Global Film Industry: The Influence of Bollywood on Hollywood

Background music plays a really important role in today’s film industry. The music supplement to the film, in order to create a more complete work. Composers write their music on the basis of the story line and director put the music in the right spot, in order to draw audience’s attention and emotion into the film. Moreover, lyrics will bring out the movie plot and presents people’s feeling of the movie. There is a good example, which called “City of Stars”. It is a song from a musical romantic comedy film, La La Land, composed by Justin Hurwitz and the lyrics were provided by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. “La La Land” tells a love story which a jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, who meet and fall in love while pursuing their dreams. However, when time goes by, the reality keeps them farther and farther away. The “City of Stars” reflects a very mixed feelings, such as the pictures, the song, and the latest moment. There seems a thousand words of regret which cannot be said. Even

Music can serve several purposes of helping or enhancing the emotional side of storytelling to the movie and other important functions.

The importance of music in movies is highly regarded for manipulating the viewer’s emotions and helping them immerse into the story. Music is one of the prime elements in cinema. Without it a movie would feel dull and unexciting. There are three elements in a movie: one is acting, the second is picture, and the third one is music. It is a holy trinity; if incomplete, there would be a lack of sensation and excitement. Both acting and picture can stand independently from one another, but music is the one that makes the movie memorable.

Music is used in film for different purposes. It entertains the audience and refreshes the movie by creating suspense, emotions, and a sense of rush. In listening to the soundtrack, the viewers are captivated by what is happening in the film and relate to it. Music also helps to set the mood of the film, for example, when danger arises, the music becomes louder and tenser, creating perfect conditions for the audience to enjoy the movie. Music is a fundamental requirement in a film as without music, it would be without

Music is vital to film from the first silent film to modern IMAX films. In order to understand the significance of film music, it must be defined. Grove Music Online defines film music as music composed, arranged, compile or improvised to accompany motion pictures. In the sound cinema, music is recorded as a soundtrack on the film stock and reproduced in exact synchronization with the projected visual image. This paper discusses the history and methods of music in film, explains the psychological power of music in film, the advancement of technology for music in film, and provides a few examples of composers who have written music for film.

When we talk about Indian film industries, the current scenario is very different from past due to change in technology. Today Indian film industries playing an important role in Indian economy.

Around the world today, everything is influenced by popular culture, and popular culture is greatly influenced by the United States. It’s no surprise that Hollywood is well known globally because the best way to share popular culture is through movies and music. As previously stated, popular culture has been disliked at times, which also means Hollywood is disliked as well. The reason for this is because many countries think there’s too much nudity and too much violence in the movies that are made in Hollywood. However, America has persevered because in order to be the best, one has to deal with criticism. American media continues to do very well abroad, especially Hollywood products that are known to be “a key engine of our economy”. Without it, our economy probably would not be on the top (Bronk). In order for Hollywood products to do well abroad they need to be liked, and according to our economy people around the world like Hollywood a lot.

Predating the modern influence of Honey Singh in Bollywood, Hollywood orchestra was apparent in the music styles chosen by directors and song writers of its time. Western orchestra was used to emphasize in Bollywood movies the different emotions characters were facing during specific scenes. Using jazz and orchestra music in Indian music with Hollywood western influence, blended to form and incorporated music style in Bollywood films. Jazz and orchestra music were given a new meaning in Bollywood movies by creating non verbal personalities to characters. "Hollywood techniques can be seen to be working in Hindi films through a range of mechanisms. Some, like the bluesy saxophone music, appear to be arbitrary, learned conventions. Others, such as the use of the symphony orchestra and large choruses for grandeur may have a potential for application in a range of cultures, due to the common association of size and scale with wealth and grandeur"(Morcom 13). Using jazz music in Indian movies, represented the sensuality and erotic theme given off by female and or male heroines. Orchestra music gave the audience a preview as to the beginning of a love affair and slow tempo dancing that equates to romantic scenes. "For this film, composer Naushad, became the first music director to not only use a 100-piece orchestra, but also developed the system of western notation in India. With this, he became the pioneer for introducing, western music to India"(Ingle 1).

Bollywood has been characterised for its larger than life plots, elaborate song and dance sequences, melodramatic acting which underpins the Indian social framework. With the advent of globalisation, it has paved way for a wider variety of film genres and has managed to reach out to audiences beyond the Indian diaspora. Constantly pushing the envelope at various junctures, the Bollywood phenomenon has become prominent in the world today.

Saleem in Midnight’s Children makes an accurate evaluation of India when he states, “Nobody from Bombay should be without a basic film vocabulary” (Rushdie 33). Bollywood, the capital of the film industry in India, is the largest manufacturer of motion pictures in the world. A large percentage of the films are either mythical romances or musicals and often they last longer than three hours in length. While watching Indian cinema would be a painful ordeal for Western audiences, Indians embrace the industry and are very proud of their cinema heritage. Indians would argue that it is the distinct differences in Bollywood filmmaking that sets India apart from the Western world. It is

Bollywood, the Hindi-language industry in Mumbai is considered by many to be the heart of the Indian film industry. Although the format of Bollywood films has changed over the years, a typical film is melodramatic; long (three to four hours); filled with song and dance

“South Asia has always been a changing, growing, and diverse cultural area which has witnessed a great deal of social change over the past years. Over the past decade India has become a rising global nation. The globalization of India or India’s rising involvement with the spreading of businesses, technologies, and philosophies around the world, has affected and changed the norms of things such as marriage, family, and gender. A program accepted in 1991 by the prime minister R.V Narasimha Rao, had lowered the strict borders of foreign trade rapidly leading to higher demands in imports, exports, and especially capital investment. Also introduced to India in 1991 was transnational satellite broadcasting or satellite tv while at the same time, due to the laid back restrictions of exchange across borders, Hollywood movies and films began competing with Bollywood productions. Due to this economic “liberation” and rapid spread of mass media, a tremendous social-cultural change and mixing of global and local images and ideologies was and still can be observed.”

Now that we have established arrival of film in India and how several factors have had an influence on the Bollywood industry, the paper will now explore the pact of Hindi films in India. Through commercialization, Bollywood reinforces the idea of the importance of materialism. Throughout a film, objects are constantly being presented in some form of product placement. Rather than entertainment, Hindi films are now being used as a means for advertisement and marketing. By constantly showing films in which an actor is riding an expensive car with fancy clothes reinforces the idea that one needs these expensive objects. Some even argue that the films that are being produced nowadays do not have a plot (Rao, 2007). A clear example that

There have been many movies in Bollywood since then. Films started becoming grander and technologically advanced. Careers in film industry were no longer a taboo and many relocated to greener pastures and movie industry ensured its propagation. Today, india is the largest producer of films in the world. Some figures estimate there are about 1,500 movies released in Bollywood (alone) annually.

The most significant issue in India is Illiteracy. Literacy along with awareness among the masses will enable the curb of social evils. Movies have the power to reach massive audiences, which is why they should, and do, matter so much to society. Only bookish knowledge is not sufficient to change the society. Gone are the days when we were followers. In 21st century we have to be trendsetter. Every person has his new story. We have to visualize ourselves. We need to recognize us. This is happened only in cinema.