Britain's first Bollywood acting school has started functioning as budding Shah Rukh Khans and Aishwarya Rais followed the first lessons imparted by veteran actor Anupam Kher.
LONDON: Britain's first Bollywood acting school has started functioning as budding Shah Rukh Khans and Aishwarya Rais followed the first lessons imparted by veteran actor Anupam Kher.
Khers Actor Prepares school, based in Ealing, began functioning in collaboration with the Ealing Institute of Media and Heathrow City Partnership. With students mostly from the UK and the US.
"We're looking for rough gemstones which we can polish into professional actors. You don't necessarily need any acting experience to audition for our school," Kher said.
"The reason why we're opening a UK chapter of our school is not only because there is a huge and growing interest in the Indian film industry here, but also because we're looking to bring fresh talent into India."
Students are being trained in Hindi film dance, martial arts and diction, and candidates can choose to study in English or Hindi. They will also learn yoga to help them better control their bodies and minds.
Expressing his opposition to the term 'Bollywood', Kher said that it suggests that the Hindi film industry is a derivative of Bollywood, which it is not. India, he said, had its own rich culture.
"Acting styles have changed in India and abroad. Today I think the audience is much more different because of the onslaught of satellite channels, we have 134 channels, we have malls, we have multiplexes," added Kher.
"The audience is no longer sitting at the edge of the seat and looking at Indian movies. They are relaxed and they say, 'let's see what you have done'," said Kher.
Actors from Britain, mainly Katrina Kaif and Upen Patel, have appeared in several Hindi films. Supported by the large Asian community, Britain has emerged as one of the largest overseas markets for Bollywood films.
Diaspora themes have often been incorporated in scripts to appeal to the lucrative British Asian market.
Britain's association with Bollywood goes back several decades, but recently several local development authorities have started courting producers with tax breaks to come and shoot in their regions.
In May last year, Yorkshire played host to the annual International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards.
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