Bollywood prepares for Cannes invasion

Bollywood's Aishwarya Rai arrived in Cannes Wednesday for the International Cannes Film Festival in May.


Aishwarya Rai arrived in France for the Cannes International Film Festival this month.

Studios in India plan an all-out assault on European markets hoping to sell Indian-style melodramas to a hefty film audience.

Despite its prodigious output, Bollywood has barely made a dent in Western markets as opposed to its success in a number of other countries.

In 2005, India made 1,000 films, more than any other country, but garnered only about 1 percent of global film revenues.

Indian films may falter because little effort is made to adapt them to non-Indian audiences. Typical Bollywood flicks feature spontaneous song-and-dance numbers that for the most part have disappeared from cinema in other parts of the world.

A few films have attempted to craft these numbers in a style somewhat similar to what appears in Western music videos.


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Dancing with Stars' Cheryl Burke will be honored in San Francisco

Cheryl Bautista Burke, who took top honors as dancing partner of Drew Lachey in the popular Dancing with the Stars competition, will be honored by Filipinos in San Francisco on May 30.


Dancing with the Stars champion Cheryl Bautista Burke at The Amberwatch Foundation Star-Studded Initiative Launch Party on April 25 in Hollywood. Photo by Fashion Wire Daily/Maria Ramirez from Yahoo News.

The Bay Area Filipino Community and the Philippine Consulate General will hold a benefit reception for the Filipino American dancer at the Westin St. Francis Hotel on Powell Street.

SF Consul General Maria Rowena Mendoza Sanchez is among those expected to attend the event.

Private service held for Tiger Woods' father

Private funeral services were held for Earl Woods, father of golfing great Tiger Woods on Friday.

Among those in attendance were Earl's wife, Kultida, Tiger and his wife Elin.


Former basketball player Charles Barkley at funeral for Earl Woods, father of Tiger Woods. AP photo from Yahoo News.


Also in attendance were former basketball player Charles Barkley, volleyball player and model Gabrielle Reece, and professional golfers Mark O'Meara and John Cook.

Earl Woods has long suffered from prostrate cancer, and this year Tiger interrupted his schedule twice to visit his father. He missed the Mercedes Championship at the start of the season in his longest absence from the tour since turning professional.

Tiger reportedly is on a hiatus of indefinite length following his father's death.