Changing perception of Indian Cinema: How Bollywood is no more favourite for overseas cinegoers

Bollywood is no longer the Big Daddy of Indian popular cinema overseas. As the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 8-18) returns to its in-person avatar post-Covid, one of the star attractions at its Industry Conference is Indian filmmaker S S Rajamouli . The presence of the Telugu filmmaker at TIFF is itself a pointer to the changing perception of Indian commercial cinema, so far dominated by Bollywood. “Anyone who’s been following Indian cinema for years knows that there’s an exciting, compulsive genre of cinema that is being made, in south India in particular…It’s been exciting to see Rajamouli emerge as the most visible artist behind this kind of work around the world,” says Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF. He adds, “We wanted Rajamouli to be a part of the festival to recognize the new ground that he has broken and also introduce him to people who may still now be catching up. Clearly this is something new, it’s not Bollywood in the traditional sense at all, but it’s very exciting, action-packed Indian cinema.” Rajamouli and his last film _RRR_ may have single-handedly prompted not just Indian audiences but also cinephiles worldwide to look beyond Bollywood while seeking entertaining Indian blockbusters. At Central Parkway Cinema, a new theatre in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, RRR was one of the biggest hits this year, along with the Tamil film _Vikram_ , starring Kamal Haasan and Vijay Sethupathi . Central Parkway’s manager Sai Akhil says the theatre was inaugurated in March 2022 primarily to showcase RRR. In the United States, RRR powered its way to an unusual second innings, winning over mainstream American audiences in a relaunch this summer, billed as an “encoRRRe”. According to New York-based Gitesh Pandya, Editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com, RRR is by far the highest-grossing Indian movie in North America in 2022 so far. Says Pandya, “After RRR hit Netflix it was seen by a much wider audience of film fans, especially non-Indians, and won praise from American journalists and celebrities alike who were blown away by the over-the-top extravaganza.” RRR grossed $14.2 million during its original run that began in late March, adding more with its relaunch that is still playing in the US. By comparison, the top Hindi film this year in the US is The Kashmir Files, which also opened in March, and has grossed $4 million. The success of that film, reportedly cold-shouldered by mainstream Bollywood, is yet another indicator of the changing face of Indian commercial cinema abroad. Bailey starting programming Indian films for TIFF in 2005, and to acquaint festivalgoers with popular Indian cinema at that time, he chose to bring Bollywood to the film festival, starting with Karan Johar ’s multi-starrer _Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna_ in 2006. The screaming crowds that showed up to see Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan that year dwarfed the turnout for Brad Pitt the previous night. “It was the biggest event we had at the festival that year and it showed us the potential for bringing big, popular Indian cinema to Toronto,” recalled Bailey in an earlier interview. TIFF has hosted a series of Bollywood stars since then, including Priyanka Chopra , Akshay Kumar and Sridevi . This year, the Indian film chosen for the Gala Presentation section featuring commercial films and big stars, is Kacchey Limbu by debutant director Shubham Yogi and featuring Radhika Madan. Other Indian films at TIFF this year include popular comedian Kapil Sharma ’s acting turn in Zwigato, directed by Nandita Das, and festival favourite Rima Das’s third film, Tora’s Husband. That leaves the Indian superstar slot this year for Rajamouli, who is the first Indian filmmaker to be invited for the Visionaries programme and will share that platform with the likes of Tyler Perry and Hillary Clinton . The event with Rajamouli will include a one-on-one conversation with a moderator and questions from the audience, mostly comprised of industry delegates with very few tickets offered to the public. Geoff Macnaughton, programmer for the Visionaries section, says the effort to invite Rajamouli started with the runaway global success of RRR in the summer. “I was floored by the visuals, the innovative style, the epic scale, the historical reference points and how it feels, to me at least, that it’s not part of any one genre in some ways,” says Macnaughton of his reaction to watching the film. Bailey explains why he believes Rajamouli may have beaten Bollywood’s hitmakers at the blockbuster game: “In terms of popular filmmaking the leaps and bounds are always made when filmmakers find new technology and turn that tool towards something that’s going to get audiences excited. You remember Steven Spielberg with Jurassic Park and suddenly dinosaurs could run, and we’d never seen that before on screen and people just ran in to see that.” Something similar happened with Rajamouli’s films, Bailey says: “The remarkable thing about the Baahubali films and now RRR, I think are similar in the context of Indian cinema – I don’t know of Indian films that did what he did so successfully in terms of really using the tool of digital effects in a way that was so exciting, so fast moving and also just ramping up the storytelling pace overall.” In the coming weeks, there will be more films challenging Bollywood’s blockbuster supremacy, including Mani Ratnam ’s much-awaited historical epic, Ponniyin Selvan: I, the first Tamil film to release in the IMAX format. Bollywood may be upping its game as well, with the long-delayed and lavish Brahmastra finally opening this month. For the newfound global fans of Indian cinema, the show has just begun. 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