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Feb012007
Bollywood vs Hollywood - The Complete Breakdown
Indian media is full of reports about Bollywood’s increasing influence in the world movie industry and how it is catching up with the big boy Hollywood. Let us look at some facts.
Bollywood was born in 1899 with the production of a short film and Hollywood’s birth happened 11 years later in 1910 with a Biography melodrama.
Hollywood produces 500 films per year on average and has a worldwide audience of 2.6 billion whereas Bollywood produces more than 1000 (not consistently) films every year and has a worldwide audience of 3 Billion. In terms of vieweship, Bollywood overtook Hollywood in 2004 and has been leading ever since.
Hollywood’s Domination
Bollywood made a revenue of $1.75 Billion in 2006(estimated to rise to $3.4 Billion in 2010) which is only half the revenue of what one Hollywood studio, Walt Disney made in 2006 - and that is saying a lot. However, while Hollywood’s market inside the US has almost saturated, India’s 500 million population under the age of 20 will ensure that the market inside India will grow exponentially in the coming years.
Although Hollywood produces only a fraction of the number of films made all over the world, it garners a staggering 75% of total revenues. Also, 50% of its earnings(expected to grow to 80% in the next 20 years) come from the foreign market whereas for Bollywood it is 20%.
Hollywood has an overwhelming domination among the top grossers worldwide - almost all of the top 50 movies are made in Hollywood. It has virtually eclipsed all other film industries except Bollywood - for instance, the European film industry cut down to 1/10th of its size since 1910.
Spiralling Production Costs and Risks
The average cost of producing, marketing and distributing a Hollywood film is more than US$60 million though a Star Wars or Harry Potter costs around $100 million and only one out of ten succeeds. At the same time Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Paani’ which is tipped to be the costliest film ever to be made in Bollywood will cost $20 million and the average cost of a big movie is around $ 5 Million. 50% of the movies produced in Bollywood are never released and on an average more than 95% of those released results in losses.
Bollywoods NRI Connection
Around 15 million Indian expatriates living in different parts of the world account for over 65% ofBollywood’s earnings. An estimated $800 is spent by NRI’s in Indian movies and music. US (2 million Indian expats), UK(1.5 million) , South Africa(1 million of Africa’s 2 million Indian population) are major markets for Bollywood.
The Bottomline
Despite the hype surrounding Bollywood’s increasing influence in the world movie industry, it is a long way from being a threat to Hollywood’s influence.
Revenue-wise Hollywood movies does not depend on ticket sales alone. It follows the time-tested ‘franchise-formula’ where a major part of the revenue comes from other segments like TV networks, magazines, home-videos etc. Ofcourse, Bollywood is toying the same line but it is too early to say if a successful process is in place.
A few years ago, 70% of the money for movies made in Mumbai came as liquid cash from traders in real-estate, jewellery and the Mumbai underworld. Things have improved, but the financing of Bollywood movies is still shady business coming largely from the non-organised sector and with virtually no financing from the banking sector unlike Hollywood where production studios and the organised sector treat it as an industry and has a well established network. Bollywood was officially recognised as an ‘industry’ by the government only in 1998.
And if Bollywood basks in the glory of dubious ‘Shah Rukh Khan has more fans than Tom Cruise’ reports for too long, it may not be a happy ending afterall.
Sources: Variety International Film Guide, Asianfilms.org, Reuters
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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Kamla
001
10:59 pm
Really nice summary of the two film industries.
There is one thing though..that is Hindi films or Bollywood films have a huge market with non-Indian community in Africa, and Middle East.Like one New York cabbie told me…I don’t know who Clint Eastwood or Robert Niro was in Africa, but I knew who Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra were. Telling statement.
Thanks,
Kamla
Jo
002
11:08 pm
The popularity of Bollywood actually shows a huge issue that is India’s population. The Bollywood movies are mostly watched by “India citizens” (or people of Indian origin) across the world.
Bollywood can never even dream of Hollywood, because Hollywood has a huge list of fine actors, directors and producers (producers who are into Cinema not only to make money, but also has a good idea of it) and has amazing technical perfection even in the artsy films and fresh ideas. See the list of movies that has been or being considered for Oscars, most of them are great movies. Then compare it to Bollywood and we will see.
Even in the last celebrated movie of Bollywood “Krrissh”, they had to copy a batman mixed with the gown, flying and fighting style of Neo from Matrix and the Roshans got red carpet in a carnival called Goa “Film” Festival. Even in its prequel “Koi Mil Gaya”, they had to bring in an Australian to do the special effects and they created a clown like “Jadoo” which is a ‘comic’ imitation of Spielberg’s wonderful E. T.
At the same time, there are a lot of wonderful people in India like Aparna Sen, Mani Ratnam, Ritu Parno Ghosh, Shyama Prasad, Shaji N. Karun etc (am not even mentioning the great veteran names like Adoor Gopalakrishnan) but we still go ga-ga over Bollywood that tries to imitate Hollywood in each and every move.
Matt
003
7:34 pm
Can you point us to a list of the approx 1000 films made by Bollywood last year?
Rajesh
004
8:36 pm
Hey checkout this great bollywood dances….on a single postcard
http://www.zimoz.com/zimo/user/Rajesh%20Chokhani/1170600959049.postcard
namantra
005
10:22 pm
I think that you are WAY over simplifying the issue. Hollywood is richer, therefore it’s better, is all you’re saying.
Hollywood spends a lot, and makes a lot. Bollywood spends little, and makes little. It’s a much cheaper and possibly more efficient. Bollywood tickets are MUCH cheaper than Hollywood tickets, and Bollywood actors/producers/director/whatever need less money to live large than their Hollywood counterparts.
