Not Very Bollywood At All

As I write this, I no longer watch Bollywood films anymore. portrayed in a mainstream Bollywood movie will sound and talk the same, with all.
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Not Rated min Crime, Drama, History. Saketh Ram's wife is raped and killed during direct action day riots in Calcutta. He is convinced that Mahatma Gandhi is responsible for all the problems happening in the country and sets out to kill him. Four friends Luke, Murgi, Joy and Pondy wasted by youth and self destruction play together in a band along with a fifth female member Shiuli.

Luke the lead singer and self-imposed Not Rated min Action, Crime, Drama. Five substance-abusing friends decide to fake a kidnapping in order to bribe a police constable for covering-up a hit-and-run accident. Black Friday is a film about the investigations following the serial Bombay bomb blasts, told through the different stories of the people involved --police, conspirators, victims, middlemen. A law student witnesses deception, homicide, and crime after being elected as General Secretary of his college.

Not Rated min Drama. Expelled from his school, a year old boy returns home to his abusive and oppressive father. Not Rated min Drama, Fantasy, Mystery. A surreal story about a man, his addiction of smoking, and a mysterious and powerful organisation, which claims to cure such addictions, though through very unusual ways. PG min Drama, Romance. A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.

Six different stories, about nine people, each with different issues and problems, all occurring within one place: Not Rated min Crime, Drama, Romance. A Hindi feature film set in the lower depths of Bombay's "C" grade film industry. Miss Lovely follows the devastating story of two brothers who produce sleazy horror films in the mids. Not Rated min Biography, Crime, Drama.

The account of Human Rights lawyer Shahid Azmi, an ordinary citizen with an extraordinary commitment to justice. A rookie cop questions the tactics of his superior, and attempts to track the abductors of his girlfriend. Not Rated 95 min Comedy, Drama. An impoverished farmer's threat to end his life invites attention from politicians and media.

Anusha Rizvi , Mahmood Farooqui Stars: Not Rated min Action, Drama, War. Set in the turbulence of the s British India, a 14 year old boy, Jhunku, and his journey to find where he belongs. For the first time in Indian history, the British army is defeated by The intrigue of the Shakespearean tragedy 'Macbeth' is transposed to the Mumbai underworld.

A comic thriller about two people who miss the last local train at 1: Not Rated min Drama, Romance. 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. Bollywood films are multi-million dollar productions, with the most expensive productions costing up to 1 billion rupees roughly USD 20 million.

Why aren't more Bollywood films marketed in English? | Film | The Guardian

The latest Science fiction movie Ra. One was made at an immense budget of 1. As Western films and television gain wider distribution in India itself, there is an increasing pressure for Bollywood films to attain the same production levels, particularly in areas such as action and special effects. Recent Bollywood films have employed international technicians to improve in these areas, such as Krrish which has action choreographed by Hong Kong based Tony Ching.

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.


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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 and other recent 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, this ban has now been lifted. The Mumbai underworld has been known to be involved in the production of several films, and are notorious for patronising 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 Central Bureau of Investigation seized all prints of the movie Chori Chori Chupke Chupke after the movie was found to be funded by members of the Mumbai underworld.

Another problem facing Bollywood is widespread copyright infringement of its films. Often, bootleg DVD copies of movies are available before the prints are officially released in cinemas. Besides catering to the homegrown market, demand for these copies is large amongst some sections of the Indian diaspora , too. In fact, bootleg 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 compensation by countless small cable TV companies in India and other parts of South Asia. Small convenience stores run by members of the Indian diaspora in the US and the UK regularly stock tapes and DVDs of dubious provenance, while consumer copying adds to the problem. The availability of illegal copies of movies on the Internet also contributes to the industry's losses.

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; now fewer tend to do so. However, most Bollywood producers 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. As more Indians migrate to these countries, they form a growing market for upscale Indian films.

For a comparison of Hollywood and Bollywood financial figures, see chart. It shows tickets sold in and total revenue estimates. Many Indian artists used to make a living by hand-painting movie billboards and posters The well-known artist M. Hussain used to paint film posters early in his career. This was because human labour was found to be cheaper than printing and distributing publicity material.

The old hand-painted posters, once regarded as ephemera, are becoming increasingly collectible as folk art. Releasing the film music, or music videos, before the actual release of the film can also be considered a form of advertising. A popular tune is believed to help pull audiences into the theatres. Bollywood publicists have begun to use the Internet as a venue for advertising. Most of the better-funded film releases now have their own websites, where browsers can view trailers, stills, and information about the story, cast, and crew. Bollywood is also used to advertise other products.

