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Bollywood is the informal nickname given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India. The name is a combination of Bombay, the old name of Mumbai, and Hollywood, the center of the United States film industry. Some purists hate the name, saying it makes the industry look like the poor step-child to Hollywood; it is likely to remain, however, and is listed in major dictionaries around the world. Bollywood is also commonly referred to as “Hindi (language) Cinema,” even though the use of poetic Urdu (another Indian language) words is fairly common. There has been a growing presence of English in dialogues and songs as well. It is becoming common to see movies which feature dialogues with English words and phrases, even whole sentences. A few movies are also made in two or even three languages, either using subtitles or several soundtracks. Most Bollywood films would be classified as musicals. Few are made without at least one song-and-dance number. However, they do not fit easily into the “musical” category as defined by Hollywood movie musicals: they usually contain a great deal more in the way of plot and action than is found in the typical Hollywood musical. Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as paisa vasool—or money’s worth. Most of the films follow a similar format called masala, the Hindi word for a collection of spices, and like masalas they are a mixture of many things. Movies are three to four hours long (and include an intermission), with dozens of songs and dances (featuring 100 or so choreographed dancers), top stars, the story between the songs of boy-meets-girl (without any kissing or sexual contact), lots of action (though no bloodshed), and, always, a happy ending. Plots tend to be melodramatic. They frequently use tried-and-true ingredients such as star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences. There have been some films with more “artistic” aims and more sophisticated stories, but they usually lost out at the box office to movies with more mass appeal.
Bollywood film music is called filmi music, from the Hindi, meaning “of films.” Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip-synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing. While most actors, especially today, are excellent dancers, few are also singers. Playback singers are prominently featured in the opening credits and have their own fans who will go an otherwise lackluster movie just to hear their favorite singers. The dancing in Bollywood films, especially older ones, is primarily modeled on classical Indian dance, dances of Indian courtesans, or folk dances. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with MTV or Broadway musical styles. Songs typically comment on the action taking place in the movie. Sometimes a song is worked into the plot, so that a character has a reason to sing; other times a song is an externalization of a character’s thoughts or foretells an event that has not yet occurred in the plot of the movie. In this case it is almost always two characters’ falling in love. The film script, usually referred to as “dialogues,” and the song lyrics are often written by different people. The dialogues are mostly written in Hindi, with use of Urdu in situations which require poetic dialogues. Many newer movies also make great use of English. Almost always, though, the dialogues are melodramatic and invoke God, family, mother, duty, and self-sacrifice liberally. Music directors often prefer working with certain lyricists, to the point that the lyricist and composer are quite often seen as a team, similar to Broadway teams like Rodgers and Hammerstein or Lerner and Loewe. Song lyrics are usually about love, frequently using Urdu or Hindustani vocabulary and poetic Arabic and Persian loan-words. Bollywood’s film production center is a government-owned studio facility known as “Film City” in the northern suburbs of Mumbai. Bollywood traces its start to 1911 when the first silent Indian feature film was released by D.P. Phalke. The industry boomed and today there are over 250 theaters in Mumbai alone.
As Tejaswini Ganti points out in his 2004 book on Bollywood, the Indian film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience and resisted making films that target much narrower audiences, believing that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximize box office receipts. However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences. Providing three to four hours of escapism in the primary objective of Bollywood and it’s a recipe done well. Indian movies are becoming more and more popular around the world. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Bollywood Movies Why don’t the characters kiss? They do, sometimes, but it is rare. The censor board is notoriously unpredictable; no one wants to risk getting a rating that would scare away families. Also, Bollywood plays to a wide, diverse range of people, from the illiterate and provincial to the worldly and urban. Ideas of morality differ widely from group to group. Why risk offending any group of customers? Also, actresses don’t want to lose their conservative fans, nor do they want to endure salacious gossip from journalists. Many actresses proudly let it be known that they refuse to do it. What does it mean when a character tugs on his/her ears? They tug their ears in a variety of social situations, but mainly when apologizing, as a physical admission of wrongdoing, and as a demonstration of repentance. What does it mean when a character touches someone’s feet? Touching someone’s feet is a sign of respect usually accorded to elders, or by very traditional wives to their husbands. This is considered respectful because Hindu theology—and Indian culture in general—holds the feet to be the most polluted part of the body (the head, farthest away from the ground and least likely to come into contact with it, is the most pure). This is why shoes are removed when entering a temple (shoes have been in constant contact with the ground), and also why one should never point the soles of the feet at someone (very rude!). Therefore, making a point to touch someone’s feet is a sign of immense respect for them: honor for them is so great that touching even their feet is a privilege. What does it mean when a character wears a bindi on her forehead? The bindi is the ornamental mark on the forehead between the eyebrows—a spot considered a major nerve point in the human body since ancient times. Arguments have gone on for years, in classrooms and coffee houses alike, about the symbolism of the bindi. Some people claim it’s the sign of marriage, although unmarried women wear bindis as well. Others claim its symbolism corresponds to an energy point, or “chakra,” located between and slightly above the eyes. Opinions differ, but most agree that bindis are generally pretty. What does it mean when a female character has red in the part of her hair? The red dye called vermilion in the part of a female’s hair, unlike the bindi, has one clear meaning: she is married and her husband is alive. If she were to be widowed, she would cease to wear vermilion in her part. What does it mean when a character wags a thumb at another character? Making a fist and extending the thumb, as in the Western “thumbs up” then wagging it back and forth, is used as a “shame on you” gesture; also, occasionally, as a “nah nah”—equal to the old “thumbing your nose” at someone, though that particular gesture has, for all intents, fallen out of fashion in the West. What does it mean when kohl is placed on a character’s cheek? Kohl is the traditional cosmetic of Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African societies. When a female looks especially beautiful, it is assumed that she will attract a great deal of jealousy. Putting a dot of black on her face as a makeshift “blemish” serves to ward off the “evil eye” that might otherwise be attracted by her perfection. This is most often done to babies, but women occasionally place a black smudge on their faces when they are especially well-dressed. What does it mean when a character lifts only the pinky finger? In India, this “half-hang-loose”
sign means that a person has to use the bathroom—or that he/she
just has.
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