Gross salaries are never a good way to compare nations. In America, a family needs to make at least a 100,000 USD to live happily. In India, this is more like 20,000 USD. You have to compare in terms of purchasing parity, NOT gross income. Likewise, Shah Rukh Khan can live like Brad Pitt (same cars, houses, service, etc) with a 5th of Brad Pitt’s money.
I bet if you look at the overall spending of Bollywood versus how much it makes, it will prove better than the overall spending of Hollywood versus how much it makes.
And apparantly the big money spent in Hollywood goes to waste, considering the fact that nowadays Indian movies AESTHETICALLY look almost identical to Hollywood movies.
Besides that, Bollywood has much stronger viewership - 3.6 billion in TICKETS sold yearly (middle east, africa, eastern bloc european, south asia, south east asia, etc). And this figure doesn’t include the pirated Bollywood VCDs that Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East, Bangladesh, and even India (and actually now even the USA) are rife with.
I think Bollywood has a strong hold over Hollywood, and it’ll only get better.
Woke
006
10:42 am
Matt,
The numbers come from seven different regional film industries. Wiki has a list of most of these movies here apart from the list of hindi movies here . I havent come across a comprehensive list encompassing all online though it should be available with the Film Federation of India.
namantra,
I did not imply Hollywood is ‘better’.
Just pointing out to some numbers which works in favour of either one of them.
Parallel cinema in Hollywood is in much better shape than in Bollywood.
If Bollywood has to compete with H’d it has to be in US and the rest of world and this is where H has a definite advantage in being successful in breaking cultural barriers. B might successful in the subcontinent and parts where there are a large no:of south asians but it is the ability to bring in a new audience who does not speak hindi which will be the the big hurdle.
As of now B has a a very small audience from this segment.
namantra
007
11:19 am
That’s actually completely untrue. Bollywood has a strong grasp on non-Hindi speaking populations. Talk to anybody who has lived in Africa, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Central Asia, etc. I guarantee you that while they lived there, they watched way more Bollywood movies than Hollywood movies. 100% guarantee. Even people in eastern European countries and Russia used to watch only Bollywood movies (however over time this has reduced significantly in these two areas).
I agree that the situation of parallel cinema is much better in Hollywood, but Bollywood is definitely getting there (gradually/slowly, but continuously).
Woke
008
11:25 am
I would be grateful if you could point out some survey report supporting your argument of 100% guarantee.
The one I came across in India Today cited a 2% penetration of non-hindi speaking masses while it was more than 20% for Hollywood among the non-english speaking masses.
But yes Bollywood may catchup in future.
jayjay
009
4:50 am
Very thoughtful post. Please visit a blog I just started. I would like to see if you have any initial thoughts on the discussion I am trying to start:
http://scriptbollywood.blogspot.com/
Rahul
010
11:12 pm
Though Bollywood is popular BUT we are far behind in terms of being original.If we don’t come up with good and original writers (who are the backbone of Hollywood) we will always be lagards.
Good Article.
But I still love to watch a Salman or a priety!!
Rajiv
011
1:07 am
Well the fact remains that hollywood is the big boy. I think bollywood lags so behind its not even right to think of making a comparison. Its a sin, hehe.
The fact that names like narmantra and rahul are writing about brad pitt and tom cruise tells us the extreme diversified fame of hollywood. No chris, johnny, or angela wud write about aamir khan or shahrukh khan in that way, they dont know!
Hollywood has a ‘global fame’ and this is a technical term by the way. In today’s world, in wot kind of people u’r famous is as equally important as in how many. Its not just about the numbers, its about who, how much diversified, and wot ethnicities. Bollywood is only known in indian subcontinent, or the indian diasporas and an exception being the middleeast side. Hollywood is known everywhere. In austrailians, indians, pakistanis, europeons, american, every corner of the world. This is well also obvious coz hollywood films are in the universal language and the media coverage is global. Your tom cruise comes to pakistan and u have all the pakistanis showing up at the airport. Your shahrukh khan shows up at JFK and there’s no gora there, only the indians who live there, that is if they come.
Well its a laugh comparing bollywood to hollywood
so dont! hehe
Adnan
012
1:58 am
who the hell says bollywood has a AUDIENCE of 3.2 billion…bollywood has a TICKETS SALE of 3.2 billion…does anyone realizes the crazy repitition factor among indian citizens in watching movies in theaters…lets say u have 50 indians…and each of them watches the an indian movie 4 times…that doesnt make the audience 200! the audience is 50…anyone here who’s thinking with the right mind shud know people of indian subcontinent including the relatively low diasporas comprise of a population of not more than 1.5 billion…so there’s obviously huge repitition…thats not the case with hollywood…crazy repititions dont happen there
and i think this whole scenario of comparing bollywood with hollywood is crap…bollywood films are in hindi and they will thus always have a limited audience…they have no tech…nothing…and bollywood has zero influence outside the indian community…unlike hollywood…which has a extreme global coverage and impact…and has a huge ethnically diversified audience all over the world in every culture
HOLLYWOOD BIG BOY…rajiv is rite…its a sin to even compare
David Lean
013
2:01 am
Hi everyone. I just came across this forum and i dont really know, but wots bollywood? i believe its a film industry but i really thought someone mispelled hollywood
wot’s with that uncanny resemblance of the name?
Woke
014
10:19 am
Rajiv and Adnan,
I think you are mixing up statistics with a diversified following. True, Bollywood’s global appeal is negligible compared to H, but these are figures - not an inference on which is ‘better’.
David,
Once in a while, look beyond your neighbourhood in Milton and you might just come across the word.
