Bombay + Hollywood = Bollywood

Zaid Shaikh

Eng100
Ms. Roopa Madhvapathy
November 23, 2014
Bollywood. If the picture in your head consists of a heroine in the
arms of a hero who is shooting at the bad guys with an exotic locale in

Shaikh 2
the background, then you have a pretty good idea of what Bollywood
is. Although, that is just scratching the surface.
Bollywood is one of Indias financially powerful industries. It beats
Hollywood in number of movies produced per year and the number of
attendees. It is also the main source of Indias music industry. Every
Friday, Indians have a number of new movies to choose from, with
genres covering all sides of the spectrum. Bollywood is spreading to all
parts of the world and even making impacts in Hollywood. It is growing
larger by the day. But how did this Hindi film industry begin? Let us find
out.
As seen from the title, Bollywood is a portmanteau of Bombay
and Hollywood1. Bombay is the old name for Mumbai, the capital city of
the Indian state of Maharashtra, which is located on the west coast.
The name has led many people to believe that Bollywood is a lesser
version of Hollywood. That is far from the truth. The name was an
inspiration from Tollywood the cinema of West Bengal. Many,
including the lyricist, filmmaker and scholar Amit Khanna and journalist
Bevinda Collaco have claimed credit for the term.
The Beginning (1900s 1940s)
Bombay became the center of Indias Hindi cinema industry when
the Lumiere brothers came there for the first time on July 7, 1896 to
introduce their creation- the cinematograph. The Times of India
referred to it as the miracle of the century2.

Shaikh 3
For Indian viewers, this was something they had already
experienced before in the form of shadow plays and storytelling
through hand-drawn images.
Raja Harishchandra (1913) was the first silent feature film made
in India by the Father of Indian Cinema - Dadasaheb Phalke. The film
was based on the legend of the titular person whose tale was
recounted in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. All actors in the
movie were male as it was considered a taboo for women to act in
films or theatre. One of the main themes for the silent films era was
Indian mythology. Since these stories were already popular, they would
attract many people and as a result, a lucrative industry was
established. Bollywood had finally arrived!

A still from Raja Harishchandra

In 1931, Ardeshir Irani made Indias first talking and singing film
Alam Ara. The film starred Prithviraj Kapoor, Zubeida, Jilloo, Master
Vithal and Sushila. The films popular dialogue and 7 songs made it a
huge hit so huge that police aid was required to control crowds. This
paved the way for future Indian cinema as actors could talk, laugh, cry,
shout and even sing for their audiences. In 1937, Ardeshir Irani made
Indias first colour film Kisan Kanya.

A still from Alam Ara

Shaikh 4

The
number of
production companies began to skyrocket as did the number of films
produced each year from 108 in 1927 to 328 in 1931.
The 1930s and especially the 1940s were tumultuous times for
India because of the Great Depression, WWII, the Indian Independence
movement and the violence of partition. Most Bollywood films made
during the time were just for escapism but there were a few filmmakers
who tackled social issues, or used the struggle for independence as
their plots3.
The Golden Age (late 1940s 1960s)
Following India's independence, the period from the late 1940s to
the 1960s is regarded by film historians as the "Golden Age" of Hindi
cinema4. Some of the most critically acclaimed Hindi films of all time
were produced during this period. Examples include Awaara (1951),
Shree 420 (1955), Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). These
films expressed social themes mainly dealing with the life of the
working class in India; Awaara presented the city as both a nightmare
and a dream, while Pyaasa analysed the unreality of city life. Some of
Indias famous epic films were made in this period. Examples include
Mother India (1957), Madhumati (1958) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960).
Mother India was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign
Language Film5, Madhumati popularised the theme of reincarnation in
Western pop culture6 and Mughal-e-Azam kickstarted a trail of romantic
films.

