Bollywood

 (E-content developed by Dr N A Jarandikar)

Bollywood

The term ‘Bollywood’ is associated with the Indian film industry. In India, the film industry started towards the end of the 19^th century. At first, it was a silent movie. It was without dialogues and music. Dadasaheb Phalke is considered as the father of Indian cinema. His film “Raja Harishchandra” is the first full-length Indian film. It was released in 1913. “Alam Ara” is the first Indian sound film. In the pre-independence India, films were mainly mythological in nature. At that time, women were not allowed to play roles in the films. Even watching a play was considered a more serious business than watching a film. But in course of time, the film industry changed rapidly. Now it has become the biggest entertainment industry.

The term ‘Bollywood’ is mainly used for Hindi cinema. Before 1947, the film industry was located in Bombay, Calcutta and Lahore. But after 1947, Bombay became the centre for the Hindi film industry. Earlier Mumbai was known as Bombay. So, on the model of ‘Hollywood’, Indian Hindi film industry is called ‘Bollywood’.  Earlier, it was known as ‘Bombay Cinema’. In 1970s film journalism coined the term ‘Bollywood’. Today, Bollywood is the largest film making industry in the world.

In 1940s, the Hindi cinema left the mythological plots, and it became highly realistic. It focused on the day-today social issues. Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutt are the important directors and film producers of this period. In fact, the decades of 1940s to 1960s are termed as the golden age of Indian cinema.

But a major change came in the decades of 1970s. Indian cinema now focused on the darker side of social life. For the first time, the underworld and criminal world was explored by Indian film industry. The disappointed youth after independence of India was craving to change the established corrupt social world.  And so, the concept of ‘angry young man’ came forward. “Zanjeer” and “Deewar” are the two classic examples of this type of film. Amitabh Bachchan emerged as a new youth icon in the decades of 1970s.  

Unreliable plot, element of melodrama, chance element, songs, dance, dashing heroes, fighting scenes, violence etc are the important features of Bollywood. That’s why Bollywood is also known as “Masala Movies”.

The Bollywood movies of 1970s were counter attacked by a new wave cinema. It was also known as “Parallel Cinema”. It rejected the Masala Movie features. Its plots were realistic and without any kind of melodrama. Shyam Benegal, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani are some important names associated with this kind of cinema.

Today, Hindi films are following different conventions and models. It has become a global cinema. But still it is fondly called a Bollywood.

After 1990s, the south Indian film industry is also flourished. It is following the Bollywood model. Hyderabad and Chennai are its centres. It is known as Kollywood (Kannada film industry) and Tollywood (Tamil film industry).   

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