Bollywood Producers Hiring Westerners

As Indian films garner a wider audience abroad, Bollywood studios are increasingly including roles for Western actors in their productions, Agence France Presse, the French news agency, reported over the weekend.

Alexx O’Nell, a 30-year-old native of Connecticut who came to Mumbai, the country’s film capital, when his U.S. marketing firm transferred him there, said that it has been easier for him to find work in Indian films than to do so in Hollywood — even though he is limited to playing foreigners.

“As an Indian, I’d be competing with the best of the best, with everyone in the entire country who wants to be in Indian films. … If I was in Hollywood, I’d be competing with every American, the best of the best, who wants to be in Hollywood films. So the difference here is, yes, I’m competing for fewer roles with fewer people but in the end it works out.” (Afp pointed out, however, that the best Bollywood roles for foreigners go to women — particularly those who learn to speak Hindi.)

Director Anurag Kashyap observed that the Westerners help bring a new “point of view and sensibility” to Bollywood productions “that makes you see things in a much broader way.”