Product placement , as used in Hollywood, is widely practised in Bollywood. Bollywood movie stars appear in print and television advertisements for other products, such as watches or soap see Celebrity endorsement. Advertisers say that a star endorsement boosts sales. With the increasing prominence of international setting such as Switzerland, London, Paris, New York, Brazil, Singapore and so on, it does not entail that the people and cultures residing in these exotic settings are represented.

Contrary to these spaces and geographies being filmed as they are, they are actually Indianized by adding Bollywood actors and Hindi speaking extras to them. While immersing in Bollywood films, viewers get to see their local experiences duplicated in different locations around the world. Rao states that "Media representation can depict India's shifting relation with the world economy, but must retain its 'Indianness' in moments of dynamic hybridity", [] where "Indianness" refers to the cultural identity and political affiliation.

With Bollywood's popularity among diasporic audiences, "Indianness" poses a problem, but at the same time, it gives back to its homeland audience, a sense of uniqueness from other immigrant groups. The Filmfare Awards ceremony is one of the most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The ceremony was referred to as the Clare Awards after the magazine's editor. Modelled after the poll-based merit format of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , individuals may submit their votes in separate categories.

1. It is full of cliches that haven't changed over the years.

A dual voting system was developed in The National Film Awards were introduced in These awards are handed out at an annual ceremony presided over by the President of India. Under this system, in contrast to the National Film Awards, which are decided by a panel appointed by Indian Government, the Filmfare Awards are voted for by both the public and a committee of experts. Most of these award ceremonies are lavishly staged spectacles, featuring singing, dancing, and numerous celebrities.

Besides being popular among the South Asian diaspora , in far off locations, from Nigeria and Senegal to Egypt and Russia , generations of non-Indian fans have grown up with Bollywood over the decades, bearing witness to the cross-cultural appeal of Indian films. Over the last years of the 20th century and beyond, Bollywood progressed in its popularity as it entered the consciousness of Western audiences and producers, [96] [] with Western actors now actively seeking roles in Bollywood movies.

Bollywood films are widely watched in other South Asian countries, including Nepal and Pakistan. In these countries, Hindi-Urdu is widely understood. Many Pakistanis watch Bollywood films, as they understand Hindi due to its linguistic similarity to Urdu. However, trade in unlicensed DVDs [] and illegal cable broadcasts ensured the continued popularity of Bollywood releases in Pakistan.

Exceptions were made for a few films, such as the colorised re-release of the classic Mughal-e-Azam or the film Taj Mahal. Early in , the Pakistani government eased the ban and allowed the import of even more movies; 16 were screened in The new policy is opposed by nationalists and representatives of Pakistan's small film industry but is embraced by cinema owners, who are making profits after years of low receipts.

The most popular female actress there was Madhuri Dixit ; [] at India-Pakistan cricket matches in the s, many Pakistani fans frequently chanted the slogan, " Madhuri dedo, Kashmir lelo! Bollywood films are very popular in Nepal, to the extent that Bollywood films earn more than Nepali films there. Actors such as Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan are most popular in Nepal, with their films having audiences fully pack cinema halls across the country.

Bollywood films also very popular in Afghanistan , due to the country's proximity to the Indian subcontinent and cultural similarities present in the films. For example, India seems to share a similar style of music and musical instruments with Afghanistan. Bollywood is also fairly popular in Thailand. In Indonesia, due to Indian cultural ties , Bollywood films have been popular in the country, where they were first introduced at the end of World War II in The "angry young man" films of Amitabh Bachchan and Salim-Javed were popular in the s and s, before Bollywood's popularity gradually began declining in the s and s.

Bollywood experienced a revival in Indonesia with the release of Shah Rukh Khan's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in , becoming a bigger box-office success there than Titanic In Japan, several Hindi films have a cult following there, such as the films directed by Guru Dutt. Some Hindi movies had success in China back in the s and s, and are still popular among older generations of Chinese in the present.

Some of the popular Hindi films in the region included Dr. In China, the few Indian films to gain commercial success there during the s—s included Awaara , Tahir Hussain 's Caravan , Noorie , and Disco Dancer Rahman to score the soundtrack for his film Warriors of Heaven and Earth When 3 Idiots released in China, the country was only the 15th largest film market, partly due to China's widespread pirate DVD distribution at the time. However, it was the pirate market that introduced 3 Idiots to most Chinese audiences, becoming a cult hit in the country.

It became China's 12th favourite film of all time, according to ratings on Chinese film review site Douban , with only one domestic Chinese film Farewell My Concubine ranked higher.

Aamir Khan gained a large growing Chinese fanbase as a result. However, it ranks second to Hollywood in countries such as Fiji , with its large Indian minority, as well as 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. The Yash Raj Film Salaam Namaste became the first Indian film to be shot entirely in Australia and was the most successful Bollywood film of in the country. India and Singh Is Kinng which turned out to be box office successes.

