The article « Is Bollywood coming to Hollywood » was written by Elham Khatami and published in the website « CNN.com ». Slumdog millionaire, a British drama movie, inspired by the Bollywood genre, had a huge success in the United States. In fact, this film symbolizes a celebration of India through the incorporation of many of the Bollywood industry’s norms, such as the vibrant colors, the fast-paced editing and the fact that the movie is based on a fairy tale love story that is full of musical dances.
The huge success of Slumdog millionaire raises the following question: Is it time for the Bollywood industry to target the American market? Is the American audience ready to accept and enjoy this genre?
In fact, Indian films and Bollywood are too different from Slumdog Millionaire and in many ways. In general, Bollywood is a profoundly political cinema that represents the crisis of the day. As for Slumdog Millionaire, it is far from being authentic and it is far from the real Indian genre, which releases about 1,000 films annually. Moreover, the movie was adapted in order to appeal to a large and international audience and also helped some Indian movie stars to become famous in Hollywood by representing India’s ambassadors in America.
Moreover, nowadays, Indian movies have a great influence on the American cinema since Bollywood has clearly inspired many Hollywood movies such as the Moulin Rouge. However, the cultural differences between Bollywood and Hollywood might be too important and could prevent Bollywood films to cross over to America.
Finally, I think that it is going to be difficult for the Indian film industry to be successful in America, since the social values and conventions of India movies are completely different from the American ones. In addition, the specific characteristics of the genre such as the presence of a religious figure, the romance being the main plot and the singing and dancing , many traditions and symbols are too difficult to understand for foreing audiences. For example, when a person is pulling another person’s ears, it means that he or she is trying to apology but in a physical way. Also, when a character is touching another character’s feet, it is a sign of great respect and honor according to the Hindu theology.
Furthermore, the colors are really important in those movies, since they all have a particular signification. Therefore, it might be difficult for international audiences to understand the meaning of those scenes since they don’t know about those symbols. For example, when a woman is wearing red, it means that she is married and that her husband is still alive.
I finally think that the Indian genre is really complex and tend to be too difficult to understand and therefore to enjoy from an outside perspective. Consequently the Bollywood genre has to be adapted in order to appeal to an international audience.
Article link : http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/23/bollywood.hollywood/index.html?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ
malikalamrani 