Indian culture and film industry make presence known at Oscars

Slumdog Millionaire may have been a British production, but it will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the meeting of the disparate worlds of Bollywood and Hollywood.

Could the elaborate song-and-dance presentation of the Indian songs from Slumdog Millionaire for the best song Oscar (which it won) be the same kind of celebratory kick-off of the Latin music explosion that Ricky Martin's performance of "Living La Vida Loca" signified at the Grammys several years ago?

Bollywood and Hollywood have been slowly increasing collaborations and involving crossovers by stars including Aishwarya Rai (Pink Panther 2), Denise Richards, Brandon Routh, Sylvester Stallone, and more.

I'd been noting these developments increasing over the past few years, which is why I brought in Bollywood movie reviewers Raj Paul Dhillon and Itrath Syed to cover Bollywood films, which have largely gone ignored by Vancouver's media outside the South Asian community.

Filmmakers from the South Asian diaspora, including Canada's Deepa Mehta (Heaven on Earth, Water) and Amercia's Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake), have also contributed to the growing international interest in South Asian film.

With the growth of India's economy, this is undoubtedly only the beginning of the story.

In other Asian news, Japan's Departures won the best foreign language film. Omedeto gozaimasu.

The film is slated for a Vancouver release later this spring.

By the way, did anyone notice there were East Asian taiko drummers drumming as part of the Slumdog Millionaire song presentation? I presume whoever was in charge knew what they were doing by including them.

But I am always leery of that kind of thing in Hollywood, which has a long tradition of mixing up and confusing Asian cultures.

Read part six.

Read part eight.