Bernado Colaco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Extracts from Frederich Noronha's article Remo rage
>> against bankrupt Bharat
>>
>> >Remo said in an interview published in Panaji:
>> "This
>> >whole country, which was once the cradle of deep,
>> >high-thinking philosophy and art and literature,
>> >seems to have gone intellectually bankrupt, and
>> >Bollywood seems to be the beginning and end of life
>> >as we know it."
>>
State of the Art in Bollywood!
by
Brian Antao
Why is that India's movie industry, answer to Hollywood, Bollywood,
which claims to make the most movies in a year, in financial dire straits,
tottering on the brink of bankruptcy. Bollywood's claim to fame in its attempt
to compete with Hollywood is that it makes many more movies in a year than its
rival. Movies are an "Artistic" production, where the "Quality" matters and not
the "Quantity". In terms of "Quality" none of the hastily mass-produced Bollywood
hits come anywhere near in comparison to a carefully crafted Hollywood hit.
Bollywood is like a decrepit old automobile factory producing the same old
single-model line of cars that are out-dated and no one wants to buy any more.
Whereas a successful automobile company is one that keeps up with the times,
continuously upgrading its models diversifies its product offerings and has a
broad selection of models that cater to the individual tastes of different
cross-sections of consumer groups.
What ails Bollywood?
1. The single one-dimensional song and dance interjected formula.
2. Mediocre, melodramatic "overacting".
3. Lack of appreciation that motion pictures are "Artistic" creations.
4. Lack of creativity and originality
5. Lack of Business savvy by the Bollywood production companies.
Use of a Single Formula
Bollywood productions have been patterned along the lines of a single model
or formula, the song and dance-interjected one, originally based on the timeless
Hollywood classic "The Sound of Music". Dame Julie Andrew's sequence singing,
"The hills are alive with the sound of music" in the picturesque mountainside has
been replicated almost like a template in every other Bollywood production. These
one-dimensional productions are no different, say for example if all Hollywood
productions were Mickey Mouse animations. Is Bollywood really so lacking in
originality and creativity? In many of the Bollywood productions the song and dance
interjections keeping popping up like commercials do in TV programs. Maybe Bollywood
could employ an ingenious strategy of associating product commercials with these pop-up
song and dance break-outs and in the process generate an added stream of revenue!
At the same time these song and dance breakouts are as annoying and stick out like
sore thumbs. When you watch a Bollywood movie on video or DVD, one has the ability
of fast-forwarding through. It is probably fine, making two or three romantic musicals
a year, based on this formula. But the so-called high action dramas end up being
dissonant and schizophrenic when interjected with the same formula. Imagine the
Hollywood hit "Terminator", with Arnold Schwarzenegger breaking out in song and
dance in the middle of the action! This formula being so abused that it is,
is the prime reason why Bollywood productions don't sell any more.
In Hollywood on the other hand, every production strives to be unique and original,
a complete opposite of the Bollywood philosophy. Anything that closely resembles
something being done or made before, or any purveyors of a "formula", lacking
originality or creativity, is mercilessly chased out of Hollywood. Bollywood
really needs to grow out of this single formula based system, and adopt a free
form approach that promotes original and creative "artistic" ideas,
promotes experimentation with concepts that are new. Not to mention that this
single formula approach stifles creativity and originality. The biggest damage
that this one-dimensional approach does is portray, India a nation of great diversity,
as a single stereotype in the International cultural exchange. The Walt Disney
Company,
which started out with making the Mickey Mouse animated features, has not limited
itself to simply mass-producing Mickey Mouse animations. Disney has since broadly
diversified, and in a year produces a wide range of distinct films that have only a
common theme of being "Family entertainment". While Bollywood's claim to fame it that
it produces the maximum number of films [or flops] in a year. A close look at the
fewer films that Hollywood makes, span a wide spectrum, are unique, original and most
importantly are a great success "financially". The range of movies released in a year
by Hollywood, will at the most include one or two musicals, the rest range from a few
animations, a few selections that address kids entertainment, a selection of Family
entertainment, a few comedies, a few spy thrillers, a few action adventures,
a few horrors, a few science fiction, a few suspense dramas, a few historical epics,
a few educational and information rich productions, a few "extreme" productions as
well.
