East meets West at this year's AACTA Awards

The annual AACTA (Australian Academy of Television, Cinema & Arts) awards recognises screen talent from Australia and abroad, and while there's always some locally-raised Hollywood exports who grace the red carpet, this year there'll be some international star power from the East.

Bollywood veterans Anupam Kher and Shabana Azmi are set to attend Wednesday night's prestigious awards in Sydney, after serving as jurors for the inaugural Best Asian Film award to be presented at the ceremony.

Kher, who has starred in 510 films throughout his career including Bend It Like Beckham, says recognising Asian cinema at the AACTAs is a step closer to strengthening international relations and diversity in the film industry.

"Asia today is a very recognised power in most of the fields including cinema," the 62-year-old exclusively tells Be.

"Indian cinema, Chinese cinema and Korean cinema, [are] forces to reckon with."

Azmi agrees, saying the size and capacity of Bollywood are testament to its contribution to global cinema.

"I think it is very important because it’s about time we recognise India’s the industry that makes the largest number of films in the whole wide world," the 67-year-old actress tells Be.

"We make twice the number of films Hollywood does and there is a very strong emerging Chinese, Korean and Australian cinema and we absolutely need to focus on that," she continues, adding she's been involved with AACTA for the past 10 years and has been proud to see what "AACTA has been able to achieve" over that decade.

This will be the first year that the Best Asian Film award is presented at the AACTAs, the winner having been selected by a jury of eight, headed by Russell Crowe as the President of the Best Asian Film Grand Jury.

As well as Kher and Azmi, the other members of the jury include South Korean director and producer Kim Ki-Duk, Chinese actor Ye Liu, producers Gary Kurtz and Adam Torel, as well as Australian film critic, producer and presenter Margaret Pomeranz AM.

As for the finalists, there are nine films from India, China, South Korea, Japan and the Philippines.

These include Birdshot (Philippines), Dangal (India), I Am Not Madame Bovary, (China), Kassav: Turtle (India), Our Time Will Come (China), Pink (India), Train To Busan (South Korea), Wolf Warrior II (China) and Your Name (Japan).

"Russell Crowe, the chairman of the jury, was very sure it should travel across countries," Azmi elaborates on the criteria for selecting the winning film.

"So it should have an emotional content that is not only culture specific but will also appeal over cultures."

Working across different cultures is something Kher knows plenty about, having not only starred in hundreds of Bollywood films, but becoming a familiar face in Hollywood thanks to roles in Bend It Like Beckham, Silver Linings Playbook, and more recently, The Big Sick.

"I like to work abroad because it challenges me," he explains, admitting he's proud to wave the flag for India.

"Sports people get to represent their countries officially, [so] as an actor I feel that I represent my country unofficially," he continues.

Quite recently, a major topic of discussion in cinema has been sexual harassment, following several allegations being made against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Both Azmi and Kher say this condemned behaviour is not restricted to any film industry, whether that be in America or in India, but rather something that occurs across the globe in various industries.

"There are all kinds of people in every field, let’s not make it only cinema-centric," says Kher. "It happens in every industry."

"I think it happens in airlines, it happens in hotel business, it happens everywhere but it is an individual problem," he continues, adding there's so much focus on it happening in the film industry "because cinema people get written about and they’re rich and famous".

"It is an individual issue and it’s prevalent everywhere and it should not happen anywhere," he says. "It’s horrible and unbelievable how could you be doing that, but to sort of restrict it to the cinema industry, I don’t think it’s fair."

Azmi, who has been an avid campaigner of women's rights over the years, says she has not personally experienced this sort of harassment, but believes this behaviour "is not acceptable" whatsoever.

"What is interesting about the way Hollywood responded to it, is that it mounted very heavily on sexual harassment and that sends a clear signal down the line that this is not acceptable," she says.

"Sexual harassment has a way of putting down women and preventing them to join the workforce, to rise to their own level of potential.

"It’s a very big deterrent and the sooner we stop it, the safer the place becomes for women," she adds.

Both Kher and Azmi, who spoke to an intimate Sydney audience on Sunday night as part of a special 'In Conversation' series, will be attending the AACTA Awards on Wednesday night.

The red carpet highlights and award ceremony will be screened on Channel Seven.

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