(Institute Affiliation)
The Oxford English Dictionary defines Bollywood as, “a name for the Indian popular film industry, based in Mumbai (Bombay).” (Simpson and Weiner, Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom; 1989) The term was coined in the 1970’s as is a portmanteau of the words Hollywood and Bombay (name changed to Mumbai). The history of Bollywood is believed to date back to 1913 but Pamela Hutchinson in her article The Birth of India’s Film Industry: How the Movies Came to Mumbai states that it was Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdedar, a local photographer of Mumbai, who shot the first Hindi film in 1899. (Hutchinson, Pamela. “The Birth of India’s Film Industry: How the Movies Came to Mumbai”, The Guardian. Web. 27 Nov. 2014)
In 1913 Dadasaheb Phalke made the first ever commercial Indian film, Raja Harishchandra and with it there commenced an era of soundless films from 1913 to 1918. It was not until 1931 that the first “talkie” or movie with sound was made. The name of the film was Alam Ara and it was filmed by Ardeshir Irani. Alam Ara marked the beginning of the talkies which was met with great commercial success and opened a market for the Indian film industry. A popular web based source About Entertainment states that it was somewhere around 1927-1930 that colour started to appear in Hindi films. The source also informs that the number of production houses started mushrooming in Mumbai which increased the production of Hindi films from 108 in 1927 to 238 films in 1931. (“What is Bollywood: A Brief Summary of Indian Cinema from 1913 to the Present”, About Entertainment. Web. 27 Nov. 2014) The first Hindi color feature film to be produced in India was Kisan Kanya in 1937 which was produced by Adeshir Irani (the film pioneer who made the first Hindi feature film with sound) and was directed by Moti B. Gidvani. Kisan Kanya was a moderately successful film but it marked the beginning of color cinema in India.
The 1940s to 1960s was termed as the Golden Age of Hindi Cinema. During these two decades due to WWII and the Indian struggle for independence, the type of movies in terms of content focused more revolutionaries and freedom fighters. The topic for film makers was influenced by the social issues that prevailed at the time. For example, Raj Kapoor’s Awaara and Shree, and Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa and Kaagaz ke Phool belonged to this genre. The medium of cinema was a good way to bring awareness to the audience which is what the film makers were trying to do. The genre of epic films came about at this time as well with movies such as Mother India made by Mehboob Khan and k. Asif’s legendary Mughal-e-Azam.
Simultaneously, while commercial cinema was gaining popularity, somewhere in the 1950s the trend of parallel cinema emerged, as stated in Wikipedia. (“Parallel Cinema”, Wikipedia.org. Web. 27. Nov 2014) Movies which belonged to this genre were predominantly led by Bengali film makers and the topics of the films were more serious in nature which addressed socio political issues. Film makers borrowed from literature as well, and the practice of adaptations began. There was no song and dance in this type of cinema. Examples of movies that were considered to be parallel cinema were Satyajit Ray’s Panther Panchali, Aparajito and The World of Apu to name a few. Stalwarts of parallel cinema apart from Satyajit Ray are Shyam Bengeal, Ritwik Ghatal, Bimal Roy Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Kwaja Ahmed Abbas, Chetan Anand, Guru Dutt and V.Shantaram.
The 1960s can be considered as the advent of modern cinema with the introduction of heroes such as Dharmedra, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Anil Kapoor. These heroes portrayed the role of the modern hero who was an amalgamation of the classic hero (strong, courageous and moral) and the romantic hero. This period also gave birth to many romance based films or action packed films. The title of the angry young man was termed to describe Amitabh Bachchan’s roles in movies such as Deewar and Agneepath to name a few. This trend continues until the 1990s. During this period Shyam Benegal continues to operate within parallel cinema.
The 1990s were a period where Bollywood welcomed a new generation of superstars such as Amir Khan, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan and actresses such as Sri Devi, Kajol, Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. The music in this period started taking precedence in the films and the plot became more family centric romantic musicals such as Qayamat se Qayamat tak, Maine Pyar Kiya, Dil and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Action and comedy films too were running successfully and actors such as Govinda, Raveena Tandon and Karishma Kapoor were appearing in popular comedy films. Akshay Kumar (also known as Bollywood’s Jackie Chan) became well known for his action films and stunts in his Khiladi series. Parallel cinema continued to exist alongside commercial cinema and new film makers such as Ram Gopal Verma and Anurag Kashyap entered the Bollywood scene with films like Satya and Mumbai Mirror. Actors critically acclaimed for their roles in parallel cinema are Nana Patekar, Maoj Bajpai, Urmila Matondkar, Tabu and Manisha Koirala.
Then came the 2000s wherein continued the trend of romantic family centric films, action films and comedy films. A new age of actors such as Hritihik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Saif Ail Khan, Shahid Kapoor Rani Mukherjee, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Kareena Kapoor and Prriyanka Chopra entered the scenes of Bollywood. Some popular films during the time till 2010 are Kal Ho Na Ho, Veer Zara, Hum Tum, Dhoom, Dhoom 2, Koi Mil Gaya and Krish. This decade saw the rise of sci-fi movies/superhero based films such as Koi Mil Gaya and Krish made by film maker Rakesh Roshan, with actor Hrithik Roshan playing the lead role. Also, the use of special effects and visual effects improved, which made the quality of movies almost at par with Hollywood movies. For instance, director Rakesh Roshan hired a team of action and stunt directors from Hollywood.
