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20th AMIC Annual Conference 24-27 June 2011, AMIC, Hyderabad Conceptual Paper titled Spectating Indian Cinema

through the lens of Hollywood


Area of study: Film Studies

Abstract:
The impact of Hollywood, an independent media, which is expected to be enormous on sociocultural, economical and political aspects, means more than just eyeballs in other words that moviegoers reception, perception and behavior is not merely from the Hollywood cinema but also through other spectrum of domestic media which have had already been fashioned with glitters of Hollywood and the core essence of Americanization. The phenomenon though complex, tries to explain the established relationship of Global Hollywood with various regional film Industries, leaving a collective Identity. In the current global scenario, while newfangled terminologies associated with cinema like hybridity, glocalization etc. are proliferating, many aspirers of contemporary cinema tend to believe that Hollywoods success is no more be a quandary or lead to failure of domestic film industries elsewhere in the world. The attraction of Hollywood indeed helped Indian cinema in creating a settle infrastructure and strategic marketing methods, as well as development of various indigenous film studios, to comply with the global needs. In contrary, the enrichment of Indian cinema as an emissary to national identity and ethnicity remains cynical today, as the narrative styles in majority of Indian films is considered to be sheathed by the influences of Hollywood. Cultural piracy is endemic and global. It is thus creating a scope to examine both positive and negative aspects of Hollywood either to transform the intransigent assertions on Hollywood made by various vocal critics or to re-insist on stereotypical negative image. The current paper Spectating Indian Cinema through the lens of Hollywood will help understand the Indian cinema, its industry and spectatorship which has had been nurtured from end-to-end with the flavors of Hollywood. Author Ms. C.N. Archana is currently pursuing Ph.D. in the area of Film Studies titled Influence of Hollywood Cinema on the Lifestyle of Youth, from the Dept. of Communication and Journalism, Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam, Tirupati. She also worked as a Project Fellow in the UGC-Major Research Project on Internet Use in Andhra Pradesh A study. She was a Technical Content Manager and Communications SPOC at Satyam Computers, Hyderabad for 3 years. Ph: 09825299956, email: cn_archana@yahoo.co.in

When PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicted that Indian Film industry is to grow at 9.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), to touch Rs 137 billion by 2014

(BusinessofCinema.com, 2010)1 in its latest report titled Indian Entertainment & Media Outlook 2010, a comprehensive focus on the Indian film industry is strongly observed, but would sound pointless without the interference of Hollywood in various key aspects of Indian cinema, directly or indirectly. The global success of Hollywood is indubitable. Hollywood, transcending the physical borders, could able to become an Indian denizen by tapping the Indian market in various possible ways. In a way, Indias strong and long-run affair with movies in both ways i.e., movie-going and movie-making activities has ensured that Hollywood remains the benchmark for indigenous cinema. The current Indian cinema is undergoing a significant transformation towards globalization by generating different and emerging strategies in building and /or sustaining competitiveness at regional, national and international level (Lorenzen and Vang, 2006) and many Indian companies associated with this business have been listed on stock markets by issuing a reasonable share to public (Pillania, 2008). It is undoubtedly evident that Hollywood played a key role in coercing the Indian film industry to adopt strategic roles in production, distribution, exhibition and reception, by the course of time. Nevertheless to say, Hollywood did not entirely ameliorate into a dominant paradigm in India by replacing the national cinema. Spectating Hollywood remained only a special tang for movie lovers, while homemade Indian masala cinema continued to allure huge masses. However, it succeeded in synthesizing with Indian cinema allowing it to transform from all the possible spheres to attract the spectators, who have been already experiencing the rollercoaster ride of Hollywood cinema. With the growing preference among movie-lovers to variety and highbrow
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News item posted in BusinessofCinema.com on 16th March 2010 based on PwC Report titled Indian Entertainment & Media Outlook 2010, Source http://www.businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=15681

entertainment which is assumed to be provided by Hollywood mainstream, it became unavoidable to many domestic industries, including Indian to extensively implement Hollywood narrative styles and trends to attract the masses. In contrary, the enrichment of Indian cinema as an emissary to national identity and ethnicity remains cynical today, as the narrative styles in majority of Indian films is considered to be sheathed by the influences of Hollywood. The quality of themes in majority of films is still a substandard and obscure. Before understanding the associated relationship of Indian cinema and Indian spectators with Hollywood, it is important to understand the current identical image of Indian cinema which is being refurbished from its earlier misrepresentation as mere Bollywood, across globe.

This paper contains 6 parts including this introductory section. Second part looks at the identical approach of current Indian cinema. The third part talks about the established relationship of early Indian cinema with Hollywood in terms of seeking technical expertise, framing studio system and gradual adoption of Hollywood narrative style into content. The forth part traces Hollywood experiences with Indian market while simultaneously setting growth parameters for India to progress for its internal infrastructural development as well as external global reach. The fifth part talks about the influence of Hollywood on content of Indian cinema, which is considered to be dogmas of controversy, while analyzing with the idiosyncratic approach in Indian spectators. The last part concludes the paper with few suggestions.