Or if that is too demanding, look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood
Adnan
015
2:35 pm
As far as better is concerned…which means the quality of films…bollywood is obviously total crap to hollywood…i wud say negative
Bollywood is a huge copy cat…and thats not inspiration wot i’m talking…this ‘inspiration’ is a very cool word for the copy cat’s to hide their motives…zeher film is full copy of denzel washington’s out of time…even the shooting script has a similiarity…that is extremely pathetic…i dont say ’sarkar’ is a copy…thats a true inspiration and its a nice film…but like zeher i can name a dozen films which are shot to shot copy of hollywood films…another example is killer from collateral…there are many
Plus hollywood has all the tech in the world which lets them make such dramatic…diversified…and appealing films bollywood can never imagine…they’r just happy with their family dramas of ‘kuch kuch hota hai’ and ‘kabhee alvida naa kehna’…hehe
Adnan
016
2:36 pm
by the way…this copy makes mahest bhatt the biggest sucker alive!
Rafay
017
2:38 pm
True man.
And yea mahest bhatt really sucks! the guy has no talent and originality
Woke
018
2:44 pm
Rafay agrees with Adnan 2 mins after Adnan’s comment and both of them have 203.81.231.157 as the IP address.
Now that is originality
Rafay
019
3:07 pm
man u hacker or sumthing…yes we’re on the same pc
but wots keeping u so bonded with the crap?
Rafay
020
3:10 pm
I believe u’r some indian who for no reason is defending bollywood…u shud admit how things are moving and forgodsake get off that ‘my industry-my support’ crap
dont post here with some defense for mahest bhatt
Rafay
021
3:11 pm
Well i’m just gonna get off this subject…i think the whole bollywood comparison with the big boy sucks in the first place
bye everyone
Woke
022
3:11 pm
By crap, if you mean B’wood, I hate it more than you do. As for the IP, fairly easy to figure out from the WP admin.
Rafay
023
3:12 pm
thats originality…the exact minutes…way to go dude
Rafay
024
3:13 pm
hey thats a originality…3:11 and 3:11…are we chatting
Watcher
025
3:52 am
I find it funny that the people here are actually saying Hollywood is original. That’s laughable. Maybe you should watch some Japanese anime or movies, and see how much material Hollywood takes from them. You remember Kill Bill? Well, read the Manga (graphic novels) called Lone Wolf and Cub, which was written in the 1970’s, and you will see where all the ideas for that movie came from. Matrix? Heavily inspired by the anime Ghost in the Shell. I can name many many more examples.
Though I don’t disagree that Bollywood produces crap. It does, but I disagree that Hollywood does much better, though they do produce more excellent material, and their crap is just done better.
banalit boro
026
3:29 pm
i think bollywood movies will take time to catch up with holllywood atleast after 15 to 20yrs i think the main problem is the language if want to enjoy a bollywood movie you got to have sound command over hindi then only you can enjoy the emotions, spicy dialouges of a bollywood movie
Chronicc
027
9:32 am
FACTS ABOUT BOLLYWOOD:
I will post the ACTUAL REASONS, BEHIND THE “POPULARITY” OF BOLLYWOOD IN 100′S Of countries. Its absolute shortcomings. Total production cost vs net gross. Where and how bollywood fails, and where and how bollywood succeeds. And many such things. Factual numbers and analysis and constructive criticism.
Lets start with Bollywood’s global viewership and why it is around 2 - 3 Billion.
1) Bollywood does have a global audience that boasts in numbers close to 2.5 Billion, however, interestingly the audience is primarily from poor/developing countries. The implication here is about the majority of the audience. Obviously, bollywood as audience from Australia, Sweeden, USA, etc etc[rich nations], however its “majority” of the non-indian viewers are from Afghanistan, Iran, Venezuela, Kenya, West Indies, Bulgaria, Latvia etc etc to name few of such “random” countries where not only the “NRI” population comprises of viewership, but the local/Native population as well. Therefore regardless of approx 2.5 billion viewers, the total revenue generated is less, as these countries do not boast strong currencies.
You have to keep in mind the fact, that other than Hollywood, the Indian movie industry is the only “professional” industry out there in terms of entertainment, production, distributors, investors and most importantly an avid viewership. Remember the fact that the “NON WHITE” population of the planet, intrisicly identify to a “darker” shade of humans. Because people “identify” the body and facial expressions, color and imagery as their own. Again, remember that these massive viewers are from Middle East, Africa, South America the Carribeans, and what is their skin color?? Brown-tan-black, anything but white. This is not to suggest that white ppl, such as Eastern Europeans, do not watch it, but we are talkin about majority here.
..more to come …
Chronicc
028
12:41 pm
….
In fact we can take in depth analysis of every major/minor country from where this “2.5″ billion Bollywood viewers originate.
1) India [Population 1.3 billion] [TV/Movie Watching audience [700 Million] at any given time. Example during Cricket Matches, especially a world cup match against Pakistan.
2) Pakistan [Pop 165 Million] [TV/Movie audience is over 50 Million. Culture very similiar to India, there Hindi movies are desired and watched the most]
3) Russia [Anti USA [World War + Cold War]]
Pro commmunist/socialist which India initially was and still is to some extent, however things have changed. Therefore interest in India was genuine/strategic for the Russians. Anti Hollywood/capitalist economy, helped Russians [not all, but many] to diversify their movie interest in Hindi movies.
4) South America
5) Africa [Kenya, South Africa, Egypt etc]
6) Eastern Europe [Bulgaria, Latvia, etc]
7) Middle East [UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel etc]
These four “continents” have almost the same reasons as listed below.
