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CULTURAL GLOBALISATION: THE ROLE OF SOUTH, EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 115.248.73.67 on dated 27-Dec-2010 dishes—has become immensely popular in Europe and North America. For the past two decades, Asian participation in the food culture of the West has been increasing. Unlike in the past, Asian restaurants—Cambodian, Chinese, Indian, Lebanese, Thai,—can be seen today in almost all major cities. This process of reverse globalisation of food culture during the 1980s has now become permanent due to the health and nutritional values of Asian pickles and spices. As Shonali Muthalaly (“Posh Curry”, The Hindu, March 18, 2007) puts it, from Aberdeen to Brighton, Indian restaurants have become popular and made Indian food a part of the British menu. In fiction, writers like V S Naipaul have made remarkable contributions. Since the 1980s, others like Vikram Chandra, Shobhaa De, Amitav Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Tarun Tejpal, Shashi Tharoor, Altaf Tyrewala, et al though Since the 1990s India, China and Southeast Asia have become nuclear centres of production for almost all goods distributed globally. As a result, Europe and North America have witnessed a new awareness of “Asian culture”. Most Westerners are conscious of the fact that many of the products they buy are “Asian” and have accepted them as a part of their lives. Asian, have become global writers. Asian poets have also become global and Bengali, Chinese, Indonesian and Tamil poetry and fiction are being translated into English, French, Spanish, and distributed worldwide. Movies, Masti, Magic Bollywood has become truly global in the sense that Hindi movies (and even Tamil and Telugu movies) are being simultaneously released in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Asian actors from Jackie Chan to Jet Lee and Aishwarya Rai to Sushmita Sen, (the former having become the “queen” of computer screens throughout the world) have all become global. A R Rahman has become a global music director and singer with his “English” albums becoming popular in the West. Reverse globalisation started when Shekhar Kapoor directed the Western movie Elizabeth in 1998. Although Japanese and other Asian directors were already popular VOL 13 NO 4 WINTER 2009 WORLD AFFAIRS 27
K SYAMALAMMA AND P KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 115.248.73.67 on dated 27-Dec-2010 and had directed Hollywood movies, Kapoor was a relative unknown in the West and Elizabeth became a turning point in the history of global cinema. M Night Shyamalan, an American of Indian origin has become a new symbol of cultural globalisation, directing stars like Mel Gibson and Bruce Willis in shockingly unexpected roles. Hollywood actors like Will Smith are eager to have Asian heroines McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken have become increasingly common in Asian cities, Asian cuisine has become immensely popular in Europe and North America. From Aberdeen to Brighton, Indian restaurants have become popular and made Indian food a part of the British menu. like Rai in their movies. Another example of reverse globalisation is the recent Swiss movie Tandoori Love by Swiss director Oliver Paulus. It is the story of an Indian chef falling in love with a Swiss Miss. Although the film has an Indian name and songs and dances à la Bollywood, it is still a Swiss film (Ziya us Salam, “A Taste of Fondue Masaala” The Hindu, December 5, 2008). Incidentally, the term tandoori itself has become globalised as this movie indicates. Paulus has said he wanted to take all the wonderful elements of music, song and dance from Bollywood and transport them onto a Swiss ambience. He added, “India is becoming important in the international market … not just economically but also culturally, India is huge. More and more people are attracted to India” (ibid). The year 2009 was indeed a turning point for world cinema in general and Asian cinema in particular as British director Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire received four Golden Globe awards and eight Academy Awards. It was the first Bollywood style movie to achieve this feat. Of particular significance was Rahman’s music score, which won at both awards. The movie is a remarkable example of cultural globalisation—a South Asian story line, a British director, a South Asian British hero, a Hollywood ambience and promotion and a world cinema. Thus, Asian movies and music have slowly become global in terms of world cinema and will certainly play important roles in future cultural globalisation. As Ge<strong>org</strong>e Abraham (“A Billion Stories Now”, The Hindu, January 25, 2009) aptly puts it, “Bollywood movies have their global following, thanks to the countless members 28 WORLD AFFAIRS WINTER 2009 VOL 13 NO 4
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