An identical approach of current Indian cinema:


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Indian film industry churns out highest number of movies every year, estimating to be around 800 to 1000 per year (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 2009)2, compared to Hollywood which produces only half of the Indian estimates (Lorenzen, 2008). It is not a surprise, if Hayward (2006:391) calls Indian cinema as a Third World Cinema. The situation was once poignant when Indian cinema was recalled as only Bollywood by many, including researchers, though it is only an informal term associated with the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai. With over a billion people, twenty-two official languages, and hundreds of dialects, India has no singular identity, yet it was commonly mistaken to have a singular cinema i.e., Bollywood (David, 2005). Now Indian cinema of any language is conventional. Be it a theme, the narrative style, song and dance sequences, fights, props, physical appearance, love and emotions, and indeed budgets, technical & production aspects, infrastructures and transnational approach of distribution are one and same. A healthy switchover is also observed in popular stars, actors and technicians of Indian cinema who are ready to bestow their services to any region of Indian cinema. Producers are encouraging this for novelty and spectators are welcoming this approach. The representation of Bollywood as dominant mainstream of India cinema is slowly getting diluted, as the other Indian languages like Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Bojhpuri etc. are equally playing key role in Indian film Industry. In fact, films from southern part of India continue to be the largest source of contributors in terms of infrastructural facilities, versatile technical competence, diverged content with experimental
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Indian feature films certified by Central Board of Film Certification in the year 2000 were 855, 830 in 2002, 877 in the year 2003, 934 films by the end of December 2004, 1041 movies in 2005, 1091 certified in 2006, 1146 films in 2007, 1325 certified in 2008, and 1352 certified films by the end of 31st December 2009, respectively. A gradual increase in the production of films can be observed from 2000 to 2009. Source: http:// http://www.indiastat.com/media/21/filmsandcinemas/61/stats.aspx

themes, while producing highest number of certified films3 than Bollywood (FICCI-KMPG Report, 2010). Films made in the four southern languagesTamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam accounted for more than three-fourths of the country's total revenues from film content in 2008-09, generating more than Rs 1,700 crore and out of which Rs 1,300 came from domestic theatrical collections (The Economic Times, 2009). The region accounts for more than half the total operational screens in India. Studios like Ramoji Film City located in Hyderabad are gearing up to global standards and have already accommodated international movie projects like Crocodile II and Air Panic by Nu Image productions, Quicksand and In the Shadow of The Cobra co-produced by Quantum Ent and UKMI, Raven- Game Show by English BBC Scotland etc (Ramojifilmcity.com)4. Many dubbed versions of South Indian popular heroes are being well received by semi urban and rural audiences across India through television movie channels and local theatres. And now the English-subtitled versions of popular Tamil and Telugu movies are alluring the north Indian audience in all major metros and Hindi speaking towns like Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jabalpur, Gurgaon and Vadodara etc., through a popular multiplex chain. South Indian overseas market returns are equally dominating the Indian industry. Trade analysts opine that filmgoers in the UK, USA and Australia are thronging theatres screening Tamil and Telugu films more than theatres screening Bollywood fare. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh said, Telugu releases like Mr.

Perfect, Teenmaar and 100% Love or Tamil ones like Ko, Vaanam or Engeyum Kadhal, which released this summer i.e., between May and April of 2011, in around 20 theatres overseas, has
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It is estimated that the certified films produced from the south India for the year 2009 itself is 66% considering various regional language cinema, excluding Bollywood. By and large, the Indian film industry is commemorated more by South Indian cinema which produces highest number of certified films i.e., around 53%, while contribution from Bollywood is only 19%, and other regional language cinema around 28% (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 2009) 4 Retrieved from the official website of Ramoji Film City Source: http://www.ramojifilmcity.com/flash/film/portfolio.html

fetched bigger openings with average business between $600 to $1,000 which is higher than Bollywood simultaneous releases (Baker, 2011; Baiju, 2011). Enthiran The Robo made by Eros International Media Ltd in the year 2010 is favorable turn to south Indian cinema that reaped highest overseas box office collection than any other Indian cinema i.e., around Rs. 610 million. The film grossed Rs. 200 million in the US, 80 million in the UK, 70 million in the West Asia and 210 million in Southeast Asia (NDTVProfit, 2010)5. The established relationship of early Indian cinema with Hollywood Historical context Being as old as Hollywood, the core production of Indian cinema started in the year 1913 with Raja Harishchandra a mythology made by Dhundiraj Govind Palke. Phalke, inspired by the Life of Christ, which he saw in 1911, produced various mythologies in a way to promote Indian religion and culture. Though greatly influenced by Hollywood in technology in 1920s, the narrative structure with endless digressions, detours, plots within plots, remain unmistakably Indian (Gokulsing and Dissanayake, 2004:19) and were used as a tool of propaganda for national self expression (Thomas, 2005). While various Hollywood personnel and stars including Fairbanks visited Bombay to promote Hollywood cinema, Indian producers such as Ardeshir Irani established their own business links with them in process of getting acquainted with Hollywood films and filmdom. Meanwhile, World War I had almost exterminated the European cinema leaving the field open to Hollywood for its phenomenal expansion (Kohli, 2006:113) and by the end of the First World War 85% of feature films shown in India were, American. However, the Indian nationalistic movement under the leadership of Gandhi by 1920 (Armes, 1987:108) and The Indian Cinematographic Committee in 1927, acted as a powerful counterforce against the predominance of Hollywood.
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New item posted on October 18, 2010 by NDTV Profit. Retrieved from http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/erosmovie-endhiran-overseas-box-office-collections-rs-610-mln-109351