Family values + Songs + Dancing + Skin color + Struggling economies/people
Many countries from the above regions, identify very closely to India, when it comes to culture and family values. Music, rhythm, the “hero” concept. One poor guy from the village..goes in search for a job in the “Big” city…and his struggles against corruption and his eventual victory over the system..is a classic concept that every country and more sore developing countries can identify to. Amitabh Bacchan was one such typical hero. Tall, dark in color, seemingly ordinary looking, an image that a random south american, middle eastern, african, srilankan, pakistani, and random Eastern Europeans can identify with. As suppose to Marlon Brando, Bradd Pitt, Tom Cruise, Sean Connery. Too white, too american…too capitalist…too flashy.. too “perfect” ..that a random person in any of the above countries/regions could be like ..hey ..my local village/town person looks like Marlon Brando. NO!
India is also the only Non-Muslim country in the world, which has the most Muslims, almost 200 million. The frequent use of Urdu words in movies, give many muslims, especially Arabs, a chance to identify the muslim culture/certain words/language.
Indian movies on top of all these factors are dubbed in native languages as well.
Again, like i said NRI’s regardless of where they are, 70%-85% will most likely watch Hindi movies. White people from countries such as [USA, UK, Australia, NewZealand, Canada will 99% chance not watch Hindi movies]
Chinese people will 99% chance not watch Hindi movies.
And there it is, the rest of the world is open to Bollywood. Again, remember that a lot of European countries with “WHITE” population, like Sweeden, Netherlands etc are prime locations for bollywood movies. More than half of the “foreign location/sets” are based in these European countries, thus not only do they help their tourism economy, they also incorporate these white people in their movies for random roles, or crowd.
bollywood sucks
029
11:45 pm
Movie making is not just money its art. Before even thinking of money you need to have a concept which comes withouth any cost. Once you have a great concept money can always follow. The thing is Indian movies just want to make a masala movie and just get away with it. Hollywood does a hell lot of research for minutest things. They do a research on location,research on character(his life,his actions,his mannerisms),research on how extras fit in) . I dont think there is problem with money with bollywood,when they can spend 50 crores on crap movie like devdas they can always get money. Till now actors like big b,srk,hritik have never done a role which depicts a real life character eg
Tom cruise in born on the 4th of july(he played ron kovic)
philip seyomor hoffman in CAPOTE(he played Truman Capote)
Leornardo in The Avaitor(howard hughes)
Russel crow in the beautiful mind(john nash)
U tal about money ,The blair witch project was shot on a handy cam..Thatz what i call creativity. You dont need money all u need is creativity to think and come up with new concepts. We always end up imitating all the crap of West..I have written so many stories which i cant share with stupid brainless directors like Yashchopra or aditia chopra as they will never understand my stuff.. I wil defenitely have to send it to martin scorcese..
OSh
030
11:32 am
First of all u all guys r losers. I never post a comment in my life on any web site. But today I am doing so BCZ there are many important issues going on world wide. Please disscuss those. Comparing two film industries is so stupid. There is no comparison. They both r the best @ their place. O Ya all the losers saying that this is not good that is not good y don’t u guys jion one of the industry and make it better. Sukers
Pramod
031
1:29 pm
No one cares if bollywood is carp or copied from hollywood……the fact is that sooner or later………..it will overcome hollywood. Talent and originality has nothing to do with race….. these things are driven by money………..once bollywood becomes more structured and money flows into it, original talent will automatically follow………..its just a matter of time. I see it very hard for hollywood to culturally dominate india…….it will have some influence for sure…..but it will be impossible for it to completely dominate the indian society like it did to some other countries. India is too strong culturally to be dominated by hollywood.
one amazing fact is that India, and the USA are the only countries in the world where 95% of the ticket sales are dominated by the local film industry
Harjeet Singh
032
2:52 pm
hey look im indian, but im hollywood’s side.
hollywood is by far far far richer than that cheap indian, so its by far better! and the reason indian makes more films are because that most of them the story line is coppied from hollywood films! hollywood has a far far far wider movie range than bollywood, all the bollywoods films are only love, action. But hollywood has a long list of types of films. indian has a low place and should stay there stop tring to step up!.
hollywood is by far lots more better than bollywood.
plus hollywood is more kown than that bollywood crap.
Harjeet Singh
033
2:58 pm
HOLLYWOOD is far better than stupid bollywood, bollywood is cheap and drity, they are low class people and in a low star in life they should stay there!!
