Mumbai: The Indian film industry is big and deserving enough to be seen beyond Indian shores but slick packaging and result-oriented marketing could help in promoting Bollywood in the int'l market, says Amitabh Bachchan.

The Indian film industry is now popular not only among the Indian diaspora but also appears to have appealed to non-Indians in countries like Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Far East, South America and even places like Peru and others, some of whom which have nothing in common with India, Bachchan, the brand ambassador of the International Indian Film Academy (IFFA), said after announcement of the dates of the awards last night (Mar 4, 2004).

Recounting an incident, the Big B said, "I remember coming across a man singing a song from an Indian film in Paris. The words of the songs were not entirely right but nevertheless the tune was. This has often made me wonder about the tremendous impact of Indian films abroad," he said.

On whether the Indian film industry had reached the international "Oscar standard", Bachchan said, "But the Oscars isn't everything. We are big and deserving enough to compete with ourselves," he said.

"We have good content and all we need to do is market it well. "We do not need to drop our dance and song sequences for the international audience for this is where our appeal lies and a fact which has also been recognised by others," he said.

To a query on the growing interest displayed by the West in Indian films given the fact that certain films like "Lagaan" had made it to the nominations, the thespian said, "The US has always been a country that has lived in itself. However, with the world shrinking and international media televising films of other countries, it has been forced to take notice of the same."

"We must also realise that the US always been interested in developing economies and India fits the bill," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, actress and member of the advisory board for IIFA Jaya Bachchan said awards like IFFA would help in projecting the Indian film industry in a big way, besides creating interest in countries across the globe.

"We hope that awards like these would put Indian talent on the international scene besides encouraging joint collaborations and exchange of talent and artiste in the realm of films. We hope to see a day when an Indian artiste is selected not because of the colour of his skin to play the role of an Asian or Arab but because of his sheer acting talent," she added.