Bollywood: Indian Films Splice Bombay, Hollywood

Stefan Lovgren in Los Angeles
for National Geographic News

January 21, 2004

For years, the recipe for success in Bollywood, India's colossal film
industry, has remained the same. You take the usual
poor-boy-meets-rich-girl plot line, cram it full of singing, dancing and
costume changes, and chances are you got yourself a hit with millions of
adoring fans.

But now, the formula may be changing. While most Bollywood movies are still all about the glamor, an increasing number of films are exploring more diverse story lines, from gritty prison dramas to supernatural horror flicks.

The change, observers say, is a result of India's booming economy, which has produced a better-educated middle class that demands more sophisticated stories, as well as the Indian diaspora worldwide that is used to more complex plots.

Ironically, the transformation is happening at a time when Bollywood's visual style is also infiltrating Hollywood sensibilities. First, there were music videos. Then, movies like Moulin Rouge. Now, Indian filmmakers who were born in the United States are infusing their American movies with the kinetic and lavish aesthetics of Bollywood.

"As Bollywood goes Hollywood, some American movies are heading more toward the Bollywood style," said Kiran Ramchandran, an India-born screenwriter and director who is based in Los Angeles. "People are borrowing from each other."

Escaping Poverty

The name Bollywood is a masala mix of Bombay, where the industry is centered, and Hollywood. To satisfy the 14 million Indians who go the cinema every day, the industry churns out more than 1,000 movies a year, at least twice as many as Hollywood. Sometimes, films are made so fast that actors shoot scenes for four different movies simultaneously.

At any given time, the actors will break out into song, something that often leaves Western audiences scratching their heads. Earlier movies included up to 40 songs. Today, the songs have tapered down to about seven or eight per film.

The form is a blend of classic Urdu-Parsi theater, folk traditions, and the nautanki, or street theater. When a hit song starts, Indian audiences will usually dance in the aisles or shower coins at the screen. Film songs are often played at weddings. Some have the power of a national anthem.

"The Bollywood aesthetic is so different from Western cinema," said Ramchandran. "It's purely escapism, to the point where it loses touch with reality. You're here in one place and then somebody walks through the door and you're switched around to somewhere else and there's dancing."

Movies often take place in beautiful European locations, something Ramchandran believes appeals to many poor people.

"A lot of people go to the cinema purely for escape," he said. "When there are characters singing and dancing in beautiful locations in Europe, like Switzerland—for many people that's the only way they will ever see those places."

But India's economy, fueled by a telecommunications revolution, has boomed in recent years. Experts predict it will expand by up to 10 percent this year. Millions of people have moved out of poverty into a bulging middle class life.

The movies, meanwhile, seem to be changing with the good times, away from pure escapism to more sophisticated stories.

"There's a growing realization that there's this huge other market apart from the poor people in the rural areas: a cosmopolitan, English-speaking audience, in India and overseas, with a different taste," said Raj Baronia, the executive editor of Indolink, a California-based company that runs several Web publications, including Planet Bollywood.

Going Dark

Some producers are now experimenting with new story lines that tap into the tastes of this new market, even if the movies often retain the fairy tale and musical aspects of the classic Bollywood films.

Perhaps the best example of this trend is the 2001 hit Lagaan, which was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Academy Award. This four-hour epic tells the story of a ragtag group of Indian farmers who form a cricket team to take on the British taxation authorities in the 19th century, hardly the most accessible storyline.

In Asoka, also released in 2001, a young prince in the third century becomes a tyrant in his pursuit of other kingdoms. Eventually overcome with guilt, he turns to spirituality, dedicating his life to the message of Buddha.

The prison drama 3-Deewarein, or Three Walls, which came out a year ago, follows a documentary filmmaker who forges a bond with three convicts, one of whom killed her brother.

"We would never have seen anything that dark a few years earlier," said Ramchandran. "The changes have to do with what's going on in the country. India is seeing a certain light at the end of the tunnel, so people are willing to accept and discuss reality, and cinema can be a vehicle for that."

Going Kitschy

At the same time, Hollywood seems to have discovered Bollywood kitsch, the most obvious example being Moulin Rouge, the exuberant 2001 musical starring Nicole Kidman. With its colorful visuals, elaborate sets and costumes, and simple story line, it seemed straight out of Bollywood.

The musical was reportedly influenced by a trip director Baz Luhrmann took to India in 1993 and his fascination with Bollywood. The movie even featured a sparkling closing number based on the Hindi song "Chamma Chamma."

Several Hollywood studios are said to be eyeing remakes of Indian movies. "They're looking to India as a way to add to their portfolios," said Baronia. "They've seen how successful some of these movies can be."

Ramchandran believes people are drawn to fanciful movies in times of uncertainty.

"When we lose faith in the establishment, which is what I think we're seeing now, we move toward escapist movies like Moulin Rouge and Chicago," he said. In that sense, what's happening in Hollywood is opposite from what's going on in Bollywood.

Ramchandran is now directing his first feature film for Fox Searchlight, called Kid Bang.

"It's like Saturday Night Fever," he said. "Bollywood-style."