Now how does that range compare to the 800-odd banal Bollywood productions made in a
single song and dance interjected formula! What is the audience that Bollywood targets
its productions? The dismal sales are to a small cross-section of cheap thrill seekers
that go to see these movies to merely gape and ogle at the "heroes" and "heroines" and
see the belly dancing. That is really what Bollywood's audience appeal has come
down to. The busy working professional, the educated, literate masses,
Intellectuals etc., for whom two hours of entertainment time comes at a premium,
have many more options for entertainment today, than waste those two hours on
watching these hackneyed Bollywood mass productions.
Mediocre Melodramatic Overacting
In terms of "Quality" of a motion picture, the performances of the cast are a major
factor. The major Hollywood hits are distinguished by superlative performances by
the leading cast. A serious problem that plagues Bollywood is the sub-standard
acting talent. Many of Bollywood's stars that make their career inroads to the
movies via the modeling route, may have pretty faces and figures or even gorgeous
looks, but many of them lack the "acting" talent. In Bollywood, a melodramatic
overacting performance is considered to be a great acting performance. But a
melodramatic over-actor, is not really a skilled actor, is one who cannot tone down
his expressions to portray a realistic character that you find in the streets.
The ability to be melodramatic and have outbursts of emotion is not what Oscar
caliber actors are about. On the other hand, an Oscar caliber actor has the ability
to accurately portray what a real life person in the streets does. That is precisely
the reason why Hollywood based Melodramatic overacting action "Heroes" such as
Steven Segal etc., never get any notice from the Oscars. The Oscars are
reserved for stuff that "Thespians" are made of. The secret underlying the skills
of the Oscar caliber Hollywood actors is a very involved, and rigorous acting
discipline called "Method Acting" (for more details see the book Challenge for
the Actor, by Uta Hagen). Hollywood legends such as Al Pacino, Robert DeNero,
Marlon Brando are the Maestros, the Senseis, the tenth degree black belts of
"Method Acting". Defenders of the Bollywood tradecraft claim that
they are making "escapist" fantasies for the common man (or is it the sub-intelligent
one?)
to relieve his burden. But the very same common man who once put up with these
mediocre performances has now gotten wiser and tired of it and has grown more
demanding and expects more, which is why these don't sell as well anymore.
The Star Wars movie series are pure "escapist fantasies" but none of the acting
performances are melodramatic overacting, but strive to be "realistic" which makes
these movies very "believable" at the same time and hence more entertaining.
Motion Pictures are "Artistic" creations
The bragging rights that Bollywoods stakes claim to, making the most movies in a
year, is its very doom. Bollywood moviemakers are wrapped up in mass production
in numbers, like an automobile factory. Motion pictures are not a mass produced
commodity but "artistic" creations. A typical Bollywood heavyweight director
claims to be extremely busy, involved in mass-producing 10 movies in a year.
On the other hand Steven Spielberg, a Hollywood legend director, is even more busier
meticulously crafting just ONE artistic production in a year. A good motion picture
of the type of a Hollywood blockbuster hit, involves intricate time consuming
hard work to achieve that level of perfection. Beginning with the script and story
selection, getting a script accepted for production in Hollywood is more difficult
that getting admission to one of India's IITs! The scripts that make it involve more
work and preparation background research etc. than the amount of work needed to
prepare to pass the IIT entrance exam! Most of Hollywood's hits are tied to "realism",
often fictionalization of real events; even the most exotic fantasies are made
"believable". A little secret or "Formula" (for the benefit of the uninitiated,
formula seeking Bollywood movie makers) in achieving this realism is setting the
fantasy in a real world context. For example "Saving Private Ryan" is a fictional
story cast in a realistic World War II context. In the making of "Saving Private Ryan"
Spielberg accurately recreated World War II settings, which "adds value" to the motion
picture, additionally being able to provide some educational and information content
as well. Most Bollywood "escapist" fantasies have sub-zero educational and information
content and are often "misleading" and disinforming. This is because most of the
Bollywood
scriptwriters are in the business of mass production, remixing and rehashing the
same-old-stuff in the same old formula. Bollywood seems to be filled with the
lazy and the uninitiated looking for the easy way out of seeking a "Formula" and a
short
cut to success.
