Saturday, 31 October 2015

Week 6 [02.11 - 08.11.2015] Magic of BOLLYWOOD


The times when Hollywood dictated the obligatory trends and directions in the movie industry are going to end soon, if it has not happened already.
Bollywood is the sorbiquet for the Hindi language film industry, often incorrectly used as a name to the whole of Indian cinema. Bollywood is aclaimed as one of the biggest film industries in the world, it produces over 1000 films every year. Since 1913, when all of it  started, the Indian cinema has made a long journey from simple silent films ('Raja Harishchandra') to sound movies ('Alam Ara'), then advanced films of the present day. The name "Bollywood" is a cluster from Bombay (now Mumbai) and Hollywood, the American Film Industry. But unlike Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as  a physical place.
http://battleroyalewithcheese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Bollywood-dance.png
Mumbai is a place where one of the most famous film industries is based. Bollywood, which produces more films than Hollywood, makes millions of dollars each year.

source: indiamarks.com/wp-content/uploads/bollywood-vs-hollywood.gif

Many Bollywood actors, whose names include Arjun Rampal and Preity Zinta, are brand names in India and other parts of the world. A lot of the films are centered around music and dancing and bright colourful costumes. They focus on places where the sun shines and people are happy.
However, many Indian films have a more serious message too.  Mira Nair, who directed Monsoon Wedding is interested in more serious issues such as poverty, child abuse, overpopulation, arranged marriages, and the like. This film and the others, such as Pride and Prejudice, have become the box office hits outside India.
Trailer of “Pride and Prejudice”
 Music has been a part of Indian cinema since the first audio movie. Now it is definitely one of the most important thing in this factory. 'Alam Ara' included seven songs and 'Indra Sabha', the movie from the 1932, included 69 songs. Today India's films include between six and eleven songs. Bollywood movies are not just about the plot, story and acting. As I wrote before, music is just as significant. Composers are as important as producers and directors. Songs are played as a background sound, sometimes as a part of the dialogue.
Instead of music, dance is worth mentioning.  Dramatic facial expressions and movements help viewers follow the plot. They are a parade of traditions and  historic symbols, which originate from India's numerous traditional dance forms.Classical dance forms such as Bharatnatyam and Kathak , and folk dances such as Bhangra, each has its own unique style, but they often share signs and meanings that are combined to create modern Bollywood dances.
Many Bollywood film stars are also well known all over the world. A good example could be a recent film The Lunchbox directed by Ritesh Batra. The main actress , Nimral Kaur, is well- known to  American and European viewers from a popular TV series Homeland.


Do you think that Bollywood has a chance to become a cinematic giant?

35 comments:

  1. lol what are cinematic pizzazz??

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    1. Alex new words for you: D
      https://www.diki.pl/slownik-angielskiego?q=kinematograficzny

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    2. I know what cinematic means, but what are cinematic pizzazz??

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  2. I've seen a few bollywood movies and I must admit I'm not a fan.
    Reasons I don't like bollywood:
    1. endless cliches, just endless.
    2. they're not even trying to be original, probably half of bollywood movies are indian versions of hollywood movies.
    3. the story is usually filled with multiple plot holes
    4. Sex remains a big taboo. No matter how passionate the love story is. Intimacy is never shown

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    2. you're quite right but when it comes to originality ...
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmKbejCVLLs

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    3. how is any of this original? Strong male protagonist takes out a bunch of "bad guys" in a super unrealistic way. Sounds like every action movie ever made.

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    4. the fact is that the script is trite but a way of directing is quite original is through these "amazing" scene.

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  3. Bollywood has own magic, Sometimes Bollywood's films look like funny shows. And peoples signing all the time. But this is India and Indians magic.

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    1. I agree with you. It's something very special and different of what we know in Polish movies.

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  4. Call me ignorant but I never liked Bollywood productions. It lacks creativity and some original plot.

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    1. Everyone has right to have their own opinion and like different things.

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  5. Call me ignorant but I never liked Bollywood productions. It lacks creativity and some original plot.

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  7. I must admit that I have never been a fan
    of such movies, because I always associate it with mass-produced, inexpensive films without deeper meaning. In fact, I even do not know if I've ever watched this kind of movie, so I do not think I should speak about the further development of the cinema. Maybe one day, when I have some free time I will try to see the movie you recommend, to be able to say anything more on this subject :)

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    1. I highly recommend it so I hope you find time to watch some movies. It's worth watching them.

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  8. Everything depends on a personal approach. Every film has something we can learn from it, because every film has some value. Every film is made with clear purpose, director always want to transfer particular thoughts and show them through his film. The only thing is to discover them.

