BBFF2023 - Brand Bollywood Downunder

When most people think about Australia, they picture massive sandy beaches, singlet-clad locals drinking beers, and kangaroos bounding through the dusty red outback. Saris, musical numbers, and masala are far from anyone’s mind – unless of course, you’re one of the millions of Bollywood fans from around the world.

See past the myths and legends that surround the industry and witness the Bollywood reality –something far more entertaining than any fictional tale. A film is a celluloid time machine. This documentary uses this machine to travel from 1897 through to 2023.

In the late 1990’s, the outrageous, colourful, and musical Bollywood crews first descended on the dusty, red, Australian landscapes and fascinated locals around the country. Some of the biggest Indian film stars were exposing the beauty of Australian locations, education institutes, and tourism spots to billions of Indians. More than just novel new entertainment, Bollywood brought serious money to Australian shores, and the industry quickly became a darling of the tourism, trade, and educational bodies. The glitz, glamour and wall to wall media created a Bollywood bandwagon in Australia, a niche industry which was being used and sadly was beginning to be misused. Then everything came to a screeching halt!

What happened? How did the relations come back on track? What is the future?

For the first time a high end diverse Australian feature documentary answers the above and narrates the tale of a rollercoaster journey of 89 years of Australian links with Indian cinema in a musical, entertaining, humorous, colourful way.

This film is a celebration of Bollywood cinema and its expansion as a global entertainment giant. In a sometimes hilarious clash of filmmaking cultures, we explore the successes and failures of Bollywood’s rise as a serious subculture in Australia, and around the world.