Bollywood (Hindi: बॉलीवुड, Urdu: بالی وڈ) is the informal term popularly used for 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, producing more than 1,000 films a year,[1] with ticket sales of 3.6 billion.[2]
The name is a portmanteau of Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, the center of the American film industry. However, unlike Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as a real physical place. Though some deplore the name, arguing that it makes the industry look like a poor cousin to Hollywood, it seems likely to persist and now has its own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Bollywood is commonly referred to as Hindi cinema, even though Hindustani, the substratum common to both Hindi and Urdu, might be more accurate. Bollywood consists of the languages of Hindi, Urdu and English. The use of poetic Urdu words is fairly common. There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well. It is not uncommon to see films that feature dialogue with English words and phrases, even whole sentences. There are a growing number of English films.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Queen of Bollywood
Indian leading lady and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai leads the charge as a hipper, edgier, more professional Bollywood bidsThe reason was not hard to fathom.
However deep the artistic void that gave the world Death Wish V or Police Academy 7, Bollywood has long outdone Hollywood for formula and cliché. After a two-decade-long golden age that produced films such as Mother India (1957) and Sholay (1975), the industry slipped into a succession of hackneyed action flicks and copycat song-and-dance romances made under a factory ethic in which actors worked on five, 10, even 15 films at a time. Remakes and plagiaries of Hollywood were routine, scripts were almost unheard of, and cast and crew often took the same characters, shots and dance steps from one production to another. The love stories were particularly indistinct: thousands of boys met thousands of girls (songs of joy!), broke up (songs of sorrow!), reunited (joy!) and led a cast of hundreds to a meadow outside Zurich for a leaping, ululating and face-achingly joyous finale. Actors sleepwalked through careers. "You can't imagine what it was like," says Anupam Kher, star of 290 films in 18 years, who reprises his role as the father from Bend it Like Beckham in Bride and Prejudice. "After the whole fame thing wears off, you begin to wonder, 'Really, what the hell am I doing?'" Even domestic audiences complained, including India's leader. "Why do our films stick to stereotype?" lamented Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after seeing Devdas, which for all its well-deserved critical praise, was still the 12th version of the same love story since the original 1928 silent movie. By mid-2002, Bollywood was largely a commercial concern—to this day, critics rate films and actors almost entirely by box-office pull—of little interest to anyone outside South Asia, except homesick migrants and the odd film buff.
1 2 3 Next for global dominance
However deep the artistic void that gave the world Death Wish V or Police Academy 7, Bollywood has long outdone Hollywood for formula and cliché. After a two-decade-long golden age that produced films such as Mother India (1957) and Sholay (1975), the industry slipped into a succession of hackneyed action flicks and copycat song-and-dance romances made under a factory ethic in which actors worked on five, 10, even 15 films at a time. Remakes and plagiaries of Hollywood were routine, scripts were almost unheard of, and cast and crew often took the same characters, shots and dance steps from one production to another. The love stories were particularly indistinct: thousands of boys met thousands of girls (songs of joy!), broke up (songs of sorrow!), reunited (joy!) and led a cast of hundreds to a meadow outside Zurich for a leaping, ululating and face-achingly joyous finale. Actors sleepwalked through careers. "You can't imagine what it was like," says Anupam Kher, star of 290 films in 18 years, who reprises his role as the father from Bend it Like Beckham in Bride and Prejudice. "After the whole fame thing wears off, you begin to wonder, 'Really, what the hell am I doing?'" Even domestic audiences complained, including India's leader. "Why do our films stick to stereotype?" lamented Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after seeing Devdas, which for all its well-deserved critical praise, was still the 12th version of the same love story since the original 1928 silent movie. By mid-2002, Bollywood was largely a commercial concern—to this day, critics rate films and actors almost entirely by box-office pull—of little interest to anyone outside South Asia, except homesick migrants and the odd film buff.
1 2 3 Next for global dominance
EntertainmentI don't think Shah Rukh ever was 'King Khan': Aamir
New Delhi (IANS): Keeping up his swipes at superstar Shah Rukh Khan and the No.1 slot in Bollywood, Aamir Khan, riding on the super success of his revenge drama Ghajini, has said he never thought Shah Rukh was ever on the top pedestal at all.
He also said the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire failed to "touch" him.
Aamir, during CNN's special edition of Talk Asia, was asked how he feels about being termed the new 'King Khan' after the success of Ghajini. He replied: "I had absolutely no intention of kicking Shah Rukh off his pedestal. Though I have to say, I don't think he ever was on it."
Elaborating, Aamir said: "In my opinion, the actor who I really look up to is Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. He is someone whose work I really like, a fantastic actor and the kind of stardom Mr. Bachchan has seen, none of us can ever hope to see."
The 44-year-old actor, whose latest work, the Hindi remake of Tamil film also named Ghajini, was a success at the box office, says he feels satisfied with his films only if they turn out to be as they are intended.
