Bollywood Stars In Hollywood: How SAG-AFTRA Strike Had An Impact

Even as the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike crossed 100 days, a major backlog of projects has made the availability of actors an issue of concern. Does that open a new window of opportunities for actors from outside the USA? Bollywood stars working in Hollywood films is no new phenomenon – Indian have been working in the industry since the 1930s (Sabu Dastagir in Abu in The Thief of Bagdad, The Jungle Book by Zoltan Korda). In more recent past, Om Puri (City of Joy, Wolf), Shashi Kapoor (Shakespeare-Wallah), and Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Jurassic World, The Amazing Spiderman) had their moments of glory in American films. This was way before Deepika Padukone (XXX: Return of Xander Cage) and Priyanka Chopra (Baywatch) made their much-celebrated Hollywood debuts a few years ago.

It all started with typically Indian, or at best Asian roles, and Indian artists have now graduated to more important roles with time. It is interesting to note that Bollywood stars broke the barrier of being typecast, much before the strikes forced studios to aggressively seek talent beyond home grounds. However, the examples of Indian actors essaying significant roles in Hollywood projects are far and few.