by the way im indain, im one of the few thats smart and knows that bollywood sucks, im all for holywood,
Melvin Thomas
034
10:44 am
only Jatinder and a few others here make some sense… most of the Bollywood fans here are merely propagandizing… the Bollywood proponents here are talking with poor and fabricated data… you guys are not showing real statistics… you are just talking from your heart… but your brains are not quite doing the work…
some people think Bollywood makes more than 1000 movies a year!!!… how pathetically stupid!!!… whoever said this, can i ask you something?, have you ever come across a 1000 new hindi movies a year???… and let me tell you something, when you guys say “Bollywood”, please do not count the other language movies.. because I noticed many of you doing the calculations, tend to make the mistake of saying Bollywood has a 2.3 billion audience… that is way too wrong… because “Bollywood” is exclusively “hindi”…
Be it the people of India, Pakistan, and other South Asain countries, and also the many many foreign nations where Indian movies are exported… let me tell you guys something, NOT EVERY SINGLE PERSON WATCHES AN INDIAN MOVIE, ESPECIALLY A “BOLLYWOOD” MOVIE… please understand this simple thing — a country’s population is not equal to the “audience”… they are totally two different things independent of each other… so please stop counting all the people in the world and converting them into Bollywood “fans”…. please…
Bollywood has nothing to do with other languages of India… so, I find the hypocrisy in you people’s words, when you comfortably ignore the people of other Indian languages (including the actors, the audience), and yet when you do the counting, you include the amount of movies and money made outside “Bollywood”, in it…
SO ALWAYS REMEMBER “BOLLYWOOD” = “HINDI MOVIE INDUSTRY (WITH A LITTLE URDU TOO)”
and being said that… let me give you guys some authentic, real, and legal statistics about the Indian movie industry…
Besides “Bollywood” ie the “hindi” movies most people know… there are movies made in the languages of Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarathi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Assamese, and a few more…
now the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Bengali are big movie industries… i do agree Bollywood is bigger than them… but nonetheless not small…
the first Hindi movie was made in 1913, named “Raja Harishchandra”… The first Telugu movie was released in 1922 named “Bhisma Pratighna”… The first Malayalam film titled “Vigathakumaran” was released in 1928… The first Tamil movie named “Kalidas” was released in 1931… and many more in different languages… and none of the regional languages constitute a single paisa (penny) towards the Bollywood industry…
Bollywood produces less than 300 movies a year… in 2006, the Telugu industry produced more movies than Bollywood did… just to mention something… and one more thing, more than half of the movies Bollywood makes turns out to be flop… and another thing, more Southern Indians and Bengalis take home National Awards than the Bollywood movie industry… it is not just Bollywood movies that gets nominated for Oscars… “Guru” a malayalam movie long ago was nominated for Oscars, when no hindi films did at the time…
So the Indian movie industry is way bigger than just Bollywood… and comparing Hollywood with Bollywood is worthless… well, you could do it if you want to.. but Hollywood is still too big for Bollywood… if you want to add up all the movies India makes, then you can say it is more than Hollywood… but Bollywood alone can never make it…
SO FRIENDS…. PLEASE DO SOME RESEARCH BEFORE ARGUMENTS….
sb1
035
10:46 pm
u hollywood viewers r fkrs
Melvin Thomas
036
11:52 am
“sb1″.. you probably never seen a hollywood movie in your life… well, how could you judge something that you don’t even know about… very sad… i feel pity for you…
Parminder
037
7:42 am
THE TRUE BOLLYWOOD STORY
Salman Khan should be thrown in the same court as Shah Rukh Khan. He has never given a Ben-Hur-type performance or a Ten Commandments-type performance or a Julius Caesar-type performance or a war general-type of performance. You get the point. He is mostly one-dimensional. Most of his roles don’t require any research or studying. All he does is act stupid and chase girls around. In addition, his comedy isn’t great. He was completely annoying in Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya and Hello Brother, both of which were directed by his brother. He was somewhat okay until about 1995, with Karan Arjun being his last great performance. After that, it was all downhill. Since then, he has used his muscles rather than his acting abilities to appeal to the world. I guess he thinks that being a superstar is better than being a great actor, like most other bollywood actors. Obviously, he also isn’t versatile. And he knows it.
Saif Ali Khan should be thrown in the same court as well. He has never played a character that requires research, mental and physical adjustments. Moreover, his voice is unbearably annoying. And yet he has many Bollywood fans. He was below good quality in his early film PARAMPARA. He has never given a blind-man performance, or a Laurence Olivier-type performance. It’s more than obvious that he used his mother’s help to get him in. It’s also obvious from his choice of roles that he isn’t interested in acting. He just wants the easy money. Just analyze him. Is he a good actor? In fact, is he even an actor at all?
This leads to the fact that Bollywood is just as corrupt as politics. Has anyone ever wondered how people like Salman Khan, Kajol, Zayed Khan, Hrithek Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Sohail Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Karishma Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Abishek Bachan, Vivek Oberoi, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Uday Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Tusshar Kapoor, etc. made it into bollywood? They’ve all had relatives who had been working in the industry. Obviously, bollywood is corrupt; favoritism is a BIG PROBLEM! And some, if not most, of these actors didn’t even recieve any formal training in acting. When you type in Salman Khan or Saif Ali Khan in wikipedia.com, nowhere will you find any acting training on their parts. It’s sad. Apparently, I’d have to say that all the actors listed above aren’t interested in acting and giving good performances, although they do pretend to. They just want the money. It is even claimed on wikipedia.org that Abishek Bachan began acting to save his dad’s company from going bankrupt. Obviously, therefore, he wasn’t fascinated with acting. They had the easy way to get into the business while most others didn’t and still don’t because of people like these. This is probably why most bollywood films don’t require hard work and aren’t very unique and splendid. And you don’t see various roles by one actor in terms of understanding the characters. It’s because the actors are limited in their abilities, like Salman, Shahrukh, and Saif. Directors have to make films tailored around these actors’ abilities. It’s obvious that actors like these care more about their superstar status’s, that they got through good looks and using their relatives’ iconic images, rather than their performances. They know Bollywood is easy money. And they know that Bollywood fans are ignorant. THEY’VE DESTROYED BOLLYWOOD.
Rather than casting someone who would be more suitable for a character in the film, the director would rather cast his own son or daughter to help their own blood at any cost, even if it means sacrificing the quality of the film. What’s worse is the fact that other folks don’t get a shot at Bollywood because actors like these use their relatives’ superstar status’s to get themselves into the business. They use the easy way while others like Naseerudin Shah had to get in the hard way. Directors would rather choose their own blood over real talent. Feroz Khan and Rakesh Roshan are just 2 of many examples.
When I was growing up watching hindi films, I enjoyed them. But when I started watching American films, I saw scenes that looked familiar. It turns out that Bollywood cheats its fans by copying and trying to imitate Americans and their films. I sure felt cheated. Moreover, the hindi music industry turned out to be corrupt as well. Many songs of the past and present have been copied. Tunes from foreign songs have been used. The indian composers figured no one will find out. I hardly know any indian composer, past and present, who is totally honest as is proven on http://www.itwofs.com/. I feel bad for those who put everything they had into their work and get little appreciation while others cheated and got instantly recognized, like R.D. Burman.
