The smash hit film, Bollywood Hollywood, written and directed by Deepa Mehta will be available on VHS & DVD from January 2004! Bollywood Hollywood is a romantic comedy about a mixed group of Indian Canadians. The characters range from a millionaire to a car mechanic, a high attitude escort girl, a conservative grandmother to a rebellious teenager. They all share a common passion - Bollywood.

The story centres on Rahul Seth (Rahul Khanna) a dashing millionaire who believes he is "western" enough to rebel against his mother (Moushumi Chatterjee) and grandmother (Dina Pathak). They are not too keen about his White girlfriend Kimberly (Jessica Paré) who, to make matters worse, is a pop star. Before you can say "karmic intervention," Kimberly dies in a freak accident and Rahul is devastated. Instead of allowing him to mourn in peace, Rahul's mother sees the opportunity she's been waiting for. She threatens to call off his sister's (Rishma Malik) wedding unless he finds himself a "nice Indian girl."

In desperation, Rahul enlists the services of Sue (Lisa Ray). Sue's character is a fiercely independent escort whom Rahul believes to be Hispanic, and therefore not "married" to the conventions taught to young Indian women. With a wink in her eye, Sue accepts the deal to pose as his Indian bride-to-be. She needs the money and having never been a fan of the typical Indian male, she feels her heart is safe. The charade begins and this match borne out of necessity seems like it might work …but nothing is as it appears to be.

Rahul Khanna, the dashing younger brother of Akshay easily identified with his character: "The story is of Rahul's struggle between his loyalty to his family and their traditional values, and to himself and his Canadian upbringing, his loves and the other aspects of his life."

The director cast former model Lisa because: "Lisa grew up in Toronto and was born in Canada. She moved to India in the '90s and made her film debut in a Bollywood movie. She's intimately acquainted with both worlds. Lisa exudes attitude and spunk, and was ideal."

Of making the film in her adopted homeland, Mehta explained: "I wanted to make a film that reflected the Bollywood culture in the West and that would make me laugh."

Bollywood Hollywood is a film that captures the lives of the Indian community in their new homeland. Stereotypes are shown, tradition is defined, only to be challenged. "Nothing" - as the film's tag line claims - "is what it appears to be."

Bollywood Hollywood will be available on DVD and VHS from January 26th 2004.

Click here to buy the DVD.

INTERESTED IN KNOWING MORE?

Click here to read about The Background to Bollywood/Hollywood.
Click here to read about The Casting of Bollywood/Hollywood.
Click here to read about The Production of Bollywood/Hollywood.
Click here to read about development of The Storyline for Bollywood/Hollywood.