Indian filmmakers have apparently been learning much from Hollywood's hits: They've picked up on the use of digitally-generated FX, they're learning to work crossmarket platforms, and they've also mastered the art of making comic-book plots so stupefying they could serve as large-animal tranquilizers.
Just as more and more bhangra and desi music stars go all hip-hop, Indian movies are starting to look more and more like any Hollywood tentpole flick. Some will call this "progress," but it seems more like just another symptom of the "mall-ification" of the entire planet, where wherever you go, you find the same branded experiences. One world, under Gap, indistinguishable, with Louis Vuitton and Justin for all.
Just take a look at "Chandni Chowk To China," the new Bollywood flick that represents Hollywood studio Time/Warner's first advance into the Hindi-language market. It's a canny blend of masala-movie flash and kung-fu comedy, which features fight sequences actually filmed on the Great Wall of China, but it winds up feeling like just another brick in the great mall .