Page 29 - From Bombay to Bollywoord The Making of a Global Media Industri

16 << Introduction

Hollywood and Bollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Mallika Sherawat, and
Tom Hanks strewn about. And it is probably safe to assume that Anilesha
now has many other stars’ phone numbers on speed dial. But the biggest and
arguably most significant difference that sets Anilesha apart from Ganesha is
his gaze. Looking askance, behind dark glasses, Anilesha refuses to exchange
looks with the readers of the Wall Street Journal.
At one level, it is possible to interpret this image as a telling expression of
Hollywood’s (and America’s) anxiety about a future in which it may no lon-
ger hold the pursestrings or, even more ominously, remain in the director’s
seat. It is simply too wrenching to gaze into the eyes of a foreign deity and
contemplate a multipolar media landscape. When placed in the broader con-
text of the financial crisis and the economic recession in the United States,
such an interpretation would not be far off the mark. At the same time, it is
difficult to completely ignore other ideas that this image mobilizes. Anilesha
could also be seen as an effeminate and nonthreatening figure who could
easily be displaced in the near future should Viacom or some other media
conglomerate come courting Spielberg again. Let us also not forget that Hol-
lywood and American culture have dealt with such anxieties in the past.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, the acquisition of American businesses by
Japanese conglomerates like Sony and Matsushita sparked discussions about
foreign influence, especially when it came to the cultural industries, and led
to protectionist measures that imposed limits on foreign ownership in the
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media and communication sectors. The director’s chair could be moved, as
it were, from this throne to another.
However, if we were to set aside Hollywood’s anxiety, a different set of
possibilities emerges. Does Anilesha really care about presiding over Hol-
lywood? Perhaps he regards the deal with DreamWorks more as an oppor-
tunity that allows him to expand his own company’s sphere of influence
and in the process strengthen his position in Bombay. Rajesh Sawhney, the
president of Reliance Big Entertainment, the division that brokered the deal
with DreamWorks, is on record saying: “If you have global ambitions, then
Hollywood is the right starting point.” But while this deal garnered all the
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media attention, it is worth noting that it was part of a much larger gambit.
At least eight months before initiating talks with Spielberg and co., Reliance
Entertainment bought stakes in Phoenix Theatres, a Knoxville (Tennessee)-
based film management company, acquired a chain of 250 theaters across
the United States, bought a Burbank (California)-based postproduction unit
called Lowry Digital Images, and also expanded into Malaysia with the goal
of targeting not only the Indian diaspora beyond the Anglo American cen-
ters but also other Asian audiences. 41