Bollywood

One of the first words which comes in our mind when we think about India is undoubtedly Bollywood. And I don’t think I am mistaken by saying Bollywood is evoking to you really long Indian movies, with little bit mannered and foil glamour, presenting to the spectators an abundance of songs and dances, where actors dressed with colorful costumes are playing soppy lovestories.

However, as soon as we arrive in India, we quickly realize that Bollywood is much more for this country than some pretty kitschy movies.

But let’s start over again. The name Bollywood comes from the contraction of the words Bombay and Hollywood, and designates initially movies shot in Hindi in Bombay or Mumbai. However, over time, Bollywood has cross the boundaries and the word incorporate now movies produce in other films cities, such as Hyderabad, Noida, Calcutta and many more. Today, Bollywood is not less than 2000 movies shot per year.

The main characteristic of a Bollywood movie is to present a lot of singing and dancing sequences, with complex group choreographies with perfect synchronization.

The first movie entirely made and realized by an Indian was Raja Harishendra, whose history follows the Hindu mythology, as most of the Indian movies of this time. Released on the 23 May 1913 at the Coronation Cinema, it knew a huge success and was the starting point of the long love story between Indian people and the cinema. Now, Bollywood is an integral part of the culture and the life of Indian people who identify themselves to the actors and actresses that they call heroes.

Bollywood movies are not just love stories, but most of them deliver a message or intend to be militant. Before independence, the movies were used to reinforce the Indian nationalism. Now it has a more educative role, delivering morals. This is for example the case of “3 idiots” who got a great success in 2009 and stay even today one of the favorite movies of a lot of Indian. Behind the humor, the comedy shows the importance of friendship, mutual aid and advocates tolerance and mutual respect.

Cinema in India also had a social role, in so far that it has allowed to remove the social differences. During the time of a movie, in the darkness of a movie theatre, differences of castes and religions disappear and everybody share the same emotions.

An article talking about Bollywood couldn’t be complete without speaking about its heros. The most famous Bollywood actor is obviously Shah Rukh Khan, one of the rare that we know in Europe, for example. Also called SRK in India, he became famous since his first moviein 1992, Deewana, which allowed him to win the award of the best masculine hope. He played in a hundred of movies, and still nowadays in a lot of movies.

SRK is the hero of the unavoidable Devdas, in which he plays next to the very famous AishwaryaRai. Actress, model and miss universe 1994, the face of AishwaryaRaiis certainly familiar to you. Thanks to her impressive career, she is considered as one of the most influent people of India and abroad. In 2003, She becomes the first Indian Actress being member of the jury in Cannes festival.