A Bollywood Primer
 

Since this is the theme of this year's NYE "event" I thought I'd start a separate thread to discuss just what Bollywood is, some general terms and add some links for further research.

The name Bollywood comes from a combination of Bombay and Hollywood and refers to the Mumbai-based Hindu language film industry.

Bollywood films usually contain musical numbers that are woven into the script. Bollywood films are usually 3+ hours long and often contain an intermission. The intermissions are often used to showcase songs from upcomming Bollywood musicals. Music from films are often released and promoted prior to the film opening to increase excitement for a film.

Most of the film music is recorded separately with the actors lip-synching to the songs. There are several well-known singers who sing the bulk of Bollywood film soundtracks. Asha Bhosle is one very familiar voice in Bollywood films and is the most recorded singer in the world with over 12,000 recordings credited to her name. However, her sister, Lata Mangeshkar, is close behind in number of recordings. Bhosle's distinctive voice is instantly recognizable to most everyone who has heard ANY Indian music.

Bollywood film music is refered to as Filmi

The music is incredibly catchy, happy and fun but more and more Western influences are entering the sounds coming out of Bollywood.

The plots often revolve around a "Hero" who has to overcome some sort of adversity (often a villan of some sort). There is often love and romance involved in the plot as wel with "love at first sight" being a common theme.

Bollywood has their own Oscar type awards called the FilmFare Awards.

The highest-grossing Bollywood film is Om Shanti Om which we plan on viewing on NYE.

Ringtones from Bollywood films are readily available and codes to get ringtones are often scrolled across the top of the movie screen while the song is appearing in the film.

A great source to listen to Bollywood film music is Superbindia.


Two other types of music you will be hearing on NYE are Bhangra and Modern Indian pop which came out of Bhangra and Bollywood traditions.

Bhangra is from the Punjab region of Packistan and is a very lively and dancable form of music which has spread into pop music all over the world. Famous DJ Bally Sagoo used both remixes of Bollywood hits and
Bhangra to create what has become modern Indian pop music. The film, Bend it Like Beckham featured the music of Bally Sagoo.



Feel free to add bits of your own information to this. I'm still scratching the surface of this HUGE industry.

Way more than I know. But I do know Lata Mangeskar and have her on some 1950's and 1960's era Hindi soundtracks. I've only seen a few Indian films and nothing more recent than the 1970s I think.

Will there be a test?

This is gonna be on edutainmentastic New Years! The closest I have come to seeing a Bollywood musical is "Bride and Prejudice".

Does the "but" mean that music is no longer catchy, happy and fun?Will there be an intermission?

I suspect there will be several lapses in attention span during the 3+ hour film. You may call them intermissions if you like. ;)

Hmmm, I wonder if I can get my daughter Shanti to make an appearance at NYE.

Another bit of trivia about Bollywood films is that you almost never see kissing on screen in a Bollywood film. That has relaxed a bit but a 2006 film - Dhoom 2 - has ended up in indian court because of a kiss:

(more info here)


Interestingly, kissing and sex were not taboo before Indian independence after when the censor board came into being.


More recently, Richard Gere stirred up a huge controversy in India by kissing Indian starlet Shilta Shetty on stage st an AIDS Awareness rally which resulted in death threats to the Bollywood star and protesters burning efigies of Gere. Gere was charged with obscenity and a warrant issued for his arrest. The charge and warrant have since been lifted.

Whoa... Deja vous!