Bollywood movies

S

SharekhaN

Skilled
Ola,

I was wondering, whats happening to these "Indian" "Bollywood" movies.
Notice the words in quotes. Think and tell me if you do or dont agree with the points.

Movies are neither Bollywood or Indian. Sure they are Hindi ( most of the part ) but I think it stops there.
Movies with mediocre story lines are increasingly been shot in foreign locations. Most of the top film folks are now based out of UK or LA. Stories based on cultures not local to India. Except for mid budget movies ala Anurag Kashyap not a lot of big banners make movies in India.
I think it is running a risk of alienating the Indian crowds as it caters mainly to the NRI audience.

Just my rant :)
 
Totally agree , was watching Chupke Chupke today and Jaane Bhi do Yaaro a few days back , they dont make movies like that anymore . All that is dished out is mediocre crap . Even Kaminey which seemed to be getting a lot of rave reviews was a ripoff of Guy Ritchie's style of movies .
 
i used to laugh wen i wd see my family ppl watching movies of Shammi Kapoor and other black and white movies wen i was a kid.

Ironically, i now find myself watching those good old movies myself.
None of the recent movies evoked any interest whatsoever. And now i think the old movies are indeed priceless. No matter if they stick to comdey in first half and tragedy in second with a happy ending to keep the emotional Indian audience happy ever after, the movies atleast were blatantly simple and honest.

Current lot seems to be evolutionary period.
Maybe the next gen will get to see some good stuff in the future.

Hardly watch any Hindi movie but for the oldies now. Atleast they tried to be filmy like they shd have been.
 
Khosla Ka Ghosla

Oye Lucky

Delhi 6

Aamir

A Wednesday

Chak De India

Dev D

Gulaal

Dil Dosti

Jab we met

Jaane Tu

Kaminey

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Munnabhai

Omkara

Rang de Basanti

Socha Na tha

Taare Zameen par

etc etc etc

The above are just a few of the many movies which were not only shot in India but also had the desi flavor in them. While I do agree that Bollywood is getting westernized but that doesn't necessarily mean that its losing its identity. Its not the exotic locations but the dialogs, songs and the use of desi language is what makes a movie bollywood. Just like anything which comes out of hollywood isn't gold, bollywood makes its share of junk movies, but then comes a movie maybe once a month which deserves to be watched in a theater. And it is for that reason, I love Bollywood movies.
 
More than half of them are from the mid budget category which I also hold dear. The top guns except a few have completely bastardized Bollywood.
 
What constitutes a high budget for a film? It is either the exotic foreign locations or the use of high tech CGI effects. In both cases, as you said, it adds an international appeal to the film and robs it of its local Indian flavor.

For a high budget bollywood film to be shot in India, it either has to have a huge star cast or a period setting ala Devdas. So its understandable if you don't find many high budget films shot in India. The few which are shot, generally do well, examples being Koi Mil gaya, Devdaas, Rang De Basanti, Munnabhai etc.

I think it is running a risk of alienating the Indian crowds as it caters mainly to the NRI audience.
Click to expand...

This is not true. Given a choice what would you rather watch? Slums of Mumbai or Beaches of bahamas? People do like such films, latest examples being Kambakth Ishq, New York and Golmaal Returns becoming hits.
 
Bluffmaster said:
This is not true. Given a choice what would you rather watch? Slums of Mumbai or Beaches of bahamas? People do like such films, latest examples being Kambakth Ishq, New York and Golmaal Returns becoming hits.
Click to expand...
I would prefer a movie that provides a realistic environment setting as opposed to an overdone exotic foreign location. Not everything about India has to be about slums. We have some really beautiful locations as well, but directors still prefer western locations; Exhibit A: Yashraj films. There's a reason why they tag Karan Johar films to be "candy-floss" cinema. Why not focus more on the films plot rather than coying audience with the fancy location set-ups?

Take 'Black Friday' for example. It's shot in such an awesome manner that it really gives you the true touch and feel of a realistic movie. Everything about the movie reeks brilliance. Ram Gopal Varma tapped Satya brilliantly, but turned into a lousy B-Grade director from there on.

The movies you mentioned Bluffmaster, New York was averagely received. Kambakth Ishq, let's not even get there, it may have got a good opening, but got bashed to oblivion. Golmaal was a movie that I truly enjoyed, but Golmaal Returns was nothing more than a bloody joke. It's like Rohit Shetty woke up one day and realised a sequel had to be made, one which doesn't even make sense.
 
^Unfortunately, the masses do not think alike. And its the masses these big banners cater to. Whether a movie is good or not has nothing to do with the kind of business it will do. According to me, Ghajini was a strictly average movie, yet it broke all box office records. So as long as the masses are enjoying it, the banners will cater to them whether we (minority) like it or not. Maybe Karan Johar makes "candy-floss" films, but they work, don't they?

