COMPETITION

Hooray for Bollywood

India's film industry has long been prolific and chaotic. Now, with modern business leaders, it's coming of age—and taking aim at Hollywood, U.S.A.

By Jason Overdorf | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Dec 10, 2007

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  • Posted By: jayfhord @ 01/03/2008 8:41:39 AM

    Indian movies have no originality whatsoever. And stop using the term Bollywood. Indian entertainment is not to be compared to Hollywood. There is no comparison. Their movies sucks. Hollywood has made very good movies for a century and many of those early masterpieces even today are still being watched. India's "Bollywood" has just start to come up with a movie in English and now they compare their industry against Hollywood. Bleeeaahhh. I want to puke... help me.

    • Posted By: chongyeeyap @ 01/06/2008 1:37:13 AM

      Hello !jayfhord, don't be such bore. You muct think that the term Bollywood was what Indian film makers copy deliberately to advance the status of the productions ? It shows how naive you are, everything that sounds remotely USA is USA. Just so you know what I mean, the term Bollywood is a tag given by fans of Indian movies. I don't believe they had adopted this term to dignify their movies; it was a term to add fun to their novies. It had nothing to do with Indian movie makers wanting to apr Hollywood. Don't take too much credit for just about A BIG FAT NOTHING.

      I am Chinese and I like Indian movies, and just like Hollywood (not a monopoly of Hollywood) Bollywood too makes many "FORMULAIC MOVIES. If you think there is so much originality in Hollywood productions then you too are taking too much credit for nothing. Take your Hollywood flick CSI, then you go on and do CSI Miami, then you go on and produce CSI NY and then you go on and produce CSI, the one CSI with that golden hair David what's his name. Anyway, Hollywood or Bollywood or whatever are the same theme repeated round and round. Just the faces are caucasian or Indian; they are all the same. The quality of Bollywood are very good, just as good as any produced by Hollywood.

      You Americans are on the tipping edge and just one finger flip and the USA will slide down the shoot into oblivion. Do not just assume that whatever is American is the best, because other great nations will come along and flip you and your kind down the shoot.





      • Posted By: jayfhord @ 02/21/2009 2:39:24 PM

        Hey Chinese Man. I also feel your pain. But your movies and indian movies have long way before it can really break the hollywood barrier of watchability. Take a simple math equation. Out of 20 of Hollywood movies you watch 20 or a bit less than 20, but out of 1000 of Bollywood/Chinese movies americans/other country only watch 1 or 2. You know what im saying. If 50 percent or more contemporary Indian/Chinese movie productions are watch by other countries, then I can believe that they are going somewhere. But 1 out of a 1000... come on.

      • Posted By: karaswart @ 01/06/2008 7:28:53 AM

        Hindi- Chini bhai, bhai!!! If I have to be served crap, I would rather be served Indian crap. For quality movies- Spain, Mexico, Iran , Southern India, Eastern India and Taiwan (Ang Lee).

    • Posted By: indiarocks @ 01/12/2008 3:46:22 PM

      americans are retards taking credit for another people's work. if all chineese and indians just leave jobs from american companies, america would starve to death

    • Posted By: indiarocks @ 01/12/2008 3:44:55 PM

      usa has no originality either except the f****** light bulb. america sucks!!!!!

  • Posted By: Mamatefarun @ 10/14/2008 8:25:44 PM

    Enough of the negative remarks by Indians abroad who think they know it all. Go see a Bollywood movie released in Feb 2008 called "Jodha Akbar" It has a cast Male and Female which can hold it's own with Holywood in looks and acting ability, the female voted the most beautiful woman in the world on the Oprah show. The story is excellent about what India was and is in the woeld community. Antone wanting deliberately to find a not so good thing about the movie would be hard pressed to come up with a point intellectually as an educated person. This movie is all engrossing from start to finish and the "sensible Indian who posted the negative comments will go see it at least a second time. And all without nudity and ugly stuff which appeals to the uneducated. A truly snesibleindian.

  • Posted By: Sensibleindian @ 09/08/2008 3:15:56 PM

    Bollywood sucks big time. These stupid guys are targeting the western audience. What the Heck!!! the western audience would watch this *** including myself. Stupid actors, dancing around gardens in europe, america or australia, very unrealistic plots , artificial & funny ( stupid ) songs with colourful costumes like Bufoons. I stopped watching this crap 10 years back nor my kids would do . Hollywood Rocks!!!

