Believing in Hollywood - the Right Choice?

The article “Bollywood Vs. Hollywood – the Complete Breakdown” by Woke discusses that there is no chance for the Indian movie conglomerate to take over Hollywood or even gain a greater impact in the international movie business (Woke, 2007) by comparing facts and figures. In my eyes the author is being a little too hasty in some points. So let us take a closer look – there is of course no right and wrong, so it is up to you to decide “which side” you are on.

To begin with the amount of productions and the audience, Woke gives us the numbers of Bollywood movies produced annually: “more than 1000” and “worldwide audience of 3 billion” and for Hollywood “500 films per year” and “a worldwide viewership of 2.6 billion” (2007). Therefore, Bollywood wins this competition. However, Woke claims that the amount of viewers and movies produced annually does not indicate anyone’s superiority because “Bollywood made a revenue of $1.75 Billion in 2006(estimated to rise to $3.4 Billion in 2010) which is only half the revenue of what one Hollywood studio, Walt Disney made in 2006 – and that is saying a lot” (Woke, 2007). Does it really? In my opinion, Woke does not consider the different financial situations of the different audiences. While you pay $7.89 US dollar in 2010 for going to the cinema (National Association of Theatre Owners, 2010), you only pay around 20cent in India (Perry, 2004). Of course therefore Bollywood’s revenue is different – but just thinking about the current development in Asia and that “Indians are getting wealthier” (Overdorf, 2007) maybe the ticket prices will “catch up” (Overdorf, 2007). Then the revenues would definitely look different! Of course this is just a hypothetical assumption, but I think that you cannot say that Bollywood makes less and therefore it is not as successful as Hollywood.

The next point would be the market: internally and externally. Woke correctly says that “while Hollywood’s market inside the US has almost saturated, India’s 500 million population under the age of 20 will ensure that the market inside India will grow exponentially in the coming years” (Woke, 2007). So the internal market is already promising, especially now that “the younger generation is spending more on entertainment” (Overdorf, 2007) in India. And what about the external market? First of all, “around 15 million Indian expatriates [live] in different parts of the world [and] account for over 65% of Bollywood’s earnings. An estimated $800 is spent by NRI’s [Non-Resident-Indians] in Indian movies and music. US (2 million Indian expats), UK (1.5 million), South Africa (1 million of Africa’s 2 million Indian population) are major markets for Bollywood” (Woke, 2007). So Bollywood has a great variety of markets, distributing their products and spreading more and more across the planet. These immense future opportunities of constantly growing markets should make the author more careful when discussing Hollywood’s superiority despite its “saturated market” (Woke, 2007).

Furthermore, Bollywood and Hollywood are slowly entering mutual contracts and mutual productions: “Aishwarya Rai and Colin Firth star in this year's [2007] ‘The Last Legion’. In 2008, Rai and Michael Douglas will be seen in ‘Racing the Monsoon’. Sony Pictures Release of India is collaborating with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s production house, SLB Films” according to Sarita Sarvate, 2007. And other deals will follow after several success stories. So I would like to suggest being careful and not underestimating Bollywood’s way to new markets outside of India, because in my eyes Bollywood is developing right now on many different levels although it might yet be invisible to our eyes.

In the next part Woke compares the costs: “The average cost of producing, marketing and distributing a Hollywood film is more than US$60 million […]. At the same time Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Paani’ which is tipped to be the costliest film ever to be made in Bollywood will cost $20 million and the average cost of a big movie is around $ 5 Million. 50% of the movies produced in Bollywood are never released and on an average more than 95% of those released results in losses” (Woke, 2007). Well, I have to admit that he does have a point. But again, this was an issue of cultural differences. Ronnie Screwvala, owner of UTV Software Communications, comments "Nobody thought of [movie-making] as a profit-and-loss [business]. "They thought of it as a cash-flow [business]. So if a producer-director made a movie and it lost $5 million, but he got advances to make his next movie of $5 million, [in his mind] he'd broken even" (Overdorf, 2007). Again I am convinced that this rather chaotic non-profitable system is going to change soon when businessmen like Ronnie Screwvala and Anil Ambani keep changing the Indian movie industry, even if the financial resources are smaller than in Hollywood.

