Bollywood celebrates on the Croisette

Bollywood – The Greatest Love Story Ever Told has been produced especially for the Festival de Cannes. A member of last year’s Jury, the great Indian film-maker Shekhar Kapur spoke to Thierry Frémaux about his surprise at finding so few Bollywood movies at Cannes. He set to work right away to produce this documentary and just one year on, Bollywood is being screened Out of Competition.

“For decades now, audiences of all ages have been blown away by a passion called Bollywood!” That’s how Shekhar Kapur represents his project, an anthology of the most beautiful moments in Indian cinema. Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Jeff Zimbalist (Favela Rising, The Two Escobars), the film retraces seventy years of Bollywood history, from its beginnings in black and white to the present day with movies in dazzling colour.

What is being celebrated at Cannes is a unique film industry with a style of its own. Known as massala, the Bollywood genre specialises in romantic tales told to music. The movies are a patchwork combining different themes – comedy, violence, love and drama come together in the same film – with a variety of dance styles, from traditional kathak to hip hop and disco. Over the last five years, under Western influence, Bollywood has lost some of its modesty. Only a few years ago, love scenes would have been unthinkable in massalas.

Bollywood has also inspired Western film-makers such as Danny Boyle. The British director called on Allah Rakha Rahman, a giant figure in Bollywood music, to compose part of the original soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire. The film’s final dance sequence, shot in Bombay station, ends with Jai-Ho (‘hope’ in Hindi.), which won the Oscar for the best original song in 2009.

T.K.

Bollywood – The Greatest Love Story Ever Told screens at 8.45pm in the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
The film will also be showing at the Cinéma de la Plage on Sunday May 15 at 9.30pm, Macé Beach