Another thing to consider is that good stories in bollywood films are rare. For example, I brought home LAKEER. I sat for three hours waiting for the good part to happen. I soon realized I was watching a no good piece of work movie. Since then, I have been an anti-fan of Sohail Khan and John Abraham; their performances were horrible and I mean horrible! Sohail’s only gained some attention because of his brother Salman. Without him, he’d be a nobody. He used his brother’s popularity to make his way into people’s conscience. He has no talent what so ever. And most of the time, he casts his brother in his movies. Again, FAVORITISM. He didn’t care if Salman was well suited to play the character in HELLO BROTHER, which he wasn’t. The film probably would have done better if someone else was casted. But little brother wanted to help big brother out. Similar instances have occurred for sure with other actors and their relatives. It’s obvious that some actors, if not most, in Bollywood don’t value thier work and the public, but rather thier own relatives and their well being and helping each other out rather than making the best movie possible. It seems like Sohail is an example. They just want to satisfy themselves rather than anyone else, even if it means bringing down the quality of Bollywood. Just think about it, we are familiar with so many bollywood superstars of yesterday and today, how did their sons and brothers and sisters and cousins end up in the industry? They fed off their relatives’ popularity. Even worse, they come in and try to run the show. If Salman Khan is a superstar, it doesn’t mean that his brother can be one. If Sunil Dutt was a superstar, it doesn’t mean his son can be one too. If Dharmendra was a superstar, it doesn’t mean his son can be one too. But most importantly, if Sharmila Tagore was a top actress, it doesn’t mean her son can be a top actor too. Most Bollywood fans fail to realize this. They take everyone for granted. They fail to realize that most of these Bollywood actors we are familiar with are only in the business because it’s easy money and not because acting is an interesting profession. Their choices of roles explains it all. They had to rely on their own relatives to get them settled in the business. Performance is very seldomly valued. These actors are only in it to fill their own pockets.
Bollywood Movies are packed with superstars because this is the best way to sell a movie, according to a director. But remember, a superstar doesn’t necessarily translate into a good actor. If there was a different set of actors and actresses, in other words, better talent, in the Bollywood business today rather than these sons and brothers and sisters of yesterday’s and today’s stars, BOLLYWOOD would more than likely have been more famous and more appreciated not just by Bollywood fans, but also by the rest of the world, including Hollywood. Even Hollywood isn’t as corrupt as Bollywood. Just think about it. If Denzel Washington is a good actor, it doesn’t necessarily mean his brother or sister can be a good actor too. If Brad Pitt is a good actor, it doesn’t mean his brother or sister can be a good actor too. If Tom Hanks is a good actor, it doesn’t mean his brother or other relative can be a good actor too. If Paul Newman is a good actor, it doesn’t mean his brother or other relative can be a good actor too. If only Bollywood fans could realize this.
Bollywood seldom tries to come up with its own type of style. Instead it copies Americans or middle easterners. Tunes for songs are still lifted to this day. Believe me, Bollywood fans have been and are still being cheated, deceived, and manipulated. THEY MUST WAKE UP AND FIGHT THIS INJUSTICE.
Aamir Khan is an exception. He is a hard worker. He took 4 years off to prepare for his role in Mangal Pandey. He did a great job in Lagaan and brought it to the Oscars. He always wants to give the best performance possible, even if it means doing one film at a time. I don’t see this kind of dedication from any other Bollywood star, especially Salman Khan, Fardeen Khan, and Saif Ali Khan. Gulshan Grover and Nasseerudin Shan are also GREAT. But it’s sad that the business they’re in is a fraud.
Ravi Patel
038
9:45 am
hi
this is ravi here
i know that hollywood have good directer ,producer actor and they play their role very nice but they havent proper acting .Hollywood people spent thier money on unconcious movie ,they dont know how to act but everybody know that in all over the world shahrukh khan is a best actor ,no one can take their place for acting not because i m indian but in the abroad everybody talking about shahrukh khan,and people believe that shahrukh made their own luck(forchunate)
Hibba
039
2:30 am
Ravi, your a tramp who can’t spell. Go back to India all of you Indians. You are not needed in the UK or America except for cheap labour.
I don’t care for all these Indians claiming to be the best. You suck and lets face it, you have a lack fo creative skills. You Indias think you are so smart and you can come here to England and compete with the English or the American’s. At the end of the day you all are American/English wannabees. Oh please get a life and stop thinking that you are above everyone. You should be glad that the English have began to pity you and are trying to give you poor losers some recognition because you are not considered as a threat. You don’y know how much the residents of America and UK despised the smell of curries and dark at womans wearing saries. But they are used to them and accept cultural chnage which you would as you are ashamed to be black and have discusting accents and come to England and America with your horrible accents and think you are the best. I hate the fact how Indians are so arrogant. I hate the coverage Shilpa Shetty got. She thinks she is so great but she soesn’t know that she has created hatred for herself. I never hated Shilpa i hardly knew her but now i hate the wierdo and i have a personal oppion of the india media copying which i hate. Frankly i’m tired and cannot be bothered to argue with overseas indians claiming to be better. This also includes oversea Pakistanis they they are so great and smart. Learning a few lines of English don’t make you smarter. I have to go through the toture of watching Bollywood movies because my parents don’t exactly understand English movies. My children will be bought up in England becasue i don’t want them to have evil minds of the indians/Pakistani’s
Woke
040
10:31 am
HIbba,
I do hope your children will grow up without the ‘evil mind of Indians/Pakistanis’ and even lesser of your generalisations.
lisa simpson
041
11:26 am
Sheesh Hibba
A lot of strong feelings there. So do those generalizations of Indians include you, too?
