Is Bollywood becoming a melting pot?

You probably noticed it, I certainly did, so did the Huffington Post – over the past decade there has been a significant rise in the number of foreign artistes in Indian movies – Bollywood or not. [HuffPo]

While most foreign-born artistes, ranging from countries in Latin America to the United States to Russia and even closer to home like Sri Lanka, are largely restricted to bit roles of back-up dancers and extras, breakthrough stories of such foreign born are becoming more common place.

The most popular among them, is half Brit-half desi, Katrina Kaif. From a debut in a flop movie to lack of Hindi speaking skills, she seems to have survived them all to become one of the most popular current Bollywood lead female actors. There are others.

Jacqueline Fernandez from Sri Lanka will star in the upcoming Aladin with superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Mexican Barbara Mori will make her debut opposite one of Bollywood’s most successful actors, Hrithik Roshan, in Kites, and Japanese import Chigusa Takaku will appear in The Japanese Wife. French actresses Luchiya Cats and Claudia Cielse, as well as Brazilian model Bruna Abdullah are also scoring Hindi movies.

Another success story is that of Brazilian Giselle Monterio, who played the role of a traditional Punjabi kudi in recent Bollywood flick, Love Aaj Kal. And then, there is Canadian Lisa Ray who probably started this trend in the 90s by scorching the screen in Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music video “Afreen Afreen”.

In terms of embracing globalization, the Indian movie industry seems to be headed in the right direction by importing talent from the world over, some of them even giving the reigning local big names a run for their money. So is Bollywood becoming India’s version of a melting pot? However, all’s not well with this picture or to quote a popular Hindi saying “daal mein kuch kala hai“.

The foreign talent being cast in Bollywood movies are middle aged South East Asian men African women almost all young fair skinned attractive females.

This trend can be traced back a couple of years, when an increasing number of back-up dancers in Bollywood’s musical sequences were from Western countries like Russia and the United States, fulfilling India’s post-colonial fascination with the fair-skinned, fair-haired girl. This trend has now moved to the forefront of mainstream cinema, with Hollywood actor Denise Richards making a much-hyped appearance in the recent Kambakth Ishq, and Kylie Minogue performing a song-and-dance sequence for the upcoming big-budget movie, Blue, for which she was reportedly paid $1 million, making her the highest paid international star in Bollywood.

An unhealthy obsession with skin color is not a new phenomenon to Indian society, a deep rooted post-colonial hangover, that seems to manifest itself in weird acts like smearing bleach on our skin to attain the ultimate nirvana of having “fair skin”.

One doesn’t have to look much further than this gallery of foreign-born female actors in Bollywood for confirmation.

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