A still from Mother India

Shaikh 5

While commercial Hindi cinema was thriving, the 1950s also saw
the emergence of a new Parallel Cinema movement4. Hindi cinema
borrowed heavily from Indian literature and was meant to entertain but
the people behind the Parallel Cinema movement wanted to use the
medium for more than entertainment. The movement is known for
having movies focusing on realism, serious content and being based on
the sociopolitical issues at the times. It also rejected the dance-andsong numbers that were typical in mainstream cinema. Early examples
of Hindi films in this movement include Chetan Anand's Neecha
Nagar (1946) and Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zamin (1953). Their critical
acclaim, as well as the latter's commercial success, paved the way for
the Indian New Wave7.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s romance and action films were
trending and they starred some of big names in Bollywood including
actors Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra and Shashi Kapoor and actresses
like Mumtaz, Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan.
Angry Young Men (1970s)
Violent movies were the next big thing during the mid-1970s and
many actors made their careers playing the angry young man role.
Actors include Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor and the best actor in Bollywood
Amitabh Bachchan. There were two very important films in 1975. The
first was Sholay the film that defined the term masala movie. It was
panned by critics but because of favourable word-of-mouth it became a
box office success. It broke records for continuous showings in many
theatres across India, and ran for more than five years at Mumbai's

Shaikh 6
Minerva theatre. By some accounts, Sholay is the highest
grossing Indian film of all time, adjusted for inflation. The film's certain
dialogues have become a part of the daily vernacular and certain
characters (like Gabar Singh) became extremely popular, contributing
to numerous cultural memes.
Another important film from 1975 was Deewar, directed by Yash
Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. A crime film pitting "a policeman
against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji
Mastan", portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan; it was described as being
"absolutely key to Indian cinema" by Danny Boyle8.

Amitabh Bachchan in Sholay

Modern Bollywood (1990s onwards)

The 1990s shaped modern Bollywood. They had an influx of
romantic, masala and parallel cinema. Masala movies are a mash of
genres including action, comedy, and melodrama and including
approximately 6 dance-and-song numbers. Manmohan Desai, one of
the successful Bollywood directors of the 1970s is considered the
father of the masala movies, he said, I want people to forget their
misery. I want to take them into a dream world where there is no
poverty, where there are no beggars, where fate is kind and god is
busy looking after his flock. Nowadays, greater attention is paid to the
plot, character development, and dramatic tension. Although in most
cases, it is sheer star power that accounts for a masala films success.

Shaikh 7
The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood's popularity across the
world. This led the nation's filmmaking to new heights in terms of
production values, cinematography and innovative story lines as well
as technical advances in areas such as special effects and animation.
Yash Raj films and Dharma productions were the biggest producers at
the time9.
The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to a wider
audience and has resisted making films that target narrower
audiences. It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would
maximise box office receipts. However, recent signs eg. Peepli Live,
Vicky Donor and My Name is Khan show that filmmakers may be
moving towards making a balance between movies meant for a wide

Yash Raj Production's biggest hit - Dhoom 3 is highest grossing

Bollywood film.

audience as well as a narrow audience.

Genres Through The Eras

The genres in Bollywood have varied as eras went by. The silent
era was dominated by the mythological film genre. Since these stories
were loved and well known, people were attracted in masses. This was
necessary for the industry to be set in motion. Examples include Raja
Harishchandra. The next trend was making movies about the Mughals,
emperors and queens to show the grandeur of historical events.
Examples include Kalyan Khajina (1924) and Sati Padmini (1924).
When India underwent tumultuous times in the 1930s and 1940s, the
films that were made were purely for escapism although a few
directors did use the struggles as plot. That was a small spark before
the Parallel Cinema movement.

Shaikh 8
During the 1950s and 1960s, Bollywood included both epic films,
which were mainly for enjoyment purposes, and films from the Parallel
Cinema movement, which highlighted social issues. Romance films
were a thing during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The revolutionary
masala movie genre began in the mid-1970s where many superstars of
Bollywood began with angry-young-man roles. From 1990s to today,
Bollywood has a mix of romance, masala, comedy, message-oriented
and films highlighting social issues. Bollywood has attempted at
animated movies but as of now, they are few when compared to
Hollywood and fewer are highly popular.
Naach Gaana (Song-and Dance)

Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai dancing in the song

Dola Re Dola in the movie Devdas (2002)

