Documentary filmmaker Anupam Sharma, who has directed the docu ‘Brand Bollywood Down Under

Documentary filmmaker Anupam Sharma, who has directed the docu ‘Brand Bollywood Down Under’, has said that the need to make the film originated from the urge of celebrating Hindi mainstream cinema in all its glory.

Stating his reasons for creating the documentary, he said, "There is a need for a documentary for every aspect of Australia and Bollywood. There is a need for a global documentary on Bollywood or popular Indian cinema. There is a need for a documentary on Australia and India film links from trade, film, political and social points of views."

“Everyone was apologising for Bollywood, sheepishly being embarrassed, and scared of ridicule. I hated that. Hindi popular cinema no matter what you call it Bollywood, mainstream, popular, is deeper in form and content and ‘seriously entertaining’ and needed to be celebrated. As Anupam Kher says in our film, 'We make 1.4 billion people happy. We do sell misery of life, we celebrate life'. Hence, the need for this documentary particularly for the west," he added.

Having studied films abroad and living in the west, he is amazed that when one Googles Bollywood, they will find over 1.51 billion hits in 3 seconds, that's 1/3 of a second.