The last point I would like to discuss, clearly disagreeing with the author, is again about money. Woke states that Hollywood movies earn money with their “franchise-formula” which means more profits from “TV networks, magazines, home-videos etc.” (Woke, 2007) and most probably all kinds of merchandising items like t-shirts, bed sheets, coffee cups… the list seems to be endless. In his opinion, this is not yet working in Bollywood. Sure? Have you ever heard of a man called Shah Rukh Khan? He is an Indian actor, sometimes even called “the world’s biggest movie star” (Perry, 2004). “At 38, Khan has reached a level of hero worship attained by few actors in history. Every film he graces—no matter how bad—is a surefire smash, every product he endorses is a best seller, and there are so many shrines to him across India that he could launch a new religion” (Perry, 2004).

Therefore, I would put it differently and say that India just has a different kind of merchandising until now. Actors and actresses “reached almost deity status” according to Andrew Grant (2009), and thinking of the Bollywood movies I have seen so far – I guess around 25 to 30 that were shown on German TV – only one movie did not have Shah Rukh Khan as main actor. Surprisingly I did not like that movie – there was just something missing… I guess that is the same for the people in India and all other markets of Bollywood. It is about the main actors and actresses. So consequently there is a great potential for merchandising and franchising, just that the majority of people in India probably do not have the financial means so far. However, again I have to refer to people such as Anil Ambani and Ronnie Screwvala. With them on board it is only a question of time when Bollywood achieves the position to conquer the merchandising markets as well.

To conclude, I really enjoyed reading the article by Woke, although I do not agree with him in several points and aspects. Therefore, I have to say that I see things differently and believe in Bollywood’s power to become equal to Hollywood, even for Western standards. Most of the problems mentioned in Woke’s article are already in progress of being solved. Now the world just has to wait for the future developments.

 

from Bloomberg Newsweek, 02.12.2002

List of References:

Bloomberg Businessweek. (2002, Decemer 02). Hollywood vs Bollywood. Businessweek.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_48/b3810019.htm.

Grant, A. (2009). Megastars - Bollywood Style - A Star System Even More Powerful Than Hollywood's. Worldfilm.About.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://worldfilm.about.com/od/bollywood/a/bollywoodmegastars.htm. 

National Association of Theatre Owners. (2010). Average U.S. Ticket Prices. Retrieved May 04, 2011 from http://www.natoonline.org/statisticstickets.htm.

Overdorf, J. (2007, November 30). “Hooray for Bollywood. Newsweek.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://www.newsweek.com/2007/11/30/hooray-for-bollywood.html.

 

Perry, A. (2004, October 04). Shah Rukh Khan - Bollywood's Brightest Star. Time.com. Retrieved April 29, 2011 from http://www.time.com/time/asia/2004/heroes/hshah_rukh_khan.html.

Verrier, R. (2011, January 28). Movie ticket prices reach new milestone. Latimes.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/01/movie-ticket-prices-reach-new-milestone.html.

Woke. (2007, February 01). Bollywood vs Hollywood – The Complete Breakdown. Mutiny.wordpress.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://mutiny.wordpress.com/2007/02/01/bollywood-vs-hollywood-the-complete-breakdown/.

Can You Feel it is Bollywood Around You?

Richard Byrne, music critic for “The Globalist”, explains several points why and how Bollywood becomes more and more known throughout the world, and what impact this might have on our Western society.

First of all, the name “Bollywood” is not yet recognized everywhere, especially in the United States, in contrast to “parts of the world where the British Empire once held sway” (Byrne, 2002). Bollywood describes the Indian movie industry. It got this name by coincidence because it was compared to Hollywood but was produced in Bombay. So it was the Bombay Hollywood – Bollywood (Grant, 2009).