I am not debating the use of foreign locales in the movies, all I am saying is that bollywood does come up with good movies from time to time and that we should give credit where its due. The location is irrelevant imo, A movie can be completely shot on a foreign location and yet have an Indian soul, biggest example of it being "Dilwale Dulaniya Le Jayenge".
 
Bluffmaster said:
^Unfortunately, the masses do not think alike. And its the masses these big banners cater to. Whether a movie is good or not has nothing to do with the kind of business it will do. According to me, Ghajini was a strictly average movie, yet it broke all box office records. So as long as the masses are enjoying it, the banners will cater to them whether we (minority) like it or not. Maybe Karan Johar makes "candy-floss" films, but they work, don't they?
Click to expand...
We aren't going by the masses now, are we? Sharekhan's post reflected on general problems plaguing the Indian cinema and "our" view on it. If we ought to go by the masses opinions then we won't have any creativity to offer (at times).

Bluffmaster said:
I am not debating the use of foreign locales in the movies, all I am saying is that bollywood does come up with good movies from time to time and that we should give credit where its due. The location is irrelevant imo, A movie can be completely shot on a foreign location and yet have an Indian soul, biggest example of it being "Dilwale Dulaniya Le Jayenge".
Click to expand...
No doubt India has some really good movies, but the most unfortunate thing is we have a very prolonged delay, after which we get a half-decent flick to watch these days. If you look at our good to bad movies ratio in a year, then you'll realise the latter overlaps the former.
 
I think Ethan got the point well. And talking of Indian glamor movies are are a lot good examples. You take Bluffmaster - the movie. I personally felt that the movie had a lot of style, and very well copied. Luck by chance is another favorite of mine. Kaminey as well. Lets also look at Om shanti om, which I liked.

So Bluffy, the point is, glamor in India is doable, but these people choose a western setting by default now.
 
^And have you wondered, why do they do that? Its simply because it works! People want to see exotic foreign locations in movies, it gives them a feel good factor and gives the film an international appeal. Now whether that robs the film of its Indian flavor is another issue. I personally think that it has little to no effect on the movie, its the script whichs decides the desi quotient of the movie and not the locations. DDLJ for the most part was shot in europe and yet even today it is a benchmark for Desi love stories.
 
What constitutes a high budget for a film? It is either the exotic foreign locations or the use of high tech CGI effects. In both cases, as you said, it adds an international appeal to the film and robs it of its local Indian flavor.

For a high budget bollywood film to be shot in India, it either has to have a huge star cast or a period setting ala Devdas. So its understandable if you don't find many high budget films shot in India. The few which are shot, generally do well, examples being Koi Mil gaya, Devdaas, Rang De Basanti, Munnabhai etc.
Click to expand...

Actually I would love to watch a high budget bollywood film with a storyline with the locales, highly paid actors, producers throw out the story etc. The last awesome hindi movie I watched was "Gulal", if only producers/audiences would appreciate good stories bollywood would be much bigger/better then its current avatar. We have so many local issues/stories which would make great movies, and not to mention some of the best locales in the world.. it is really unbelievable the amount of crap bollywood churns out !!! For eg. a recent 3.5hr movie which I watched in like 1 hr :p, the film was not bad if you skipped all the songs !!!
 
yes i also feel so.
in last 90s the dream sequences were shot abroad.
but now most of the stories are based on mostly people living out of india.

i guess the movies should be a about common indian people.
with whom people can relate to.
as DANNY BOYLE a hollywood director came here and made a movie about india and won oscars because he knows what is more better for the audiences.
 
I feel India being such a vast country , the movie makers will always cater to an audience which is larger in numbers.

Also movies reflect the social standing of the society of its times

Like in the 50's it was more idealistic movies as the country was just getting used to independance and was full of ideals and hopes.eg awara etc.

In the 60's ppl started to feel happy so we had the feelgood movies of shammi kapoor etc till mid 70's. eg pleothra of shammi and dev anand movies

In the late 70's to mid 80's ppl were disillusioned with the political system and the angry young man and violence becae popular ie get the law into ur own hands if it doesnt serve u due to corruption. eg any amitabh , anil kapoor movies

During the late 70's the low budget art film movement also started. eg om puri , smita patil movies.

In the late 80's to 90's ppl started getting money and then again happy movies started being made. eg hum aapke hain kaun , DDLJ etc.

Since the late 90's to the 2k's indians started getting exposure to outside world more easily with the intro of satellite TV, we became more aware of whats happening in the world and hence all these soul less NRI, KJo - SRK movies.

But all this time there have been movies that have floen against the tide and all in all i would say the regional cinema has always had better storylines than bollywood.

Just my two cents.
 
Back
Top