Ever since the first talking film in Hindi cinema Alam Ara, songs
have been a huge appeal to audiences. Seeing this, the song count
went up from 7 to 10 at average. Nowadays though the average count
is 610 with many movies having just 1 or 2. Songs play an important
role in Bollywood films; they show an event taking place, evoke
emotions from the viewer or display that of the character in the film.
Since songs do not have to take place in a realistic situation in the
movie, a lot of creative freedom is available. Also, the movie and music
industries are interlinked and so nearly all Indian music come from
movie soundtracks.
Alam Ara was the first movie to have songs and it contained 7 of
them. This was followed by Shirheen Farhad (1931) which had 42 song
sequences strung together in the manner of an opera and later by

Shaikh 9
Indra Sabha that had 69 song sequences. In 1934, Hindi film songs
began to be recorded on gramophones and later, played on radio
channels, giving rise to a new form of mass entertainment in India,
which was responsive to popular demand. As time passed, Hindi music
went beyond the cinema. As per film historian Partha Chatterjee, "the
Hindi film song cut through all the language barriers in India, to engage
in lively communication with the nation where more than twenty
languages are spoken and ... scores of dialects exist" 11. Several
languages are used in Hindi songs including Punjabi, Marathi, Bhojpuri
and even English.
Some of the best playback singers of Bollywood include
Mohammed Rafi ("Parda Hai Parda", Badi Mastani Hai), Sonu Nigam
(Main Agar Kahoon, Kal Ho Naa Ho), Atif Aslam (Tu Jaane Na,
Woh Lamhe) and Sunidhi Chauhan (Dhoom Machale, Kamli).
Special mention goes to Lata Mangeshkar who is the most respected
playback singer in Bollywood and has been given the nickname The

Nightingale of India. Other notable figures would be the composer A.R.

Rahman (Jai Ho) and lyricist Javed Akthar.

The Actors
No movie would be complete without actors. In the 100 years
history of Bollywood, there have been many outstanding actors. Some
of the most notable actors through the century would be:

Lata Mangeshkar receiving the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993

Shaikh 10
1930s Prithviraj Kapoor, Zubeida
1940s Raj Kapoor a.k.a. The Show Man, Dilip Kumar a.k.a. The
Tragedy King
1950s Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Nargis
1960s Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore
1970s Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini,
Jaya Bachchan
1980s Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Dimple Kapadia
1990s Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi
Chawla, Kajol
2000s Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Abishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta,

Shahrukh Khan (SRK) a.k.a. The Badshah of

Bollywood is the highest paid Bollywood actor.

Rani Mukherjee
Many question the lengths of Bollywood films, which can range
from 150 210 minutes. The length helps viewers to be far more
emotionally invested. To Indians that range is very reasonable because
other forms of entertainment such as weddings and cricket matches
can last anywhere from hours to days to weeks.

Shaikh 11
Global Presence
Bollywoods presence around the world has been growing ever
since its inception but ever since the 2000s Bollywoods popularity has
been growing at an increasingly rapid pace. In the neighbouring
countries of India like Pakistan and Bangladesh, the popularity of
Bollywood equals, if not exceeds, the local cinemas. Bollywood movies
are extremely popular among Arabs in the Middle East. Back in the
1950s, Raj Kapoor films were the rage in the USSR. Rajinikanth (a
cultural icon) has fans in Japan. Films such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhi
Gham (2001) have entered UKs top ten charts 12. A reason for such a
rise would be the Indian cinemagoers in other countries who yearn to
stay in touch with the culture of their homeland which makes their
friends try out Bollywood and if they like it they bring their friends and
the cycle goes on.
Bollywood even has an impact on Hollywood. Bollywood actors
(Anil Kapoor (Mission Impossible 4), Irfan Khan (Life of Pi) and Anupam
Kher (Silver Lining Playbook)) have acted in Hollywood and vice-versa
(Paul Blackthorne (Lagaan), Ben Kingsley (Teen Patti), and Toby
Stephens (Mangal Pandey)). Bollywood and Hollywood movies are
popular in both India and America. They also have a sort of
collaboration in a few films such as Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi
where actors (sometimes locations also) are from Bollywood but the
language is English and the film has the Hollywood style while at times
in films such as Delhi Belly the language is English but the rest is
Bollywood style.
Bollywood is a 101 years old now. In that time, legends have
appeared, masterpieces have been created, entertainment has been
shared, emotions have been felt, fans have been made and lives have
been changed. This will not go away now, not when the evolving
technology has created roads that have not been taken, places that
have yet to be explored and histories that have yet to be written. With
that I conclude, but stay tuned, kyunki picture abhi baki hai mere dost
(because the film isnt over yet, my friend).

