To me one of the most interesting film industries to observe is
Bollywood, as it churns out more movies than any other industry. There are
several misconceptions about Bollywood, the most famous one being that it
encompasses all Indian movies made. Movies made in the language of Hindi are
the only movies that truly fall under the Bollywood category.
Music in Bollywood Movies
Aside from the misconception that every Indian movie is part of
Bollywood, there are a also stereotypes that have been subscribed to Bollywood
movies, such as that every movie is really a musical. Another common stereotype
is that Bollywood movies on average are around three hours long. Both these
stereotypes are mainly true but over the recent years there have been several
movies that have abandoned the combination of songs and movie. Another trend is
a decrease in the number of songs per movie. Movies filmed during the 1980-2000
contained anywhere between five to seven songs, and these songs greatly
contributed to the running time of most Bollywood movies. At the turn of the
century, more and more movies ascribed lessening the running time of movies,
and this was mainly done by cutting songs out of the movie. The average
currently is anywhere between three to five songs per movie. Such changes are
fundamentally changing Bollywood, and one of the most notable aspects of the
decrease in the number in songs lies in the fact that the song is tied in to
the plot, so the story continues as the song occurs. A great example of this is
from the movie Don, where a character's assassination takes place as
a song goes on. The link to the song is above . The question now becomes, what
influenced this change?
Hollywood's effect on Bollywood
While there is not one clear answer, I personally think a lot of
it has to do with Hollywood's effect on Bollywood. In many ways Bollywood has
moved towards a more western approach regarding movies. Apart from several
movies that drew inspiration directly from Hollywood movies, Bollywood has been
trying to step up its game in the action movie department for quite some time.
While Hollywood currently holds the crown as the most slickly and best produced
action movies, Bollywood has been working to catch up to the standard, if not
set a new one. Focusing just on action movies alone, Indian action movies are
for the most part lackluster especially when compared to Hollywood movies. This
all began to change in 2004 when Dhoom came out. The movie took India by storm
and rightfully so, it was Bollywood's first attempt at making an action that
was able to compete with Hollywood movies. Sadly the movie's impact was limited
and Bollywood's action movies continued to be very few and far in
between. Other notable action movies that can be thrown in to the mix
include: Dhoom 2 and Don. Both those movies released in 2006 and after that
Bollywood saw a couple mildly successful action movies but nothing incredible.
One thing worth keeping in mind is that Bollywood movies budgets are way lesser
than that of Hollywood. While the most expensive Hollywood movie cost near 500
million dollars to make, the highest budgeted Bollywood movie was produced for
around 25 million dollars. This gives the directors a lot less to work with in
terms of money to spend towards special effects and action sequences. This is
one the reasons why Bollywood action movies cannot perform at the mark of
Hollywood movies. The most recent attempt at a superhero movie by Bollywood was
Ra.One. The link to the trailer is above.
