Virtual Bollywood

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: driver in NYC) has fond memories of watching a film like Sholay or Dharmatma and they invariably recollect Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor and Rekha. These folks continue to rent movies and watch the latest movies at a local cinema theatre in their cities.

I wonder if using cutting edge technology would by any stretch of imagination include the virtual Bollywood world that is studded with rich content, conversation and community. Will the survey look at the characteristics of the new movie goer in virtual Bollywood? Just do a quick search for Bollywood on Wikipedia, FaceBook, YouTube, MySpace, you will see what I am talking about. It is just not the fans, but even artists and film production companies have discovered the power of Web 2.0 tools. Bachchan has discovered the power of blogs and makes time to write his posts on a daily basis. Then there is Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Ramgopal Verma and others. Some Bollywood production studios have discovered the power of building an online community in FaceBook and Orkut. For instance Subash Ghai harnessed the power of FaceBook for his last film as did Ajay Devgan and Kajol for their home production of Hum, Tum and You.

The new age movie goers are in some ways a little different since they extensively use technology to keep tabs on their favourite movies and stars. The new movie goer is like this young Univeristy of Berkeley sophomore I know who talks to his friends on MySpace to get their input about a new movie or song, then goes over to YouTube and checks out the promo and then makes up his mind if he wants to see the movie. He watches a film not for the story line but to check out the dance moves since he is part of a Bollywood dance club in his school. The new movie goer is like this American blogger I know who reads other Bollywood blogs and gets suggestions on what to see and then watches the film. And often the suggestions are for old films from the 1960s and 1970s. Or, is the new movie goer a well-known Silicon Valley venture capitalist who makes it a point to catch the latest movies when he visits India?