    I haven’t discovered that thought in Bollywood movies yet, but it’s because of not spending enough time with such films. In spite of all, I hope that with bollywood is just like with westerns. When you are open minded and come through a couple of them, you’ll see a beauty in a long, never ending scenes, comic shots and raw climat or atmosphere.

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    2. I think that what you wrote has sense and I can't disagree with you. Every opinion is right and I respect it.

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  9. You know, Bollywood produces 1k films a year, but still it's revenue it's not even proportional to Hollywood. Saying that it SURELY has something to learn from, that it will bring some value to your life I laugh because first what I thought of is this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBlFCH0d3o4 from now on I know that you can make a 'horse slide' ;) or this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVcwNoZdDko
    Personally, I am not a fan of this, for me it's a grotesque form of hollywood action films, with tough good guys taking out the bad guys in unrealistic way - it's just weird even funny sometimes. But having in mind what Jakub Jedrzejewski said: maybe it's something similiar to westerns, you must like them or at least have some background on how "western works", props for that comment Kuba ;)

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    1. It's your opinion and I respect it.

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    2. You twisted a little bit what I said. You took one scene from a movie and show it to me as an example of "you can't learn anything from that scene". Looking that way every scene, which is taken out of context, is worthless (worthless in the context of "worthy film"). I was writing about whole movies. People searching for different things in movies. Where one see stupid film, the other see a factor that can be used for his own purposes as an advantage. I like to give an example of Tarantino movies. Almoust every scene in his movies is taken out in some part from a different movies, often from little known movie. And it's not a sign of lack of ideas or talent.

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  10. I totally agree with Aleksander Zieliński. I consider Bollywood as a weak fake of Hollywood. I hate the plots, I hate this constant dancing and this all colours. I like minimalism and there's of course lack of it in Bollywood movies. It's not even funny for me, rather pathetic. I can't stand Bollywood, seriously. I know that there're many different tastes, but I'll never understand the fans of it. Everything is predictable here, there's no punchline, there's not deeper meaning.
    Then, I come across Jakub's comment and either way, he's totally right. I'm only a little bit affraid that these things that he was writing about, are undiscoverable in Bollywood films.

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  11. I always watch bollywood's films for fun and to relax. That are speific films, but in future they would be classic and bollywood would by cinematic giant.

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    1. it may actually good way to relax. I have to try it :P

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  12. Like Michał Karlicki said bollywood's films are for fun and to relax. Recently I watched a couple of movies from Bollywood and I think they have some own magic :)

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  13. According to the article and some statistics at the beginning Bollywood is already a cinematic giant. They produce more movies, sell more tickets despite 50 times less marketing budget per movie, than average Hollywood production. Maybe not many movies become worldwide success, but they can make a great impression on casual movie viewer.

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  14. I am not a biggest fan of Bollywood productions but I think it has a great chance to become a cinematic giant if it is not already. Movies form Bollywood are getting more and more popular now so in my opinion it's just a matter of time they will become even more famous.

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  15. Michał Stankiewicz8 November 2015 at 22:43

    A funny thing with the statistics are that even though the popularity is strongly raising, the revenues aren't that high - which means, it's cheap to get these movies and watch them. That is probably partially conected with the "times watched" number.

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  16. I've never watched Bollywood movie, but I guess this is interesting to some people. Not everyone want to watch blood and violence, someone surely wants just to sit and enjoy actors dancing in the rhytm of joyful music. I guess that hollywood movies are expensive and often overrated, so we have to have something different to oppose it.

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  17. Unique is the best adjective describing Bollywood. Movies are always full of joyful music, smiling actors and many colours. These are the only reasons that could stand by Bollywood fans. The visual effects are quite nice for a viewer, it's relaxing and full of positive energy.
    Still, I hate watching Bollywood movies. I haven't done it for quite long time and I think that it's not going to change. Usually, the plot is too predictable, the protagonist unnatural and generally it is a weak imitation of Hollywood.

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  18. I think that bollywood films wouldn't become more popular than now. That's a fact that these are produced on a large scale, but
    audience are mainly Indians for whom these films are recorded.Beyond them it's rather small circle of fans of Bollywood.
    According to me it's because these movies are quite unreal, and looking at dancing and singing for a one and a half an hour rather don't fits our culture.

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  19. I never found Hindu movies or culture in general attractive. Furthermore, I have no clue how come these movies became so popular. I admit, I haven't seen any (just glimpses really), but for me it's just silly, over-sweetened musical-soap opera.
    Nevertheless, yeah, I think Bollywood has a great chance to become a cinematic giant. :)

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