Champ

After coming to Australia I realised how lucky Indian media industry has been to have a language/culture insulation against the powerful US media conglomerates.

The pressure of US media giants on the media companies of other English speaking countries is unbearable. And the direct consequence is slow suffocation of native talent. Most of the media professional in Oz land either relocate themselves in US of A or keep fighting a loosing battle.

Having said that, I really believe that the there is a huge responsibility which lies in the way this country has handled its film and TV industry. One of the biggest attractions with any media product is ‘proximity’. If you offer me something which happens in and round my life…something with which I can identify with AND it is has EXCELLENT QUALITY, there is little reason I would go for something which is made in US and dumped at ¼th price in “second-grade” market for US products.

But unfortunately, Australian media companies have adopted an easy way out. Either they re-hash the popular US TV format or simply buy a TV series at dirt-cheap price and beam it for the local market.

The condition of Australian TV/cinema is somewhat similar to regional cinema in India. While southern non-Hindi speaking states have flourishing film industry, states which speak various dialects of Hindi could never face the might of Bollywood.

But Australia, as other Indian states, should take a leaf out of southern Indian states who have managed to build a flourishing TV/cinema industry. Though these states, like Bollywood, had the language advantage, people here generally understand Hindi. But it is not only language which retained it’s audience, it was quality of their product as well. And there mantra was simple — keep it local. Find a good story, tell it effectively and keep the native flavour alive.

Perhaps what English speaking countries like Australia need is right idea. There is no need to invest on huge sets and expensive production. All you need is a sellable product, which is made for local market. Once it is successful here, it is bound to find global audience. Bend it like Beckham and Munna Bhai MBBS are classic examples of this theory.

Probably, it is an oversimplification of the entire issue.

But what want to I urge is Australian cinema’s stress should be on idea, rather than stars or production values.

PS: For those who don’t know about Munna Bhai MBBS: It was a super-hit Bollywood movie which has been re-made in various Indian languages and recently Fox bought the rights to the script of Munnabhai MBBS.