Hollywood and the Indian Hero
Let’s face it. Indians and sub-continentals were primarily responsible for the success of the movie, Extraction, because to Indians, it was less a Hollywood action film and more a slickly shot Bollywood movie set in an India-like setting (supposedly Bangladesh) without the guilt-by-association of how Westerners seem to see them (Indians), with all the poverty, grime, dirt, crime, corruption, and inferiority complex of the small, weak, brown man as compared to the white, tall, handsome, blonde, strong, fit Caucasian hero.
Here is my take: The reason the movie was so popular amongst Indians was that it had a grey, more-badass-than-bad, handsome, strong, courageous Indian ex-army man as a foil for the hero.
Advice for the sequel
The producers may miss this element in the sequel at their own peril. I think they should not. They could take any one of the dozen leading men (and women) India has produced. It could be a hunk like Tiger, Hrithik, or Vidyut in an action role, or someone more cerebral like Aamir or Saif or repeat Hooda (I was going to include Irrfan, but never mind), or even Arjun, John, or Farhan, or the last line of defence (pun intended), Akshay Kumar. Maybe they can take a Priyanka or a Kareena or Anushka in a semi-glam, semi-action part (like the character of Khan played by Golshifteh Farahani, a brown actor, though not of Indian origin), or even a jodi like Ranveer-Deepika or Ranbir-Alia. But they need an Indian element. And not a small one too. A major role.
Demographic benephit le sakte hain
I know Indians don’t pay top dollar to watch a movie. But boy, do we have the numbers! There are literally 1.4 billion of us. In fact, if you add the entire sub-continent, including the Afghans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Nepalis, and so on, you have about a third of the world’s population and thus a huge potential audience for your film if only you include a popular Indian movie actor (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, does not matter) in a major-ish quasi-hero role and give him or (even better ‘and’) her some screen time and perhaps even a couple of lines of the local language (you have dozens to choose from). In addition, you could show their family and create a little more than a 2-D cardboard character, get them to mouth some inanities about spiritualism and metaphysics, and BOOM, you have a hit on your hands!
As you can see, you don’t have to write out a big role. Just something to appeal to the BMKJ pride. As I said, even simply taking Akshay Kumar for a 5-minute cameo will do the trick.
Extraction does exactly this like a formula, which is just as well, given that it is a formula movie. And Indians absolutely love formula movies. So, they got that right too. Easy as 2+2=4.
What took ’em so long?
Now, here’s what I don’t get: Why hasn’t Hollywood figured this out yet? Why are there so few of these? Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire were exceptions. Forget them. I am talking out-and-out action, drama, comedy, song & dance, dhishum-dhishum, kiss-kiss, bang-bang, total masala movies.
Hollywood can do action like no other. Hollywood can do sex like no other. Hollywood can blow things up like no other. Hollywood can do grand stuff and in style like no other. Hollywood can create heroes like no other. Hollywood’s budgets put Indian movies to shame. So, why not simply write in one more character?
Or am I missing something?
P.S: Has anyone thought of pairing African-American action stars with Indian ones? Like they did with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour. That’s another formula waiting to give a box office hit.
P.P.S: I am only speaking from a business POV, not from a storytelling, or aesthetic, or cultural, or any other perspective. I do not mean to disparage the Indian movie scene. Far from it. This post is partly tongue-in-cheek. But only partly. I feel sorry that in India, I have to clarify and qualify every word every damn time I say anything about India, Indians, or Indianness, and compare it with anything Western. But then, this is what it is.
