Bollywood or Hollywood? (movies, millionaire, market)

[irish_bob]

Originally Posted by asubram3

Not really. I am Indian, and there are plenty of shorter (2- 2 1/2 hr long) movies. I think many big budget movies (that make it to the US) do tend to be very long. 90 min movies however are definitely not usual. That's because Indian movies tend to have comedy, drama, action, songs, etc. all together. Think Sound of Music, or other such movies.

To get back to the original question, in my hometown in India we have movies in my own language Malayalam (bulk of the theaters screen these), a couple of theaters showing movies in Hindi (Bollywood), and a couple of theaters that screen Hollywood movies.

For the record, Mollywood refers to films from my state.
Malayalam cinema - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

how come so many bollywood movies are in a combination of english and one or more of the indian languages ? , i realise that english is one of the offical languages of india but thier seems to be a blend of several languages through indian films , do people in india drift from one language to another occasionally ?

[OyCrumbler]

I remember hearing that Indian movies used to be really popular throughout the Arab world, southeast Asia, Central Asia and parts of sub-saharan Africa--I wonder to what extent and if that's still true.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

I remember hearing that Indian movies used to be really popular throughout the Arab world, southeast Asia, Central Asia and parts of sub-saharan Africa--I wonder to what extent and if that's still true.

I have heard this as well.

I guess if you are going to watch something that is dubbed anyway, it doesn't matter whether it is dubbed from English or Hindi, or whatever. So you just go with what you like regardless of "origin".

[asubram3]

Originally Posted by irish_bob

how come so many bollywood movies are in a combination of english and one or more of the indian languages ? , i realise that english is one of the offical languages of india but thier seems to be a blend of several languages through indian films , do people in india drift from one language to another occasionally ?

That seems strange. However, many educated people in India do use English phrases mixed in with their own language. Plus if the movie is set abroad, I guess the characters speak in a mixture of languages. But if you see movies set in rural India, there will be next to no English present. I guess most Bollywood movies that become popular in say, the US, are about the lifestyles of (pampered) rich people. Thus the use of English phrases. You should try some low-key realistic Indian movies set in the countryside if you want a flavor of life in the villages. Those will be in one language alone.

[asubram3]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

I remember hearing that Indian movies used to be really popular throughout the Arab world, southeast Asia, Central Asia and parts of sub-saharan Africa--I wonder to what extent and if that's still true.

Yes, certain Indian movies became very popular in countries like Turkey, USSR, China, Romania, etc. back in the 1950s and 60s. This was because Indian movies of the time tended to portray real life of poor people and not propaganda as in many (Communist) countries. As for Turkey, Arab and African countries, I cannot say: perhaps there weren't many movies being made in their own countries. Also Indian movies of the time had great soulful songs.

This trend is long gone though, and I don't know if Indian movies are popular in these countries anymore.

[Kannadiga]

Originally Posted by irish_bob

how come so many bollywood movies are in a combination of english and one or more of the indian languages ?

Although in US and elsewhere Bollywood is the generally used term for Indian movies, Bollywood actually refers only to the industry producing movies in Hindi language. Mumbai, formerly Bombay is the center of Hindi movie industry, hence the name Bollywood, copied from Hollywood, just like how the movies are copied. Hindi movies have wide reach around the world because of the number of Hindi/Urdu speaking population.
Movies in India are made in more than 15 languages which are popular within each corresponding state, since states in India are divided based on language spoken.

Cinema of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by asubram3

This trend is long gone though, and I don't know if Indian movies are popular in these countries anymore.

Yes, they are still popular in some parts of the world. Every now and then I do come across people from around the world, especially when I was in New York, who ask me to do some dance steps like they show in movies. One of my friends from South Korea used to call me "Tunak Tunak Tun":. Of course he had no idea that although it's an Indian video, the language of that video is Punjabi which I don't understand a word.

[Thepastpresentandfuture]

I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if Bollywood is higher quality, and better than Hollywood.

For the past 5 to 10 years, Hollywood seems like it went downhill by quite a lot, with increasingly low quality, mediocre/bland, overly violent, and anti-intellectual films. It appears that at least 75% of Hollywood films created in the past 5 to 10 years are really that bad with only very few not being that bad.

The Indie and Foreign film scene seems superior at this point and I far prefer Indie and Foreign films. Indie and Foreign films seem more higher quality, interesting, more intellectual, and stimulating.

The USA still has a good Indie film scene that is not related to Hollywood, so that is worthy of noticing that its not all bad with USA’s film scene.

For Indie and Foreign films, France, UK, Canada, Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Norway), India, Japan, and China seem to have the best and greatest local scenes for that. This might also be true for Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, and Germany’s Indie and Foreign Film scenes too.

Where I live, I mostly support the more inpedendent/foreign non-Hollywood related cinemas. And when I get movies from Netflix, it is almost entirely Independent and Foreign films.

There are still plenty of people supporting Indie and Foreign films and there is still a lot of general popularity for that.

[kevike]

Originally Posted by Thepastpresentandfuture

I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if Bollywood is higher quality, and better than Hollywood.

For the past 5 to 10 years, Hollywood seems like it went downhill by quite a lot, with increasingly low quality, mediocre/bland, overly violent, and anti-intellectual films. It appears that at least 75% of Hollywood films created in the past 5 to 10 years are really that bad with only very few not being that bad.

The Indie and Foreign film scene seems superior at this point and I far prefer Indie and Foreign films. Indie and Foreign films seem more higher quality, interesting, more intellectual, and stimulating.

The USA still has a good Indie film scene that is not related to Hollywood, so that is worthy of noticing that its not all bad with USA’s film scene.

For Indie and Foreign films, France, UK, Canada, Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Norway), India, Japan, and China seem to have the best and greatest local scenes for that. This might also be true for Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, and Germany’s Indie and Foreign Film scenes too.

Where I live, I mostly support the more inpedendent/foreign non-Hollywood related cinemas. And when I get movies from Netflix, it is almost entirely Independent and Foreign films.

There are still plenty of people supporting Indie and Foreign films and there is still a lot of general popularity for that.

http://www.businessweek.com//magazin...8/a48tab37.gif

You're probably right. Hollywood=USA=stupid. 31X production budget can't overcome that equation.

[Trimac20]

I thought this would be a which do you prefer thread...

But anyway, yes, in Oz mostly Hollywood films at the major cinema chains. At the smaller theaters we get more foreign films. I'm trying to get into them more.

Haven't seen too many Indian films but 'Monsoon Wedding', 'My Name is Khan' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' were all pretty good. I guess the stereotype is that they're elaborate costume dramas with a lot of singing and dancing and a pretty stock standard plot. I think Indian cinema is becoming more multi-faceted and tackling deeper aspects of life in India now. Definitely one of the most interesting countries for cinema though.

[Neutre]

Originally Posted by kevike

http://www.businessweek.com//magazin...8/a48tab37.gif

You're probably right. Hollywood=USA=stupid. 31X production budget can't overcome that equation.

I am not saying if one is better than the other, but we all know that production, marketing cost, and worldwide revenues don't say much about the quality of a movie.
The average mediocre Hollywood movie may cost 20x more than a good Indian movie, and it shouldn't be a surprise if the revenues of a Hollywood movie, no matter how bad it is, are twenty-thirty times of an Indian movie.