Bollywood’s appeal and success on the global cinematic map continued to grow in 2007. This was especially true in the United Kingdom where Hindi blockbusters outperformed their foreign counterparts, British films and even Hollywood productions.

The year’s biggest hit, and the highest grossing Bollywood film ever, Om Shanti Om (OSO), collected a cool $19 million in its opening week internationally. It stayed in the UK Top 10 for two weeks with receipts which were far ahead of several major titles.

At least five other Bollywood films made it to the UK Top 10. This impressive feat was achieved despite even though films are often screened on less than 50 prints and with minimal mainstream publicity.

The Bollywood-Britain love affair continued, and not only at the box-office. Aamir Khan’s Rang De Basanti featured in the Best Foreign film category at this year’s BAFTA’s. It lost out to Spain’s Pan's Labyrinth but its nomination illustrates that the West may finally be recognising the artistic merit of Hindi popular cinema.

Other events included Yorkshire, England hosted this year’s IFFAS or Bollywood Oscars, and London’s India Now summer celebrations witnessed the open air screening of the first ever Bollywood film (Chak De!India) at Somerset House. Further, over 40 Bollywood productions were filmed and partly set in London.

The year ended with London’s mayor Ken Livingstone journeying to Mumbai and signing a deal to encourage further filming in the British capital. It looks like this beautiful friendship is set to continue. With major American studios now jumping onto the Bollywood bandwagon in order to produce and distribute films, things can only get bigger in 2008.

Year of the King Khan

Shah Rukh Khan’s international and domestic hold on the box-office was further enhanced in 2007. With Chak De! India and Om Shanti Om, the ‘King Khan’ proved that he is firmly entrenched on his throne. In addition to his movies, other events ensured that Khan was always in the spotlight. He was accused of building an illegal extension to his lavish sea-front facing house, smoking in public, partying with the Indian cricket team in order to promote his films and faced a possible lawsuit from a senior filmmaker for making fun of him in OSO. His personal highlight: his own waxwork at London’s Madame Tussaud’s. Khan's insistence on shameless brand endorsements continued with, inter alia, ‘Fair and Handsome’, a skin lightening cream for men.

Death of the formula

The major trend of the cinematic year was the possible, and welcome, death of the traditional formulaic three hour song and dance massala melodrama. Filmmakers showed a willingness to experiment with new and unusual topics. What do Gandhi, India’s top industrialist, reincarnation and hockey have in common? They were all the subjects of four of the best films of 2007: Gandhi My Father, Guru, Om Shanti Om, Chak De! India.

Homage to Hollywood

Bollywood’s insistence on paying homage to Hollywood and all other cinema persisted in the past year. Bollywood versions of Love Actually (Salaam-e-Ishq), Brief Encounter (Life in a Metro), Lolita (Nishabd), Amadeus (Shaka Laka Boom Boom), Three Men and a Baby (Heyy Babyy), Hitch (Partner), etc were churned out reflecting a continued creative drought. Thankfully, most of these inferior copies flopped and the ones which succeeded were critical duds. Is nothing sacred in Bollywood?

Wedding No.1

Forget the Liz Hurley-Arun Nayyar India held wedding. The event of the year was undoubtedly the Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai marriage. Mega-god Amitabh Bachchan’s only son Abhishek’s nuptials to numero uno actress Rai made global headlines. It also created huge controversy in relation to the small guest list, the exclusion of the press and led to speculation about the reasons for the secrecy of the celebrations.

What Shilpa did next

The Shilpa Shetty-Jade Goody Celebrity Big Brother alleged racism and bullying incident created international headlines and led to an almost diplomatic row between India and the UK. Shetty emerged the winner, launching her own jasmine scented perfume and staging a dance musical Miss Bollywood which enjoyed a hit UK tour.

Tikka Turkeys

Ram Gopal Varma’s disastrous remake of Bollywood’s most famous film Sholay, the egoistically titled Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag was the turkey of the year. Sony’s first forage into Bollywood with the pretentious Saawariya failed whilst reigning 90s diva Madhuri Dixit’s comeback vehicle Aaja Nachle stalled at the box-office. Current hunk John Abraham’s football film Goal failed to score whilst his No Smoking raised questions as to what exactly its director was smoking when he made the film.

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