." -- Read More
----
"Packed to full house, the theatre at Ropongi Hills in Tokyo witnessed the Rajni film release with jubilant Japanese thronging the cinema hall. Having a capacity of 250, there were only eight Indian viewers. The rest of the crowd comprised Japanese. Dressed in Rajni T-shirts and showing 'Baba' mudra in hands, the crowd was thrilled by the fight and song sequences in the movie. On seeing the overwhelming response, the distributor of Chandramukhi in Japan has promised the fans to release Shivaji, the next Rajni-starrer on the same date of release in Chennai." -- Read More
And so on and so forth. The upcoming Shivaji movie mentioned in the last quote was supposed to have released on April 14th (Tamil New Year's), but it has been delayed to release sometime this month. Interestingly, the name Shivaji is part of Rajnikanth's original name of Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. And for those who don't know, Rajni is not even a Tamil to begin with. He is originally from a Marathi-speaking family settled in Bangalore. After becoming popular with his unique mannerisms as a bus conductor in India's Silicon Valley and a stunning performance in the transport authority's annual play production, he moved to Chennai to pursue a career as an actor. In his final year at an acting school in Chennai, he was chosen by K. Balachander, a legendary Tamil film director (the Steven Spielberg of his day) to act in his 1975 classic, Apoorva Raagangal***. The rest as they say, is history!
But before I get too sidetracked by my favourite Tamil actor, here are the embedded links to the 2 YouTube videos featuring Japanese girls dancing to popular Tamil movie songs. Enjoy!
Was that cool or what?! And unlike our heroines, these girls were fit! I mean, I seriously wouldn't mind if some of these beauties replaced some of our 150kg wonders. If I'm not mistaken, this has already happened. My mum once mentioned something about a Japanese girl acting in a Tamil movie. But back to Shivaji, the upcoming Rajni movie. Few may be aware that it is the most expensive Tamil movie ever made at $11 million. And reportedly, it has made Rajni the most expensive actor in Asia, after Jackie Chan.
The media says Rajni will pocket $5.5 million for his role in Shivaji. And you thought Indian cinema was only about Hindi movies. No way Jose! In fact, you might even be surprised to learn that more Tamil movies are produced each year, than Hindi films. And that's not all. Another regional film industry makes more movies than even the Tamil industry. I don't have the figures on my finger tips, but if I remember correctly, more Telugu films are produced each year than any other Indian film industry. Everything put together, more than 800 Indian films are produced each year, including a few in English!
Now imagine how you felt when you began reading this post. Japan and Indian cinema? Yeh, right!
Next Stop: Hollywood-style revenues, and then Hollywood itself.
====
* Joy Mukherjee belongs to family of Bollywood artistes including evergreen playback singer, Kishore Kumar, his maternal uncle; actor Tanuja, his sister-in-law; Tanuja's daughters, Kajol and Tanisha, his nieces and both actors; and Rani Mukherjee, another of his nieces!
** Incidentally, a 5-minute fight sequence from Muthu was featured in the 2006 French film, Prete-Moi Ta Main (Lend Me Your Hand) directed by Alain Chabat.
*** Incidentally, this movie also starred Kamala Haasan, the other major superstar in Tamil films during the 80s and 90s.
Very few Indian films are shot in Japan, but interestingly, the earliest film to be made almost entirely in the island-nation was "Love in Tokyo", starring Joy Mukherjee* and Asha Parekh. The movie released in 1966, more than forty years ago! Since then, few attempts have been made to use Japan as a film locale. Fast-forward nearly three decades and we arrive at 1995. This was the year Tamil action-hero, Rajnikanth, starred in the Tamil blockbuster, Muthu** (or Kiss), for which he won several awards in India. Somewhy or another, Muthu made it all the way to Japanese screens, where it was dubbed into the vernacular and renamed Odoru Maharaj (The Dancing Maharaj). Since then, Rajni has become a huge hit with the Japanese, and there are several online references to his growing popularity in the island-nation. Here are a few excerpts:
A group of Rajni fans posing in front of a train in Japan.
