The Fresh Prince of Mumbai

Actor Will Smith (yes, the Fresh Prince himself) is heading to Bollywood!

Thats right, the star of such big-screen snoozers as Independence Day and the genius mind who penned such provocative rap songs as "Parents Just Don't Understand" and the inimitable "Nightmare on My Street", has made a deal with an Indian entertainment company to help co-produce two Bollywood blockbusters.

Pretty exciting really. The merging of Bollywood and Hollywood. The combining of eastern cultures and western cultures. The integration of tikka masala and Taco Bell. Okay, so you may have a colon blow-out afterwards, but hey, yum!

Its a pretty entrepreneurial endeavor for Will Smith actually. If ya don't know, Bollywood is the term given to the Indian film industry which, according to some reports, produces almost double the number of movies and sells a billion more tickets each year than Hollywood. And its no wonder - with over a BILLION folks roaming around India, you got a lot of potential ticket buyers. (Note to self: look up the web rights in India to www.movietickets.com).

But ofcourse, there is another side to the story. Since Hollywood is the land of copycats, you can bet Mr. Smith will soon have company. And ofcourse that company will bring no new ideas, and so they'll be forced to recycle the same old Hollywood crap.

Now, next time I decide to grab my Spider-Man backpack and hop a Greyhound ride to Vishakhapatnam I'm sure, when I get there, I'll find theatres playing such gems as SNAKES ON A RICKSHAW or BANGALORE NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BALVINDER.

Brace yourself Bollywood. Its not always pretty.