It probably spread less quickly than Hollywood because it was not an official name until recently and also because Indian movies were not shown everywhere. However, within the last decade this changed dramatically due to people like Ronnie Screwvala, who is re-creating Bollywood, making it an international competitive industry (Overdorf, 2007). Furthermore, some Bollywood companies might have already had the chance to cooperate with other Hollywood companies, entering actual partnerships, such as Anil Ambani with Stephen Spielberg (Mathur, 2009) or Screwvala’s UTV Software Communications with Sony Pictures and Fox Searchlight (Overdorf, 2007). And although the deal between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) and the Bollywood company Sahara India Pariwar (Spector, 2010) was not closed because Sony got the deal (Fritz, 2011) it still shows Bollywood’s competitiveness. So therefore, the number of people not knowing the term Bollywood is constantly decreasing, I truly believe. When I asked friends a couple of years ago if they knew “Bollywood”, most of them did not – when I ask today the answer is completely different!

The next point is going to discuss Byrne’s view that Bollywood already influences people across the world via different channels of communication. Not only the actual Indian movies available on TV, internet or cinema but especially music (videos) on the internet or radio. Byrne mentions that “Slowly but surely, however, Bollywood's visual style is starting to infiltrate the Hollywood sensibility as well. The first wave was through music videos such as the one that British DJ combo Basement Jaxx made for the group's recent hit ‘Romeo’” (Byrne, 2002). Probably, this influence was predominate in Great Britain due to their high numbers of Indian descended citizens, but this development could also spread over to the United States. When Bollywood is ready in terms of music (e.g. when more music producers such as “DJ Basement Jaxx” combine Indian and Western music styles, or Soundtracks like “Monsoon Wedding” are released worldwide (Byrne, 2002)) and of course when Indian movies are shown in the United States because of more fusions such as between UTV and Sony Pictures (Overdorf, 2007).

Moulin Rouge was most likely the first film that brought impressions about Indian dance scenes and singing to the United States, in a glamorous, fast, intoxicating way – in my opinion this was a fantastic way of introducing the heavy, colorful style of Bollywood to the Western audience. It was communicated as luxurious, special, expensive (not only because the story takes place in the most famous brothel in Paris) and magical. Richard Byrne perfectly describes: “When Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman suddenly break into song, or when the singers and dancers seem to drop out of nowhere into a scene, you're getting a strong stylistic flavor of Bollywood.”

Richard Byrne has opened my eyes when he stated that “one of Hollywood’s main successes has been assimilating and broadening the film styles of other countries”, e.g. the “Italian spaghetti Western or the stylized violence of Hong Kong thrillers." So how long will it take for Hollywood to copy the unique Bollywood style? As already discussed: Bollywood is a huge potential market which is most likely quite attractive to the American movie industry. I could describe the resulting influence on the Western society better than Mr. Byrne: “With the recent Bollywood invasion, can the day be too far off when people around the world see a singing dancing love story come from Hollywood — and not Bombay?!”

List of References:

 

Byrne, R. (2002, July 13). Hollywood Vs. Bollywood. theglobalist.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=2565.

 

Fritz, B. (2011, February 08). Sony finalizing distribution and co-financing deal with MGM. Latimes.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/02/sony-mgm-distribution-bond.html.

Grant, A. (2009). What is Bollywood? – A bried summary of Indian cinema from 1913 to the Present. Worldfilm.About.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://worldfilm.about.com/od/bollywood/a/historyofbollywood.htm. 

Mathur, T. (2009, July 16). Hollywood to Bollywood. Bollywoodt20.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://www.bollywoodt20.com/2009/07/hollywood-to-bollywood.html.

Overdorf, J. (2007, November 30). “Hooray for Bollywood. Newsweek.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://www.newsweek.com/2007/11/30/hooray-for-bollywood.html

Spector, M. (2010, September 19). Indian Firm in Early Talks to Buy MGM. Theerant.yuku.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/34416/Bollywood-Takes--Hollywood-Indian-Conglomerate--Buy---Great-.

Trailer Moulin Rouge

Hindi Sad Diamonds - Bollywood scene Moulin Rouge

DJ combo Basement Jaxx - ‘Romeo’

 

Useful Webpages

Emotional insights about Bollywood’s role in the international competition

“When Hollywood Meets Bollywood, Warning Bells Should Ring” by Sarita Sarvate is a very interesting personal insight of a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) woman living in the United States who discusses how Bollywood might be exploited by Hollywood. First she gives a fascinating and honest outline about how Indian people were perceived in the past in the United States, how and when this picture shifted, and how they are perceived today.

