Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. Bollywood is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the Indian film industry. Bollywood is one of the largest film producers in the world. Bollywood films are mostly musicals, and are expected to contain catchy music in the form of song-and-dance numbers woven into the script. A film’s success often depends on the quality of such musical numbers. Indeed, a film’s music is often released before the movie itself and helps increase the audience. Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as paisa vasool, (literally, “money’s worth”). Songs and dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills — all are mixed up in a three-hour-long extravaganza with an intermission. Such movies are called masala films, after the Hindi word for a spice mixture. Like masalas, these movies are a mixture of many things. Bollywood plots have tended to be melodramatic. They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences. There have always been Indian films with more artistic aims and more sophisticated stories, both inside and outside the Bollywood tradition (see Art cinema in India). They often lost out at the box office to movies with more mass appeal. Bollywood conventions are changing, however. A large Indian diaspora in English speaking countries, and increased Western influence at home, have nudged Bollywood films closer to Hollywood models. Film kisses are no longer taboo. Plots now tend to feature Westernised urbanites dating and dancing in clubs rather than arranged marriages. The dancing in Bollywood films, especially older ones, is primarily modelled on Indian dance: classical dance styles, dances of historic northern Indian courtesans, or folk dances. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with Western dance styles (as seen on MTV or in Broadway musicals), though it is not unusual to see Western pop and pure classical dance numbers side by side in the same film. The hero or heroine will often perform with a troupe of supporting dancers. Many song-and-dance routines in Indian films feature unrealistically instantaneous shifts of location and/or changes of costume between verses of a song. If the hero and heroine dance and sing a pas-de-deux (a dance and ballet term, meaning “dance of two”), it is often staged in beautiful natural surroundings or architecturally grand settings. This staging is referred to as a “picturisation”.
Songs typically comment on the action taking place in the movie, in several ways. Sometimes, a song is worked into the plot, so that a character has a reason to sing; other times, a song is an externalization of a character’s thoughts, or presages an event that has not occurred yet in the plot of the movie. In this case, the event is almost always two characters falling in love.
Bollywood films have always used what are now called “item numbers”. A physically attractive female character (the “item girl”), often completely unrelated to the main cast and plot of the film, and performs a catchy song and dance number in the film. In older films, the “item number” may be performed by a courtesan dancing for a rich client or as part of a cabaret show.
For the last few decades Bollywood producers have been releasing the film’s soundtrack, as tapes or CDs, before the main movie release, hoping that the music will pull audiences into the cinema later. Often the soundtrack is more popular than the movie. In the last few years some producers have also been releasing music videos, usually featuring a song from the film. However, some promotional videos feature a song which is not included in the movie.
Over the years, Bollywood, whose annual output of over 800 films a year, and has sold 3.6 billion tickets, has shown progress in its popularity, and has been entering the consciousness of Western audiences and producers.
Bollywood in Asia: Bollywood films are watched in South Asian countries, such as Bangladesh , Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Most Pakistanis watch Bollywood films, in part because many Pakistanis speak or at least understand Hindi (due to its linguistic similarity to Urdu). Bollywood movies are watched on cable in Pakistan, and there is a huge market for Bollywood movies in local video stores.
Bollywood movies are popular in Afghanistan due to the country’s close proximity with the Indian subcontinent and certain cultural perspectives present in the movies. Several Bollywood actors have their roots connected to Afghanistan. A number of Bollywood movies were filmed inside.
Recently Bollywood has progressed in Israel. Special channels dedicated to Indian films have been displayed on cable. Indian films have been popular in a few Arab countries, particularly in the Gulf countries. Imported Indian films are usually dubbed in Arabic upon their release. Other Asian countries where Bollywood films are watched include Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and post-Soviet states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Bollywood in South Africa: The Indian population in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Morocco allows for box office successes for Bollywood products.
Bollywood in Russia and Western Europe: Bollywood films are particularly popular in the former Soviet Union. Bollywood films were being dubbed to Russian, and shown in prominent theatres such as Mosfilm and Lenfilm.
Bollywood in Western Europe and the Americas: Bollywood has experienced a marked growth in revenue in North American markets, and is particularly popular amongst the South Asian communities of the larger cities such as Chicago and New York City. In September 2005 Bollywood films in the United States earn around $100 million a year through theater screenings, video sales and the sale of movie soundtracks. In other words, films from India do more business in the United States than films from any other country. During the last decade, Bollywood films filmed in North America have largely been shot in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto.
Bollywood films are also performing well in the United Kingdom, where Bollywood films frequently enter the UK top ten. Bollywood is also appreciated in Germany as well as France. Various Bollywood movies are dubbed in German and shown on the German Television channel RTL II on a regular basis.
Bollywood is not as popular in South American countries, however it has its recognition in Caribbean nations with large Indian diasporas, such as Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago — all of which have people of Indian descent as a majority of their population. Bollywood culture and dance has also been recognized in Peru.
Bollywood in other countries: Bollywood is not as successful in Oceanic Countries such as New Guinea. However, it ranks second to Hollywood in countries such as Fiji, Australia and New Zealand.
Australia is one of the countries where there is a large South Asian Diaspora. Bollywood is popular amongst non-Asians in the country as well. Since 1997 the country has provided a backdrop for an increasing number of Bollywood films. Indian filmmakers have been attracted to Australia’s diverse locations and landscapes, and initially used it as the setting for song-and-dance sequences, which demonstrated the contrast between the values. However, nowadays, Australian locations are becoming more important to the plot of Bollywood films. Hindi films shot in Australia usually incorporate aspects of Australian lifestyle.