    Bollywood & Indian Cinema Sucks !!! . I"m an Indian & i admire the west & americans that made me intellectual.

    Comparing Hollywood with bollywood is crap like comparing a well bred ( home ) pet dog with a street dog ( in India ).

  • Posted By: hartman_john @ 01/19/2008 11:29:57 AM

    One can only hope that Bollywood creates more entertaining material than does Hollywood. Total predictability combined with shallow plot lines seems to be the preferred genre these days. With any luck at all, the folks in Bollywood will rescue film from the accountants and lawyers who now run the Hollywood studios.

    • Posted By: mchllshrms @ 02/22/2008 6:14:15 AM

      I don't think that Bollywood will be taking the lead anytime soon. It seems to be playing catch up with the nudity and sex that's been rampant in Hollywood for years. It is very disappointing to see the change. Too bad Bollywood couldn't stay firm in its convictions to keep the clothes on and the sex out.

  • Posted By: wib79 @ 02/06/2008 1:22:29 AM

    Just because you make 600 Movies a year doesn't mean that you make 600 GOOD movies a year. I guess anyone with a camera can make a movie these days, but that doesn't mean people will watch them.

    Probably why Bollywood has got more fans than Hollywood is because that most countries in that region don't really make that many movies in the first place. Plus since that part of the world has strict requirements of what you can put into a movie (such as no nude women etc...) of course you're going to have fans of Indian flicks.

    Cut me some slack here. People like Ratil who don't have a comprehensive understanding of even the English language telling me you will be competing for my money to buy vegetables is just plain out annoying.

    On top of that, while Sticks comment is off base, he's got a real point. What's more important to you? The poor people having babies on your streets, or you movie industry?! Don't hate on Sticks for having a point. Think about it.

    Lsa1376: Who cares if he spelt a word wrong?! Try making a point.

    And finally, what kind of name is Bollywood?! Couldn't you have been a BIT more original?

  • Posted By: kp007 @ 02/05/2008 3:49:32 PM

    india has many film industries. because of different languages. The main one is bollywood which is hindi. there are telugu tamil malayalam and kannada movies too. Overall india makes around 600 movies per year.

    India has a guniess book world record in year 1990 for making 952 movies in a year.

  • Posted By: kp007 @ 02/05/2008 3:47:44 PM

    india has many film industries. because of different languages. The main one is bollywood which is hindi. there are telugu tamil malayalam and kannada movies too. Overall india makes around 600 movies per year.

    India has a guniess book world record in year 1990 for making 952 movies in a year.

    Bollywood has more fans than hollywood. especially in asia and africa and also rest of the world

  • Posted By: Ratil @ 02/04/2008 12:11:12 PM

    You(Sticks) are the guys who felt stressed whenever anyone try to compete in any field. You start yelling that concentrate on food, poverty and infrastructure and don't compete but let me tell you India will soon be competing you in every field. It is just a matter of time. Wait and watch.

  • Posted By: Sticks @ 01/24/2008 2:51:59 PM

    This is a joke , are you trying to compare an up start to establisheed corp. you got to be kidding me. next thing you will tell me is they will be starting a rival proffesional football league to compete with the N.FL.
    Anyway Americans don't even go to the movies any more. They wait for them to come out on dvd, everybody spends thousands of dollars on home theathre's in this country. we are little ahead of the curb then over growing econmies like India. Getting into a industry that is going threw a transformation. a day late a dollar short. Spend your money else were like housing , education, infrustrure for the almost billion of poor in your country.

    • Posted By: Ratil @ 02/04/2008 12:06:40 PM

      You(Sticks) are the guys who felt stressed whenever anyone try to compete in any field. You start yelling that concentrate on food, poverty and infrastructure and don't compete but let me tell you India will soon be competing you in every field. It is just a matter of time. Wait and watch.

  • Posted By: lsa1376 @ 01/29/2008 1:24:05 PM

    Maybe you should learn how to spell before you comment on issues that obviously are way above your level of comprehension.

  • Posted By: lsa1376 @ 01/29/2008 1:22:33 PM

    Maybe you should learn how to spell before you post comments on things that are obviously beyond your comprehension.

