India faces a skills crunch in its IT and engineering sectors, Passport noted earlier this year, and it's hurting India's global competitiveness. But now India must confront an even more ominous shortage: a lack of quality Bollywood actors.

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Anyone who has seen some of the dreck Bollywood churns out will probably laugh and say, "Tell me something I don't know." But there's a new phenomenon going on here. As money pours into the film industry, Bollywood is suffering from a "talent crunch," the Financial Times reports, and it's particularly hard to find good male actors. Because production companies are finding it easier to secure financing from abroad, it's getting tougher for them to tap quality local talent for a reasonable price. As a result, Bollywood's A-list celebrities are cashing in, demanding double or triple the fees they would have earned just a few years ago. It doesn't help that Hollywood—with its extravagant fees by Indian standards—is starting to take an interest in Bollywood stars, beginning with former Miss World Aishwarya Rai.

So why is it so difficult for Bollywood to find new talent? Audiences are heavily biased towards existing stars, so it's risky for filmmakers to opt for an unknown face. As Sameer Nair, the head of a new entertainment channel being developed by India's leading broadcaster, puts it,

If your definition of a blockbuster requires these superstars to be present and that's in your business plan then you have a general scarcity problem."

Perhaps, then, Bollywood should look outside India for emerging talent. Consider Kashif (Pakistani by background), who made it into the top 20 of America's Got Talent by dancing his, um, distinctive Bollywood moves... .