The Modernity of Bollywood

“Pop culture is the new babylon, into which so much art and intellect now flow, it is our Imperial Theatre, Supreme Temple of the Western eye. We live in the age of idols. The pagan past, never dead, flames again in our mystic hierarchies of stardom.” (Crowley & Heyer, 2011). Film began in the 1890’s, being under a minute long with no sound or colour, to what can now reach to three hours. By early 1960’s more than 90% of American homes had hold of TV’s. (Rodman, 2012) The motion picture camera and projector were two of the Industrial Revolution’s new gadgets. Movies and films are part of the mass media that able to drive the emotion, attitude and behaviour of people negatively, where the originality of movies purpose is for basic entertainment, educate or provide information to the public.

The most favorite pass time of any Indian is watching a TV set or catching up the show of their desired interest in the local cinema hall. As people are investing a major chunk of their time in the reel world it is, but natural to affect their real world. But does it always happen that way? “Cinema has only been around for a 100 years; men have been treating women badly for much longer than that,” argues filmmaker and choreographer Farah Khan. “So how can one blame cinema for what is going wrong in our country today?”

To tell the truth, the film industry has evolved and grown very quickly since its creation in the early 1900’s. Over the years, it has gained the attention of every culture in every part of the world. These days, thanks to its popularity, it is a big part in shaping the social culture by changing the audience's’ opinions or swaying them one way or another. The idea that a film

During the Age of Imperialism, Britain established many colonies. One of its dominions was the British Raj in India. Throughout this period Britain ruled India which caused many of the cultures to intermix. Now, in modern day, many films are made about the effects of Britain and India’s cultural interchange. Many British auteurs focus on the cultural effects of this time period on the new generation through contemporary films that revolve around a modern day family with cultural differences. Contemporary films are essentially films that have been created recently, circa the late 1900s to present day. The transnational circulation and genre hybridity of contemporary films is exemplified by the increasing global popularity of Indian Bollywood cinema. British post-colonial films often include portrayals of the Indian culture due to the merging of the cultures and their shared history. The post-colonial films juxtapose the Indian culture before and after the Indian diaspora, often in settings that are not traditionally of the Indian culture. British films often study the Indian diaspora’s effect on the Indians in terms of their culture and adaptation to the British culture. This analysis will focus on the portrayal of the post-colonial Indian culture through analysis of British contemporary films.

The costs, methods of distribution, and themes of Hollywood and Nollywood films reflect strongly their target audiences; how the target audience affects the production of a film and how the production of a movie is designed to capture a specific

Throughout history, the movie industry has constantly developed and changed over time. However, one thing that has always stayed the same is the influence in which the audience has had on the development of genres, films, producers, and actors which altered Hollywood cinema. By examining what the audience has continually desired from the actors, and how their requests have influenced the design, production and financial success of films, it will become obvious that the creation of “Stardom” was influenced by the audience and the pressure in which they enacted upon the studio based on historical context play a role in the success of early Holcinema. As time progressed through history, the wants of the audience started to increase.

Over the years, Cinema has become a powerful tool for education, leisure, culture, propaganda. In 2013, the world hit a record high of 7,610 films, with India accounting for more than one-fifth of the total production. (uis.nesco.org, 2018) The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, once stated,”..the influence in India of films is greater than newspapers and books combined,”

Over the years, Bollywood has emerged as its own distinct identity in the global Film industry. Bollywood is the global leader in production of movies with a staggering 27,000 featured films and thousands of short films. ( Pillania 1) However, Hollywood is still the leader in revenues generated. Due to the growth of the Indian market and globalization, Bollywood has made its way to the international markets. Globalization is often misrepresented as the growing influence of the western culture in the world and so we tend to state that Hollywood is influencing Bollywood to a great extent. An argument can be made to justify the validity of that statement. However, this paper aims at presenting the influence of Bollywood on Hollywood in

The filmmaking industry is alive and well. Based on international revenues from films, filmmaking is generally a highly profitable trade. In the current age of globalization, the impact of the filmmaking industry has also crossed borders, with Hollywood films influencing the international film industry and local filmmaking industries like China and India also impacting on the Hollywood filmmaking industry. As a result of the reciprocal interest which has emerged on filmmaking in different countries, specific influences have also emerged on how films are made in general.

Cinema is a valuabe creative genre and can be a global form of commuinication. No words are needed to explore various cultures or dispute political perspective. Film enables viewers the chance to see the same message in many different ways. Films are also cultural expression created by particular cultures in order to affect said culture or potray said culture.

This semester I chose the Art 160 class, which talks about South Asian art and culture. During study, I learned a lot from this class. When the topic came to Indian movie, it made me become interested. I watched many movies before, tried to learn how the music goes in many movies. One of my friends is in movie major, he told me Bollywood movies were pretty good. After the class, I went to watch some movies like 3 idiots, PK and Taare Zameen Par. I was shocked, because I never think that India movie could be that good. All of them show the society issue and problems. These movies helped me to understand more about

When we talk about history, we start with firsts. The first ever life form, the first man to walk the moon, the first ever film. Indian Cinema, in the past 70 years, has seen films in about 30 languages. So, it is safe to say that The Indian Cinema has seen many firsts. Let’s start with Marathi; because the first ever Indian film and a silent one at that was made in Marathi. Raja Harishchandra produced by Dadasaheb Phalke ,known as the Father of Indian Cinema, was made in the year 1913 and was the first ever full length motion picture.

Films are one of the most popular media in the modern world, watched by hundreds of millions of people all around the world. Films began in the late 19th century as a technological novelty, transferring to a new means of presentation and distribution an older tradition of "entertainment, offering stories, spectacles, music, drama, humour and technical tricks for popular consumption." (McQuail, 1983) And, as with any popular media, people began to talk and write about it, and film theory arose from these writings.

Film Industry has been expansively affected by the changes in technology. The mechanical and digital innovations give cause to the influence of equipment, distribution and the way in which films are made and consumed. New trends shape directors and filmmakers to expand creatively towards telling stories in motions. The film industry has developed to one of the most important tools of communication, it's cause so powerful affecting the way individuals and societies think, act and behave. Among the new Era approaching film, and seeing celluloid film fade is that of the Digital Era and a camera that saw celluloid films passing hastened.

The term Bollywood is relatively new title that congregates various types of films that stem from all around India and sadly get put into one single category, often times the films being underestimated by U.S. pop culture. The films’ subject matter and themes have continued to evolve, as does the country of India, and the change is all seen reflecting from the films social and political themes and concerns. When the industry began the films plots spanned from all across the map, in order to compensate for language differences almost key terms were created which would set the staple for the themes and motives. These phrases or words were about lust and love, revenge or justice for wrong doings, good and bad as well as killing. With these themes people all across the nation were united, one way or another people related to the films that were being viewed. It was at this point and time that Hindi cinema became a voice for those who could not be heard in politics, but actions would be glorified or exaggerated to appease all status of the caste system. Throughout pivotal moments in history, new themes would be expressed throughout film.