For Pakistani actor and filmmaker Zia Mohyeddin, a defining moment of professional despair occurred during a recent trip to northern India when he stumbled upon 16 scrawny, poorly dressed villagers crowded around a television set.
They were watching Pamela Anderson Lee scamper across the hot sand in her trademark red bathing suit. She was speaking Hindi, India's official language.
The realization that such American TV programs as "Baywatch," "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "Dallas" were the forces shaping these poor Indians' aspirations was not just an acknowledgment of Hollywood's powerful pull but of his own industry's failure, according to the Asian entertainment executive.
"I haven't entirely given up," said Mohyeddin, an award-winning documentary producer. "But right now television is not a profession worth going into" in India.
Mohyeddin is far from alone in his fear that the global spread of Hollywood blockbusters and MTV represents a powerful threat to the survival of local filmmakers, culture and traditional values in Asia's rapidly developing economies.
And, emboldened by the knowledge that they control the world's fastest-growing markets, Asian government officials and entertainment executives are fighting back, looking for ways to protect their interests while still responding to the desires of their people to watch CNN and "Jurassic Park."
For example, in India, where TV ad revenues are predicted to rise to $844 million by 2000, the government is considering foreign ownership and content restrictions in the broadcast industry.
Yet such protectionist moves are fiercely debated even within these countries, which are simultaneously opening up their borders in hopes of becoming full participants in the world economy and eradicating the poverty that still plagues them.
This dilemma dominated the agenda at a daylong Asian entertainment conference Thursday in Burbank that brought together leading figures from both sides of the Pacific Ocean. The conference was sponsored by the Asia Society and Walt Disney Co.
Some of the strongest words came from Malaysian Information Minister Mohamed bin Rahmat, who said Asia's increasingly sophisticated consumers deserve entertainment sensitive to their culture rather than Hollywood reruns or news programs with a Western perspective.
"Asia wants programs that put Asia first," he said bluntly, while conceding that Asia's fledgling industry needs the technology and creative input of Hollywood.
