Last night was the opening event for the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival here in New York. The opening film was the much awaited (in India) new Bollywood film Saawariya by Sanjay Leehla Bhansali, distributed by Sony around the world. The film opens tonight in Mumbai, where I am told tickets for the premier are being sold on the black market for US$500.

The movie launches the careers of two eagerly awaited new stars, Ranbir Kapoor (the leading male and rock star) and Sonam Kapoor (the leading woman and beauty). In terms of who might have "won" in his or her debut performance, I would choose Sonam, but obviously these things are personal!

The sound track is also highly anticipated, but it seemed flat to me, not nearly as lyrical as perhaps Bollywood musicals are imagined to be.

Sony/Columbia is opening this film around the world more or less simultaneously, and those in my group thought the film had been crafted especially for the global expatriate Indian community. The film takes place in a thoroughly imaginary location that is some composite of Venetian and Parisian images, and it is based on a Russian short story ("White Nights" by Dostoyevsky). But in its intensely escapist imagery and sensibility, it's all Bollywood.

There's barely the faintest hint of an outside reality. Les Miserables (the Broadway play) has great songs, but it's no stranger to real world struggles. Saawariya holds all that at arms length and more, and protects its audience from any unpleasantness that would divert your attention from the love story.