Whatever the weather, it's going to be an Indian summer this year as East meets West in the cinema with a flurry of Bollywood blockbusters. Film Writer Steve Pratt reports.

Come rain or shine, Bollywood's answer to Tom Cruise and a former Miss World are part of a strategy to make it an Indian summer in this country.

Top actor Shahrukh Khan and model-turned-actress Aishwarya Rai star in the spectacular new Hindi epic Devdas which, film distributors anticipate, will be the movie that finally propels the Indian film industry into the mainstream abroad.

The £7.4m three-hour adaptation of a famous Indian novel is being released on an unprecedented number of cinema screens for a picture from Bollywood, the name given to the Indian movie business centred in Bombay.

British-backed, Asian-themed films such as Bend It Like Beckham, about an Asian girl joining a women's football team, and Monsoon Wedding, following the chaos surrounding an Indian marriage ceremony, have paved the way with non-Asian audiences over here.

There's more to come. Next month Working Title, the company behind Four Weddings And A Funeral and Notting Hill, releases The Guru, starring former EastEnders actor Jimi Mistry in a comedy where Bollywood meets Hollywood.

Cinemagoers shouting "Hooray for Bollywood" comes in the wake of an outbreak of all things Indian in this country. The debut of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-produced West End musical Bombay Dreams followed the chart success of The Very Best Bollywood Songs. London's Victoria and Albert Museum staged a major Indian exhibition, and top store Selfridges had an eastern makeover.

This comes as Bollywood itself is facing "a serious downturn", according to industry newspaper Screen International, after a string of big profile flops and not a single local box office success so far this year.

The opening of Devdas simultaneously in Bombay and the UK on Friday is seen as being of vital importance for the Indian film industry at home and abroad. Bollywood needs fresh outlets for its product as American distributors move into India, removing the monopoly of home-grown product.

Devdas, the most expensive ever Hindi film, is well-placed to lead the bid for mainstream recognition. It was the first Bollywood movie to be screened in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Now around 900 prints are being released worldwide.

UK distributors Eros International are treating it as a foreign language film, aware that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has paved the way for British cinemagoers to accept subtitled films.

Devdas is shorter than the usual Hindi film, although at three hours, still longer than British audiences are used to. The picture also adheres to the rules of including elaborate song and dance numbers, but not kissing or sexual contact of any kind.

Such films have been making inroads in recent years. At one time, they were only available on video from the corner shop or shown at special Sunday morning screenings at some cinemas.

Now several multiplexes in the UK devote screens exclusively to Bollywood products, which often appear in the UK top film chart despite the limited release. Last November, Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham (Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness) hit the number three spot behind the Harry Potter film and The 51st State with Samuel L Jackson.

Exporting them gives movies a second chance to make money. Dil Se flopped in India in 1998, then went on to become the first Hindi film to crack the British box office top ten.

Their influence is already noticeable in western films. Director Baz Luhrmann has acknowledged that the style of his Oscar-nominated musical Moulin Rouge owed a debt to Bollywood pictures.

America, too, is starting to take notice. The 2001 hit Lagaan, a Raj cricket drama, was Oscar-nominated as best foreign film and was the first to break into the international market.

Many feel, in the words of one observer, that "it's time to stop treating these movies as curiosity items and start enjoying them as the pure cinematic experiences they so often are".

The sentiment is echoed by Derek Malcolm, former film critic of The Guardian. "Now is the time to pay attention to Bollywood again, not merely as an Indian phenomenon but as a significant part of the world cinema," he writes in the book Bollywood: Popular Indian Cinema.

The unanswered question is whether Hindi films will adapt to western ways or whether non-Asian audiences will accept the lavish, all-singing, all-dancing epics as they are.

Director Shyan Benegal appreciates the problems, notably that Bollywood pictures in their present form appear nave and unbelievable to outsiders. "Our subject matter, our characterisation and our story-telling will have to have greater depth. If I see that happening at all, it's happening very, very slowly," he says.

A new wave of Indian movie-makers is emerging, producing more experimental and socially-aware work. But most of the 800 films a year produced in India follow the familiar, colourful formula loved by the local audience craving an escape from their poor lives.

The desire for new locations has seen Bollywood film crews travel to Europe where the scenery of Switzerland, Scotland and the Lake District have formed the backcloth for musical sequences. That, in turn, is helping the British tourist industry - companies are organising tours of Bollywood movie locations for Indians.

* Devdas (PG) opens in cinemas on Friday.