A Celebration of Bollywood’s Love Affair with Australia - Brand Bollywood Downunder Featured at AACTA Awards 2024

Temple Production Company/Bollywood Downunder Films Pty Ltd. presents Brand Bollywood Downunder, Entertained Public in cinemas on November 2, 2023. an exciting development, Brand Bollywood Downunder has been nominated for the 2024 AACTA Awards. 

This recognition by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts highlights the documentary’s impact and significance in bridging cultural gaps and celebrating the rich history of Bollywood in Australia12. The AACTA Awards, set to take place on February 10, 2024, will be a momentous occasion for the film and its creators  

Despite being familiar with Bollywood, I was surprised by how little I knew about its history in Australia. Brand Bollywood Downunder, directed by Anupam Sharma, is a feature documentary that delves into the 89-year-old relationship between Indian cinema and Australia, highlighting the ‘Bollywoodisation’ and globalisation of Indian films 

Sharma explains his motivation for the documentary: “There is a need for a documentary on every aspect of Australia and Bollywood. We need a global documentary on Bollywood or popular Indian cinema, and one that covers the Australia-India film links from trade, film, political, and social perspectives.”

The documentary includes a memorable image of Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar filming in Darling Harbour in January 2007 for the movie Heyy Babyy, produced by NGE India and Sajid Nadiadwala.

Sharma further elaborates, “Everyone was apologising for Bollywood, embarrassed and scared of ridicule. I hated that. Hindi popular cinema, whether you call it Bollywood, mainstream, or popular, is deep in form and content and ‘seriously entertaining’ and needed to be celebrated. As Anupam Kher says in our film, ‘We make 1.4 billion people happy. We don’t sell the misery of life; we celebrate life.’ Hence, the need for this documentary.”

Brand Bollywood Downunder spans from 1897 to 2023, offering an educational, funny, whimsical, and entertaining look at the Bollywoodisation and globalisation of popular Hindi cinema. It features interviews with icons of Hindi cinema and rare behind-the-scenes footage of Bollywood stars filming in picturesque locations in Australia and around the world.

Timed to coincide with Diwali, the most important Indian holiday of the year, the documentary was shot across various locations, including Australia, India, France, the UK, and Switzerland. Brand Bollywood Downunder showcases some of the biggest Bollywood stars and production crews, providing a behind-the-scenes look at major Bollywood films shot in Australia. It explores the successes and challenges of bringing a quintessentially Indian film genre to Australian audiences.