On the other end, the spread of moviemaking in India is rapid and even across major cities like Calcutta, Kolhapur, and Madras etc. By the end of 1920s India forwarded to establish a fullfledged movie making industry taking Hollywood as reference point for structuring of the studios, totally sufficient at all levels of production, including the laboratory works (Hayward, 2006:393). Expect very few producers; the Indian cinema completely relied on imported equipment, often using foreign technicians and key players for Indian spectacles (Armes, 1987). A tremendous growth in production was visible as it went on increasing from 27 Indian films in 1920 to 86 by 1925 and 201 in 1931 (Mittal, 1995:23). After emergence of sound, Hollywood cinema helped Indian cinema to ease the way for Universal adoption of the distinctive form of Indian musical, which was earlier considered to be poor and crude comparing with Hollywood, regarding technology and acting skills. Indias first sound film Alam Ara (1931) a mythological tale with dozens of songs directed by Ardeshir M. Irani became a trend setter and success mantra to include songs in Indian cinemas. Despite the fact that after independence, it was the second largest industry in India in terms of capital investment, the then government of India did not accord filmmaking a much economic significance, as most of the popular leaders viewed the cinema as low and vulgar entertainment imported from overseas and popular with the uneducated masses (Ganti, 2004: 46). The aftermath of World War II collapsed studio system and resulted in rise of star system, where the star fee began to reach unavoidable climb. Undeclared black money entered the industry throwing a no-compromise attitude in producers. The themes with clear sympathy for poor and oppressed were successful by typically following the narrative styles of Hollywood classical cinema. Films like Raj Kapoors Awaara (1951) which followed the Charlie chaplins Tramp style, Roys Do bigha zamin (1953), Abbass Munna (1954) and Mehaboobs Mother
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India (1957) gained International reputation, while song and dance sequences continued to gain popularity. By early 1960s, Bombay was strongly rooted as all-India movie market, particularly Hindi with high commercial focus holding a national appeal and soon referred to as Indias Hollywood. Because of the decentralized nature of Indian film production system, it could not follow the capitalistic methods of Hollywood studio system for long run. During 1960s Hollywood went on to produce many Avant Grade post war movies like underworld cinema, gangsters, candid treatment of drug, sex, moral codes, sub-cultural fashions like Hippy, Gypsies, and pop music soundtracks etc., which have not only enthralled the local audience but experienced enormous public visibility, internationally (OPray, 2006:66). Though not immediate, all the specified elements entered Indian cinema with little indianized conversions. An exact imitation of dressing and hairstyles, physical appearance and body language is observed more among male lead characters of Indian cinema soon followed by the youngsters, while make-up and hairstyles of Hollywood heroines became a heartthrob among actresses as well as audience. Songs with westernized music became mandate to showcase the youthfulness of cinema and attract the audience. A westernized dance item by a bar dancer or couple-dance in clubs was a common scene in almost every Indian movie irrespective of language. The then directors and producers adopted a safe zone approach by including all

