With saris and song and dance routines, India’s movie talent decamped to northern England to honour their own and promote their industry in an itinerant show known as the Bollywood Oscars.

Shilpa Shetty performsIn four days of ceremonies culminating at the weekend, the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFAs) paid tribute to the actors, directors and creatives in a business which produces more movies per year than any in the world.

But the awards, set up in 2000, were also designed to raise the profile of Indian film internationally at a time when the industry is pushing hard to increase its share of foreign markets.

The IIFAs, dreamed up by marketing firm Wizcraft a decade ago to promote Indian cinema across the globe, are just one of the ways in which Bollywood is trying to make headlines worldwide.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan plus his actor son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai — India’s answer to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie — are taking a stage show on a world tour to 18 countries next year.

The threesome — by far the most recognisable faces to movie lovers with no deep knowledge of Bollywood film — were also at the Cannes Film Festival in France last month alongside Indian filmmakers promoting forthcoming movies.

Such promotional efforts seem to be paying dividends as international interest in Bollywood, both among those with and without links to India, is growing fast.

In Britain and Ireland, the industry’s second-biggest market globally, box office take for Indian films more than doubled from 5.7 million pounds (8.4 million euros, 11.2 million dollars) in 1999 to 12.4 million pounds in 2005.

But despite this overall picture of success, international crossover hits from Bollywood have been sparse.

Only three Bollywood films have ever been shortlisted for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards — “Lagaan” (2001), ”Salaam Bombay!” (1988) and “Mother India” (1957).

Experts and insiders link this to problems with the way Bollywood has developed as an industry as well as cultural and artistic issues.

Geoff Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of business history at Harvard Business School in Boston, USA, said that low domestic revenues may be one reason why the industry wants to promote itself internationally.

In 2005, the total turnover for Bollywood was 575 million dollars compared with 23 billion dollars in Hollywood. In India, domestic ticket prices average 30 US cents, whereas globally the figure is four dollars 70 cents, he added.

But he predicted that growth plans may be hampered by the industry’s “weak financial base” and fragmentation of production, distribution and exhibition functions.

This contrasts with major US studios like 20th Century Fox which bring these under a single umbrella.

“Before the last few years the industry was so fragmented and unprofessional that they didn’t stand much of a chance outside the diaspora markets,” he told AFP.

He added that India’s government had only classified Bollywood as an industry in 2001, meaning before that, much of its funding came from criminal sources.

This situation meant that death threats against actors and directors were common — in 2000, producer-director Rakesh Roshan was seriously injured after being shot by hitmen.

Asked how long it would take to overturn these problems, he said: “The answer is not any time soon but 10 years down the line or given the speed they’re moving, maybe five years.”

Others cite artistic and cultural reasons why it may be some time before Bollywood goes truly global.

Actor-director Naseeruddin Shah, who starred in “Monsoon Wedding” (2002), told BBC radio earlier this year that Bollywood films did not match the quality of those from Iran, Korea or Mexico.

“These countries are producing the most incredible movies and we are still plodding on with our boy-meets-girl, safe, old formula,” he said.

“That is the reason I think our films aren’t taken seriously.”

Actor Bobby Deol, meanwhile, said he thought that cultural differences could hold back the spread of Bollywood film.

“There are lots of Asians in Britain wanting to watch Bollywood films but I think that for English people to watch has yet to come because our cultures are so different,” he said.

Such claims are disputed by Amitabh Bachchan, though.

He told reporters at IIFA that Indian cinema had been ”considered infra dig” in recent years, but global media coverage of the awards showed “the progress that Indian cinema has made through several years of hard work and toil.”

“I think it’s fascinating how the rest of the world has acknowledged our presence,” he said, adding that he thought Bollywood could even help bridge cultural divides.

Jones said it was right to highlight that the content of Bollywood films was “really changing,” transcending traditional stereotypes by starting to touch on issues like homosexuality.

Another encouraging sign for Bollywood’s future is Hollywood’s growing interest in India through movies such as “Sawariya,” being directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and a co-production with Sony Pictures.

This kind of arrangement lay behind hits such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and “House Of Flying Daggers” (2004) which have put China on the movie-making map.

Whether it will be Bollywood v Hollywood or Bollywood plus Hollywood, the future looks hopeful for Indian cinema.

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