The biggest Hollywood hit of all time, James Cameron's "Titanic" is truly a
masterpiece in its creation, finely crafted in artistic detail, involving
painstaking background research and preparation. Don't be mislead into thinking
that the movie, "Titanic" is really about the romance,
but in fact it is really the re-creation of the Titanic disaster, the romance is
added in only to make the presentation "entertaining" else it would be a dull
documentary. "Titanic" was also one of the more expensive movies made with a
huge budget, but was money well invested, as it broke all global box office records.
So as the American business saying goes, "You have to spend money in order to make
money".
In the making of "Matrix Reloaded", the entire crew, spent 8 months in pre-production
preparations, getting every detail right and fine-tuned before beginning shooting.
In the same way the top Hollywood stars are busy with usually one or two such involved
productions in a year, while our Bollywood counterparts boast of having an extremely
busy
schedule of being booked with 10 movie projects for the year, thus hastily running
from project
to project, rendering superficial performances. For note, Indian born emigrant to
Hollywood,
M. Night Shymalan is a up and coming director having made a few good hits, notably
"The Sixth Sense" starring Bruce Willis, which is a very original film of high
artistic
quality, a role model for Bollywood to emulate! An Epic movie based on Indian
historical
culture was "Gandhi" based on the life-story of Mahatma Gandhi, an intricately
detailed
production, made by the West, but accurately preserved the Indian setting and cultural
details. If Bollywood had undertaken the
making of "Gandhi" it would have been in the standard formula, with Gandhi breaking
out in
pop-up song and dance sequences! A number of Bollywood personalities were involved in
the
making of "Gandhi", but they did not quite seem to learn much from their experience in
making
this colossal epic, and improve their trade and craft.
Lack of creativity and Originality
A good Hollywood script is very much like a good painting, where a Picasso fills in
the
canvas with intricate details, as compared to the typical Bollywood script which is
like a half done, half-baked, half empty canvas filled with gaping holes, with just
splashes of paint strewn randomly. Again, one wonders how India could be so bereft of
creative and original writing talent. "Screenwriting" is not just mastery over the
technical mechanics of word-processing, but more about the original and creative
aspects
of artistically crafting the entire story and presentation in the form of a Picasso
canvas painting. India has such a rich and diverse culture, that these one-
dimensional Bollywood productions do great disservice to. India is an ancient
civilization
from which many unique and original, educational and informative motion picture
projects
can be based. For the uninitiated Bollywood moviemaker these need not be boring
documentaries. Take the recent Hollywood hit "Gladiator" based in the ancient roman
civilization, but presented in a contemporary context in a very entertaining way.
So the "Gladiator Formula" could be very easily used by the Bollywood moviemakers to
exploit and produce movies about anecdotes from ancient Indian civilization before the
British occupation. Another recent Hollywood hit "Wild Wild West" is movie based in
pre-independence American era, again, cast in a contemporary context in a very
entertaining manner. The "Wild Wild West Formula" could be used to produce
movies based in the pre-independence, British occupied Indian era. By the way don't
get carried away that "Wild Wild West" has a song and dance sequence in it!
