Rant about Bollywood - all are my own opinions.

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.