There is another category of movies which fall in the genre of comedy, but the humor in these movies is vulgar and filled with sexual innuendos (similar to Hollywood’s American Pie series). These movies gave birth to actors such as Ritesh Deshmukh and Tusshar Kapoor among other small time comedian actors. There have also been intelligent comedy films such as Bheja Fry where the humor is sarcastic and dry.
The last four years (2010 through 2014), Bollywood has produced a second new-age generation of actors and actresses such as Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone, Parineeti Chopra, Arjun Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Imran Khan, Vidya Balan and Katrina Kaif.. The content of the films during this period is more risky with regards to content, language and clothing. Scenes involving sexual activity and kissing are shown on screen unlike the earlier decades where there was none. The Dirty Picture was one such movie which transcended all barriers of Bollywood. Romantic comedy emerged as a genre with the young generation as the lead actors. The topics chosen by film makers are about love, sex and relationships that end on a sweet note are similar to Hollywood rom-coms. Examples of such movies are, Jab We Met, Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, Band Baja Baarat, Shudh Desi Romance, I Hate Luv Storys, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, etc.
The parallel cinema in this period started picking issues which were more controversial and that broke social taboos. Bombay Talkies was one such movie which portrayed short stories by four different film makers. One of the topics covered was homosexuality. Also film makers like Anurag Kashyap, Madhur Bhandarkar, Prakash Jha, made films that portrayed certain aspects of society. For example, Fashion followed the lives of models struggling to thrive in the fashion industry whereas Page 3 unmasked the hypocrisy which exists in the upper class of Indian society.
One of the main components of a Bollywood movie is the song and dance. The songs are originally pre recorded by the singers and then they are shot. While shooting a song the actor and actress lip sync along with the song. The choreography of the songs too is paid attention to and there is a separate director for the song and dance sequence, known as the choreographer. Dance too has evolved through the ages. Earlier the dances were more predominant in the classical style of dance whereas the dance forms today have matured and choreographers have gained expertise in dance forms such as contemporary, jazz, free style, hip-hop, twerking, etc. which have gotten its influences from the Western culture. Eminent choreographers of today are Saroj Khan, Farah Khan, Remo D’Souza, Prabhu Deva among others. Saroj Khan and Farah Khan are known for their more classical and traditional style of dancing whereas the latter two are known for hip and hop. The purpose of the song and dance is to add an element of entertainment in the movies and the songs may appear as a ballad, a dream sequence or when characters are in conversation, which is similar to the purpose songs have in Broadway musicals. Bollywood is also known to give birth to songs that are termed as item numbers. These item numbers usually have a physically attractive actress dancing seductively; this is merely a promotional stunt on the part of film makers to attract eyeballs.
Bollywood is known to be filled with melodramatic situations, emotions and dialogues. Bollywood films are emotionally intense and the gestures are loud where the actors make a lot of hand gestures while speaking to one another. There is quite a lot of tear shedding by both actors as well as actresses which is a trait unique to Bollywood. The dialogues too can be filled with intensity, drama and cheese similar to those of popular romantic Hollywood movies. The purpose of the actual Bollywood movie also known as a Bollywood Blockbuster or Masala movie is to entertain the masses of India. The content is usually light, filled with item numbers, has a classical hero fighting against the villain and the hero may or may not have a love interest. It is a perfect mix of comedy, action and romance. Bollywood masala movies include Om Shanti Om, Main Hoon Na, Zanjeer, Amar Akbar Anthony among many others.
In conclusion, the Bollywood too has had an impact on Hollywood movies. For example, the musical Moulin Rouge took inspiration from Bollywood musicals as per Bax Luhrman. There was a song and Bollywood inspired dance sequence that was part of the movie. Other movies which are similar to the format of Bollywood are Mama Mia, Across the Universe, Dreamgirls, etc. Broadway too is similar in concept to Bollywood films where there is a plot which is narrated through song and dance.
As far as the people of Bollywood influencing Hollywood is concerned, music composer A.R. Rahman won an Oscar for composing the music for Danny Boyle’s movie Slumdog Millionaire. Actors such as Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, have been part of Hollywood films such as Mission Impossible III, Bend it Like Beckham, Water, Hollywood Bollywood and Bride and Prejudice.
According to Wikipedia, “Bollywood is one of the largest film producers in India and one of the largest centres of film production in the world” (“Bollywood”, Wikipedia.org. Web 27 Nov, 2014) hence with the evolution of Bollywood, today the industry has become one of the biggest opportunities in terms of employment. At the beginning, due to budget limitations the team working on a particular movie was small but gradually as the industry began to flourish and gain commercial success the number of people required grew. This demand for people has also led to multiple film schools that teach film studies; earlier there used to be only FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) where only a few number of students enrolled but today the enrolment numbers have increased.
List of sources
- “Bollywood”, Wikipedia.org. Web. 27 Nov. 2014
- Hutchinson, Pamela. “The Birth of India’s Film Industry: How the Movies Came to Mumbai”, The Guardian. Web. 27 Nov. 2014
- “Parallel Cinema”, Wikipedia.org. Web. 27. Nov 2014
- Simpson and Weiner, Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom; 1989
- “What is Bollywood: A Brief Summary of Indian Cinema from 1913 to the Present”, About Entertainment. Web. 27 Nov. 2014