BvH
042
12:45 pm
Hibba, (28 Mar 08, 2:30 am )
Hibba you’re the tramp who can’t spell. (LOOK at the word ‘bought’, did you mean ‘brought’?) If you are going to make such comments, please do not embarrase yourself by buying your children. Try to have them the correct way first, before you take such extreme measures.
As for your ‘thoughts’, please do not show your racist thoughts. I truly dislike and seriously disrespect any and all those who are racist in their thoughts, words, and actions. Here is a wonderful advice that I, personally, want to give to you: “Do not judge a book by its cover.” Even though I tell you this, I know that you will not follow or listen to it. You are too racist and egocentric to except your roots.
Please don’t judge Bollywood against Hollywood ever again. Thank You.
BvH
043
1:09 pm
Parminder, (18 Jan 08, 7:42 am )
Your “True Bollywood Story” is totally BOGAS!!!
Your, so called, ‘true story’ is nothing but “The True ‘Hollywood’ Story”. For your information, I did not misspell “Bollywood”, I was typing about Hollywood.
In all your facts, it seems to be that you are defaming Hollywood instead of your deeply abhorred Bollywood. If you ever try to defend a certain topic, please try not to hurt the topic that you are actually defending. You might be using reverse psychology in your defense, which is not helping you at all. A big mistake that you made was in not mentioning anything about King Khan. I believe that you only want to defend Hollywood because there is sex in it. “Oh, my gosh!!! I think you might just love to watch PORN!!!!!!” Just Kidding ^_^
All your facts might be true, but all your references are totally worthless peices of falsehoods. Especially this webpage that you mentioned for us to look at:.
http://www.itwofs.com
The writer even typed a disclaimer. Look at this:
~~~~Disclaimer and help on audio files:
The site demonstrates similarities in music, usually compared between an Indian composition with that of a composition from another part of the world or within India. The final interpretation on what constitutes a similarity is entirely my assumption. The similarity thus deduced is not based on a purely scientific basis like note-to-note comparison nor am I musically knowledgeable enough to do that. The attempt here is to merely showcase similarities that are obvious to a normal person with no/ limited musical sense, in other words, the lowest common denominator basis for understanding similarities. This is also the reason why I use the terms ‘lift’, ‘copied’ or ‘plagiarized’ and not ‘infringed’ since this site is not ideally conceived as a legal proof for music plagiarism.
The Audio files included here are for demonstration purposes only and are merely edited clippings, mostly lasting not more than 30 seconds. The quality in which they are edited is also ensured to be minimal so that they may not replace actual, full fledged digital versions. The clips are not meant to infringe any copyright whatsoever. Please download and install the free Real Player to listen to these song files.~~~~~
Don’t write anything or any kind of references that will not and can never ever have credibility.
Thank You for taking your time for reading my thoughts on your unintelligent opinion and brainless thoughts.
Bye Now ^_^
PS. Please don’t be offended. Its just a fact…of opinion…just like yours, except mine is more thoughtful and REASONABLE and not JUDGEMENTAL.
Thanks a million again for reading this. ^_^
watever
044
2:49 am
what the crap!!!!!
why the hell are we even comparing the two hollywood is way up there bollywood is just a wannabe i mean i like some of their music but these days they try so hard to be hollywood it makes me wanna puke
they are pathetic these days come on ppl we all know they just wish they can reach as r as hollywood if they were better then why the hell do their actors and actresses wanna come to hollywood to bad cuz they know hollywood is way better comeon they even coppied the name hollwood and bollywood how similir it should be called boguswood not bollywood
Hibba
045
6:49 pm
So BVH let me make one thing very clear, my typing errors were merely errors, which a normal human amkes when typing fast and not giving a **** if you get it wrong. Does it even matter? Afterall i am better at English then you. Seeing that your incorrect spelling of bogus was “BOGAS”. This is really funny, how you protect “bollywood” and yes it is the misspelling of Hollywood. Lets face it Hollywood was there way before the BOGUS “bollywood cain along. Looking at your facts you don’t seem to have any. I don’t f*****g believe that you said that Hollywood movies are watched becasue they have sex in them. I mean WTF, so do Bollywood movies. Haven’t they started to kiss in the Bollywood movies and rape a bit too much. Unlike the Boguswood Hollywood has original works of art. When i was reffering to “the evil minds”, i meant of the people in Pakistan and the indians that move to Pakistan. BTW i am not an Indian and thank god for that, i can’t be racist to you hounds. At least no offence but worship stones. If i was a tramp i wouldn’t be typing this post here, as stealing is a offence in England. So is bribing. I’m sure India and Pakistan both are run by bribing and are proud of it no wonder they are corrupted. Juist to make it clear i am a Pakistani British. The reason why i hate Bollywood and the peoples thinkings of Pakistani and Indian people is because i have had too much exposure to Bollywood and i understand as the very wise people that it is fake and copied and its boring its probably amazing for the beggers i India and Pakistan but not for me. I mean the movie RACE?? WTH was that about? Nothing Indian init except from the people cast in it and their freaky imagination. Let me tell you something being able to read and write in English is not as amazing as you think and your pronounciation of the words is sickening just stick to speaking in hindi. Please the bollywood movies are embrassing. I mean just die you *edited* i hate everyone in Bollywood. FAKE. COpycats and corrupted thinkings. Instead of being proud of being able to speak hindi/urdu you people are getting into English too much. Trying to sound English which you never will.
