Beyond Bollywood

Pooja whirls around the dance studio, hips rocking back and forth to the Indian music. "As a child, I thought there was no better dancer than the superstar Madhuri Dixit. So I thought I would try to follow her footsteps." She tells us with an enormous grin. She's just one of thousands of beautiful young girls who have come from small town India to Mumbai to try and make it. As Ojas points out, the Bollywood glamour is just too much to resist, "The entire Bollywood look is so well produced and larger than life, that it kind of fascinates a normal person". But Pooja is something special. Amidst the gaggle of dancers in opulent costumes, the director immediately spots her, "When I saw her she was a full on, proper dancer. So I said, definitely, she is in my team". But navigating the competition, politics and prejudices of the industry can be hard to deal with. "I am fed up with being at the back row, I want to lead something". For Ojas it is different. He's a diva make-up artist who has already made it in the industry and sees the biggest Bollywood stars pass through his dressing room everyday. As he quips to one star's PA who has just stepped on his toes, "No offence to you darling, you may be a PA, but I've been doing hair and make-up for 20 years." Having survived the dog-eat-dog competition he feels at home here, despite his struggles with his sexuality, "Luckily everybody's welcomed me with open arms, all the fellow colleagues, the stars, producers, directors, technicians". Harry is one of the few white actors in Bollywood, here to play the baddies or just add a bit of internationality. It's an interesting race reversal, he's like an Indian in Hollywood. But Harry's frustrated by how this marginalises him, like so many others in Bollywood, he never feels in control of his own destiny: "It's like you've written out this contract of wishes, but somebody has twisted your terminology - I'll put you on a billboard, but you'll be a goofy face in the back, alright?"