Bollywood vs. Hollywood

Investment is an indicator of human desires. Entertainment has always been at the top end of the "desire", Hollywood in particular. The reason is that the industry is seductive--it is much more "exciting" to fly to Hollywood, hang out with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, and eat in fine restaurants then it is to invest in life insurance companies, or furniture stores out of Omaha Nebraska. The Japanese were awash with cash and then came to invest in Paramount and Columbia Pictures--Matsushita came and left a few years later with their tail between their legs. As for Sony and Columbia Pictures, that was not successful either.

So now come the Indians. As the New York Times writes:

Reliance Entertainment, part of an Indian conglomerate controlled by the telecommunications and finance mogul Anil Ambani, is in talks to finance Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in a new venture.

Maybe the difference is that the Indians know how to make movies--at least of the Indian kind.