Hamza Allawala
UGS 303-Bollywood & India
Crime & Poverty in Bollywood Films
Research Paper
Depending on the social settings and the intentions of the directors, movies have been produced to depict varying occurrences in a society. Sometimes, the movies are used to pass particular message to the audience through motion pictures or a series of still image projected on a screen. Over the years, the production of movies has become a multibillion industry since they provide stimulating experience and communication of perceptions, feeling ideas or stories. Bollywood movies are among the works of an art being used to illustrate the various social happenings in the society (Kabir 25).
Various Bollywood movies have created a presumption that poverty makes an individual likely engage in criminal activities. Over the years, the movies have been produced in various neighborhoods where the occurrence of criminal acts is directly linked to the prevailing poverty levels. In fact it is more likely to view varying forms of crime in the Indian Neighborhoods featured by Bollywood movies. Some of the featured crimes include theft, murder, illegal trade activities and other unlawful consequences. Therefore the featured movies have been used to depict that the connection between poverty and crime within the Indian context and crime is the easiest way to do it.
According to studies, this illustration in the Bollywood movies has further intensified the debate on the relationship between crime and poverty in the society. In fact, the rich people who perpetrate crimes cannot be classified as being motivated by their financial status, but by other motivating factors depending on their religion and community of existence (Bellour and Penley ...
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... true local sense rather than influenced its movie technicalities and demonstration to the westernized movie culture (Lorenzon 6). Therefore, there are various instances present to prove that Bollywood has not changed its niche due to the western culture or Hollywood culture but it is the process of globalization which has come to change the culture of movies in the Hindi cinema.
To conclude, this paper has demonstrated various instances of Bollywood movies depicting poverty and crime through movies. Most of the movies in the Hindi cinema are based on the genres such as love, violence, religion, gender, ethnicity, crime and poverty (Kazmi 4). It certainly proves that the featured movies have been used to depict that the connection between poverty and crime within the Indian context and movies based upon crime has been quite dominating in the Bollywood industry.
Poverty has a direct effect on crime. The two topics can be associated in several ways beginning with the frame of mind individuals
According to Boyd, high concentration of poor people results in higher rate of violent crime (Boyd, 2015). In this case, Gangaram and Allen are unemployed, have low income status and low education. Additionally, Gangaram was a single parent (Gillis, 2015). Also, Emily M. Wright and Michael L. Benson (2010) mention that economic difficulties affect partner’s relationships, causing stress, and may lead to physical violence. Stable families need some minimum level of economic
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
One of the biggest issues in America today is crime. It is a large problem that continues to erode our country economically as well as morally. Because of the vastness of the problem, many have speculated what the cause for crime may be in hopes that a solution will be found. Many believe that a bad family life, location of residence, and poverty hold a few of the answers to why an individual becomes involved in criminal activity.
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.
According to Males and Brown article, the primary cause for the youth to get involved in crime is poverty and lack of success. The statistics from California Criminal Justice and Census Poverty for 2010 refers that the lift in economic deprivation and the lack of success or jobs indulge the youth or teenagers more into the life of violent offenses. The news and article exacerbate the rate violent crime and over-represented the young age in violent crime. The peak age for crime means that the young people involved more in crime than older people. The Brown article suggests that the age-crime relationship means that the violent crime rise in young age and then decline with the age. The child who gets involved in crime at an early age becomes the chronic offenders. The teens who have less relationship with their parents, labelled as antisocial by parents, teachers, neighbors and society get more involved in crime.
Over the years, Bollywood has emerged as its own distinct identity in the global Film industry. Bollywood is the global leader in production of movies with a staggering 27,000 featured films and thousands of short films. ( Pillania 1) However, Hollywood is still the leader in revenues generated. Due to the growth of the Indian market and globalization, Bollywood has made its way to the international markets. Globalization is often misrepresented as the growing influence of the western culture in the world and so we tend to state that Hollywood is influencing Bollywood to a great extent. An argument can be made to justify the validity of that statement. However, this paper aims at presenting the influence of Bollywood on Hollywood in terms of music, dance and visual representation. This papers deals with a specific part of globalization, providing evidence that it
In today’s society, one will find that there are many different factors that go into the development of a criminal mind, and it is impossible to single out one particular cause of criminal behavior. Criminal behavior often stems from both biological and environmental factors. In many cases criminals share similar physical traits which the general population do not usually have. For example criminals have smaller brains than properly adjusted individuals. However biological reasons cannot solely be the cause of criminal behavior. Therefore, one must look to other sources as to how a criminal mind is developed. Social and environmental factors also are at fault for developing a person to the point at which they are lead to committing a criminal act. Often, someone who has committed a violent crime shows evidence of a poorly developed childhood, or the unsuitable current conditions in which the subject lives. In addition if one studies victimology which is the role that the victim plays in the crime, it is apparent that there are many different causes for criminal behavior. Through the examination of biological factors, in addition to the social and environmental factors which make up a criminal mind, one can conclude that a criminal often is born with traits common to those of criminals, it is the environment that exist around them that brings out the criminal within them to commit indecent acts of crime.
Rao, S. (2007). The globalization of bollywood: An ethnography of non-elite audiences in india. The communication Review, 10(1), 57-76. doi: 10.1080/10714420601168491
Without education, wealth, or opportunity, people will seek out what gives them pleasure. In a life of poverty, lack of family support, and no education, individuals find committing crime almost as second nature, and anti-social behavior becomes their way of life. Examples of anti-social behavior include being impulsive and disregarding others’. The pleasure criminals get from committing crimes outweighs the pain, and therefore does not deter them from such acts. It is almost pre-determined that someone will become a criminal based upon how and where they are raised.
In conclusion, it is worth stating that there are certain characteristics that stand out in a great film. For one, there should be a strong cast and a dominant director. With these two aspects, the standard of a film is greatly increased. Also the musical score and special effects added to a film, can raise the plateau in making it notable. It can also be seen that the criteria for making a film great, has changed over the years. What once made a film stand out in the past, doesn’t make it at present. However, this generally goes to the special effect features. Nevertheless, it can be said overall, that all these characteristics resulted in the creation of a great film, in ground breaking style and as a result, this has helped us define cinema or a film as we know it.
The causes of crime seem to be indefinite and ever changing. In the 19th century, slum poverty was blamed; in the 20th century, a childhood without love was blamed (Adams 152). In the era going into the new millennium, most experts and theorists have given up all hope in trying to pinpoint one single aspect that causes crime. Many experts believe some people are natural born criminals who are born with criminal mindsets, and this is unchangeable. However, criminals are not a product of heredity. They are a product of their environment and how they react to it. This may seem like a bogus assumption, but is undoubtedly true.
...hey are changing, culture will always be influenced by films just like they have been since the 20’s.
I argue that poverty is the main cause of the increasing crimes in the society. It is quite evident that the aspect of crime and poverty normally go hand in hand. It is not possible to deal with crime without having to deal with some of the root causes which mostly are the aspects of poverty. Poverty can be basically referred to as the condition of choice and in most cases is the burden of the people that lack the benefits that the majority people have (Short, 1997). Normally, it is possible to hide wealth but it is never possible to hide a condition of poverty. There are two arguments regarding whether poverty is the aspect responsible for crime and whether crime can cause poverty. The families that go without the basic necessities in most cases could resort to theft. Therefore, I strongly hold that even though crime could have many causes, poverty is the largest of its causes.