Hindi movie plots ignite diverse emotions in us covering star-crossed lovers, sacrifice, angry parents, siblings that fate separated, rapists, rebirths, mistaken identities of twin brothers, one innocent the other stomping the underworld. Continuing the saga of Suresh! Tumne mujhe dhoka diya! summarising Bollywood fantasy for me, let?s get into themes beyond the melodrama kick-off scene, dance song, crime, political drama and fights you?ve read about last week.
Hate: Bollywood storylines can flow to establish extreme jealousy, greed and passion. This hate factor is Western imitation. Bad and good are not culturally prominent in India. Even our mythological stories convey that something bad for one could be good for another. In contrast, Catholicism that the West largely follows clearly demarcates good and bad. Hindi films have adopted hate, so the hero or heroine, villain or some side actor has to choke over hate, as though its food stuck in the gullet.
Love: Triangular love is a much loved theme. Different men can show overbearing love or secret attraction for the heroine, putting her emotions in critical array. But a woman can?t openly have many boyfriends as is the social reality among today?s young generation. Depicting that would make her a whore. It seems a few movies tried that with no overwhelming acceptance. The girl should love the good man, never the villain.
Foreign tour: Foreign tours were always a kind of windfall in Bollywood movies. Sitting in India spectators enjoy a visit to exotic foreign countries. In this globalisation era, an overseas setting has become obligatory. Shooting abroad makes the film relevant for the extended audience of foreign-born Indian origin children. Experience shows that a scene shot in a developed country upgrades the film both in terms of its acceptance status and production quality. Consider it Bollywood?s quality development or showcasing of the producer?s power.
Betrayal: Betrayal anchors more or less every movie. The emotional corruption of betrayal can happen between the hero and heroine, with two friends, in the family, in business, among gangsters, in politics, also shown through a death. When the betrayer is caught and punished, there?s big applause in the theatre.
A lecturer?s dialogue: This is an all-too-frequent Bollywood attempt at education. One character talks directly into the camera as though preaching or teaching society. The cameraman zooms into the actor?s face without stops and commas, so the gyan (lecture) giving session can become one long shot. This translates as the film director?s social conscience, do-good idea of contributing philosophy to society.
Happy end: Most Bollywood movies have the happy end format to not dissatisfy spectators or leave them in unconcluded situations. Of course sad-ending films do make an exceptional entry, but the pay-off comes from what we?d all like our lives to be, happy. As Bollywood cannot afford to disturb its paying public composed of under-privileged population and NRIs, the formula of every puzzle getting solved in the end is the success factor.
Value-for-money technical effects: Technical effects established exuberantly, never subtly, is the icing on the Bollywood cake. The most advanced art effects are dramatised and felt as part of the storyline. New camera techniques, glamorous never-seen-before-in-Indian-films props, use of advanced digital effects and artistic modus operandi like slow motion, fast forward, morphing, travelling shots, crazy animations are enmeshed into films. They prove that we?re no less than foreign films, and flesh out as bonus for spectators.
Trend influence: The influence of Western trends used to come a little late to Bollywood before, but the gap?s narrowed now. For example, bell bottoms took forever to be seen in Hindi films, but torso-revealing, hip-hugging jeans made it in instant digital time.
Mother and children affection: After listing my observations on Hindi films, I was verifying with Aravinda, who professor Raghunath says is the most careful driver he?s met, whether I?ve missed anything. Aravinda very often gives me social imagery that I may not so easily see. He promptly answered that I?ve totally overlooked the mother-children affection chapter. Mother is the moral foundation of Hindi films, the mother-hero relationship is very intimate. Bollywood makes it obvious that Indian society values sons over daughters. The hero is invariably the best son a mother can have, and vice versa. Mother-son bonding against all odds leaves copious tears in cinema hall audience eyes.
Telling statistics: Bollywood is top-of-mind but actually the South Indian film industry currently holds 75% of all film revenues. Of 1,274 films that went to Central Board of Film Certification in 2010, Hindi films were only 215. Southern productions totaled 631, with Tamil 202, Telugu 181, Kannada 143, and Malayalam 105. Among other regional players were 116 Marathi and110 Bengali films.
India ranks first, followed by Hollywood and China, in number of films produced. As per statistics from Motion Pictures Association of America, India produced 1,014 films in 2002, sold 3.6 billion tickets and collected revenues of $1.3 billion from theatre tickets, DVDs, television and so on. In contrast Hollywood made 739 films, sold 2.6 billion tickets but generated revenues of $51 billion.
These statistics make evident silver screen quality vs quantity. Perhaps Indian movies need a disruption of universal appeal, away from Suresh! Tumne mujhe dhoka diya! fantasy, while still being relevant to India and Indians. Indian films go to 90 countries, but it?s the Indian diaspora that lap them up. They don?t become box office hits for natives of these nations.
India?s diverse salt, sugar and pepper culture like multiple gods in one religion is unique in the world. Portraying a storyline outside of clich? fantasy can create another dimension. For example, there?s tremendous history just 255 years ago when Siraj-ud-daulah, Bengal?s last Nawab, lost the Battle of Plassey against the British in 1757. Just imagine, if this untold story could be presented Hollywood-style like The Gladiators of ancient Rome by Ridley Scott, what an incredible film that would be for the global market and India?s reputation.
Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top management. Reach him at http://www.shiningconsulting.com