India has fought three wars with Pakistan, and the "Saving Private Ryan Formula"
could be used to make a few movies based on the Indo-Pak wars. Then there's the
widespread Indian Diaspora across the globe, where a number of movies can be made
about the many struggles Indian immigrants have undergone. So there is so much
fertile ground filled with possibilities all deep in Indian culture and tradition
for making a lot of very creative and original Indian movies that at the same time
are of substance, educational and informative. This does not mean that you will be
"aping" the West, (something many Bollywood movie makers are worried about) you will
only be using the latest and advanced western "movie making technology". The Chinese
global hit, "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" was made using latest and advanced
Hollywood motion picture "Technology", while preserving the deep Chinese cultural
setting and by no means aping anything from the west. In fact the latest Bollywood
release attempting to draw audiences with claims of showing 17 kissing scenes is
really a "aping the west" gross and desperate attempt by an industry that absolutely
lacks creativity or originality. Besides these 17 kissing scenes are
really so gawky and awkward, mediocre acting and directing by a set of
individuals who seem to have no real life experience of kissing nor seem to
know how real people kiss.
Lack of Business Savvy
The major Hollywood production companies such as The Walt Disney Company etc.
are full fledged Wall Street corporations, that employ MBA graduates from Harvard etc.
for running the management and marketing functions. For these companies, undertaking
a motion picture project is a major business decision, made after a careful business
analysis, and not based merely on the choice of the script. However good the script
may be, a careful business analysis is done to see what the market returns will be,
what cross-section of the audience will the movie appeal to, how
well will it be received by a global audience, what "lasting potential" does it have,
is it a "fad script" that will be out-dated in a year or two. Hollywood has access to
such market data, such as audience profiles, individual tastes of different sections
of the populations, brand and channel marketing, and all the latest business, and
technology used by any of the other major corporations such as Microsoft or Nokia.
Most of the Bollywood production companies in contrast are "Mom and Pop Shop"
operations, small-time operators. Another problem that plagues Bollywood is nepotism,
and the nexus with the underworld (A reason why so many Bollywood movies feature plots
based in the Indian underworld). These elements are in it for
making a fast buck, with little regard for "quality" or "artistic creation".
Hollywood on the other hand is a strict "talent-driven" meritocracy, where the
casting calls are made to carefully select the right cast that will truly represent
the story, and not just throw in a few popular names. While making "Amistad",
Steven Spielberg did not settle on any known star or big name actor for the
lead role of the African slave, but searched far and wide till he found
Djimon Hounsou, (at that time a little known, struggling model) who was from the
same African native background in which the character was based in, and was
also fluent in the regional dialect, which Spielberg wanted to portray accurately.
However great an, actor, there are limits to one's acting range, and the more
distant an actor is to the reality of the character, the more unrealistic the
performance is. Which is why in casting calls, Hollywood movie makers, don't
necessarily look to retrofit in big names, but look for personalities that
closely match the characters, which then results in a well made motion picture,
that automatically sells. Bollywood's casting is however is often skewed
towards just throwing big and popular names, hoping that these big names will
then draw the masses to the theatres. That really is the biggest folly in
Bollywood's making where the shrinking audiences are only those that go to the
theatres to simply see the big named heroes and heroines and belly dancing!
Finally, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan recently expressed his dislike of the
moniker "Bollywood" in a speech in South Africa. He is quite right, and the
term Bollywood probably originated as a disparaging remark from a condescending
source. As part of the growing up Bollywood needs to
do, besides re-inventing itself is also finding a fresh, creative
and original identity for itself. The new identity, it must then etch out
high on a mountainside in the backdrop of Mumbai! Keeping
with the 'Hinduvta" trend in the country to change the historical names
of major cities, such as Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai,
Calcutta to Kolkata, a good new name for Bollywood
might be "SonaNagar" or "SapnaNagar"
__________________________________________________________________
Introducing the New Netscape Internet Service.
Only $9.95 a month -- Sign up today at http://isp.netscape.com/register
Netscape. Just the Net You Need.
##########################################################################
# Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] #
# PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts #
# More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ #
# Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others #
##########################################################################
