Can Stallone Save Bollywood?

Kambakkht Ishq, a film that will be released later this year, bears many of the hallmarks of a traditional Bollywood flick. It brings together some of Mumbai's biggest stars, Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, and a storyline that fits the mold -- an arrogant Hollywood stuntman and a feisty supermodel start off detesting each other and then fall in love. But there's one big difference: The film will be wheeling in some Hollywood heavyweights in the form of Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards.

With a budget of around $11 billion, the film is pricey by Bollywood standards, but producer Eros International is hoping that soaring interest in Indian flicks after the huge success of Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire will make it a worthy investment. "Slumdog is an art house film but gave audiences a taste of what to expect from Bollywood films," said Kishore Lulla, chief executive of London-listed Eros International.

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Like other markets, Bollywood too has seen pressures such as falling DVD sales and increased demand for online content exacerbated by the global downturn. In India, film producers have also been struggling with cinema owners over revenue shares from tickets, and has seen competition from the Indian Premier League. Cinemas are also ditching flicks for live streamings of the hugely popular 20-20 games. During 2008, many of the big releases failed to attract enough admissions to recoup their production costs, which have been rising sharply in recent years. In early 2009, the owners of multiplex cinemas began cutting ticket prices to combat a fall in demand.

Now producers are looking to new international markets to rev up demand. Though Bollywood films have generated interest in countries like Malaysia or Singapore, in the United States viewing has largely been restricted to the Indian community. Producers like Eros are hoping to bridge the gap and reach a more mainstream audience.

Eros is also planning a 50-50 joint venture with Sony Pictures, which will create films that appeal across the market, including what Lulla refers to as the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon of India and the "biggest blockbuster of all time."

Rival Reliance Big Entertainment is also attempting to reach a wider audience via a slightly different route. Its film Kite, starring superstar Hrithik Roshan, will come in two versions: a longer version replete with dances, and a shorter version targeted at Western audiences

"Everyone's chasing every last dollar," said Ian Staples, an analyst at Clear Capital in London. "Producers have been looking at the success of Slumdog Millionaire and asking 'how do we bring about cross fertilization between two film cultures?' Hollywood blockbusters have a great resonance in India, and if there is something that works the other way, then so much the better."