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toddly6666
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 2:21 am 
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Im curious, but how come there aren't too many Indian actors doing Western movies too? Sure, there are a lot of bad Bollywood movies, but most of the big actors in today's Bollywood movies have great potential with better direction (except for Salman Khan). And unlike other international stars, most current Indian actors can all speak better English, even if they do have some type of accent. I always loved Amrish Puri in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and always hoped he would appear in more American movies when I first saw him. I can't believe he's done only about 2 American movies out of his 170 film career...Does anyone know if big actors such as Hrithik Roshan and Pretty Zinta get any offers to be in Western movies? Im talking not about Guru or Bend It Like Beckham movies, Im mainly talking about Indian actors just doing some other type of movie in a different country. Does anyone know or have any theories why it ain't happening much?
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Bludhound
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 3:51 am 
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Racism

-Bh
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shuman
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 4:05 am 
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Beside racism, i think the indian accent isn't appealing to English folks.


toddly, have you seen sam and me, that is also has indian actors like javed jaffrey, khulbhushan kharbanda. It was on tv few days ago.

By the way, anyone know if The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen released yet or what. I dont watch english movie much, i will be watching this one to see Naseer's role.
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DragunR2
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 4:39 am 
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Shuman, TLEG released quite a while ago in the US.

Producers probably think that audiences generally want white main characters, except for the occasional movies with black main characters (and I don't mean stuff like Friday or Half Baked). It seems even more rare for Hispanics to be main characters. Even Asian characters in American movies have typically been the exotic Asian woman or the kung fu expert. It took a long time just for Hollywood to portray black people as more than evil people, goofy comic sidekicks, or gangsters.

It will take Indian-American/Canadian filmmakers to start making films with Indian characters in which the film isn't simply about their being Indian. I don't know what it is like in the UK, so no comment. Compared to other ethnic groups, South Asians have not been in the US for long, so it might be a little while IMO. Even Indian kids brought up in the US seem to have trouble getting anything but stereotypical or insignificant roles (see National Lampoon's Van Wilder for a recent example).

I wouldn't mind seeing Hrithik with a good Western filmmaker. As long as it isn't SRK or Salman (d'oh, Marigold), I'm all for it :)
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DVD Collector
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 4:56 am 
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To some extent, right now atleast, I wouldn't want to see the Top Indian stars of today in mainstream Hollywood productions. Purely because I only see negative images of the Indian/Muslim community being matriculated by Hollywood, as quite evident by now, Hollywood loves to kiss its own ass and loves it even more when there kicking others behind. If I remember correctly, Shah Rukh Khan once said that he was offered a villainous role in a James Bond Movie (Tomorrow Never Dies), but he declined the role because it was going to portray him as a loser scientist from the East with a bad accent. Good for him not accepting such rubbish. Also, I hate Amrish Puri for accepting his role in Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom.
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By the way, anyone know if The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen released yet or what. I dont watch english movie much, i will be watching this one to see Naseer's role.

LOEG has been getting a universal trashing by most Hollywood critics, some have even gone to the extent of calling it the "years worst film". Too bad for Naseerruddin Shah.

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toddly6666
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2003 6:32 pm 
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Shuman, no I haven't seen Sam and Me, i'll go check it out...The League of Extra Gents was actually an entertaining movie. There was nothing wrong with this movie since it fit its genre...Naseer was actually the best in the movie because he was the coolest character in the movie- smart, kicking-ass, no bad dialogue, and saves-the-day type character. And it's worth seeing a submarine furnished Indian style concerning the production design in the movie...

DVD Collector, you didn't like Puri in Temple of Doom? That is like one of the best villains in recent movie history. It might have caused a lot of stereotypes of Indians ripping people's hearts out and eating monkey brains, but that type of baggage/stupidity/rascism always comes with memorable pop culture icons...sort of like everyone imitating Bruce Lee...I would have loved to see Sha Rhu Khan play a James Bond villain...there was a big-ass punjabi henchman in one of those old Bond movies. He was kick-ass. But as in most James Bond movies, the villain and villain henchman are cool and kick ass right up until their goofy deaths. But in reality, James Bond couldn't kick the ass of any of those cool James Bond henchman...

Another great Indian actor performance in recent Hollywood film history was the Muslim friend in Office Space. This actor was in The Guru too in which he was funny in that as well. Not too many others I can think of recently besides the ones cast for the stereotypical roles such as the guy in Van Wilder...
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DragunR2
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2003 7:50 pm 
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toddly6666 wrote:
Another great Indian actor performance in recent Hollywood film history was the Muslim friend in Office Space. This actor was in The Guru too in which he was funny in that as well. Not too many others I can think of recently besides the ones cast for the stereotypical roles such as the guy in Van Wilder...

That's Ajay Naidu in Office Space. I'm pretty sure he played a mailman in Requiem for a Dream.

There's one Indian or Pakistani guy who pops up in various sitcoms. He was doctor in Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond and was one of Carl's poker buddies in Family Matters. I can't believe I used to like Family Matters...
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DVD Collector
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 12:17 am 
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DragunR2 wrote:
There's one Indian or Pakistani guy who pops up in various sitcoms. He was doctor in Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond and was one of Carl's poker buddies in Family Matters. I can't believe I used to like Family Matters...

I know who your talking about, but I, myself don't know his real name. He also played a character named "Iqbal", an owner of a strip club in the show "Married...With Children" :p and most recently, I've seen him appear in one of the coffee store promotional advertisments.

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