Bollywhat now?
Bollywood, an often despised term coined in the ’90s, refers specifically to the Hindi films being made in Bombay (now known as Mumbai). Similarly, the Bengali film industry, based in the Kolkata district of Tollygunje, is commonly referred to as ‘Tollywood’; movies made in Madras (now Chennai) are said to come from ‘Mollywood’, while ‘Lollywood’ is used to describe the Pakistan film industry centred in Lahore.
In the beginning
Ever since films by the Lumière brothers were first screened in 1896 at the Watson’s Hotel in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai has remained at the heart of the Hindi film industry. The first talkie in Hindi, Alam Ara, emerged in 1931 from the traditions of the city’s theatre circuit. Alam Ara was directed by theatre director Ardeshir Irani, and established two unshakeable pillars of Hindi cinema: it had over 10 songs mimed and enacted by the movie’s cast, and its plot was drawn from a play – an early indication of how Hindi cinema would evolve its form and language from Indian dramatic traditions, from classical Sanskrit theatre to folk music.
It’s not just the name
Spiced-up versions of Hollywood movies have always been a Bollywood staple, but there’s now a marked tendency to borrow extensively from other movies right down to the last reel. The movie Kaante (2002) was a remake of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and was even set in Los Angeles; the same director remade Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy as Zinda (2005). A great deal of importance is now given to production design – sometimes at the cost of the plot, another tendency borrowed from Hollywood.
Some things never change
While actors and actresses now kiss, unlike in the past when the camera would cut away as their faces moved closer, the basic values remain the same: the family is the core unit of stability and identity; marriage is the goal of romance; women look best when they’re standing by their men; and wealth is sexy.
City’s the star
For decades, Mumbai was an evergreen star of Bollywood movies. The Marine Drive promenade in South Mumbai plays a role as the frontier of journey, hope, liberation, and solace, as have the city’s industrial zones, including its mills, factories and docks, the bustling streets and flyovers, the beaches, bars and nightclubs. Mumbai’s unique character types have influenced and shaped Hindi movies: the smuggler, the industrial worker, the bar dancer, the industrialist, the dreamy-eyed migrant, the street-smart small-time criminal, the cop. It’s difficult to judge who influenced who: was the typical swagger associated with Mumbai characters picked off the streets, or do citizens learn their strut from the movies?
It’s been emotional
Hindi films are without equivalent in other cinema traditions. Unlike Hollywood, mainstream Hindi movies have always fused fancy with realism to the extent that descriptions of them as ‘unrealistic’ become almost meaningless. The lack of Western-style realism in Bollywood is beside the point; what Hindi films seek to convey is emotional realism, taken to its purest form through the use of music. A good Hindi film may lack a logical or original narrative, but it will make perfect sense to the emotionally literate. In Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Shah Rukh Khan is dying; his heart is failing, but he teaches others how to have a heart, to love their neighbours and put family and community at the centre of their worlds. He may run through New York, dance a mean bhangra and then linger on his deathbed, all in defiance of medical science, but millions
of filmgoers have sobbed through these moments because they find them emotionally real and affirm that emotions lead to moral action as much as thoughts.
Hindi films are not just about romantic love, but family love and friendship. Often the dramatic tension arises from conflict between romantic love and family duty. In the enormously successful Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Simran (played by Kajol) is in love with Raj (Shah Rukh Khan), but is already engaged to the son of her father’s friend. Simran loves her family, so eloping is not an option. Instead Raj’s goal is to make her father accept him. Often, such conflicts are pushed to extremes, so the family will only accept the couple when death threatens, such as in Bobby (1973), when the couple seem headed for a Romeo and Juliet-style tragedy.
Hindi film stories also often revolve around the breaking and restoration of the moral order. A woman who has sex outside of marriage may do so in an irresistibly erotic moment, but she will have to pay for her sin. One of the many reasons for the enduring popularity of actor Amitabh Bachchan is his talent for conveying moral outrage; his characters are determined to restore the moral order, even if that means breaking the law or dying in the process.
The Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk wrote in the New Yorker that the rest of the world will only understand the changes in India when ‘we have seen their private lives reflected in novels’. More likely it is in Bollywood that the obsessions, fantasies and fears of modern India will find their clearest expression.
