Akhilesh C.
10. Suffering
India is still considered a third world nation and has more poverty and hunger than anywhere else in the world. Clearly, we have seen and felt the pain through our own eyes and the portrayal cannot be very different in a Bollywood movie. Showcasing death, disease, hunger, poverty, pain, terrorism and other miseries of humanity have found its rightful place in many Bollywood movies, for some it has been the central subject. While many leading Hollywood filmmakers have often headed to India and other poverty-stricken Asian and African nations to gain a bit more on the grounds of realism and sympathy, they haven’t gotten as far. Though not a noble feat to have, Bollywood has so far succeeded in jerking tears and minting money through its morose portrayals on screen.
9. Colour, Contrast and, Flamboyance
Need I say anything at all? We’ve all been witness to this very stark difference between Hollywood and Bollywood. While showing-off is quite important as per many Bollywood movies, it is all about substance whenever it comes to your Hollywood stuff. Sparing a few exceptions (‘Lakshya’ for example), all the Bollywood films do love to be colourful and lively, no matter however grim the main subject. The variety of shades, palettes and pastel colours that are shown on screen do mesmerize us. Ultimately, everything boils down to our cultures and the customaries that we have in our countries. Regardless, what’s life without a little colour, right?
8. Costumes
On a very serious note, if a film like ‘Gandhi (1982)’ can bag an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (I understand for the Best Picture and other categories, but Costume? Really?), and incidentally, if it so happens that at least one Bollywood movie lands the Oscars every year, it surely will get a Best Costume Design Academy Award. I understand that ‘Gandhi’ was a Hollywood film, a really great one at that, albeit, with day-to-day costumes, it was the overall simplicity and realism that apparently bagged the prestigious recognition.
Costumes do play a very important role in every Bollywood movie, irrespective of its budget or production house and soon those costumes turn into fads and are donned by all of us eventually, in one or the other form. Don’t believe me yet? Take a look at yourself in the mirror and you’d find yourself wearing something that Hrithik, Shahrukh, Deepika or Aamir wore in one of their flicks a couple of years ago. To summarize, Hollywood’s just okay with over-glorifying the appearances of Johhny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter in their cliched roles, while Bollywood does it for the suitable fit in a film’s storyline.
7. In the Long Run
On an average, a typical Bollywood movie’s runtime is a good 150-180 minutes long. What else could you expect? With all those songs, the comedy scenes, the action sequences, the car chases, the fistfights against the villain and everyone coming together in the end, we can expect to sit for a little more than a couple of hours. Moreover, we love to stretch beyond the expected, that is so Indian of us. Yet, despite going through all the ordeal of a 3-hour long movie, most of these Bollywood movies become huge Box Office hits, not only in India but worldwide. Have concerns yet? Take a look at some of these longer duration Bollywood superhits – Dangal (2h 41m), Baahubali (2h 39m), Sultan (2h 50m), PK (2h 33m), Bajrangi Bhaijan (2h 43m). Summarily, the idea should be to keep the viewers engaged, for as long as possible and as many buckets of popcorn they can endure. Hollywood, you’re up!
6. No Words, Please!
No one should forget the famous (or rather, infamous) Indian head-nods and eye gestures. While most of the non-Indians find it annoying, uncomfortable and an impossible feat, we seem pretty okay doing it repeatedly in all our movies like we don’t care. Annoying or not, communicating without words is an art too and we’ve provenly aced it. If we were to remove all such gestures from Bollywood movies, all the greatest satirical, humorous or emotional movies will have gone for a toss, i.e. we’re nothing without it. On the other hand, we have these Hollywood movies which appear a wee bit novice when it comes to gestures and facial expressions (except for the pretty sitcoms). Going by that notion, verbal communication has to be mankind’s greatest invention so far.
