Being John Malkovich really opened the door for all sorts of meta-concepts, comedic and otherwise, but among its most unlikely spawn would have to be Bollywood Hero, a sprawling, dance-infused dramedy in which Chris Kattan, playing himself as fed up with being a Hollywood has-been and bit player, trips to India in order to land a romantic lead role. Perhaps even more unlikely is just how robustly this fanciful project connects, with crisp production value, humorous writing and engaging performances all around.

Bollywood Hero first unfolded on the small screen on IFC, as part of a three-part comedy event — shorter than a miniseries, but longer than your typical movie. It retains that structure here, its trio of 56-minute episodes each playable separately, and containing brief introductory recaps. The story opens in Los Angeles, with Kattan unhappily locked into a starring role on a science-fiction TV show. His agent is unable to provide any traction with respect to leading man roles, but Kattan fortuitously stumbles across Monty (Ali Fazal), a second-generation Indian filmmaker who happens to have an opening in his projected Bollywood epic Peculiar Dancing Boy, which he bills as “a serious critique of the caste system as told through the medium of dance.”

Monty pitches Kattan, who eventually comes around to the idea. Soon he’s on a plane, and then in India, but before production can even begin Kattan causes a national uproar by planting a very public kiss on his leading lady, Lalima (Neha Dhupia), a bankable starlet around whom the entire production is built. While Kattan is literally burned in effigy in the streets (!), Monty’s headstrong producer sister Priya (Pooja Kumar) tries to wheel and deal, while Monty also puts up his late father’s expansive studio as collateral to bring together the necessary final financing. With his own career and sanity hanging in the balance, not to mention Monty and Priya’s livelihoods too, Kattan throws himself into learning (at least some of) a nation’s customs and rituals, cinematically if nothing else. Adding flavor to the proceedings are Julian Sands as Reg Hunt, an intellectual, Jeremy Irons-type British costar of Kattan, plus Maya Rudolph, Jennifer Coolidge (a former real-life girlfriend of Kattan’s), Andy Samberg, Keanu Reeves and David Alan Grier, all playing themselves in cameos.

Benjamin Brand’s script offers up a nice balancing act, neither trading in bland generalities nor lacquering on the specificity so grandly that it conflates Kattan’s problems with capital-I important issues. It takes the piss out of Kattan, in other words (there’s some good-natured fun had at the expense of Corky Romano), but lightly and lovingly so, basically allowing Kattan to play-act what one presumes is an only slightly canted and elevated version of his own anxieties and frustrations as a performer.

Director Bill Bennett, meanwhile, gives the movie real heart and soul, as well as a unifying production design. The film isn’t expansive or overly doting in its ritualistic homage to Bollywood cinema; there’s definitely a cant and concession made for Western audiences, from the original “in” of the narrative hook to the tone of the humor. But I’ll say this — Bollywood Hero is gorgeously shot, and sincere and tonally consistent throughout. It isn’t cheap with its jokes, and it doesn’t careen wildly from one set piece to another. There’s a trajectory for Kattan, and the supporting characters as well. And through it all, Kattan delivers an engaging and surprisingly emotionally resonant performance. His timbre of his voice — at times somewhat tremulous — works against his stated desire to be taken seriously, but that’s part of the joke, too, and the third act path the film carves, all part of Kattan’s unlikely redemption.

Housed in a white, regular plastic Amaray case, Bollywood Hero comes to DVD presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, with an English Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound audio track and optional English subtitles. Apart from its aforementioned chapter selection, the only supplemental bonus feature comes by way of eight minutes of additional excised material, including an extra dance scene and a mock condom commercial starring Kattan. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. B (Movie) C- (Disc)