Bollywood

Bollywood 101

Hey all, sorry I've been so lame and haven't gotten this thing started.

Anyway, let's talk about Bollywood movies.  I'm totally addicted to them.  Bollywood refers to the film industry that's based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) India.  The word Bollywood is a combination of Bombay & Hollywood (but you probably figured that out).  In India there are many different film industries throughout the country, Bollywood is just the most famous of them.  Bollywood movies generally have the following features:

- The dialog is in a combination of hindi & urdu with a little english thrown in here & there.

- They are musicals.  Once in a while there will be a Bollywood movie with no musical number, but that is very rare.

- They are long.  Bollywood movies tend to be about 3 hours long.  The audience wants their money's worth.

- They have romance, comedy and drama all in one movie.

- There is never any nudity and almost never any sexual situations.  In fact kissing is a big deal in Bollywood movies.  Most of the time when a happy couple realize their love for each other you just get to see them hug.

From my experience except for speaking different languages these themes are the same in the other Indian movie industries.

I'll start a couple of other topics regarding famous actors/actresses and some regarding movies.

Questions?  Comments?

Re: Bollywood 101

Re: Bollywood 101

Re: Bollywood 101

Re: Bollywood 101

Re: Bollywood 101

Yeah I agree that Sholay was disappointing - especially considering how respected it supposedly is. Cheesy was a perfect word for it.

The only way I was able to see Indian movies was through Netflix, they have a pretty good selection. Western audiences have to consider that these movies are almost all epic in scale (running times of about 2 and 1/2 hours and over) and frequently characters break out into songs to explain their thoughts and feelings.  The ones I'd recommend are a good mix of rich imagination and interesting songs (I especially like the older Raj Kapoor musicals). These are the ones I'd recommend highest and they are all available through Netflix:

Mughal-E-Azam

Pyaasa

Shree 420

Awara

Re: Bollywood 101

Re: Bollywood 101

Hi!

I posted a list on my profile of a few Bollywood movies I think are a good introduction to the genre. Among them, I especially recommend Devdas (historical, beautiful, classic) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (the movie that really started the Indians-dealing-with-national-identity-in-a-foreign-country genre. and Bollywood's obsession with Switzerland).

Also I posted a list of Bollywood movies that I just happen to love (whether or not they are "the best").

The last 2 Hindi movies I saw were Parineeta (not bad) and Krrish (pretty lame--but prominently features Hrithik Roshan's third thumb).

Re: Bollywood 101

Re: Bollywood 101