"You can never really tell until you see a film with the audience. How it is going to play with the audience. For me, what is important is that when I see the film once it is ready, has it turned out the way we wanted it to? If we have done that, then that makes me feel happy," he said.
Aamir, whose own directorial debut film Taare Zameen Par, failed to get nominated in the foreign film category at the 81st Annual Academy Awards this year, says that Slumdog Millionaire failed to "touch" him.
"I thought the movie was well intended. It was a very sincere attempt, but it didn't touch me personally, and I suspect it because I'm not used to watching Indians speak English, all these slum kids talking in English... it's strange," said Aamir.
He also said the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire failed to "touch" him.
Aamir, during CNN's special edition of Talk Asia, was asked how he feels about being termed the new 'King Khan' after the success of Ghajini. He replied: "I had absolutely no intention of kicking Shah Rukh off his pedestal. Though I have to say, I don't think he ever was on it."
Elaborating, Aamir said: "In my opinion, the actor who I really look up to is Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. He is someone whose work I really like, a fantastic actor and the kind of stardom Mr. Bachchan has seen, none of us can ever hope to see."
The 44-year-old actor, whose latest work, the Hindi remake of Tamil film also named Ghajini, was a success at the box office, says he feels satisfied with his films only if they turn out to be as they are intended.
"You can never really tell until you see a film with the audience. How it is going to play with the audience. For me, what is important is that when I see the film once it is ready, has it turned out the way we wanted it to? If we have done that, then that makes me feel happy," he said.
Aamir, whose own directorial debut film Taare Zameen Par, failed to get nominated in the foreign film category at the 81st Annual Academy Awards this year, says that Slumdog Millionaire failed to "touch" him.
"I thought the movie was well intended. It was a very sincere attempt, but it didn't touch me personally, and I suspect it because I'm not used to watching Indians speak English, all these slum kids talking in English... it's strange," said Aamir.
An assignment on Bollywood
Hanging out with Shah Rukh Khan was great fun. He told me about the kind of bizarre scripts people propose to him. In one story idea given to him by a politician, Shah Rukh's character dies. But there is no human body available for reincarnation. So he is born again as a dog. After nine months, he falls in love with a woman. The politician had spent hundreds of thousands of rupees buying puppies and training them. He had many books about dogs on his table. I asked Shah Rukh if he was expected to act as the dog. In answer, he scratched his ear rapidly with his paw.
Getting a visa to go to Pakistan from India was most annoying. I had to travel to New Delhi from Mumbai, or Bombay, to get the visa because the Pakistani consulate hasn't opened in India's biggest city. A Pakistani High Commission clerk told me—after looking at my American passport—that I would have to get an official letter of reference from the U.S. Embassy. I dutifully trudged to the embassy where, after a thorough frisking, I was given a stamped letter stating that the U.S. Embassy had stopped issuing such letters years ago; my passport should be sufficient proof of my citizenship. I hurried back to the High Commission before it closed and gave the letter to the clerk, who seemed placated by any sort of paper with the United States seal on it. I received my visa that evening. It was a nonsensical ritual, but it pales in comparison to the ordeal citizens of India and Pakistan face in order to visit their relatives across the border or see the Taj Mahal or the Badshami Mosque in Lahore. Both governments do their utmost to make it as difficult as possible for their citizens to travel across the border.
A Pakistani starlet was being introduced at a press conference in a Lahore hotel. "With this film," she declared, "I have made a U-turn in my career." "That would mean," the master of ceremonies noted, "that you're back where you started."
Top
Getting a visa to go to Pakistan from India was most annoying. I had to travel to New Delhi from Mumbai, or Bombay, to get the visa because the Pakistani consulate hasn't opened in India's biggest city. A Pakistani High Commission clerk told me—after looking at my American passport—that I would have to get an official letter of reference from the U.S. Embassy. I dutifully trudged to the embassy where, after a thorough frisking, I was given a stamped letter stating that the U.S. Embassy had stopped issuing such letters years ago; my passport should be sufficient proof of my citizenship. I hurried back to the High Commission before it closed and gave the letter to the clerk, who seemed placated by any sort of paper with the United States seal on it. I received my visa that evening. It was a nonsensical ritual, but it pales in comparison to the ordeal citizens of India and Pakistan face in order to visit their relatives across the border or see the Taj Mahal or the Badshami Mosque in Lahore. Both governments do their utmost to make it as difficult as possible for their citizens to travel across the border.
A Pakistani starlet was being introduced at a press conference in a Lahore hotel. "With this film," she declared, "I have made a U-turn in my career." "That would mean," the master of ceremonies noted, "that you're back where you started."
Top
For sheer pizzazz—and number of pictures produced—India's over-the-top film industry, known as Bollywood, easily out-hollywoods Hollywood.
