BOLLYWOOD

PART II

Bollywood films are multi-million dollar productions, with the most expensive productions costing up to 70 crores. Sets, costumes, special effects, and cinematography were not so expensive earlier, but exceptions are every where. As Western cinema gained wide distribution in India itself, there is increasing pressure for Bollywood films to attain the same production levels.  In short, in areas such as action and special effects. Bollywood has employed international technicians to improve in several areas of Hindi Cinema, such as Krrish, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Drona and Blue (forthcoming movies), the movies list is endless. The increasing accessibility to professional action and special effects, coupled with rising film budgets, has seen an explosion in the action and sci-fi genres. Sequences shot overseas have proved a real box office draw, so Mumbai film crews are increasingly filming in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, continental Europe and elsewhere. Nowadays, Indian producers are winning more and more funding for big-budget films shot within India as well, such as Lagaan, Devdas, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Kal Ho Na Ho and other recent super hit films. Funding for Bollywood films often comes from private distributors and a few large studios. Indian banks and financial institutions were forbidden from lending money to movie studios. However, now this ban has been lifted by the Government.  As finances are not regulated by the Financial Institutions, so some funds also arranged from illegitimate sources, such as Mumbai underworld. The Mumbai underworld has been known to be involved in the production of several films, and are notorious for their patronization of several prominent film personalities; On occasion, they have been known to use money and muscle power to get their way in cinematic deals. In the month of January, 2000, during the release time of 'Kaho Na Payar Hain' the Mumbai mafia hitmen shot Rakesh Roshan, film director and father of star Hrithik Roshan; it had been reported that he had refused to accept the conditions of underworld. In another case, the Central Bureau of Investigation seized all prints of the movie Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (a Salman Khan and Rani Mukherjee Starrer film) after the movie was found to be funded by members of the Mumbai underworld.  The film producers give the plea that the film industry has not been given the status of  an industry and the banks have never been ready to finance any film.  As a result the producer has to go to underworld to get the finances.   Bollywood is also facing another problem and i.e. of widespread copyright infringement of its films. Often, bootleg DVD copies of movies are available before the prints are officially released in cinemas. Manufacturing of duplicate DVD, VCD, and VHS copies of the latest movie titles is a well established ’small scale industry’ in parts of South Asia and South East Asia. In short, duplicate copies are the only way people in Pakistan can watch Bollywood movies, since the Government of Pakistan has banned their sale, distribution and telecast.  Films are frequently broadcast without proper compensation to the concerned film personalities by endless small cable TV Operators in India.  The availability of illegal copies of movies on the Internet also contributes to the piracy problem. Satellite TV, television and imported foreign films are making huge inroads into the domestic Indian entertainment market. In the past, most Bollywood films could make money; but now the situation is totally different. During this year hardly 3-4 films are declared hits  by the Trade Pundits, due to this piracy. But the Bollywood producers have adopted other ways to make money, recouping their investments from many sources of revenue, including selling ancillary rights. There are also increasing returns from theatres in Western countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, where Bollywood is slowly getting noticed. Since there is a majority of Indians in foreign countries, so they form a growing market for upscale Indian films in these countries.

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B  O  L  L  Y  W  O  O  D

THE CITY OF DREAM

(PART I)

The word "BOLLYWOOD" is popularly used for the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry in India. I think Bollywood is one of the biggest film industry in the world and the largest in terms of number of films produced only in India. In my opinion Bollywood is often used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; but I think that it is only a part of the Indian film industry.  Bollywood is commonly referred to as Hindi cinema. Now a days there is a growing number of films made entirely in English.

Raja Harishchandra was the first silent feature film made in India in the year 1913.  It was produced by the grandfather of Indian Cinema 'DADASAHEB PHALKE'. By the year 1930, the Indian film Industry was producing above 100 movies per annum. The first Indian sound film 'Alam Ara' was produced in 1931 was a hit movie, which was appreciated by the audience.  There is a long list of successful actors of India i.e. Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, and Raj Kapoor, Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan etc. etc. and actresses like Nargis, Meena Kumari, Nutan and Madhubala, Rekha, Hema Malini etc. etc..

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, romance movies and action films starred actors like Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra. In the mid-1970s, the position of romantic movies was captured by action movies.   This was the era of action movies. With the entrance of AMITABH BACHCHAN, the scene of Indian Cinema has totally changed. He is famous for his “angry young man” image and till now when he is aged about 65 years of old he is still doing different  kinds of roles in movies. There is a long list of his fans all over the world.  

The films of Bollywood are mostly musicals, and are expected to contain catchy music in the form of song-and-dance numbers written and added into the script. Songs and dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills ? all are mixed up in a three-hour-long duration with interval. Such movies are called masala movies. These movies are also a mixture of many things such as action, comedy, romance etc. Today a film’s success depends on the quality of such musical numbers. Now a days a film’s music (both audio and video) is often released before the movie itself and helps increase the number of audience. The Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as paisa vasool.

Bollywood employs people from all parts of India. It attracts thousands of new aspiring actors and actresses, who are hoping for a break in the industry. Models and beauty contestants, television actors, theatre actors and even common people come to Mumbai with the hope and dream of becoming a star. But it is bitter truth that very few of them succeed and others lost in the mob of people.

Stardom in the entertainment industry is very temporary, and Bollywood is no exception. The popularity of the stars can rise and fall rapidly. Directors compete to hire the most popular stars of the day, who are believed to guarantee the success of a movie (but this belief is not always right). It is bitter truth that many stars make the most of their fame, once they become popular, by making several movies simultaneously.

Bollywood films are watched with great love and enthusiasm in foreign countries, such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Russia, China, Canada, Japan,  Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Most Pakistanis watch Bollywood films (despite Government ban on Indian films), because the Pakistanis speak or at least understand Hindi. Instead of Government ban, few Bollywood films have been released there, such as Taj Mahal, Awarapan and recently super hit Emran Hashmi's Jannat. Besides this there is a huge market for Bollywood movies in local video stores too.

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