The Charleston-Bollywood Connection

Dan McCue, a terrific business journalist, has sent City Paper a story about Charleston’s connection to Bollywood, which is shorthand for India’s hugely profitable movie business. Dan reports on Robert Miller, head of a local company called ReelSports that specializes in sports action sequences in films like Miracle.

In June, Miller won the Indian equivalent of a passel of Golden Globes and Academy Awards for a field hockey movie called Chak De! India (or Go! India). A scene from the movie can be seen above. Miller is now working on a movie about cricket, which India’s national pastime.

More significantly, Miller, who works out of his office on East Bay Street, is on the vanguard of a global trend in which Westerners are striking gold on the subcontinent. But the showbiz is a two-way street. Indian power brokers are looking West, too.

Last month, The New York Times reported on hip-hop musician Snoop Dogg’s appearance in an Indian music video called Singh is Kinng. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that actor Sylvester Stallone inked a deal with an Indian movie company. And today, NPR reports that a company called Reliance is buying up movie theaters around the country.

Dan’s story comes out in Wednesday’s issue of Charleston City Paper.