  • Posted By: hartman_john @ 01/19/2008 11:35:52 AM

    hartman_john you have a great deal of nerve criticizing the moguls of Hollywood. The lawyers and accountants who you detest make brilliant decisions everyday-decisions that add wealth and profitability. Entertainment value, depth of character development and plot predicability are mere distraction to the bottom line. Grow up and smell the margins you naive cretin!

    • Posted By: hartman_john @ 01/19/2008 11:45:49 AM

      Those moguls you so deeply admire care only that you plunk down the $8.50 at the box office. They employ false advertising, hyperbolic marketing and trash talk to drive word of mouth until rubes like you shell out the dough. Bollywood is just Hollywood India style. If you think that Bollywood is in a different business than Hollywood, then you are not only naive but brainwashed.

      • Posted By: hartman_john @ 01/19/2008 11:51:36 AM

        I admit to a certain level of admiration for the studio bosses. They have, after all, created an entire artificial universe that dupes like you are willing to pay for. You gotta love that. So, when all is said and done, my shares in Sony Pictures and Universal will be worth more and I will enjoy a splendid retirement while you will continue to live out of your stationwagon, spewing vitriol and placing phone calls to The Bill O'Reilly show.

        • Posted By: hartman_john @ 01/19/2008 12:02:23 PM

          Bill O'Reilly gives radio a bad name. I will soon be posting your home address, home phone number, cel phone number, bank account number and social security number on Google. Hopefully someone will wipe you out financially and we will no longer be subjected to your inane chatter.

          • Posted By: hartman_john @ 01/19/2008 12:11:40 PM

            You must be a WGA member, using this site as a way of demonstrating your prowess as a wordsmith. Unfortunately, you are failing miserably. Try your hand at taxidermy. You are dead from the neck up already.

  • Posted By: hartman_john @ 01/19/2008 11:32:36 AM

    hartan_john - who are you to criticize the brilliant studio system in Los Angeles? The Producers and studios continually strive to create films that add to the boom line of all shareholders. Whether or not the films are actually any good is beside the point.

  • Posted By: Yoni @ 01/19/2008 6:52:42 AM

    Croman, Whom do you want to contact?

  • Posted By: sjbrock80 @ 01/18/2008 4:55:28 PM

    Try contacting the writer of this article, cromagnan.

  • Posted By: cromagnan @ 01/18/2008 3:41:35 PM

    I'd like to get linked up with the Bollywood world. We are a film industry website that helps actors of any race.
    How do americans get linked into the Bollywood world? Any comments welcome.
    http://www.artistwebsite.com
    Dan

  • Posted By: Shankardada2 @ 12/01/2007 9:14:29 PM

    This is the arena in which India will outshine the rest of the East - it's cultural exports. India's vibrant and diverse cultural roots, the openness of its media, and its emerging capitalistic tendency will combine to make India the cultural magnet of the Eastern Hemisphere.

    • Posted By: rcarrace @ 12/06/2007 6:10:03 PM

      India has gotten the hype that it has now becuase of coporate America shioving them down our throats. In a way, the US has been brain washed. I am not going to say that there aren't any talented, smart or hardworking Indians obviously like any culture or race you have your good and bad. If you wantto be honest about the situation ... you will admit that the hype has a lot to do with how cheap (in every sense of the word) India is. Cheap products, cheap talent, labor ... cheap, cheap, cheap .... My family has been in business for decades ... The majority of Indians are decent, honest and nice but very CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP .... And it is a shame that their own people exploit them. They are going to force this country into a caste system. Go India, make the rich, richer ... let us all live in crap.

      • Posted By: sanya @ 12/09/2007 1:08:46 AM

        damn u are such procastinator "we exploit our own people" omg we dont even do that atleast like u depressed americans we dont go around shooting people jus because we are stressed or we get bullied...If we are cheap it shouldnt matter u ..we are cheap because we know i n the future we will need that money for something else and that is why u dont see a indian homeless ***

        • Posted By: marylili @ 01/17/2008 1:18:19 AM

          ??????

        • Posted By: rmish @ 12/16/2007 10:12:37 PM

          We Indians do not shoot people in malls as some American/western individuals but we are so good at using words instead. Why waste bullets and lives where a little tweak/adjustment can do the trick? A good example is Indian politics! But eventually the chaos that this creates destroys the life of billions and not a few hundreds as in shootings! Long live India... Long live chaos!! Long live Bollywood...Ha!

