Interview: Pooja Kumar
What good is the word “International” in International Film Channel if it doesn’t air movies or miniseries that are not, well, worldly in nature? Well, IFC has done its part in presenting entertainment from all corners of the Earth, and since July 5th, one corner that has been particularly well-represented is Bollywood. With 12 Bollywood movies either already or to be aired, IFC has shown its audiences in America just how entertaining the Hindi film industry can be.
Yet, apparently showing films like Bheja Fry, Ghajini, Singh is Kinng and Jab We Met was not enough Bollywood to satisfy the appetites for the production team of the cable channel. No, they needed something more, so they turned to Chris Kattan, who, as an executive producer, stepped up to the plate and delivered a home-run in the form of an original miniseries on Indian cinema.
That miniseries is Bollywood Hero, an original three-night Bollywood musical miniseries starring Kattan, Pooja Kumar, Neha Dhupia, Maya Randolph and Julian Sands. A story of an actor who tries to find work in Bollywood after struggling to make it as a leading man in Hollywood, Bollywood Hero is, in a way, a movie within a movie. While not quite a “reality show” of a miniseries, this fictional comedy chronicles how Kattan’s character ditches his Hollywood career and arrives in India to make a movie where he is the lead actor.
Through the miniseries, it has perhaps caught on to how best create a production balancing the best of both worlds. After all, Hollywood and Mumbai are home to the world’s two biggest film industries, so it is only fitting that somehow, someway, creative talent on both sides of the fence find a way to come together in a yin-and-yang format, merging together as one while simultaneously balancing each other out with the best of each culture.
For Kumar, who plays lead actress Priya Kumar in the miniseries, Bollywood Hero is more than just an entertaining production featuring elements of East and West – it is also a sense of a new direction of global 
filmmaking that is beginning to permeate everyone’s thought-process.
“We are making a mark in Hollywood, but we still have a long way to go,” Kumar said to Buzzine in an exclusive interview of Indian-themed talent and projects within the American film industry. “The last huge success was Bend it Like Beckham, and that was seven years ago. I am truly hopeful that we do not have to wait that long for another big hit to make a mark on the world.”
While she did add that Slumdog Millionaire definitely helped the two gigantic film industries take a step closer to coming together and working as one cooperative unit, Kumar did not shy away from saying she is doing her part with Bollywood Hero to forge a truly global marketplace for Indian and American cinema.
“The success of Slumdog Millionaire has had a strong positive impact with the South Asian audience both in the U.S. and abroad,” Kumar observed. “As a global community, we are making significant strides; in order for this to continue exponentially, we need to continue supporting and encouraging each other. I feel extremely privileged to be an actor right now because I am now part of an elite fraternity that consists of Aishwarya Rai, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das and a few others doing international projects and representing India.”
The growing sense of international camaraderie among regional film industries aside, Kumar was equally thrilled to have Kattan as a co-star. Indeed, the fact that Bollywood Hero features a Hollywood actor and comedian as its lead is indicative of just how far both American and Indian film industries 
have come together as a working unit, though it definitely helped to have Kattan’s apparent appreciation of some of the finer things of Indian culture.
“His trailer was full of 20 Ganesh statues (Hindu God of Fortune) and lots of agarbathi (incense) sticks,” she lightly said to Buzzine. “It was such a beautiful sight to see how much he appreciated and believed in our gods!”
Beyond the appreciation of Indian culture, Kumar also said Kattan brought his A-game to the set of Bollywood Hero, saying he did everything possible to make her feel comfortable during production and to make sure everyone on board struck the perfect balance of hard work and harder playtime.
He is very charming and talented, and his dedication is quite inspiring,” she told Buzzine of Kattan. “His infectious personality and comedic timing is so brilliant that, as soon as I landed in New York, I signed up for an improvisation class! His brain is so sharp and aware that nothing gets passed him, so you’d better know what you are talking about if you get the opportunity to have a conversation with him.
“I think the main thing that stood out was his ability to make me feel so comfortable that we were laughing all the time on the set.”
It is that experience and chemistry on set that Kumar believes will translate onto television screens when Bollywood Hero airs this weekend across the United States and everywhere else IFC has a feed. With that, the St. Louis native and New York resident actress said time will tell whether the fireworks created during the production of the miniseries played a significant role in establishing a solid bond between Bollywood and Hollywood.
“I believe time will tell about the change in Hollywood/Bollywood projects,” Kumar frankly said. “We haven’t been giving huge box-office blockbusters consistently and yet we are the largest producers of films in the world! We must support independent producers and create interesting cinema and television!
“If this show is widely accepted and appreciated, more collaboration will be forged and more projects will come out of India, and that can only be a positive sign.”
Of course, for Kumar, Kattan, and the rest of the cast, one big positive sign they would love to see this weekend is a solid audience supporting Bollywood. The miniseries airs on IFC at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on August 6th, 7th and 8th.
