Bollywood

Have you ever heard about Bollywood? Yes, I said Bollywood, not Hollywood. No? Well, it’s time to talk about another cool thing that happens on India. 

Bollywood is the unofficial name that people gives to the film industry that it’s based on Mumbai (before known like Bombay), it’s not all the Indian film industry, but it’s the most important on the country. Unknown for most of the Occidental world, Bollywood It’s the largest producer of movies of the world. 

First to known, India it’s the country with the biggest attendance per year of the world, with 2.7 billions of tickets in 2010, these numbers represents 1.6 billions of American dollars, the fourth place on the rank, behind United States, Japan and France. 

The Bollywood history starts around 1913 when the first silent film (Raja Harishchandra) was made on India. In 1931 India produced his first sound film Alam Ara (The Light of the World); in those years Bollywood produced around 200 films per year. But the II World War, the Great Depression of 1929 and the Indian independence affects the production and dynamic of the movie industry. 

Following the India’s independence, Bollywood had their own Golden Age that lasts 20 years, between the decades of the 40’s and the 60’s. The style of movies in these years were about a different kind of topics, dramas about the urban Indian life, epic fantasies or dramatizations of historic events, romantic comedies, between others. For the 50’s, a new trend of cinema appears in the Parallel movement, that produces hyperrealist films that competes in Cannes or the Academy Awards. 

In the late sixties and seventies, the Parallel Movement lost their energy and the Bollywood industry returns to romance and action movies, also appears movies with a gritty touch, like gang and mafia romances. 

Since the beginnings of Bollywood, the musicals were a vital part of the industry, but in the 80’s the musical phenomenon explodes, with great titles like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (From Disaster to Disaster), Maine Pyar Kiya (I Fell in Love), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (Who I am to You?) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Big Hearted will take the Bride), this titles were the breakout of the careers for new stars like Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan,  Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Kajol. 

The last decade represents a point of internationalization of the Indian film industry; many titles had been seen around the world, with titles like Lagaan (Land Tax), Devdas, Koi... Mil Gaya (I Found Someone), Veer-Zaara (2004), Rang De Basanti (Color of Sacrifice), Lage Raho Munnabhai (Carry on Munna Brother), Chak De India (Come On! India), Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (A Match Made by God), and My Name is Khan were a box office success on India and abroad. 

The musical films had been an important part of Bollywood industry and unlike Hollywood where the genre had a decline in the 80’s and 90’s; the musicals are still popular and important on India. The musicals of Bollywood are known for their combination of the glamour and spectacular montage of the Broadway musicals, with the Indian influences on the lyrics, the topics, and some elements on stage. 

This space is not enough to tell the many other wonderful aspects of the Bollywood industry, is just a brief invitation to you, an invitation to know another world, another industry, to know Bollywood!

Be their guest!