THE BOLLYWOOD-KOLLYWOOD SYNERGY!

THE BOLLYWOOD-KOLLYWOOD SYNERGY!
Can the two industries integrate? What are we talking about? Bollywood and Kollywood! For decades, the two industries have functioned almost like islands. Little has been exchanged between the two except for heroines and the occasional story or concept in the form of remakes. But, we are reaching a stage where the exchange of resources of all kinds has started taking off in a much bigger way which gives rise to the possibility of the two industries beginning to function in a much more integrated manner.

As mentioned above, heroines have been perhaps the only talent pool that has been consistently exchanged and shared between both Bollywood and Kollywood. There have been a very few instances before 2000 where artistes or major technicians have been big names both in Kollywood and Bollywood at the same time. There was the occasional Ilaiyaraja masterpiece in Hindi or a piece of scintillating choreography from Prabhu Deva. But, other than such flashes, things remained more or less isolated. The change was started in a big way by a few names that are now considered the best in the country at what they do.




It was during the closing years of the 20th century that Rahman broke through as a national superstar on the music front. From then on, he has been the most wanted musician of India, Kollywood or Bollywood irrespective. He was perhaps the first person to break the north-south divide. There were also names like Santhosh Sivan (cinematography) and Sabu Cyril (art) who too defied the one-industry norm and became highly popular technicians all over India. Of course, there are a lot more names these days that are known, respected and in-demand all over India.

But, really, the integration of film industries happens well and truly only when the two most pivotal persons/factors of cinema begin moving about freely in both. Who are they? The director and the hero (face it! The Indian industry is still a hero-driven one, spare a few exceptions). The last decade has seen a few directors make their name in both the industries. But, sadly, it has been a one directional flow from south to the north. Directors from Bollywood have not shown much interest down south.

The idea and encouragement for directors down south to try their luck in Bollywood came mostly from two men – Mani Ratnam and Priyadarshan. While the former has been a highly respected name right from the mid-90s after the release of Bombay, the latter started during the early 2000s and has since then carved out a special dominion for himself which consists mostly of Malayalam remakes in a glossed up avatar. Following the inspirational success of these men, the last couple of years have seen the big time entry of south directors into Bollywood. First was Murugadoss who wowed the Hindi audience with Ghajini which also catapulted Asin into overnight superstardom. Prabhu Deva too entered the scene with a bang delivering Wanted, remake of Pokkiri. Now, we are hearing lots of link ups between southern directors and Bollywood which includes Gautham Menon with his remakes of VTV and the extremely talented Mysskin who is reportedly doing an adaptation of the novel ‘The Man from Pakistan’ with John Abraham in the lead.

Add to that the growing popularity of the south leading men in the north – Kamal Haasan has always been a respected name up north if not a big star. Madhavan has become the man for many directors when they want an able and young actor to be cast in an unconventional script and now Rajinikanth has shown that his Superstar status might not be just a thing for the south with the huge success of Robot; meanwhile we also have Suriya going North under Ramgopal Verma with Rakth Charithra. And, many of you might remember the key role that Ajith played in Asoka. The door for south’s leading stars seems to be opening up in Bollywood. If things keep moving at this rate and if we also start seeing some movement in the other direction too (North to South), then we might come to a day when Bollywood and Kollywood can be called integrated or even synergized!