trendy elements to attract the masses and finally giving a message on the dire consequences associated with them. When the democracy collapsed in India during emergency i.e., between 1975 and 1977, the Indian film industry responded in an optimistic way to question the then problems with a typical personality concept and male gaze the action hero, a vigilant angry young man who tend to fight feudalism, corruption and solve the problems through physical violence (Nochimson,
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2010:258), exactly like a Hollywood macho, while role of woman was only a supporting piece to the male lead or an entertaining doll to the audience. Stars like Amithab Bachchan from Hindi, Rajinikanth from Tamil and Chiranjeevi from Telugu industry augmented as a tidal wave of audience frustration. This gradually led to core commercial domination of violence and sex, thereby developing a new critical term masala film. Songs and dances continued to dominate the box office success. While Hollywood films like Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), Rambo First Blood (1982), of New Hollywood had plunked a strong hold on Indian audience, especially young male, the visualities of Indian cinema naturally reflected the Hollywood styles, techniques, regimes of signification, producing notable successful films like Deewar, Sholey etc and after that hundreds of goofy and revenge tales mushroomed all over India. Though Indian new wave parallel cinema like Shyam Benegals Ankur, Satyajit Reys Pather Panchali etc. touched feudalism and corruption with neo-realism approach eliminating fantasy or any other commercial elements, the mainstream commercials dominated the box offices. By the end of 1990s after attaining Industry status from the Indian government in 1998, movies took entirely took a new turn to reach global audience. Indian cinema forwarded strategically with required financial support from banking and corporate sectors. Overseas diaspora opened gates to Bollywood. Sophistication instead of paucity is observed in production aspects as well as themes under the shades of Hollywood. Hollywood in India a growth trajectory to stride out When Hollywood entered India through vertically integrated distribution mechanisms in 1900s, it provided a predilection to Indian audience with the flavors of west. The stunts, action films and serials of stars such as Pearl White, Ruth Roland, Charlie Chaplin, Eddie Polo, and Douglas Fairbanks were very well received by the Indian audience (Thomas, 2005:39). Though not very
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rapid in reaching India, many renowned classics, biblical epics, blockbusters and many other popular genres etc. have had enthralled audiences of those days irrespective of class, creed and sex. Audience began to take a closer look at Hollywood when the liberalized economic policies facilitated it to widen the market outlets. Television movie channels like HBO, Star Movies etc. became a big source of entertainment and Hollywoods genre approach became a niche and helped mass television audiences to spectate Hollywood cinema with diversified tastes. Audience thirst for variety is pleased and at the same time boosted up when access became easier with VCD / DVD formats.

And now Indian is not an exception for world-wide simultaneous releases of Hollywood blockbusters; and watching Hollywood cinema is no more a flabbergasting issue, as hundreds of movies are being imported from USA every year. Out of 184 imported films certified by Central Board of Film Certification in India between April 2009 and December 2009, 130 are from USA (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 2009)6. While streamlining the imports and

distribution networks with local tie-ups, Hollywood tried to expand the business in divergent Indian market by releasing the dubbed version into regional languages. This proved to be an extremely popular strategy and continued to be successful till date to tap the huge masses including the rural. Sixty percent of total 950 million rupees fetched for movie 2012 from Indian box-office came from dubbed versions (Jamkhandikar, 2010). As a mutual concern, Hollywood went on to distribute Bollywood cinema overseas and laid path to many Indian corporate

Total number of foreign films certified by Central Board of Film Certification in India between 01.04.2009 to 30.11.2009 were 184 out of which 130 are imported from USA, followed by 11 pictures from Hong kong, 11 from Thailand, and 8 from UK (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 2009) Source: http://www.indiastat.com/media/21/filmsandcinemas/61/stats.aspx

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distributors like PVR Pictures etc to have its own infrastructure for distribution of Indian films abroad. Its approach of horizontal integration has opened portals for both the parties to facilitate outsourcing and grabbing the technical expertise and come out with best creative assignments. Hollywood has already started spending big bucks on special effects and animations outsourced from various Indian digital studios located in cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad etc. Jesh Krishna Murthy, CEO of Anibrain Digital Technologies who worked for films like Tomb Raider and Batman says that India digital companies have geared up to the standards required for Hollywood with all its talent, skills and the utmost important thing, the competitive price. Working for Hollywood is always a big bet, where it spends $ 10-20 million on graphics alone for every project he adds on (Mohan, 2006). On the other hand Hollywood technicians are flying down either to work on India or for India. Films like Gandhi directed by Richard Attenborough, Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle7, The Pool directed by Chris Smith8 which are made on Indian themes and people, shot on Indian locations with Indian cast like Rohini Hattungadi, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar are few examples to note. Slumdog Millionaire, rags-to-riches story of a slum boy went on to win 8 of the 10 Academy Awards it was nominated for. Indian technicians A.R. Rahman, Gulzar and Resul Pookutty received global recognition with the movie. The other trend of Hollywood to capture Indian market is exclusive releases with regional touch by cross-cultural casting coups like Naseeruddin shah in Shoot on Sight and Saeed Jaffrey in Gandhi (1982) and My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) etc. The contemporary Indian cinema is notably depending on Hollywoods
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Danny Boyles other movies include Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and 127 days Chris Smiths movies include American Job, The Yes Men, American Movie.

