World Bollywood Day: What reach does Hindi-language film industry have?

FRANCE 24 English

As the world marks Bollywood Day, we tell you more about the Hindi-language film industry, whose audiences span the globe. FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza takes a closer look. This Entre Nous aired on September 24, 2024.A programme produced by Amanda Alexander, Marina Pajovic and Georgina Robertson.  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Now for our Entre Nous segment on Paris Direct, and today is World Bollywood Day that commemorates

00:05the release of India's first feature-length film in 1913. That silent movie went on to

00:11create a behemoth which continues to grow and make an impact around the world. And we're going

00:16to talk more about the Indian film industry now with our Dilano D'Souza. Hi Dilano. How big is

00:22Bollywood really? Well, it's not big, it's huge, if you will, just if we talk about the sheer

00:28numbers. Now, each year Bollywood churns out between 1,500 to 2,000 movies each year. Now,

00:34it makes it the largest film industry in the world by output. Hollywood, by comparison,

00:39releases between 500 to 800 movies a year. Now, depending on the kind of movie, budgets can vary

00:45from 4 to 40 million dollars. That's well below what we see over in Hollywood. Now,

00:52Bollywood is based in India's financial capital, Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.

00:57Now, while the number of films that come out of Bollywood is huge, it only accounts for around 40

01:01to 50 percent of India's total film output. Bollywood movies are in Hindi, which is one of

01:06the main languages in India, and the rest of the movies are in regional languages including Tamil

01:11and Malayalam. Now, despite high viewership rates in India, Bollywood films are popular across South

01:18Asia, including in places like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and generally where there's a

01:23high rate of Indians living and working. So, the Middle East, Australia, the United Kingdom,

01:28the United States, and parts of Africa. In 2022, the domestic box office was valued at 1.6 billion

01:35dollars, but Bollywood's global box office was valued at 2 billion dollars. So, I often think

01:42of Bollywood movies as being musicals. Tell us a bit more about what kinds of movies Bollywood's

01:46famous for. That's right. We do have a lot of song and dance, but I'll get to that because

01:49Bollywood is famous for the elaborate storylines. There's often family drama involved, forbidden love,

01:55and of course traditional Indian costumes, depending on the storyline. Then there's often, as Jeannie

02:00alluded to, song and dance. One of the films which encapsulates all of this was the 2022 movie

02:06Devdas, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, starring one of India's most famous

02:10actors, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aishwarya Rai, who's global brand ambassador at L'Oréal, and someone

02:15who's no stranger to France.

02:41Now, as you can see, for big budget Bollywood films, the sets are elaborate, often over the

02:45top if it's a production by Sanjay Leela Bansali, who was behind Devdas. Choreography is a big part

02:51of the Indian film industry. In the 1998 film Dil Se, there was even a dance sequence filled on top

02:57of a moving train.

03:16Now, the actress in that film, Malaika Arora, was only featured in a particular

03:26sequence in the movie, but the song Chaiya Chaiya remains a favorite to this day, and in fact,

03:31was filmed where I went to boarding school on this mountain, so that's why I actually

03:36picked the song. Now, one of India's most famous composers is A. R. Rahman. His song Jai Ho with

03:41the Pussycat Dolls became a global hit after it was featured in Slumdog Millionaire.

04:11Now, while Slumdog Millionaire picked up the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director,

04:18and even though it was filmed in India with a predominantly Indian cast, the movie by Danny

04:22Boyle is technically not considered a Bollywood production, but the movie did show how geographical

04:28barriers could be transcended.

04:30So, do mainstream Bollywood films get a lot of recognition on the global stage?

04:34Well, in 2002, for instance, Lagaan, starring Aamir Khan, was nominated for the Oscars in the

04:40Best Foreign Language Film category. The movie did not win, but the story of a group of disgruntled

04:45farmers beating the British at a game of cricket did resonate. Now, India will be hoping that a

04:51story also set in rural India, La Pata Ladies, will bring home an Oscar. Just yesterday,

04:56it was selected as the country's official entry to the Academy Awards. The film is a comedy-drama

05:01about two newlywed couples who board a train late at night and wind up with the wrong partners,

05:06but the mishap is only discovered after they each reach their respective villages. Take a look.

05:11Now, back in July, I interviewed the director of La Pata Ladies, and I asked Kiran Rao if she was

05:37surprised a film set in rural India had resonated with audiences in big cities.

06:07Now, La Pata Ladies discusses things like financial independence, education,

06:33and what's great about the movie is it sends across very subtle feminist messages without

06:38lecturing or shoving anything down audience's throat. Jeannie?

06:41That sounds great, and it's a great way to celebrate this on this World Bollywood Day.

06:45And the movie's available on Netflix, so do check it out.

06:48All right, fantastic. Thank you for that, Dilana D'Souza.

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