Bollywood stirs Britain’s film sector

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London, Apr 5 : Britain has emerged as the world’s number one overseas market for Indian films with producers of blockbusters raking in millions of pounds, according to the influential Film Distributors Association (FDA).

Britain has long featured in Indian films, in terms of themes, locales for shooting and actors. But the relationship between Bollywood and Britain has increased exponentially with increased migration from the Indian sub-continent since the early 1970s. Bollywood films helped bring in more people to cinema halls in Britain in 2007 than in previous years, according to the FDA.

“The Bollywood segment of the UK market is growing. It is rare nowadays for the top 20 films each week not to feature at least one Bollywood title,” says Mark Batey, chief executive of the FDA.

Batey told the India-EU Film Initiative, a London-based film think tank, that outside India itself, the UK had emerged as the world’s number one market for Bollywood products.

In 2007, after the US, India had the maximum film releases in the UK, figures with the FDA show. Third on the list was the UK. During the year, there were 525 new film releases in the UK from 49 countries.

“Hindi-language films make the UK’s top 15 in most weeks, while recent years have seen a sharp rise in the number of Bollywood films shot in the UK, especially in London,” he said.

The UK is Europe’s largest cinema market and the third largest in the world. According to film organisation Film London, on average, 40 Indian films are shot in London alone every month.

It has become routine for Bollywood blockbusters to be launched simultaneously in India and in the UK. Batey said, Om Shanti Om, the Bollywood hit of 2007, opened with a glitzy premiere in London’s Leicester Square, attended by its stars and filmmakers, and securing a lot of national press coverage, despite the rain.

“Jagmohan Mundhra’s film Provoked, shot in London, also had a West End premiere last year. The UK’s top three Bollywood releases of 2007, Om Shanti Om, Namastey London and Partner, collectively grossed 3 million pounds at the box-office,” Batey said.