Indian films were popular in the Soviet Union , more so than Hollywood films [] [] and occasionally even domestic Soviet films. Ashok Sharma, Indian Ambassador to Suriname , who has served three times in the Commonwealth of Independent States region during his diplomatic career said:. As there was no means of other cheap entertainment, the films from Bollywood provided the Soviets a cheap source of entertainment as they were supposed to be non-controversial and non-political.

Bollywood Non-Stop Comedy Scenes - Back to Back Comedy - Johnny Lever - Arshad Warsi - Indian Comedy

The films from India, which were also recovering from the disaster of partition and the struggle for freedom from colonial rule, were found to be a good source of providing hope with entertainment to the struggling masses. The aspirations and needs of the people of both countries matched to a great extent. These films were dubbed in Russian and shown in theatres throughout the Soviet Union. The films from Bollywood also strengthened family values, which was a big factor for their popularity with the government authorities in the Soviet Union.

The film Mera Naam Joker , sought to cater to such an appeal and the popularity of Raj Kapoor in Russia, when it recruited Russian actress Kseniya Ryabinkina for the movie. In the contemporary era, Lucky: No Time for Love was shot entirely in Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet film distribution system, Hollywood occupied the void created in the Russian film market.

However, Russian newspapers report that there is a renewed interest in Bollywood among young Russians. Shah Rukh Khan has become a household name in Poland, and Bollywood films are often covered in the largest Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. Hindi films have been popular in Arab countries , including Palestine , Jordan , Egypt , and the Gulf countries.

Since the early s, Bollywood has progressed in Israel. Special channels dedicated to Indian films have been displayed on cable television. In Egypt, Bollywood films used to be very popular in the s and s. In however, Bollywood films were restricted to only a handful of films by the Egyptian government. Bollywood movies are regularly screened in Dubai cinemas because of the high demand. Recently in Turkey, Bollywood has been gaining popularity as Barfi! Bollywood movies are not influential in many countries of South America, though Bollywood culture and dance is recognised.

However, due to significant South Asian diasporic communities in Suriname [] and Guyana , Hindi-language movies are popular. Historically, Hindi films have been distributed to some parts of Africa, largely by Lebanese businessmen. Mother India , for example, continued to be played in Nigeria decades after its release. Indian movies have also gained ground so as to alter the style of Hausa fashions, songs have also been copied by Hausa singers and stories have influenced the writings of Nigerian novelists. Stickers of Indian films and stars decorate taxis and buses in Northern Nigeria, while posters of Indian films adorn the walls of tailor shops and mechanics' garages in the country.

Unlike in Europe and North America where Indian films largely cater to the expatriate Indian market yearning to keep in touch with their homeland, in West Africa, as in many other parts of the world, such movies rose in popularity despite the lack of a significant Indian audience, where movies are about an alien culture, based on a religion wholly different, and, for the most part, a language that is unintelligible to the viewers.

One such explanation for this lies in the similarities between the two cultures. Other similarities include wearing turbans; the presence of animals in markets; porters carrying large bundles, chewing sugar cane; youths riding Bajaj motor scooters; wedding celebrations, and so forth. With the strict Muslim culture, Indian movies were said to show "respect" toward women, where Hollywood movies were seen to have "no shame".

In Indian movies women were modestly dressed, men and women rarely kiss, and there is no nudity , thus Indian movies are said to "have culture" that Hollywood films lack. The latter choice was a failure because "they don't base themselves on the problems of the people," where the former is based socialist values and on the reality of developing countries emerging from years of colonialism.

Indian movies also allowed for a new youth culture to follow without such ideological baggage as "becoming western. Ominously, however, the popularity of old Bollywood versus a new, changing Bollywood seems to be diminishing the popularity on the continent. The changing style of Bollywood has begun to question such an acceptance. The new era features more sexually explicit and violent films. Nigerian viewers, for example, commented that older films of the s and s had culture to the newer, more westernised picturisations.

A greater globalised world worked in tandem with the sexualisation of Indian films so as to become more like American films, thus negating the preferred values of an old Bollywood and diminishing Indian soft power. Additionally, classic Bollywood actors like Kishore Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan have historically enjoyed popularity in Egypt and Somalia. The first Indian film to be released in the Western world , and get mainstream attention, was Aan , directed by Mehboob Khan , and starring Dilip Kumar and Nimmi.