I have to go now as i have a lesson. SUCKERS!
Comment edited by admin for racist abuse. Grammar and spelling errors won’t be, unfortunately.
Hibba
046
9:30 pm
Eww, i just realized that this is an Indian website.*feels sick* Plus if you go back and read Parminder’s comments, i totally agree with them. Altough i have to admit i have loved Salman Khan since i was four years old, it is saddening to find out the reality behind him. It always sucks to be a fan of someone/thing and find out its fake. Not that i ever loved Bollywood. Thank god that Hollywood is here to save the world. BTW all of Bollywood is acting as the people from there are the masters of lieing and fooling others for their own selfish greeds.
With Allahs will i will never return to this website ever again. Hollywood is above and will remain above no matter what Bollywood fans think. Keep your cheap thinkings within your country. I can’t exactly correct the Pakistanis ways but one thing i can do is offer them advice, which is to get some proper education and think about other people and how they percieve things. Don’t try to sound, act etc like something you are not. There is no need to try and sound English or try to adapt to our culture, stick to your own. Trust me trying to be English/American doesn’t do you any favours. It just makes you look like foolish ba*tards. Follow the way of the Qur’an and don’t listen to the priests or molvees or whatever you call them. Islam is not violence it in Arabic means PEACE. Stop terrorising England and other countries. Your not making a good impression of the Pakistani muslims here and its a sin to commit suicide in Islam. So don’t do it.
Hibba
047
9:31 pm
*Allah’s will
Kaif
048
8:56 pm
Hey Hibba, you have so much aggression towards bollywood, oops Indian Film Industry, Well man we know there are many thingz that are really needs to be improved but hibba and all fans of Bollywood and Hollywood its not that easy as you actually feel, Bollywood, which is a part of India, has suffered a lot, India was in British rule for quiet a long time, then problems with neighboring countries…
U.S. has not such problems ever, was on his feet from way back, plumped by great heads
The fact that Bollywood doesnt have quality in all its departments is a very intense issues for us and we are doing our best to make it the best but still India has to become a very very large economy, its per capita income should be improved and it will be by 2025-2030 Insahallah
Also Bollywood was not mean to captivate all parts of the world else it would have been started with ‘English’ Language from the very beginning, it was meant for Indian people only and was not at all seen as a profitable industry for investors, its now only that people are watching indian films around the world, bollywood (including its name) is way back, its 30 yrs behind USA and CHINA, theres is a lot lot lot work to do both for india, indian film industry and other industries (in india) and we are not ashamed to hear we are not perfect, no we arent, we are way way way back then hollywood, shahukh and tom cannot stand by side nope, theories are fake
The work is going, quality will come, we are doing work, plz be patient, hollywood is also helping us with their arts and sciences
Indian and foreign fans supporting any industry, plz dont fight, instead help us yaar, send suggestions to diff production houses, directors, actors, etc by mail, post, any thing, we want to hear good ideas from you.
I am actually an actor, an experienced actor from indian film industry, not so high but m still well established, we are making a film, i was searching for some ideas and gat stumbled here
rasta
049
11:45 pm
i hope bollywood break the culture barier thats one thing holding them down, i love the films but they dont dubb it over in english , and also they need to get into the us market from there the rest of the world, but they are getting better but they are moving slowly because of the influence hollywood have on the different cultures in the world.
san
050
3:48 am
Guys who are not considering the bollywood as a dark horse,let me inform that Indian film industry contains regional languages films also if we all sum up with bollywood(hindi film industry) with our all regional industry then hollywood is nothing,and hollywood is always like frog in a well they always think that we are better,try to see outside your well huge giants are there.Indian films are liked by Afganistan,pakistan,Nepal,Moretious,England and other Asian & europen countries as well.And hollywood films always like Cartoon fils,as like our old mythical story nothing impressive just only thing is hollywood had dollar.
Roberto Da Costa
051
6:26 am
I’m from Brazil…..
99% of us Brazilians watch American Movies from Hollwood.
Bollywood movies are not popular at all here.
To me American movies are the best…Bollywood movies are second class.
a girl from the US
052
11:03 pm
I’m thirteen, was born and currently live in the US. although I love this country a lot. I disagree with most of you people. I believe you are getting your facts wrong. HOLLYWOOD produces ****. I can’t believe INDIANS would actually say that. There’s a reason why all the people my mom works with take yoga classes. There’s a reason they have a guru. There’s a reason they make trips to India frequently and get henna done. The reason is that they have seen a lot of our country in the movies it produces. Bollywood produces many movies and a lot of my frineds see them, too. I haven’t seen when this was posted, but I would like to point out the success of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. Agreed, it was produced by a british. But the story line was Indian.
I could go on and on, and maybe later, I will. But right now, I am doing reasearch in school and should get along with it. I hope some of you don’t mind if I use some of the comments made on this post.
One last thing- I am DISGUSTED by you Indians who have no pride or love over your country. Get a life. Watch Munna Bhai Lage Raho. Stop complaining, fix it. Find a solution. And all Indians and Pakis, Muslims and Hindus, Pls be at peace with each other.
mohaghna choudhury
053
12:35 pm
hey u guys,
ever heard of the parallel cinema in India?guys like satyajit ray,mrinal sen,ritwaik ghatak made some of the finest movies the world has ever witnessed.too bad u guys never heard of it.talk of the blair witch project,u know the camera ray used to film pather panchali? as for hubba,heard of E.T? Spielberg stole it from ray.we still have great directors who make great movies-goutam ghosh,rituporno ghosh,just to mname a few.PLEASE GO AND WATCH THESE MOVIES BEFORE PASSING JUDGMENT ON WHOLE INDIAN FILM COMMUNITY.