Interesting points, Martin. It was indeed the performance I took against rather than Rani Mukerji herself and you rightly point to the direction of the performance as another factor. I confess I haven’t yet seen some of the titles you mention but I certainly agree it is films like this that make the Bombay commercial industry interesting at the moment. I’m tending to think more about the possibility of ‘independent Indian films’ as a term rather than pursuing ‘parallel film’ ideas – partly I think because of the Anurag Kashyap factor. I’m hoping to post on some of his other films soon. But everything seems so fluid in Indian cinema just now. I’m cursing that I missed the chance to see Bala’s Paradesi at the Vue multiplex in Halifax last week. Now that did sound like a parallel film.

No One Killed Jessica perhaps succeeds less well than (for example) some of Prakash Jha’s work because it is almost a Bollywood – parallel fusion piece, i.e. not quite fitting either classification well. This seems to be typical of the industry with parallel staying as rooted in ‘real’ issues as ever (e.g. Charuvyah’, Choker Bali) and the Mumbai industry broadening into it. Zindagi na Milegi Dobara is an example; while it retains the light and escapist nature of Bollywood, the subject and performance styles are considerably more modern – sort of ‘post-Bollywood’. Barfi and Rockstar might be other examples. They could not be mistaken for parallel but display a broader awareness of scope and issues that mark them out as not being Bollywood. A new flavour of commercial cinema is perhaps a more accurate description and perhaps No One Killed Jessica fits into this category?

However it is viewed and described the post-Bollywood Mumbai commercial industry is developing apace and looking interesting!