"Chandramukhi is being released in Japan with Japanese subtitles. Rajni’s earlier film —Muthu— was a smash hit in Japan and the actor is already a well-known face in that country. When Chandramukhi was released, ten Japanese nationals, die-hard fans of Rajni, came all the way to Chennai to see the movie."
----
"Here comes Hase Kawa from Osaka, a die-hard fan of superstar Rajnikanth and who has come all the way from Japan to watch Chandramukhi. Kawa says airily: 'He’s a fantastic hero. He sweeps us all off our feet. What if I’m a monk, I enjoy his films, and I am willing to go to the other end of the world to watch them...And so are my friends here with me...' Ever since ‘Muthu’ hit the Japanese theatres a decade ago, Kawa had actually travelled to Chennai at least eight times to watch as many Rajni films as possible and hopefully meet him too. He has not succeeded so far. But that would not deter him from coming here." -- Read More
----
"Packed to full house, the theatre at Ropongi Hills in Tokyo witnessed the Rajni film release with jubilant Japanese thronging the cinema hall. Having a capacity of 250, there were only eight Indian viewers. The rest of the crowd comprised Japanese. Dressed in Rajni T-shirts and showing 'Baba' mudra in hands, the crowd was thrilled by the fight and song sequences in the movie. On seeing the overwhelming response, the distributor of Chandramukhi in Japan has promised the fans to release Shivaji, the next Rajni-starrer on the same date of release in Chennai." -- Read More
And so on and so forth. The upcoming Shivaji movie mentioned in the last quote was supposed to have released on April 14th (Tamil New Year's), but it has been delayed to release sometime this month. Interestingly, the name Shivaji is part of Rajnikanth's original name of Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. And for those who don't know, Rajni is not even a Tamil to begin with. He is originally from a Marathi-speaking family settled in Bangalore. After becoming popular with his unique mannerisms as a bus conductor in India's Silicon Valley and a stunning performance in the transport authority's annual play production, he moved to Chennai to pursue a career as an actor. In his final year at an acting school in Chennai, he was chosen by K. Balachander, a legendary Tamil film director (the Steven Spielberg of his day) to act in his 1975 classic, Apoorva Raagangal***. The rest as they say, is history!
But before I get too sidetracked by my favourite Tamil actor, here are the embedded links to the 2 YouTube videos featuring Japanese girls dancing to popular Tamil movie songs. Enjoy!
Was that cool or what?! And unlike our heroines, these girls were fit! I mean, I seriously wouldn't mind if some of these beauties replaced some of our 150kg wonders. If I'm not mistaken, this has already happened. My mum once mentioned something about a Japanese girl acting in a Tamil movie. But back to Shivaji, the upcoming Rajni movie. Few may be aware that it is the most expensive Tamil movie ever made at $11 million. And reportedly, it has made Rajni the most expensive actor in Asia, after Jackie Chan.
The media says Rajni will pocket $5.5 million for his role in Shivaji. And you thought Indian cinema was only about Hindi movies. No way Jose! In fact, you might even be surprised to learn that more Tamil movies are produced each year, than Hindi films. And that's not all. Another regional film industry makes more movies than even the Tamil industry. I don't have the figures on my finger tips, but if I remember correctly, more Telugu films are produced each year than any other Indian film industry. Everything put together, more than 800 Indian films are produced each year, including a few in English!
Now imagine how you felt when you began reading this post. Japan and Indian cinema? Yeh, right!
Next Stop: Hollywood-style revenues, and then Hollywood itself.
====
* Joy Mukherjee belongs to family of Bollywood artistes including evergreen playback singer, Kishore Kumar, his maternal uncle; actor Tanuja, his sister-in-law; Tanuja's daughters, Kajol and Tanisha, his nieces and both actors; and Rani Mukherjee, another of his nieces!
** Incidentally, a 5-minute fight sequence from Muthu was featured in the 2006 French film, Prete-Moi Ta Main (Lend Me Your Hand) directed by Alain Chabat.
*** Incidentally, this movie also starred Kamala Haasan, the other major superstar in Tamil films during the 80s and 90s.
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Date: 2007-05-03 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 08:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 10:09 am (UTC)Plus, I can't stand Aishwariya Rai, so that probably didn't help!
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Date: 2007-05-09 11:47 am (UTC)Interesting.