Let me start be defining what I mean when I use the term
“Bollywood”- I use it to refer to the Hindi film industry located in Mumbai,
Maharashtra and not any other Indian films. While I have seen a couple of Tamil
films, and one could apply the same points I make here to other Indian films,
most of the movies I have seen are straight from Bollywood.
There are several reasons why I think Bollywood movies are
silly and pointless, these are not difficult to pick up on if you’ve ever
watched a Bollywood film. However, aside from the silliness and predictability
of the movies, I also think the whole industry and the movies themselves do
real harm to the poorest people in the nation.
Bollywood movies are
predictable and play off Indian insecurities.
Most Bollywood movies have the SAME EXACT plot – boy meets
girl, girl and boy fall in love, there are
complications/limitations/disapproving parents, some strife, lots of song and
dance, emotional resolution of strife, and boy and girl live happily ever
after. All of Bollywood is a Romeo and Juliette rip-off, only now with many
more special effects. These movies are designed (yes, designed is the right
word and I will explain later) to appeal to India’s need for true love and
family approval. Most kids grow up in a strict household with “angry” parents,
so all young people can relate to this. Since many marriages in India are still
arranged (in rural villages and poorest areas) and pseudo-arranged requiring
family approval even in bigger cities, Bollywood movies cater to the average
Indian’s dream of finding “true love” and a form of escapism from family
control. Maybe not a bad thing, except so many people get so addicted to this
rush of feel-good brain chemicals, and that’s one reason 100’s of movies with
the SAME PLOT are such a big success. Very few movies address real social
concerns, political issues, or anything else meaningful. The movies that do
address serious issues are never successful and pretty much amass no earnings
or support. Nobody wants to talk about that stuff when they are unhappy and
insecure and when there is such blatant escapism to be had.
Bollywood depicts
women as weak and requiring a man.
With very few exceptions, most of Bollywood’s 100+
feature-length films a year depict women as pretty objects in revealing
clothing whose personalities have little depth and even less inner strength.
Even back in the 40’s and 50’s, when tiny tight shorts weren’t a thing yet,
women were seen and treated as objects in the movies, and wore risqué outfits
for the age. I have seen hundreds of Bollywood movies, as I used to be a
connoisseur. Even if a woman, actually usually a girl, in the movie has a
strong personality and can be
depicted as headstrong or unique, none of these girls actually
resolves the conflict in the storyline by themselves, or with the aid of other strong
women. Almost always there is a ‘hero’, a male figure who through various ways
(action, emotion, or secret generosity) comes to the rescue and saves the
delicate female flower from bad people or from herself. With the exception of
perhaps, Mother India (1957, excellent movie), most of Bollywood does not
depict true strength and evolution of a woman’s personal self. Okay, so this is
partly because India is a patriarchal society in which women have been
oppressed, and sure we’re starting to grow out of that. But why the heck is
Bollywood still putting out movies like this and intelligent, educated people,
still going to see them? Not a single Bollywood movie these days has the main
actress fully dressed in something non-sexual. Not a single one!!
Bollywood is corrupt
and kills national development.
Yes, while millions of people STARVE to death in India,
Bollywood actors, directors, producers, make BILLIONS of rupees. I know there
is corruption in every country, to some extent (although very little in
Scandinavian countries), but the Bollywood industry is really very bad. Acting
is hereditary apparently, because all rich famous actors and their sons and
granddaughters have bought their way into the industry, not only at their own
expense, but at considerable expense to striving new actors and actresses.
Producers and directors will happily buy into the influence of old film
families, by passing any new artistic talent in the industry. Bollywood movies
and music are also the only “art” in the country. It ignores thousands of years
of real Indian art and music. Bollywood is more politics than art, in that it’s
in the business of campaigning for itself and making money. It kills real art
in the nation, I don’t know any independent Indian artists. Really sad since in
the past, India has a rich ancient history of the most amazing art and
sculpture, classical music and classical dance, none of that is promoted by
Bollywood.
Bollywood is selling
a dream to the poor – the “mind-rape” of a nation.
How do you keep the poorest of poor masses happy while you
wallow in your millions? By giving them a dream and selling them hope. This is
where my original comment that Bollywood is the mind-rape of a nation applies,
and that Bollywood films are designed.
The same repeated plot, the catchy happy music, the “good guy/underdog always
wins”, the inevitable girl gets guy happy endings – these are all designed. These
appeal to unhappy masses whose situation is so unfathomable to Western sensibilities.
Most people in India live their entire lives in poverty or extreme poverty
(according to Western standards) where clean, running water and reliable electricity
are an issue. Bollywood sells a dream to those in villages or slums, in poverty
or oppression. Surveys show that these poor people will pay several rupees to
go see a Bollywood movie even if they could use those rupees for much needed
food, fuel, etc. They are basically buying a dream rather than rising up to be
educated and strive for more. Bollywood is a form of oppression in my mind,
keeping the people at the bottom happy with dreams and distractions, rather
than using those billions to educate, motivate, or truly inspire a nation.
Ok, I’m done ranting. Bear in mind these are mostly my
opinions based on what I see and hear from Indian people (in America and in
India) regarding Bollywood, and how obsessed people from all walks of life are
about those movies. I know India is a developing democracy and is doing some
amazing things recently like sending a mission to orbit Mars. When you have 1.4
billion people, some are bound to become technologically educated. The fact
remains that the true measure of a society’s personal advancement is its
treatment of the poor and needy, its independent art and music, its social
progressiveness, and in my opinion Bollywood has distracted Indians from those
important things for far too long.
