There seem to be a lot of interesting changes afoot in the Bollywood industry. For one there are more and more foreign entrants like the Aussie Tania Zaetta of Salaam Namaste and Bunty aur Babli fame or Miss Thailand, Ning. All of them enjoying attention in Bollywood precisely for being non-desis. And then there is all the recent rush by foreign governments to sign agreements that give them access to Bollywood.

First it was the British government wooing Bollywood in September during Tony Blair's visit to India where the 2 countries signed a co-production agreement for films. This agreement makes it much easier for production companies from both countries to work together. The British hope that this will encourage Bollywood to hire British actors as well as use British locations more often. The Indian side hopes for access to British film-making knowledge as well as tax rebates on production costs. This of course follows in the footsteps of the success of movies like Bend it Like Beckham & Bhaji on the Beach by Gurinder Chadha, as well as the uber talented Shekhar Kapur.

How could France be far behind? They may have lost the Indian subcontinent to the British East India Company & Queen Victoria once, but I'm sure they wont let this battle go without a proper fight. Already offering general tax breaks to all foreign crews, a special delegation of Film France was in Mumbai recently, apparently offering Bollywood crews special deals for shooting in France.

We shall keep you posted.

Until next time kiddies - Sumita Sheth