Bollywood is a common sobriquet used to refer the Indian film industry. The industry boasts a proud tradition of film-making, distinctive for its adaptation and revival of Hindu mythologies for the modern screen.
What makes Bollywood films so special?
- Bollywood films are not constrained by the iron division of genre so persistent in Hollywood cinema. It is normal and expected to see a rich tapestry of drama, comedy, and action in all Bollywood films. This creates a very enjoyable viewing experience, as you aren't supposed to be manipulated an American-style emotional monotony. The viewer doesn't expect to experience a frozen state of amusement, titillation, or dread, zombie states encouraged by one-dimensional "horrors, actions" and the like. Instead, one enjoys a full range of emotions throughout.
- Bollywood films draw on ancient mythologies, and yet they feel very immediate and relevant. The pagan Hindu religion allows the divine to participate in everyday secular situations, creating an immediate link between the mythic past, the present portrayed in the film, and the personal experience of the viewer. While Western culture struggles to find a distant God, Bollywood films create a world where all participate in a universe of interactive divinity.
- Bollywood films are never made with the idea of propagandizing the public. While social themes can be, and often are, present, they are usually integrated into a wider vision, a vision more purely artistic than practical. While Americans today think of film and culture in terms of very specific political agendas, Bollywood has never lost the spirit of art for art's own sake.
Why should Americans watch Bollywood films?
You should go to a Bollywood theater and enjoy a film if you want to experience rich film-making that manages to be both light-hearted and profound. You can cleanse the toxins of Hollywood and their inflation of mediocrity by sending your entertainment dollar to Mumbai, and enjoying an experience both noble and humble. You will simply have a good time and go home, rather than have to pretend that Star Wars is actually worth the price of admission. And when you come back, you can simply see a new film, because Bollywood doesn't remake films endlessly, either.
Why am I writing about Bollywood?
I have no special expertise in India or Indian film. I don't speak Hindi. These are simply the reflections of an outsider enjoying these films and the company of expatriated Indian film-goers in his anonymous American suburb.
Perhaps these reflections will grant Bollywood more recognition, and encourage better film-making on the North American continent.
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