Word is, Boston's embracing Bollywood

Librarian Vicky Slavin had been planning a display on Bollywood film for months. She had to take it down after a few short weeks.

"All the films went out," she said, without a trace of disappointment. Quite the opposite. She wants community members to think of Robbins Library in Arlington as a place to borrow popular Indian films, also known as Bollywood.

"First the word gets out and then you have an audience. That was my goal," she said.

Slavin's display, and the doubling of the library's Bollywood collection to more than 25 titles in the past year, came after an increase of requests from patrons. "It's a chicken-egg thing," said Slavin, who has been responsible for the Robbins DVD collection for about eight years. She noted that eight of 14 libraries represented at a recent regional audio-visual librarians' meeting reported expanding their Bolly wood DVD collections.

Spouses Arsh and Anil Mehrotra of North Andover, founders of the Indian entertainment company Aap Ka Manoranjan agree that Boston has an audience for Indian films. Aap Ka Manoranjan (meaning "for your entertainment" in Hindi) has been exhibiting them under the label Bombay Cinema since 1996. However, Anil Mehrotra explained, "The economy of scale is such that it cannot justify having its own location."

Bombay Cinema started by renting Arlington movie houses at midnight and quickly expanded its schedule and screening locations. From 2002 to 2003 it found a home in the Allston Cinemas, hosting daily showings on two screens. "We took it knowing the owner was trying to sell the property. It had all the equipment, so renting was better than closing it down," said Anil Mehrotra of what became known as Bombay Cinema 2.

The land was sold and a Staples now stands in the place where underground films screened for decades. Bombay Cinema traveled back across the river, renting screens at Somerville Theatre in Davis Square and Fresh Pond 10 in Cambridge. Bombay Cinema currently shows films at the Capitol Theatre in Arlington and CineMagic 12 in Merrimack, N.H.

The constant picking up of stakes and reshuffling of screening locations has made it tough to know exactly when and where Bollywood films screen.

For 12 years audiences tuned in to a television program on Univision, later Telemundo, in which the Mehrotras discussed recent releases and films to come. They stopped taping in 2006 - "airtime is expensive," said Anil Mehrotra, though back episodes are archived online. He also pointed out that with satellite television, homes can receive as many as 20 television channels broadcast from India.

Now Bombay Cinema enthusiasts call a hot line or visit a website to find out what's playing locally. (See "In Search of Bollywood," Page N13) The most recent film to show was "Tashan," which premiered April 25. Anil Mehrotra said he expects to open the film "Bhoothnath," what he calls a friendly ghost story, on Friday.

While Bombay Cinema typically brings Hindi language films to the Boston area, a little over a year ago Narmatha Balasundaram started bringing Tamil language films to the Studio Cinema Belmont and Regent Theatre in Arlington. "I knew there was a willing crowd that would like to be entertained," she said, adding that working with the films is mostly a hobby she can do from her Malden home.

Nirmala Garimella, cofounder of the news website lokvani.com, says the local Indian community is particularly adept at networking. "So much is spread by word of mouth," she said. "People send e-mails or call each other on Friday night to talk about which films are playing."

Lokvani.com's Bollywood gossip column gets the most hits, week after week, said Garimella.

Arsh Mehrotra starred in a handful of films in her youth, before moving to Nigeria, then to the United States. Her niece is a budding film star in India. "Over there, stars are god. In the south of India, celebrities actually have temples in their name. It's like having a shrine in the name of [Tom] Brady as long as it was close to Foxborough," said Anil Mehrotra.

Of the 800-plus features released annually by Indian studios, Bombay Cinema brings in about 25-28. "We used to show movies the second week of their release, but now we only show world premieres, which makes it very exciting. Our audiences see the movies the same day as people in India," said Arsh Mehrotra.

And there's another reason Bombay Cinema releases at the same time as select films in India: If they didn't, their audiences might disappear. "Some movies released on Friday, you can download on Monday. Or if you're in China or New York, you can get a DVD even before the movie is released," said Anil Mehrotra about features from India. "If you try to hold it you are holding the tiger with the wrong hand."

Even major Indian entertainment companies like UTV suffer from the effects of piracy, said Lokesh Dhar, a vice president with UTV. "We get prints two or three days before they release because of India's piracy issues. That's why the films are not well reviewed." Dhar acknowledged that this timeline couldn't compete with the Hollywood public relations machines that have magazine covers lined up months before films have sealed their final cut. And it's another reason moviegoing audiences may not know where to see Bollywood films.

Dhar makes special arrangements with North American media outlets to screen as close as possible to the public premiere. Sometimes critics watch UTV's films with the projectionist just hours before doors open to the first paying customers.

But Dhar maintains confidence in the box office growth potential for UTV's films in North America, and Boston specifically. "In any developed country, a big film like "Jodhaa Akbar," which is comparable to "Pirates of the Caribbean" in the United States, 10 percent of the population will watch that film," he said. "So if I look at Boston, not even 5 percent of the South Asian population is watching."

While UTV still cuts deals with independent operators like Bombay Cinema, it has started working directly with what Dhar called, "mainstream theaters, big boxes, which play big Hollywood films." In 2005, UTV began programming at Showcase Cinemas in Lawrence.

Wanda Whitson, director of corporate communications for National Amusements, confirmed that its Showcase chain also works with Eros Entertainment and Yash Raj Films, which along with UTV are three of India's most prolific production houses/distributors.

Like Bombay Cinema's traveling series, Dhar said, "We keep trying new locations. We feel the Boston market has much more potential than we are exploiting."

Piracy, along with the industry-wide proclivity toward home viewing, is putting a stranglehold on exhibitors like Bombay Cinema. "I'll be road kill in a few years," Anil Mehrotra joked. "It's OK. There has been a lot of road kill before me. The big boys are taking over," he said.