Influence And Globalization In Bollywood: The Rise Of Hollywood

1. Introduction

Amidst all the hype and allure of Hollywood, many often forget the presence of yet another powerhouse in cinema-Bollywood. The exponential rise of Bollywood can be attributed to the vast number of films produced which far outnumber those of Hollywood. The viewership of Bollywood films has surpassed the 3 billion mark in contrast to Hollywood’s 1.3 billion viewers (Mcbain, 2012). In an ever-growing market, in order for Bollywood to surpass Hollywood’s hegemonic international appeal, Indian films must compete with their contemporary counterpart. Western influence and globalisation has paved the way for Indian cinema over the last decade and despite India emerging to be a political and economical power, there has been little or

Romance has been pushed to the forefront of Bollywood, with almost every movie having scenic overseas shots in exotic locations usually vital in portraying love between the main lead actors. In the olden days, there was minimal physical intimacy between actors; at most there was the clasping of one another’s hands and gazing at each other intently. Sex scenes would be depicted via the imagery of flowers, birds and bees. Slowly, there was progress from holding hands to hugging but there was never the slightest inclination of any kissing. With more explicit displays of affections and romance, Bollywood has taken a leaf out of Hollywood culture in depicting gratuitous kissing scenes and nudity in films and trailers all in a bid to market the movie as youth savvy. These roles have begun to push the boundaries particularly for women with the invention of the “item girl”. In recent Indian films, item girls would perform a one-time song and dance sequence which would captivate the audience and intensify the attention of the audience. It is inaccurate to state there were no item songs from the 60’s to the 80’s, Madhuri Dixit in Tezaab(1988) is a clear example, but they were fairly subtle as compared to the films in the last century which saw an explosion in the rise of the female sexuality. Under the guise of sexual

Bollywood movies have distorted the image of the Indian woman by highly sexualising them in the film industry. This can be explicitly seen in advertisements of models which are splashed all over the city. In those advertisements, Indian women are portrayed as having fair skin, being able to speak perfect English and from the upper tier in society’s social circle (Pendakur, 2003). This is not an accurate description of the average Indian woman. Films have forced a certain image upon their female actresses and they are expected to be “skinny” and play into what society think women should be. Staying on the topic of image, actresses have a very short life span in the film industry and directors always try to get fresh new faces which would appeal to the masses. This is unlike the case for the 50 year old male protagonist who can masquerade himself as a 25 year old hero and still have blockbuster hits. This hints at male biasness of the directors of the films, who are mostly male, and the audiences who are conditioned to view the characters from this point of