Does Bollywood really need an acting school in London? Previously, British Asians would arrive in Bombay with no training, no connections and little knowledge of Hindi. If they were beautiful enough, the lack of formal acting skills was not a problem.

Winning a beauty contest is a passport into Bollywood: leading ladies Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra are all former Miss World or Miss Universe winners.

Lack of linguistic ability is easily surmounted because many films are dubbed. The current hunk Upen Patel, from London, and Katrina Kaif, also British, both now based in Bombay, have won leading roles even though their voices are dubbed.

It remains to be seen whether the academy will succeed in bringing in a more naturalistic style of acting. There has been a conscious effort recently to experiment with different subjects and inject more realism into the acting, but hamming remains the norm. This is unlikely to change for some time as Bollywood is defined by its beautiful stars, who enjoy godlike status. Audiences appear indifferent to the quality of the performance or the film, preferring to patronise blindly any film featuring their favourite star.

The success of Namastey London, Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiyaa, all starring the wooden Akshay Kumar, shows that Bollywood audiences crave star-driven vehicles – plot and acting be damned.

Anil Sinanan is The Times Bollywood Film Critic

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