Akhilesh C.
5. Versatility
While we have many examples of mainstream Hollywood Actors playing almost a similar role or character in every movie, we don’t have many in Bollywood, at least not with the mainstream actors or actresses. Take any instance throughout, the artist doesn’t want to be stereotyped in a typical negative or a grey-shaded or a lover-boy image for a long time, be it of the likes of Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover or Shahrukh Khan. The versatility most of Bollywood’s actors and actresses have shown across the years is commendable, though not noteworthy for their performances per se. Moreover, because the movie budgets are not very extravagant, talent does possess an upper edge over perceptions. Leaving aside a few fellas in Hollywood, we’ve been bored with the same old “tough guy” or “happy-go-lucky” girl impressions over and over again.
4. Cheque, mate?
Be it a Bollywood movies or India’s Mission to Mars, India has been widely renowned for its budgeted approach and cost-effectiveness. What is wildly astonishing is the fact that, for instance, a single episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ entails the exact same cost as do at least 2-3 medium budget Bollywood movies (and the “cheap” Indian mentality arises! Or so they say). Or even more, depending on the cast, crew and sets.
Whereas, if the earnings and ROI are concerned, a mediocre Bollywood hit ends up making at least 5-6 times money over its production cost, meaning at least a 400% return, on an average. And mind you, I am not talking about the hits comparable with Dangal (whose ROI was approximately 30 times over its production cost btw), but about the likes of ‘Jolly LLB 2’, ‘The Ghazi Attack’ or ‘Azhar’. If we compare these statistics with Hollywood, saving a few like ‘Avatar’ (~11 times ROI) or ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (~6 times ROI), we’re left with films that barely recover their humungous budgets. Probably ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (~ 25 times ROI) could be a superb example of why more and more movies should be filmed in India. Your take?
3. Playback Singing: Music to Our Ears
Well, well, well. We don’t see anything related to lip sync at all in Hollywood, do we? It is either the actors singing for themselves or there’s just vacuum. As opposed, Bollywood has had more than 100 years of experience in playback singing and we’ve never seen actors or actresses singing for themselves (except for some art films or Shraddha Kapoor or Ayushmann Khurrana lately). It has two advantages, one, the actor or actress in question needn’t be multi-talented or highly paid or both and two, the viewers would never really know how they sound when they sing (trust me, it is an advantage). While any movie with songs in Hollywood is classified (or rather, glorified) as a “Musical”, it is just every Tuesday for us in Bollywood. And with the success of ‘Whiplash’, ‘La La Land’, ‘Sweeney Todd’ etc, I think Hollywood should adopt more and more of “musicals” in their vast catalogue of movies. Plus, musicals attract lesser cost and more viewership (and thus, more Academy Awards), so I guess that’s like a ray of hope.
2. Female Lead Characters
We all have seen movies like ‘Brooklyn’ and ‘Erin Brockovich’, so let’s not “discuss” on how Hollywood has aced making movies with a woman in its lead and only role. The point I am trying to make here is the approach and the final outcome of such movies and are they being recognized at all, in the right forums. Though Hollywood doesn’t have any dearth of women-centric movies, what’s been dissenting is the so far diminishing viewerships and declining Box Office collections as compared to their male-centric counterparts.
While Hollywood has lately been scandalized with sexual predators emanating every now and then, Bollywood surely has made some amazing strides, with female-centric powerful roles in some widely recognized movies in the past couple of years. We adored the films like ‘Dangal’, ‘Neerja’, ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’, ‘Simran’, ‘Queen’, ‘The Dirty Picture’, some of which even went further and won the prestigious National Awards and which surely catapulted Bollywood years ahead of Hollywood, and counting. Consider any movie for that matter, Bollywood is slowly positioning itself to project women as their central subject. And we’re absolutely loving it.
1. Showcasing Incredible India and Credible Indians
And finally, saving the best for the last. Indian places, culture, people, languages, customs and food have long been heavily stereotyped, with the portrayals often featuring Snake Charmers (really? REALLY?), people buying exotic stuff in the street markets, richer people riding horses and taming wild animals and most amusing of them all – rope-walking – things that seldom happen anymore. We aren’t just all about the Taj Mahal and rich people driving Lamborghinis and in possession of satellite controls (read Mission Impossible: The Ghost Protocol) or socially-awkward nerdy guys with thick accents or a convenience shop owner, who’s fussy about Indian curries. Indians aren’t always necessarily cheap or techies or spicy food eaters or ought to be trained dancers or are prancing around a tree. It’s always those culturally preconceived notions of Hollywood that are worrisome.
The comforting factor is that Bollywood has got everything apt so far and hasn’t exaggerated or undermined the truth that India and Indians hold. After all, seeing something in a Hollywood movie about India or Indian people that isn’t actually true is a bit concerning and disheartening at the same time. Summarily, Hollywood needs to get it straight and take a serious note of what India is actually about, not what it perceives India to be. The prevalent, rampant morbid racism that Hollywood possesses, especially for Indians, has to be gotten rid of.
