New Delhi: Celebrating Indian cinema's arrival on the world stage, 'Time' magazine has come out with a cover story on the changing face of Bollywood projecting Aishwarya Rai as "queen" and highlighting crossover movies, films with bold themes and increasing Western interest in it.

With the former Miss World appearing on the magazine's cover, the weekly in its latest issue focuses on the young generation describing Aamir Khan as "India's most respected and versatile young actor" and praising Director Ram Gopal Varma for "ditching song-and-dance fantasies for urban grittiness."

Heaping lavish praise on Rai, the magazine describes her as "India's standard bearer" and says, "she may position herself as New Bollywood in terms of roles, but in person, Rai embodies the Indian middle class - and very old Bollywood-ideal: a modern girl with traditional values.

"For someone emerging as a 21st century film star, there are few people less likely to turn into a Western style sex kitten."

The magazine points out that the Indian film industry released an average 1,000 films compared to Hollywood's 740 and attracted a world audience, from Kuala Lumpur to Cape Town, of 3.6 billion, compared to Hollywood's 2.6 billion.

It lists Awaara, Mother India, Sholay, Ankur, Bombay and Devdas among the "10 Indian films to treasure".

The story, including interviews with legendary Amitabh Bachchan, Mira Nair and others, however, has little to say about the film industry in Chennai and Kolkata.

PTI