Yash has just come back from a scouting trip in Switzerland, where, he boasts, he didn't spend a single franc because the Swiss government hosted him. "Everything on the house," he says with the glee of a producer who's spent his life making budgets stretch. The Swiss have given him an award for the contribution his films have made to tourism, and a lake where he often shoots is known as Chopra Lake. Now in Mumbai a crew of hundreds is working through the night to complete the scene in which Veer brings his sweetheart home. Next to Yash on the set is Amitabh Bachchan, the actor who is playing Veer's uncle. A larger-than-life figure in Bollywood for decades, Amitabh was ranked the "greatest star of stage or screen" in a BBC online vote in 1999, winning out over Chaplin, Olivier, and Brando. He is sitting on four plastic chairs stacked on top of each other, their arms bound by packing tape, because he needs a high chair to keep his long legs comfortable. When Amitabh gets up to dance with the others, it seems slightly undignified, this icon of the cinema—and hero of my childhood—having to perform MTV-inspired dances at the age of 63. The moves seem slightly stale to me: The dancers throw their arms about, twirl, throw out their arms again. But when Amitabh comes back to his improvised throne and watches the replay of the song on a monitor, he's clearly pleased. "We are too much," he says, laughing. "We are unbelievable!" Get the whole story in the pages of National Geographic magazine.
Futre of Bollywood
What makes Bollywood films unusual? Bollywood films are really colourful and crammed with singing, dancing, loads of costume changes.
The also used to stick to a formula of boy meets girl, they fall in love and they struggle for family approval.
There's also always a hero, a heroine, a vamp and a comedy sidekick.
Romance is big but there's no snogginWho are the big stars? Arjun Rampal is a Bollywood heart-throb. He's been making films for four or five years, and famously starred in Pyar Ishq Aur Mohabbat.
Click here to read our interview with Arjun Rampal
One of the biggest Bollywood actors is Amitabh Bhachan. He's been starring Indian films for over 30 years and has been compared to Hollywood's Robert De Niro.
Click here to read our interview with Amitabh Bhachan
Salman Khan is also very popular and got his big break playing in Maine Pyar KiyagWhat's the future for Bollywood? The future looks even brighter for Bollywood. Big US film companies such as Warner Bros and Twentieth Century Fox are setting up offices in India.
Where Indian film makers have found it difficult to compete with Hollywood's special effects, this is seen as the next big area for Bollywood to develop.
The also used to stick to a formula of boy meets girl, they fall in love and they struggle for family approval.
There's also always a hero, a heroine, a vamp and a comedy sidekick.
Romance is big but there's no snogginWho are the big stars? Arjun Rampal is a Bollywood heart-throb. He's been making films for four or five years, and famously starred in Pyar Ishq Aur Mohabbat.
Click here to read our interview with Arjun Rampal
One of the biggest Bollywood actors is Amitabh Bhachan. He's been starring Indian films for over 30 years and has been compared to Hollywood's Robert De Niro.
Click here to read our interview with Amitabh Bhachan
Salman Khan is also very popular and got his big break playing in Maine Pyar KiyagWhat's the future for Bollywood? The future looks even brighter for Bollywood. Big US film companies such as Warner Bros and Twentieth Century Fox are setting up offices in India.
Where Indian film makers have found it difficult to compete with Hollywood's special effects, this is seen as the next big area for Bollywood to develop.
A matrimony website claims to offer Bollywood look-alikes as brides or grooms
Perfect marriages are no longer made in heaven. If a matrimonial website has its way, they will be made online. And that too with someone who resembles your favourite movie star.
Find your mate: A webshot of the matrimony siteThe portal, using a new software, claims to do a facial search of the person you are looking for and offers the closest match. Cashing in on the Indian obsession with Bollywood, the website says it provides star look-alikes. So, if you want your bride to look like Aishwarya Rai, the site will search its database to throw up options of candidates who resemble the star the most. And the Bachchan bahu is the most popular choice. "Aishwarya Rai is a clear favourite. But actress Asin too has gained after her film Ghajini's success," said an official from the website, wishing anonymity.The face recognition technology works on geometrical dimensions of a face, measures distances between features and matches the data with photographs of candidates. However, the process, which is similar to the face restructuring technology used by the police department, may throw up a few shocking references too. "I searched for girls who resembled Sameera Reddy. But the candidates the website's facial search engine offered, were not even close to my favourite actress," said Amit, an HR professional from Gurgaon
Find your mate: A webshot of the matrimony siteThe portal, using a new software, claims to do a facial search of the person you are looking for and offers the closest match. Cashing in on the Indian obsession with Bollywood, the website says it provides star look-alikes. So, if you want your bride to look like Aishwarya Rai, the site will search its database to throw up options of candidates who resemble the star the most. And the Bachchan bahu is the most popular choice. "Aishwarya Rai is a clear favourite. But actress Asin too has gained after her film Ghajini's success," said an official from the website, wishing anonymity.The face recognition technology works on geometrical dimensions of a face, measures distances between features and matches the data with photographs of candidates. However, the process, which is similar to the face restructuring technology used by the police department, may throw up a few shocking references too. "I searched for girls who resembled Sameera Reddy. But the candidates the website's facial search engine offered, were not even close to my favourite actress," said Amit, an HR professional from Gurgaon
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