Shaikh 12

Notes
1. Chidanand Rajghatta, Bollywood in Hollywood, The Times Of India.

2. Rajshri, 100 Years of Bollywood, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=ynkiSLhq_DA.

3. Gulzar, Govind Nihalani and Saibal Chatterji, Encyclopaedia of Hindi

Cinema,136-37

4. K. Moti Gokulsing, K. Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake, Indian Popular

Cinema: A Narrative Of Cultural Change, 17.

5. Internet Movie Database, Mother India,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050188/.

6. Wendy Doniger, Chapter 6: Reincarnation, The Woman Who

Pretended To Be Who She Was: Myths of Self-imitation, 112-136.

7. Srikanth Srinivasan, Do Bigha Zamin: Seeds of the Indian New Wave,

Dear Cinema.

8. Amitava Kumar, Slumdog Millionaires Bollywood Ancestors, Vanity

Fair.

9. Anita N. Wadhwani, Bollywood Mania Rising in United States.

Shaikh 13
10. Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti, Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi
Song and Dance, U of Minnesota Press, 1-6.

11. As quoted, Gopal & Moorti, 14

12. Richard Armstrong, The Rough Guide to Film, 259

Bibliography
Anita N. Wadhwani. Bollywood Mania Rising in United States.

Armstrong, Richard. The Rough Guide to Film.

Bollywood Tourism. History of Bollywood.

https://www.bollywoodtourism.com/bollywood-history.

Chakravorty, Vinayak. Our Films, Their Films: A Comparison Between

Bollywood And
Hollywood. Indiatoday.

Corliss, Richard. Hooray for Bollywood. Time.

Doniger, Wendy. Chapter 6: Reincarnation. The Woman Who

Pretended To Be Who
She Was: Myths of Self-imitation.

Ganesh, Kamala. The Phenomenon of Bollywood In Europe. The Hindu.

Grant, Andrew. What is Bollywood?

http://worldfilm.about.com/od/bollywood/a/historyofbollywood.htm.

Shaikh 14

Gulzar, Govind Nihalani and Saibal Chatterji. Encyclopaedia of Hindi

Cinema.

Internet Movie Database. Mother India.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050188/.

Justlanded.com. Bollywood: Origins, History, Music.

http://www.justlanded.com/english/India/IndiaGuide/Culture/Bollywood.

K. Moti Gokulsing, K. Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake. Indian Popular

Cinema: A
Narrative Of Cultural Change.

Kumar, Amitava. Slumdog Millionaires Bollywood Ancestors. Vanity

Fair.

Mid-day.com. 100 years of Bollywood: History in Pictures. NDTV Movies.

Penn Masala. Evolution Of Bollywood Music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lErtjguuvSw.

Rajghatta, Chidanand. Bollywood in Hollywood. The Times Of India.

Rajshri. 100 Years of Bollywood. www.youtube.com/watch?

v=ynkiSLhq_DA.

Rhythm India. Bollywood dance.

Shaikh 15
http://www.rhythm-india.com/bollywood-dance.html.

Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti. Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi

Song and Dance. U
of Minnesota Press, 1-6.

Shaikh, Zaid. 10 Movies That Show Bollywood Is More Than Romance

And OTT Action
Flicks. http://www.ign.com/blogs/zaid26194.

Srinivasan, Srikanth. Do Bigha Zamin: Seeds of the Indian New Wave.

Dear Cinema.

Vhavnal. List Of Known Hollywood Actors In Bollywood.

www.imdb.com/list/ls053452392/.

Wikipedia. Alam Ara. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alam_Ara.

Wikipedia. Bollywood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood.

Wikipedia. Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmfare_Award_for_Best_Actor.

Wikipedia. Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmfare_Award_for_Best_Actress.

Wikipedia. Parallel Cinema.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Cinema.

Shaikh 16

Wikipedia. Raja Harishchandra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Harishchandra.