Stumbling Toward Bollywood
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/movies/22chop.html?_r=1&ref=arts
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- St_Alia_10191
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"The Hindi film industry and its consumers have their own peculiar dynamic. Though the industry has become more corporate and organized over the last 15 years, it is still very much about relationships and family. Aditya Chopra, an owner of Yash Raj Films, produces movies starring the actor Abhishek Bachchan; 20 years ago Aditya’s father, Yash, was directing Mr. Bachchan’s father, Amitabh.
The production houses continue to function largely as one-man studios. The labyrinthine layers of studio hierarchy and the complex process of greenlighting films is not the norm.
“You can’t take eight months to approve a script after every board member in Burbank has read it,” said Sandeep Bhargava of the Indian Film Company, a leading studio. “The sensibilities are a mismatch, and to top it all they don’t have strong local teams.”
Audiences are also getting harder to please. The old-school, formulaic Hindi movie — a good-versus-evil drama with larger-than-life characters who have a habit of breaking into song and dance — is no longer a safe bet. After more than 15 years of satellite television, multiplexes and economic liberalization, Indian viewers, especially the urban, affluent, educated ones, have become more discerning. Last year many of the biggest successes here were smaller, more independent-minded films. And yet Bollywood’s star system remains firmly entrenched, with the leading actors still demanding hefty payments.
The studios entered the market when “it was very expensive and frothy,” said Michael Lynton, the chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “It became uneconomic at the time to make and distribute movies. So we did smaller films as a place holder and waited for things to cool down.” Sony’s local-language production division is currently without a chief executive.
Bollywood may be a problematic conquest for now, but Hollywood is still in wooing mode."
The production houses continue to function largely as one-man studios. The labyrinthine layers of studio hierarchy and the complex process of greenlighting films is not the norm.
“You can’t take eight months to approve a script after every board member in Burbank has read it,” said Sandeep Bhargava of the Indian Film Company, a leading studio. “The sensibilities are a mismatch, and to top it all they don’t have strong local teams.”
Audiences are also getting harder to please. The old-school, formulaic Hindi movie — a good-versus-evil drama with larger-than-life characters who have a habit of breaking into song and dance — is no longer a safe bet. After more than 15 years of satellite television, multiplexes and economic liberalization, Indian viewers, especially the urban, affluent, educated ones, have become more discerning. Last year many of the biggest successes here were smaller, more independent-minded films. And yet Bollywood’s star system remains firmly entrenched, with the leading actors still demanding hefty payments.
The studios entered the market when “it was very expensive and frothy,” said Michael Lynton, the chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “It became uneconomic at the time to make and distribute movies. So we did smaller films as a place holder and waited for things to cool down.” Sony’s local-language production division is currently without a chief executive.
Bollywood may be a problematic conquest for now, but Hollywood is still in wooing mode."
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BFAM_RVS
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I was born in 1976 in Houston, Texas and have grown up with Hindi films in my home....its always amazed me how Bollywood has continued to grow and flourish...watching films is definately a part of Indian culture and is a great way for families and friends to spend time together and be entertained....
- 3 years ago
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BFAM_RVS
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kewal91
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i agree.. i used to watch those all the time... now.. i dont even give a crap
- 3 years ago
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kewal91
