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on 2008/3/7 4:24:19
Noted Indian actor Anupam Kher has launched Britain's first Bollywood acting school amidst hopes that it will help the young generation of British Asians enter India's mammoth entertainment industry.
Currently, there are two leading actors in Hindi film industry who grew up in Britain: Upen Patel and Katrina Kaif
Speaking at the launch function here, Ash Verma, Chief Executive of Heathrow City Partnership said the school was a great opportunity for Ealing and the surrounding communities.
The school is a branch of Kher's Actor Prepares School he launched in Mumbai in 2005. The London branch, based in the Ealing Institute of Media, will enrol its first intake of 60 students in September. The fee for the course is 6000 pounds. "Ealing has so many talented and creative people from different backgrounds, especially Asian as well as Indian youngsters. I really wanted to bring the best of Indian and UK education training together in this creative sector. Actor Prepares was the key," Verma said.
Kher signed the collaboration agreement for the school with Heathrow City Partnership, Ealing Hammersmith and West London College.
But not everyone is convinced that Kher's school will improve acting standards.
Anil Sinanan, the Bollywood film critic for The Times, wrote: "It remains to be seen whether the academy will succeed in bringing in a more naturalistic style of acting. There has been a conscious effort recently to experiment with different subjects and inject more realism into the acting, but hamming remains the norm.
"This is unlikely to change for some time as Bollywood is defined by its beautiful stars, who enjoy god-like status. Audiences appear indifferent to the quality of the performance or the film, preferring to patronise blindly any film featuring their favourite star.
"The success of Namastey London, Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiyaa , all starring the wooden Akshay Kumar , shows that Bollywood audiences crave star-driven vehicles - plot and acting be damned," Sinanan wrote.
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