Slum Dog Millionaire Entrenched Bollywood’s Challenge to
Hollywood?
By Chris Chew
Mumbai has always been the Hollywood of India with a thriving
film making industry primarily catering to cinema goers in
India. The movie, Slum Dog Millionaire shot this ancient Indian
city to worldwide attention and is now attracting more curious
tourists than ever.
Mumbai, perhaps more well known by its former name, Bombay, is
the capital city of India’s Maharashtra state is home to a
population of about 13 million people and is the largest
metropolis in India. It is also one of the most populated cities
in the world. Some people refer to Bombay as the tinsel town of
India akin to Hollywood because Bombay is the centre of the
Hindi movie industry.
Because of this association with Hollywood, Hindi movies are
referred to as Bollywood made movies. The recipe for success in
Bollywood is the usual poor boy meets rich girl theme
interspersed with plenty of singing, dancing and costume
changes. However this successful formula may have to be changed.
While this formula is still a staple Bollywood fare, an
increasing number of movies are experimenting with diverse story
lines, from gritty dramas to horror flicks.
Industry observers say is the changes are related to,
ironically, India’s booming economy, which has produced a better
educated middle class that demands more sophisticated and more
complex plots. This evolution is successfully proven in the
movie “Slum Dog Millionaire”.
In a strange twist of events, the transformation is happening
at a time when Bollywood’s visual focused style of filmmaking is
infiltrating into Hollywood, influencing movies like Moulin
Rouge. Indian filmmakers in the United States are infusing
Hollywood made movies with the colors and lavish aesthetics,
Bollywood style.
oulin Rouge was reportedly influenced by a trip the film’s
director Baz Luhrmann made to India and his fascination with
Bollywood style movies. The movie even featured a closing number
based on the Hindi song “Chamma Chamma”.
Because of the popularity of Bollywood made movies, Mumbai is
attracting tourists from all over the world and also domestic
tourists, just like its counterpart, Hollywood. To satisfy the
estimated 14 million or so Indians who troop to the cinema every
day, the Bollywood churns out more than a thousand movies a
year. This is at least twice as many movies as Hollywood produce
in a year.
The Bollywood actors and actresses will break out into songs
and dance routine anytime, something which often leaves Western
movie goers somewhat perplexed and puzzled. Earlier made movies
may even include up to 40 songs per movie. However, these days,
the song and dance segment has watered down to about seven or
eight per film. Location shoots in the movies often take place
in beautiful foreign locations, something industry sources
believe is made to appeal to the poor and to attract domestic
tourists.
“Most Indians go to the cinema purely for escape. When there
are characters singing and dancing in beautiful locations in
Europe, say, like Switzerland and that, for most Indians is the
only way they will ever get to see those places” said
Ramchandran.
However, with India’s booming economy, millions of people have
moved out of poverty trap into a the middle class and film
productions seem to be moving in tandem from pure escapism to
more sophisticated stories and plots.
How much changes are to be made to Bollywood style of film
making will be seen from the years to come. In the meantime,
Bollywood has certainly made Bombay famous as a holiday vacation
destination for tourists visiting India thanks largely to Slum
Dog Millionaire.
About the Author: Chris Chew writes for the travel website at
http://www.asiatravelbest.com
Source: http://www.isnare.com
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http://www.isnare.com/?aid=370590&ca=Entertainment


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