ICC Programs Calendar
Silicon Valley Teaming up with Bollywood
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 21:48 — avaish
From the San Jose Mercury, dated November 26, 2008
Star-struck Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are discovering Bollywood, where they hope to make a hit and therefore a fortune, but most of all, they get to be in really, really cool company – like rubbing shoulders with Miss Universe or Miss India and all those glamorous, gorgeous women!
The Bollywood glamor is the dream of many Indian techies, who grew up swaying to Bollywood beats and now work as entrepreneurs and engineers in the valley.
Ben Rekhi, an independent filmmaker who grew up in Los Gatos and is now working on several projects in Mumbai, finds a transformed and self-confident Indian movie industry, going well beyond the usual schmaltz into truly creative, artistic and entertaining cinema. His father, valley venture capitalist and entrepreneur Kanwal Rekhi, who is also ,a Trustee of the ICC, invested $1 million in Kaleidoscope Entertainment, which has produced films such as the highly acclaimed 1994 "Bandit Queen" .
Bollywood is all set to crank out 1000 new movies this year – about twice as many as Hollywood. Read about the allure and the Silicon Valley connection here. (From the SJ Mercury, dated November 26, 2008)