麻豆社

Anita Rani is with India鈥檚 new generations of stars and producers as she sets out to understand how the modern film industry is being challenged to keep up with India鈥檚 unusually young population - more than half the 1.3 billion people in India are under 25. She meets the young Brits who have flocked to Bollywood, drawn by the huge number of films being shot there each year to understand why Indian cinema is so fascinated with having westerners on screen.

Anita begins in the middle of a modern hip hop dance scene being shot in Mumbai and quickly finds she鈥檚 not the only Brit on the dancefloor. Meanwhile in Chennai, one of the biggest local film stars is Liverpudlian Amy Jackson who is busy filming the dance scene to the largest budget Indian film ever made. To understand the challenges these foreigners sometimes face in India, Anita meets two aspiring western actors, or 鈥楽trugglers鈥� as they鈥檙e known in Bollywood, who explain the issues they faced when they first arrived and the realities of the infamous 鈥榗asting couch鈥�.

Anita gets invited to the set of a historical film which is at the centre of a huge controversy in India. Political and religious groups have been protesting its release and the director has even received death threats and she hears the incredible story behind the news headlines from the crew at the heart of it.

Next she heads to a film being shot in Mumbai harbour to meet a pioneer of women鈥檚 rights in India. It was illegal for women to do make up on film sets prior to 2015 and Anita discovers how a group of brave women won a landmark case in the Supreme court which paved the way for female make-up artists in Bollywood. In Rajasthan, she鈥檚 on set with one of India鈥檚 most famous and outspoken actresses, Kangana Ranaut, to understand how the portrayal of women in Bollywood is slowly changing, and then meets the team behind a video Kangana made calling out Bollywood鈥檚 sexists attitudes with the controversial chorus: 鈥淏ecause I have a vagina, no one listens to me鈥�.

Finally, Anita visits one of Asia鈥檚 largest slums to meet the director and young cast of a new film about sanitation, part of an increasing trend in Bollywood to use the enormous power of cinema in India to bring about social change.