KMC Forums - Hollywood V/s Bollywood

India is the largest producer of films in the world in terms of its number of movies in several languages. Largest film industry in India is the Hindi film industry known as the Bollywood which is based in Mumbai. Hollywood is the American film industry, the main centre of which is Los Angeles, California.

Hollywood and its high tech personnel are deeply concerned about the technical perfection of their movies. Technical perfection is the major symbol of Hollywood movies. Even a hollywood movie which is released in the 40s or 50s have a technical perfection which cannot be seen even in today's Bollywood movies. Gone With The Wind (1939), Citizen Kane (1941), Casablanca (1942), The Big Sleep (1946), Hen-Hur (1959), The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) etc. are best examples. The main reason why Bollywood movies are not considered for Oscar is the lack of this precision and quality in movies.

Hollywood movies are made on a variety of subjects - action, science fiction, horror, comedy, drama, romance etc. This diversity in theme makes the Hollywood movies distinct and well defined. The Bollywood movies are confined to a limited subjects. Third rate romance and cheap comedy are the main subjects of today's almost all Bollywood movies which is always filled with a number of noisy songs and sizzling dances. Most of these songs and dances are always typical and dull. Our team of film makers forget that cinema is the most powerful media and it can influence people significantly. Our Bollywood movies are lacking a sense of ethical or social element. They do not convey a new experience or a message to the people.

I happened to watch an interview on TV with a top Bollywood director. He says that he went to Hollywood one day and met some of the popular directors there. They asked him that it is a wonder that Indians are making films with the help of a script only. Our beloved Bollywood director proudly said that he has made films even without a script. I was surprised why this man is not ashamed to tell such a thing to them. The Hollywood directors in utter astonishment told him to send one copy of such films. On coming back to India our director sent a video tape of one of his superhit movies to them. That means a hit movie in India doesn't necessary need a script. The Hollywood movies need a lot of paper work before the film is shot.

The people behind cinema should have a dedication in their work. The low quality of our movies is the result of lack of this dedication. Directors like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Syam Benegal etc. should be remembered here. They tried to create films with a touch of reality and perfection.