          • Posted By: ShineElite @ 12/20/2007 5:10:15 PM

            Hey I live not even 5 minutes away from where that mall shooting happened. How can anyone, American or not be so rude? Lives were lost, don't put dead people into your conversations over MOVIES. Seriously, how can Americans or otherwise be so horrid? For gods sake when you sit here and try to say that whole groups of people are some way, cheap, ignorant or whatever, THAT ISN'T TRUE. Don't sit here and blame a whole race for one or a few bad apples. Have some respect for one another. Its just movies people seriously calm down. And to call a whole race cheap? And to talk so lowly of others when they are DEAD? Grow up you guys. seriously.



            There is a difference between having love for your country and just flaunting it in the most sickening ways. How can some of you even have the thoughts in your head that you have typed out? Sad, truly sad.



            I am 15 by the way and even I can see how childish some of the comments that I have read here are.

          • Posted By: ShineElite @ 12/20/2007 5:04:05 PM

            Hey i live not even 5 mins away from where that mall shooting happened. How can anyone, american or not be so rude? Lives were lost, dont put dead people into your conversations over MOVIES. seriously, how can americans or otherwise be so horrid? For gods sake when you sit here and try to say that whole groups of people are some way THAT ISNT TRUE. dont sit here and blame a whole race for one or a few bad apples. Have some respect for one another. Its just movies people seriously calm down. and to call a whole race cheap is seriously a low blow. Grow up you guys. seriously.

            I am 15 by the way and even i can see how childish some of these comments are

      • Posted By: Karlmarx @ 12/07/2007 12:18:58 PM

        I think you lost your job to an Indian :)

        • Posted By: rcarrace @ 12/07/2007 5:34:21 PM

          no actually i have not but the exploitation of Indians is really hurting the American dream. The f-ed up thing about it is that they are being expoilted by their own people. Indians should rise up and demand more. I know Indians who have lived in the US for years that feel this way.

          • Posted By: jimdand @ 12/28/2007 6:43:52 PM

            It's a cultural thing. Americans have always been disinclined to accept "foreign" movies, no matter what their quality, regarding production values, etc. Many British movies have faced the same challenge. So, it's natural that Indian movies are going to have to "crawl into bed with Hollywood". Hollywood politics at work. Hurray for Independent Productions|!

      • Posted By: karaswart @ 12/12/2007 4:49:35 AM

        Vikram Pandit- Indian born/bred is now head of Citibank. As is the case with Pepsi, CTO of Motorola etc. It is called IIT magic..The same one which results in 30% of Silicon Valley ownership.

        • Posted By: rmish @ 12/16/2007 10:15:38 PM

          Yep... Public money is blown on the best brains and the very same system that created them, exports them. BTW is patriotism/ethics also taught in IIM/IITs? Or is ruthless vertical acceleration the only focus?

    • Posted By: marylili @ 12/27/2007 1:10:20 AM

      ??????

  • Posted By: karaswart @ 01/15/2008 12:26:02 PM

    I was travelling in India last week. While all this discussion is good , it might be useful to remember that 1.3 billion Indians love their movies and care very litlle for Hollywood. Like in religion so in movies- Indians do have a NIH ( not invented here) syndrome. They seem to accept what comes from within the country...

  • Posted By: EmoryChick2011 @ 01/15/2008 8:35:10 AM

    I don't understand why its so wrong for the India Mocie Industry to be referred to as Bollywood. Words have been stolen from languages as often as people are born.

    And the USA is the biggest example. Americans refer to themselves as Technological Gurus. Doesn't that offend your senses? I mean, what the hell? America even steals ideas! Anyone thinking about Flopnick??

    And just because Indian movies are formulaic, doesn't mean there aren't people who enjoy them. I'd chose to watch an Indian movie over an American movie anyday, because at least it is what a movie should be, WISHFUL! I don't want movies that reflect reality...

    And American movies are so not original. There is Spiderman, Superman, Batman, all stories of men, with problems in their personal live who become masked heroes to save the world. Yes totally original, NO one has ever thought of that before.

    Then there are always the the end-of-the-world movies, Day after Tomorrow, 28 Days later, Cloverfield, I Am Legend, they don't have ANYTHING in common, no sir!

    I think a little bit of introspection is require for all of you overzealous patriots. Because the way you behave seems to be very... Extermist... Condeming another culture with such an extreme degress of hatred? Terroristic behavior anyone???

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