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technical expertise. Reportedly, for SRKs movie Ra.One two Hollywood technicians --cinematographer Nicola Pecorini (who earlier worked for Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas) and special effects expert Jeffrey Keisler (X Men series) are working. Vikram Bhatts movie Haunted is Indias first stereoscopic horror 3D film worked by Hollywood technicians. For south Indian blockbuster Enthiran, Stan Winston Studios in the US has its contribution with its latest technologies and instruments in providing SFX support. Production designer Stefano Maria Ortolani, famous Hollywood technician who worked for films like Mission Impossible and Letters to Juliet etc has now signed to work for an untitled Telugu movie based on the life history of Jesus Christ. Another Tamil movie Acchamundu Acchamundu is filmed in RED EYE CAMERA which can facilitate to capture the entire movie on sync recording. The sound mixing is processed by Marti Humphrey of Hollywood who has earlier worked for the best thrillers of Grudge, Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Strangers. The film is developed in Fotokem, one of the leading labs in Hollywood. These are few examples to note. Following the footsteps of Hollywood, Indian filmmakers are opting to converge with other exhibition channels and digital technologies like Internet, mobile phones to deliver film related content like gaming, music, caller tunes and publishing etc. It became a branding mechanism and add-on revenue generating source. When it comes to distribution networks, the cinematic exhibition outlets like multiplexes in fact entered India to promote Hollywood cinema during liberalized economy and this gradually facilitated Indian cinema to rely on (Sharma, 2003). Indian filmmakers are opting to monetize the content by releasing movies on DTH, Pay Per View of cable platforms after theatrical release. For instance films like Slumdog Millionnaire, Aa Dekhen Zara etc are released on DTH within weeks of their domestic theatrical release and film Striker was released internationally on YouTube on the same day of theatrical release. To
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enhance the distribution of first release movies to wider audience, India had already adopted electronic cinema installations which are based on single-chip DLP or LCD projectors (Karagosian and Shah, 2004). Hollywoods co-productions i.e., making Indian movies for Indian audience received a mixed bag of response. In point of fact, they failed in gaining revenues as well as enthralling the audience. The first co-production venture Sawariya (Sony Pictures Entertainment), Warner Bros. Pictures Saas Bahu Aur Sexsex, Chandini Chowk to China, Walt Disneys Roadside Romeo, Zokkomon, Telugu venture Anaganaga Oka Deerudu, recent release of Twentieth Century Foxs Dum Maro Dum etc. have not worked out well at box offices. Yet, big shots like Gareth Wigan, Vice Chariman of Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures and Yash Chopra, Chairman of Yash Raj Films are strongly opining that co-productions will bring worlds two biggest filmmaking communities closer and it will give India, an opportunity to interact with Hollywood studios (Subramanian, 2007). The current ostensible growth drivers identified by the PwC for Indian film Industry to be implemented by 2014 like expansion of multiplex screens for better realizations, increase in number of digital screens facilitating wider releases, higher C&S revenues, increased overseas market collections, unrestricted fund flow from global media industries, and other auxiliary revenue streams which are expected to emerge in future from DTH, digital downloads etc. (BusinessofCinema.com, 2010)9 are by and large the strategic implementations of Hollywood which were already proved to be successful income generating distribution mechanisms. Indeed, they might put Indian cinema as well as Hollywood on a threshold of major transformations in terms of a reciprocal expanded business at regional and international level with standardized
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Source: http://www.businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=15681

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outlets. While allowing Indian cinema to become more transnational, the current scenario might help Hollywood to become more indigenous and go deep-rooted in India. Influence of Hollywood on content of Indian cinema a dogmas of controversy To stay immune, Bollywood for last couple of decades believed in its superfluous approach of high budget, star and glamour studded filmmaking with lavish settings, jazzy songs, imported scanty clad dancers, graphics and special effects though not demanded by the storyline, machoistic heroes stuffed with vengeance to fight with physical power more than mental comprehension, NRI heroes who could fly to America as many times as possible to praise India aboard, or at least who could able to dream a song in Switzerland with heroine who is cursed to wear insufficient clothing even at sub-zero climate. Now popular Indian cinema of any Indian language believes in same. What Bollywood adopted, or laid path to other regional cinemas, however, is mere identical approach to Hollywood cinema which has been putting forth its sturdy influences on themes and narrative styles; technology and making styles; and even on the physical appearance and projection of the lead characters. Common assumptions labeled at Bollywood films and other commercial Indian cinemas include that they are unrealistic, emotionally over the top, formulaic entertainment for the masses, and a copy of Hollywood films. In a way, they are true. The word Bollywood itself was christened with the influence of Hollywood by combining Bombay film industry and Hollywood which is followed by other names like Kollywood for Tamil cinema (as most of the film studios are located in Kodambakkam of Chennai), Tollywood for Bengal cinema (Tollygunge, Calcutta) etc. The only thing which is assumed to be deviating from Hollywood is Song and Dance which again believed to be corrupted with westernized music composition and dance sequences, and most of
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the time using English words in lyrics, rhythms and humming. The dancers are imported from west for novelty. Outfits and gadgets designed for lead roles and dancers are mostly western, scanty, and highly irrelevant to storyline in many cases. Most of the movies made in Bollywood are in fact blatantly copied scene by scene or some took inspiration in building storyline or screenplays. The hilarious blockbuster Partner released in 2007 starring Salman Khan & Govinda has been accused of being a direct theft from the Will Smith starrer Hitch. To name few of such movies -- Life in a Metro is a blatant copy of every single scene from academy award winning movie The Apartment; Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahi, is an Indian counterpart of Hollywood classical It Happened One Night; Jism, a movie which remained a rare piece for Indians for its adult oriented extramarital stuffs is inspired from Body Heat; Koi Mil Gaya is a true copy of sci-fi movie of Speilberg E.T. The Extra Terrestrial; Black, a movie by Sanjay Leela Bansali is a blind copy of the film The Miracle Worker; Kyon Ki is a bollywoodized story derived from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest; Murder is the Indian version of movie Unfaithful; and Sarkar, is claimed to be an inspirational copy of the movie The Godfather by the director Ram Gopal Verma himself, who laid tribute for the same. The list is not limited to this and there are some hundreds of movies which are mere copies or inspirations of Hollywood. As a matter of fact, South Indian cinema even for today remained resistant to such kind of copying attitude as they depended on local cultural myriads to generate stories. However a drastic swift is observed in the making and narrative styles of cinema even in southern part of India in an attempt to reach global audience. Hollywood film which is indentified by a set of historical, industrial and economic determinants and stylistic structures of America, tend to represent America and the way it conceive the race,
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class, gender and sexuality (Benshoff, Griffin, 2004:23). Benshoff and Griffin (2004) adds on that Hollywood which is so prevalent in American culture, gives a make belief aura that the way Hollywood makes the movies is the only way and the rest possible ways are inferiors to it. Indian filmmakers felt the same way and every major trend that Hollywood set has been slurped by the Indian producers till date as discussed earlier. But in many cases, movie-makers have failed in understanding the pulse of Indian audience who have had developed an idiosyncratic approach in spectating cinemas of Hollywood and Indian. When SPE Films India, the Indian arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has announced its partnership with Bollywood by co-producing Saawariya with Sanjay Leela Bansali in 2007, movie-makers, critics and even the movie-lovers expected a tremendous output as well as anticipated a dramatic change in Indian film industry. But unluckily the movie did not do well as its dragging screenplay and overdose of classic European style failed in alluring the audience. But Om Santi Om, the typical Bollywood masala film released at same time, ruled the box office with biggest opening weekend in India's moviemaking history, taking in about $19 million worldwide. The Indian spectator though not new to western cinema since its emergence, has always remained resistant to the chaos of westernization as they accept Hollywood cinema as a mere smidgen of a western country. For instance, a woman making love or living with boyfriend without a legal tie in a Hollywood movie is very well watched by Indian audience without any perplexity as they have already accredited the ethos of western countries. When it comes to Indian cinema, a canopy approach is observed with the Indian audience where they tend to counteract the sexual freedom of an Indian woman, even in a cinema. Woman can be a model for sexuality or can be accepted as a sex object but cannot be a role model to aspire sexual freedom. Same way movies like Kabhi Alvidha Naa Kehana which treated extra-marital affair
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as justifiable, Neel and Nikil that entertained pre-marital sex, Salaam Namasthe that dealt with theme of living together without a legal knot were treated like alien themes though not unusual in India and went through severe debate by moral watchdogs and not received with a commendable approach, even by youth. All these movies are of high budgets with all attractive ingredients, shot in foreign locations, casted with super stars like Sharuk Khan, Abhishek Bchachan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerjee, Prety Zinta etc., dazzling settings for songs and dances, on the whole, projected a rich westernized outlook. But the core idea failed. At the same time, movies like Ishkiya, a triangular love story of a widow and two hooligans which was shot in very rustic, unglamorous rural locales of India; Chandini Bar - a story of a bar dancer turned prostitute; Fire, a story of Lesbians; Bandit Queen - based on a tragic sexual assault on a woman who later turns into a bandit queen to take revenge; Jism that focused on sex and corporeality -are pure examples of success as well as controversy. Here, a trivial line in observed between the spectator who watches cinema as a communal or shared experience and those who watch with complete ignorance of such collective experience. In fact, the spectator tend to behave like both an insider who ignore the community while watching the cinema in the darkness of the theatre and an outsider who watches cinema with a notion build by the society. Hence Bischoff (1993:38) says, watching cinema is a communal, shared experience, where spectators rational ego is lulled in the darkness of the theatre a place considered to be no different to a prayer room or a tribal rallying hall. Exactly like watching a woman in scanty clad clothes, or watching a sexual activity either in Hollywood cinema or in Indian cinema satisfies the voyeuristic pleasure of the insider but can displease the outsider of the same spectator, both mediating in its self-image. There is also a scope for disappearance of trivial line when the insider of spectator is heavily satisfied with the ideologies driven by
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cinema, forcing the outsider to affiliate within and thereby negate the norms of civil society. For this reason, a high possibility for influence of cinema on the attitude and behavior of the spectator is observed across global. Therefore, Indian spectators though remarkably remained resistant to cultural invasion of Hollywood at a broader level, they are no longer considered to be exceptional in evading the messages of western liberalism derived from Hollywood cinema, as people of India have already become more vulnerable to the affects of globalization since two decades, thus leaving the significance of nativity in an imprecise situation. Mulveys (1975) influential Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema explains how mainstream Hollywood films often parlay Freuds male subject / female object construct. She argues that the male spectator is privileged in the dark theatre to enjoy the female spectacle on the screen with non-mutually extremes: either to devalue, punish, or save woman, the guilty object, or to make her a pedestal object, as Hitchcock films do. While Ishikya is successful for its sensible treatment of romance of a widow, the other four films Chandini Bar, Fire, Bandit Queen, and Jism were sold for mere sex, lust, sexual harassment, male gaze domination, pain associated with sex and revenge. These films are mere exemplars for male gaze treatment like any other Hollywood cinema. As explained by Mulvey here the pleasure is two-fold: freely enjoying a scopophilic gaze of woman and having a male protagonist upon the screen to associate with. The other perspective of observing the Hollywood influence is the westernized outlook of the cinema where the appearance, body language and lifestyle of actors / characters who show no difference from that of Hollywood. Movies like No Entry, Dhoom-2, Welcome and Race etc. are typical exemplar for westernized stuff like jeans, miniskirts, bikinis, skinny dresses, sleeveless tops, high heeled footwear, coat and suits, boots for women, divorce and sex before marriage, lip kisses, overwhelmed usage of English dialogues remix songs and ballet dances etc. A
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noteworthy point with movie No Entry is that the concept, storyline and screenplay is completely derived from a popular Telugu Movie Pellam Oorelithe (When my wife is away home) but has been added glamour with western touch. Except for very few films which can be counted on fingers like Lagaan, Three idiots, Dhobi Ghat, Munna Bhai series, Tare Zamin Per etc. most of the movies are pushing Indian cinema away from socialistic realism. Kellner (1998) and states that Hollywood has been seamlessly perpetuating the myth of American Dream while propagating patriarchal ideology, including hierarchical social order and stereotypical female roles, avoiding the reality. The Hollywood genres with popular themes taught that money and success were important values; that the state, police, legal system were legitimate sources of power and authority; that violence was justified to destroy threats to the system; and that American values and institutions were basically sound, benevolent, and beneficial to society as a whole (Kellner, 1998). The current lead characters in Indian popular cinema are multi millionaires as shown in many Bollywood movies targeting NRIs or who belong to higher castes or community with supreme strength as in south Indian cinema. In Hollywood when Americas supremacy is projected on the whole as saviors, here money and communal feeling are treated as saviors. Many successful faction films of South India are based on this concept. Hero killing the antagonist is easily acceptable when legal system fails. In fact no legal system is visible in scene when Indian hero decides to fight. Defining the Hollywood commercial narrative film as illusionistic, Rodowick (1994) says that Hollywood films efface the materiality of the film medium by offering a narrative based principle of unity, continuity and closure, and through this transparency of form promote an identification with, and unquestioning acceptance of, the fictional world offered by the film.
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Hollywood thus, is much delineated as tech-narrative but highly misleading. Now Indian cinema is exactly sailing on the same boat. The Indian filmmakers have mastered in using aerial shots, wide-angle shots, radar views, targeting shots, penetration views and panning shots etc to showcase the power of vision. They rely on heavy graphics and special effects to project the power of male-gaze or violence in an exaggerated manner than what is required. The focal idea of disclosure in both the cases is more on how you tell than what you tell. Excess usage of technology might excel Hollywood cinema as they mostly sync with the themes they have selected. When it comes to Indian cinema, a mismatch between technology and story line is evidently visible. Failures of high budget Telugu movies like Sinikudu, Varudu, or recent release Sakthi falls in this category.

Concluding Remarks Cinema in Indian is a surreal journey for many movie-lovers. While Bollywood under the glimpses of Hollywood has acclaimed to be following the growth trajectory with diasporic global reach, films from southern part of India is equating with Bollywood with a settle approach. In the course of time, Indian cinema also has developed a disparagement among movie-lovers that it is moving far-off from socialistic realism and failed to tell the story of true civilian. The man with whom we can correlate is now missing in Indian cinema. Rao (2007) contends that the globalizing
environment of Bollywood films is creating its own elitism constituted by the brand logic of transnational capital which has redefined the meaning of the masses. Bollywood recognizes its audiences as the upper middle class diasporic and urban communities whose tastes, values, desires, and consumptions are reflected and re-energized by these films and the masses of the rural, poor, and lower middle class audiences find themselves distanced from the images and dreamworlds of Bollywood (Rao, 2007). On the other hand Dudra (2002) argues that contemporary Bollywood movies often engage with 20

representations of South Asians who are differentially experiencing modernization in the subcontinent and with representations of diasporic South Asians. The filmmakers in many cases are misusing the technology to showcase unreality and this approach failed to be a determinant of box office revenue in India. Indian cinema is in need of some evocation to go nostalgic. Filmmakers need to re-think on the significance of nativity which is still in an imprecise situation. Focusing on reality and nativity with novelistic approach might become one of the strategic views to control production costs. The value chain integration between crucial phases of filmmaking i.e., script development stage, pre-production production and post-production need to be analyzed thoroughly by every filmmaker. According to KPMG Report on Indian entertainment Industry Focus 2010, a comparison of the stages of film production in the Indian film industry (using Bollywood as a proxy) with that of Hollywood reveals that the Indian film industry tends to ignore the most important stage of production - the development stage. Occupancy of multiplexes; or smaller number of releases; or the declining value of cable and satellite rights and other ancillary revenue streams cannot be the mere reasons to challenge the growth of Industry. They are, as a matter of fact, only the auxiliary elements to attract audiences and always remained inferior to the reach of good cinema. A proper groundwork on script than auxiliaries is important to catch the pulse of audience. Trend setters very soon turns to be routine, if repeats. But novelty remains fresh. Indian cinema needs that.

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Baiju. (2011, May 13th). South Indian films rule overseas market. TamilGalatta.com. Retrieved from http://tamil.galatta.com/entertainment/livewire/id/South_Indian_films_rule_overseas_ marke t_49661.html Baker, Steven. (2011, May 13th). South Indian films outperforming Bollywood. Digital Spy. Retrieved from http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/bollywood/news/a319383/south-indian-filmsoutperforming-bollywood.html Benshoff, M. Harry & Griffin, Sean. (2004). America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. Blackwell Publishing. 23. David, Alm. (2005, July 1st). Beyond Bollywood. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.aivf.org/node/295 Dudra, Rajinder Kumar. (2002). Vilayati Bollywood: Popular Hindi Cinemagoing and Diasporic South Asian Indentity in Birmingham (UK). The Public. Vol. 9 (1). 19 36. FICCI -KMPG Indian Media & Enterntainment Industry Report. (2010). Back in the Spot Light. India: KPMG Ganti, Tejaswani. (2004). Bollywood: A Guidebook to popular Hindi Cinema. GB: Routledge. 46. Gokulsing K. Moti & Dissanayake, Wimal. (2004). Indian popular cinema: a narrative of cultural change (2nd ed., pp.19). London:Trentham Books Limited. Hayward, Susan. (2006). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts, (3rd ed.). UK: Routledge Publications. 391, 393 Jamkhandikar, Shilpa. (2010, April 22nd). Dubbed Hollywood fare trumps Bollywood. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/world/news/e3i3a5fb1561d2145a3b1 d7f34ecdd733b9 Karagosian, Michael & Shah, Nirvan. (2004, December). Digital Cinema in India. INS Asia Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.mkpe.com/publications/d-cinema/insasia/india.php Kellner, Douglas. (1998). Hollywood Film and U.S. Society: Some Theoretical Perspectives. Retrieved from http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/MCkellner/HOLSOC.html Kohli, Vanita. (2006). The Indian Media Business, (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Sage Publications.113 Lorenzen, M., & Vang, J. (2006). Hollywood and Beyond: The Emerging Globalization of the Film Industry. Retrieved from www.industryandinnovation.org

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Lorenzen, Mark. (2008, February). Creativity at Work: On the Globalization of the Film Industry (Creative Encounters Working Paper # 8), Retrieved from Copenhagen Business School: http://www.cbs.dk/content/.../8-Lorenzen-Globalization_Film_Industry-08.pdf Mittal, Ashok. (1995). Cinema Industry in India: Pricing and Taxation. Indus Publishing. 23. Mohan, Devandra.. (2006, Sep 24th). Hollywood Ahoy!. Business India. 108. Mulvey, Laura. (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Retrieved http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf from

Nochimson, P. Martha. (2010). World on Film: An Introduction. John Wiley and Sons. 258 OPray, Michael. (2006). American Underground Cinema of the 1960s. In Linda Ruth Williams and Michael Hammond (Eds.), Contemporary American Cinema. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 66. Pillania K. Rajesh. (2008). The Globalization of Indian Hindi Movie Industry. Management, 3(2), 115123. India: Management Development Institute. Rao, Shakuntala. (2007). The Globalization of Bollywood: An Ethnography of Non-Elite Audience in India. The Communication Review. Vol.10. Routledge Publications. 5776. Rodowick, D.N. (1994). The Crisis of Political Modernism: Criticism and Ideology in Contemporary Film Theory, (2nd ed.). University of California Press. Sharma, Aparna. (2003, May). Indias Experience with the multiplex. Seminar Paper presented for Unsettling Cinema: A symposium on the place of cinema in India. Retrieved from http://www.india-seminar.com/2003/525/525%20aparna%20sharma.htm Subramanian, Anusha. (2007, November 4th). Hollywood in Bollywood. Business Today. 142150. The Economic Times. (2009, Nov 18th). Southern movies account for over 75% of film revenues. Retrieved from http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-1118/news/27638208_1_film-industry-small-budget-movies-farokh-balsara Thomas. (2005). Not Quite (Pearl) White: Fearless Nadia, Queen of the Stunts. In Raminder Kaur and Ajay J Sinha (Eds.), Bollywood: Popular Indian Cinema through a Transnational Lens (pp.39-40). New Delhi: Sage Publications.

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