There’s nothing like a randy toff to sell content so Indian Summer, a film based on Edwina Mountbatten’s relationship with India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has already received widespread publicity.
Unfortunately, publicity is as far as it goes and not just because of the film’s highly unimaginative title. Set to star the imperious Cate Blanchett, the film was shelved earlier this month.
Depending on who you believe, the film didn’t receive sufficient funding or the Indian government colluded with the UK establishment to block it.
I know where I sit. I have yet to see a scientific breakthrough, a beautiful book or even a decent song produced by a Royal or a Close-Relative-Of-A-Royal, and this example shows once again how the in-bred classes still have the power to set history as they prefer it to be.
India’s ruling class has a similar mindset. All foreign films shot in India must be approved by a vetting committee that screens the script to make sure ‘nothing detrimental to the image of India or the Indian people is shot or included in the film’, proving that while it comes across as all rather snugly, India possesses a bit of China about it.
While the rest of us can only guess if Edwina’s Gate of India was breached by an opportunist Nehru and whether this changed the (back) passage of history, such a movie would have garnered huge audiences in India.
This, however, is only a recent phenomenon; 2009 was the year Hollywood finally broke India. A Bollywood strike and the small, but increasingly significant, rise of multiplexes in Urban India means films such as 2012 and the ubiquitous Avatar have proved as popular as home-produced movies.
Such benchmark movies mean more investment in 2010 as more Hollywood films are dubbed into Hindu, Tamil and Telugu and believe me, multiplexes aren’t as cheap as you’d think.
It costs 170 rupees per ticket, that’s more than two quid. Throw in popcorn and hot dogs for a pound and the babysitter who costs 50 pence and it’s as expensive as London, isn’t it?… Or maybe I’ve been in India too long.
So the potential market for the market is huge and while the West has salivated over Slumdog Millionaire and will do the same ONCE MY MOVIE IN WHICH I STAR AS MAJOR JOHNSON is released in Q4 10, the East has been similarly obsessed about our movies.
Whether this obsession will prove to be as long-lasting as our fascination with the bonkings of alleged bluebloods, only the Box Office will tell. But something tells me there’s too much money to be made out of Edwina Does Delhi, as the movie should certainly be renamed, for that movie to remain unscreened.
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
