Bollywood

'Bollywood' is a term used to describe the Indian film industry, the largest in the world in terms of film production. In 1990 India produced 800+ films (more than two a day). Bollywood's cinema going audience, in India, Pakistan and elsewhere is also one of the biggest in the world. Just like Hollywood, Bollywood, has a group of large studios and some huge stars, capable of making expensive, commercial movies. It has an extensive cannon of films spanning the twentieth century and a collection of movies regarded as classics. It also has a thriving independents sector which caters for a more art-house audience.

Like any film industry Bollywood is diverse in its out put. However there are certain traits that are commonly associated with Bollywood movies. These include:

The importance of the Star system - including, in the past, the domination of only one or two actors

Extensive use of other performance arts especially singing and dancing.

The use of mythological and theological characters, particularly Gods and Deities - many popular Bollywood films, particularly earlier in the century took their stories from religion and folklore.

Long epic romances

Large studio sets with elaborate decoration.

Elaborate and brightly coloured costume.

Some of these traits can be seen in other film industries and genres

Task

Compare this list of traits with Hollywood's MGM musicals of the 1930s and 1940s. Focus particularly on the following areas: the use of stars, song and dance. Find out the names of some of Hollywood's leading stars of this time. How is a star used to sell a picture?

The history of Bollywood film-making is similar to that in America and elsewhere. In 1896, four months after their exploits in Paris and America, the Lumiere Brothers brought moving pictures to Bombay. From this an industry developed, first through newsreels (the first was Return of Wrangler Paranjpye in 1901) and then features. India's first silent feature Raja Harishchandra was made by D.G. Phalke in 1913 and explored Hindu mythology. All the roles were played by men as women were forbidden to act at the time.

The 1920s brought with them a studio system and corporate finance. This was a period of tremendous growth in which an excess of 1200 films were produced. Few exist today due to the difficulties of preserving negatives.

The 1930s saw sweeping changes to the industry, technically and stylistically. In 1931 the fist talkie Alam Ara was produced, with dialogue in both Urdu and Hindi and extensive use of song and dance and 1933 saw the first English Language Indian film Karma. There was also a departure from the mythological basis of the early silents with films like Devadas (1935) and Achhut Kanya (1936) that dealt with social issues such as class, caste and arranged marriage. Though there was a tendency towards romanticising these issues the Indian filmmakers of the 1930s paved the way for the social realism of Indian cinema, particularly art cinema, later on.

The 1940s saw incredible political and historical change - the second world war, India's independence and the formation of Pakistan, and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. It also saw the deterioration of the studio system, the rise of the movie star and the box office hit - Kismet (1943) directed by Gyan Mukherjee and starring Ashok Kumar ran for three years in Calcutta. Indian cinema also began to gain an international reputation with Neecha Nagar (1947) presented at the Cannes Film festival.

This international flavour continued into the 1950s, which saw the first international film festival in Bombay and the development of India's prestigious National Film Awards (given that name in 1966). These were similar to Hollywood's Academy Awards or Oscars. Talent in all avenues of the Industry from directors to actors to designers, cinematographers, writers, singers and choreographers was recognised. Known as Bollywood's "golden age" this decade also saw the increasing importance of the Individual and the first popular Indian film, Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), nominated for an Oscar.

The 1960s were characterised by a sponsoring of new talent through government funding and a move from black and white towards colour following the huge commercial success of Subodh Mukherjee's Junglee in 1961. It also saw the beginning of the New Cinema movement in 1969 with Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome.

With the rise of India's urban populations in the 1970s the cinema going audiences in the cities grew. Films took a new departure, away from romance and family/epic drama towards violence and revenge. Themes we recognise from British and American cinema of the 1960s and 1970s began to take over - Prakask Mehra's Zanjeerb (1973) was an "angry young man" tale and the mid seventies saw the massive popularity of the "curry westerns". The actors of the New Cinema also gained more popular appeal as its themes became more commercial.

The development and popularity of video technology during the 1980s hampered the Indian film industry as viewing habits changed forever. New films available almost immediately on video sent the public from the big to the small screen. This said the 1980s saw some financial and international success especially with the positive world-wide response to Mira Mair's Salaam Bombay. It also saw a bigger blurring of the distinctions between art and popular cinema.

A response to the televisual threat to Bollywood has been to reinforce the spectacle of cinema. In the 1990s the roots of Bollywood film-making in epic gradual and musical entertainment have been revisited with the success of films like Hum (1991), which had a hugely successful film tune. The Bollywood influence can also be seen in the long-running mythological television series Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The availability of films on video is still posing a threat to the industry, especially when combined with high ticket prices. This has resulted in a waning in productivity in recent years. As with other international film industries this has led to an increase in lower budget Independent movies aiming to capture a small but faithful arthouse audience. India's young Independent film makers have continued to explore "taboo" subjects such as sexuality, race, religion, politics and class. This has also affected the Indian film industry as some of the most highly critically acclaimed Indian movies of recent times, such as Deepa Mehta's Fire (1996), have yet to be shown in India due to strict censors.

EARTH - A BOLLYWOOD FILM?

Earth is not a traditional Bollywood movie. It is funded only in part with Bollywood money and has many links, in terms of style, with Western cinema.

Earth however utilises several aspects of Bollywood cinema. For example, Ice Candy Man is played by Aamir Kahn, one of Bollywood's biggest young stars. As we have seen the Star system in Indian Cinema is very strong. The integration of several art forms - singing, dancing, and music - is also a trait of the "Bollywood style" especially the scene where Ayah rides with Masseur on his bicycle. Here the extended use of a song to replace dialogue (the lyrics to the songs in Earth were written by Javed Akhtar, one of India's most prominent lyricists/poets) gives the sequence a particularly romantic feel.

Task

From your studies of the different Western and Bollywood characteristics of film making, try to list as many examples of each that you can from the film 'Earth'. Do you think that 'Earth' is more a Western film or a Bollywood film?

For further details see:
The Cinematic Imagination: Indian Popular Films as Social History  by Jyotika Virdi

Bollywood  by Nasreen Munni Kabir

Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema  by Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen