Bollywood superstar Aishwarya RaiAt the unveiling of Giorgio Armani’s new Spring and Summer collection this week in London, I thought that some of the dresses reflected a certain Bollywood style. A spokesperson at the champagne and cocktails event told me that “we do dress Aishwarya Rai” and that whenever she is in London “clothes are taken to her hotel for her to choose.” Rai, the first Indian star to sit on the judges’ panel at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, did indeed wear an Armani creation on the red carpet at that year’s festival. But Rai is not the only Bollywood star who has a fondness for this label: her soon to be father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan, is also keen on Giorgio’s designs. I bumped into Bachchan at the Bond Street store recently where he was browsing some very expensive leather jackets. Shilpa Shetty and Liz Hurley may prefer Indian designers like Tarun Tahiliani and Rohit Bal, but true A-listers like Rai and Bachchan appear to prefer Italian. Tackling taboo subjectsThe rise of the Indian middle classes and the growth of the multiplex in Indian cities like Mumbai and Delhi, have resulted in Bollywood filmmakers willing to experiment with non-formulaic films. These films often tackle taboo subjects, contain few or no songs and are sometimes made in ‘Hinglish’, a mixture of Hindi and English. This week’s release, Don’t Stop Dreaming is in English, is relatively short and tells the story of a group of friends in Birmingham who form a fusion pop band. So is this the death of ‘the formula’? I posed the question to Aditya Raj Kapoor, the film’s director. Kapoor, son of the legendary dancing stars of the 1960s Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali, told me that “there is no such formula besides a story well told” as good stories are universal and often similar. “Titanic is a techno-aqua love story," he continued, "which is as simple as the rich boy loves poor girl Indian film classic Bobby”. Incidentally, Bobby’s male lead, Rishi Kapoor, stars in this Brummie homage to The Commitments, alongside former EastEnders vixen Michelle ‘Cindy’ Collins. Asian Tongues on Fire Film FestivalThe annual Asian Tongues on Fire Film Festival is currently on at various venues across London. Women-centric films like Deepa Mehta’s Oscar nominated Water and Aishwarya Rai’s forthcoming English language film Provoked are just two of the films being screened. Whilst its intentions are honourable, I find the choices to be rather dated: most of the films have already been shown at other film festivals (The Namesake, Water, Provoked), or have already been released in cinemas (Nina’s Heavenly Delights) or are available on DVD (Dor). Forget the films; the highlight will be a rare appearance of Helen, the legendary cabaret dancer of many past Bollywood classics, on March 31. Will ‘Helen aunty’, the step-mom of bad boy Salman Khan, be shaking a leg? “She will not be dancing but judging a short film competition,” Suman Bhuchar of the festival told me.