It was subtitled in 17 languages and released in 28 countries, [] including the United Kingdom , [] United States , and France. The awareness of Hindi cinema is substantial in the United Kingdom, [] where they frequently enter the UK top ten. Bollywood is also appreciated in other Western European countries, such as France , Germany , the Netherlands , [] and the Scandinavian countries. The most recognized Indian actor in Germany is Shah Rukh Khan, who has had box-office success in the country, with films such as Don 2 [] and Om Shanti Om Bollywood has experienced a marked growth in revenue in Canada and the United States, particularly popular amongst the South Asian communities in large cities, such as Toronto , Chicago, and New York City.

Bollywood's immersion in the traditional Hollywood domain was further tied with such films as The Guru and Marigold: An Adventure in India trying to popularise the Bollywood-theme for Hollywood. Constrained by rushed production schedules and small budgets, some Bollywood writers and musicians have been known to resort to plagiarism. Ideas, plot lines, tunes or riffs have been copied from other Indian film industries or foreign films including Hollywood and other Asian films without acknowledgement of the original source. This has led to criticism towards the film industry. Before the s, this could be done with impunity.

Copyright enforcement was lax in India and few actors or directors ever saw an official contract. Audiences may also not have been aware of the plagiarism since many audiences in India were unfamiliar with foreign films and music. One of the common justifications of plagiarism in Bollywood in the media is that producers often play a safer option by remaking popular Hollywood films in an Indian context.

Screenwriters generally produce original scripts, but due to financial uncertainty and insecurity over the success of a film many were rejected. He said, "Financially, I would be more secure knowing that a particular piece of work has already done well at the box office. Copying is endemic everywhere in India. Our TV shows are adaptations of American programmes.

We want their films, their cars, their planes, their Diet Cokes and also their attitude. The American way of life is creeping into our culture. There's no such thing as originality in the creative sphere". There have been very few cases of film copyright violations taken to court because of serious delays in the legal process, and due to the long time they take to decide a case. The makers of Partner and Zinda have been targeted by the owners and distributors of the original films, Hitch and Oldboy.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the Hindi film industry. For the entire film culture of India, see Cinema of India. For the tree species, see Bollywood tree. Mythology folklore Indian epic poetry Vedic mythology Buddhist mythology. Music and performing arts.

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The screenwriting duo Salim-Javed , consisting of Salim Khan l and Javed Akhtar r , revolutionized Indian cinema in the s, [56] and are considered Bollywood's greatest screenwriters. Shah Rukh Khan , one of the " Three Khans ", in He was the most successful Indian actor for most of the s and s. Aamir Khan , one of the "Three Khans", in He has been the most successful Indian actor since the late s. Indian movie actors , Indian movie actresses , Indian film directors , Indian film music directors , List of Bollywood actors , Indian playback singers , and List of Hindi film clans.

List of highest-grossing Indian films in overseas markets and List of highest-grossing Bollywood films. Bollywood portal India portal Mumbai portal Film portal. Retrieved 13 August Film Federation of India. Retrieved 8 April Retrieved 21 April Retrieved 11 November National Science and Media Museum. Conversations on Hindi Cinema with Javed Akhtar. I write dialogue in Urdu, but the action and descriptions are in English. Then an assistant transcribes the Urdu dialogue into Devnagari because most people read Hindi.

But I write in Urdu. Not only me, I think most of the writers working in this so-called Hindi cinema write in Urdu: So most dialogue-writers and most song-writers are from the Urdu discipline, even today. I feel that the Government should eradicate the age-old evil of certifying Urdu films as Hindi ones. It is a known fact that Urdu has been willingly accepted and used by the film industry.

Actors who could not make it big despite having Bollywood connection

Two eminent Urdu writers Krishan Chander and Ismat Chughtai have said that "more than seventy-five per cent of films are made in Urdu. It is a gross misrepresentation and unjust to the people who love Urdu. The Essential Guide to Bollywood. The Bollywood in Indian and American Perceptions: A Journal of International Affairs , 67 1 , 65— Can new money create a world-class film industry in India?

The butterflies came in full force and I was on an emotional rollercoaster. I had seen these used to great effect in movies — I was confident they would work. The four years we were a couple were tumultuous and rocky. I had trouble understanding how to solve these issues. We eventually went our own ways after graduating high school — there was no happy conclusion for us unlike in the movies. Research published by Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh studied 40 top Hollywood films released over 10 years to establish common themes. People who took part in the study filled out a questionnaire to describe their beliefs and expectations when it came to relationships.

Nowhere is this true more than in Bollywood where adoring public revere actors like demi-gods. These actors are also victimised by the media and the same adoring public for being mere mortals with flaws. They affect how we interact and stay connected to our partners, even intimacy. Sometimes it can take years for love to develop.

In hindsight, there were some good parts to our relationship like our similar values and we both learnt a lot about each other and ourselves. We reconnected a few years later and talked about all the things that went wrong. We emerged as friends, but much later on, when we were mature adults.