The documentary “Big in Bollywood” follows 27-year-old American-born Omi Vaidya, a struggling actor in Los Angeles, who miraculously lands a dream role in the Bollywood film “3 Idiots”. In the month of January 2010, he went from virtual unknown to household name. Within a week of release, “3 Idiots” skyrockets to box office success, becoming the most successful Indian film in history and transforming Omi into an overnight megastar. He is now instantly recognized across India as the face of “Chatur Ramalingam”, his character from the movie. But being a national sensation in India is not all glitz and glamor.

Growing up in Palm Springs, Omi is by most accounts, very American. Aside from the language barrier, Omi struggles with the pressure of his newly acquired fame and continuing his career momentum while trying to maintain a healthy domestic life back in Los Angeles. His journey from Hollywood to Bollywood is a uniquely contemporary story. Set against the backdrop of Mumbai, Big in Bollywood is a film about what it is to be successful in show business, seen through the eyes of Omi’s best friends, who witness his career transformation firsthand. Never before have these two centers of world cinema been so aware of each other. Indian cinema is beginning to mirror western aesthetics, and Americans are finally becoming aware of Bollywood films.

This documentary came from a meeting of the minds between fellow filmmakers, and a realization that something amazing was about to happen in Mumbai. Omi was describing to the filmmakers how “3 Idiots” was turning out to be the biggest anticipated film of the year in India. And they all looked at each other and realized that they had to go to India and watch this all unfold. Curious to better understand the world of Bollywood, four of Omi’s buddies armed with cameras fly to Mumbai to document his big premiere.

This film is a distinctly 21st century documentary. Shot on five cameras, by five filmmakers in five different video formats, it stands squarely within the avant guarde of contemporary filmmaking. Simply put, this is a film made by and about a group of best friends, and the audience will feel like they’re along for the ride.

Big In Bollywood trailer

Jian Ping was born in China in 1960 during widespread famine caused by the economic disaster of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward. Tens of millions starved to death in the years preceding the charismatic leader’s brutal and repressive Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and his call to crush the “Four Olds.” Chaos became rampant as Mao empowered youth to revolution, threatening, humiliating, beating and killing anyone they chose to persecute.

Jian was tiny, premature, often sick and unwanted by an already overburdened mother of four. She was left in the care of her grandmother, Nainai, without whom she might surely have died. It wasn’t that love was lacking. It was simply unstated, expressions of emotion considered bourgeois, essentially forbidden under Communist rule.

Her parents were devoted to the Party, her mother placing duty to Mao above her own children. Her father, equally staunch in his belief, survived torture at the hands of Japanese invaders when he was young. Suspected of giving secrets to the enemy in exchange for his life while in captivity, he was later exonerated. He gradually distinguished himself, eventually becoming Deputy Governor of the city province of Baicheng.

As danger escalated under Mao, neighbors indicted neighbors. Family members informed on one another. No one was safe. Without warning, Jian’s father was arrested and imprisoned, old suspicions causing him to be publicly humiliated and labeled “Big Traitor.” Jian’s mother, a school administrator, was detained and forced to write daily self-recrimination. Strong-willed, she refused to submit to harassment by the Red Guards insisting she denounce and divorce her husband. She would not allow her children to be fatherless.

Forced to leave the Government compound, Jian’s older siblings were sent to the countryside for re-education by peasants. Jian and Nainai were banished to a remote and primitive mud hut to endure harsh conditions and sub-zero temperatures. It was years before the Cultural Revolution came to an end and Mao Zedong died in 1976. For Jian, vivid memories remain of a little girl of eight dodging a barrage of epithets and rocks as she made her way to see her father in prison. She has long held the belief that she must always remain composed, neither showing vulnerability to those who might seek to harm her nor pain to those she loves.

As China moved forward, Jian resumed her education. earning an undergraduate degree in English, then immigrating to the United States to attain two masters degrees. She married and bore a baby girl who joined her mother in the States when she was five. As Jian worked hard to provide the trappings of a middle class American life for her daughter Lisa, ironically, a sense of disconnection seeming to build between them. Her eight-year odyssey to write her memoir, Mulberry Child, was born of a need to reveal her past under Mao and share Chinese family roots with Lisa. She was saddened when Lisa showed no interest in the book.

When Jian Ping and Lisa returned to China for a bittersweet family visit and the triumphant 2008 Beijing Olympics, Lisa agreed to read the manuscript. Tracing her family’s history, she began to see her mother in a different light and accept her own heritage. Will this journey into the past forge a better understanding between mother and daughter? Mulberry Child teaches us the human capacity for courage and endurance, and how the events of the past can haunt our future.

Mulberry Child Trailer

Filmmaker and journalist Gotham Chopra embarks on a year long roadtrip with his father Deepak Chopra in an attempt to resolve the spiritual icon he is to the world vs. the real man known to his family. From devoted disciples that range from Lady Gaga to lost souls searching for themselves in the red rock deserts of Sedona, Gotham begins to paint a raw portrait of his dad that only a son can. The film travels across the planet chronicling colorful Deepak activities – from a traditional monk ordainment in Thailand to a literal decoding of ancient family registers in rural India. On the homefront, Gotham also takes a closer look at the expansive spiritual empire his father has built over his 25 year career that initially was conceived out of Deepak’s own deep personal and spiritual dissatisfaction, and a decidedly non-spiritual (and boozy) origin.

Ultimately what emerges is a picture of a Deepak that while reminiscent of other popularized Indian gurus, is more dad than demigod. Full of flaws, foils, intelligence, and irreverence, the decoded Deepak uncovered by his son’s honest scrutiny of him is a symbol of a world searching for answers in the most unlikely places and a deeper plunge into the meaning.

Decoding Deepak trailer