Sarvate then describes her concerns about a possible “Americanization” – Hollywood taking over Bollywood - which in her opinion is more likely to happen than the other way around. Moreover she talks about the problems of “commercial exploitation” and “cultural invasion” of India and its movie industry by the American competitor. This is a really compelling article that illuminates the legitimate concern of an Indian woman being afraid of her culture fading away.

Let’s talk business

If you are interested in the business deals behind the scenes and the powerful men invisibly leading the two movie industries, there are three great articles I would like to recommend: “Indian Firm in Early Talks to Buy MGM” by Mike Spector, “Hollywood to Bollywood” by Tushar Mathur, and “Hooray for Bollywood” by Jason Overdorf. The first article discusses the potential deal between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Sahara India Pariwar, including facts about the two cinema industries, financial details and background information about competitor’s offers and possible consequences of deals and partnerships.

The second article by Tushar Mathur introduces you to one of the most important businessmen of Bollywood: Anil Ambani. He is probably one of the people who will be working on the process of melting Hollywood and Bollywood together. He already made deals with Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, met Hollywood stars and producers (Mathur, 2009), and will most likely be a key figure to Bollywood’s future.

The third article, and my absolute favorite, is “Hooray for Bollywood” by Jason Overdorf. The subtitle says it all: “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.”. This text is an eye-opening report about a man called Ronnie Screwvala, who is the owner of a company called UTV Software Communications, and who will probably change Bollywood entirely (Overdorf, 2007). The article is a stunning biography, describing how Screwvala made it up to the top, what his company has already achieved (such as working with Disney, Sony Pictures, and Fox Searchlight among others) and what the future plans for Bollywood and Hollywood might look like. Furthermore you get a deeper insight on how Bollywood movies were and are being produced – this will surely surprise you! “Hooray for Bollywood” by Jason Overdorf: my number 1 recommendation!

Who is the number one?

The article “Bollywood vs. Hollywood – The Complete Breakdown“  by anonymous blogger Woke is a discussion about Hollywood’s superiority over Bollywood despite its seemingly increasing industry power, viewership of more than 3billion people, and more than 1000 movies produced in one year (Woke, 2007). Although I am not always agreeing with the author I would like to recommend this article because first of all, Woke unfolds several different topics related to the issue and therefore offers a detailed comparison. However, there are several comments beneath the article which are also quite interesting, as several people are discussing the topic from different points of view – sometimes backing their opinion up with extra information, sometimes only with passionate (or sometimes ignorant) points of views – definitely a great way to discover the situation of pro and contra Bollywood!

Bollywood in History

If you know only little about the history of Bollywood and how the Indian movie industry came into being, I really would like to recommend you the article “What is Bollywood? - A brief summary of Indian cinema from 1913 to the Present” by Andrew Grant (2009).

Not only does Grant have a great writing style that is vivid, metaphorical, and enjoyable to read, but also does he raise questions which encourage you to make up your mind, think about the issues and then be surprised by either his answers or your own thoughts. However, he creates a wonderful, understandable picture the different epochs of Bollywood movies, some historical and social background information, and the influence of Bollywood movies on both the Indian and later the Western society in different periods of time until today.

List of References:

Grant, A. (2009). What is Bollywood? - A brief summary of Indian cinema from 1913 to the Present. Worldfilm.About.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://worldfilm.about.com/od/bollywood/a/historyofbollywood.htm.

Mathur, T. (2009, July 16). Hollywood to Bollywood. Bollywoodt20.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://www.bollywoodt20.com/2009/07/hollywood-to-bollywood.html.

Overdorf, J. (2007, November 30). “Hooray for Bollywood. Newsweek.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://www.newsweek.com/2007/11/30/hooray-for-bollywood.html

Sarvate, S. (2007, August 06). When Hollywood Meets Bollywood, Warning Bells Should Ring. Newamericamedia.org. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5ad44cc13cf40b7e95bc95a4289eeafc.

Spector, M. (2010, September 19). Indian Firm in Early Talks to Buy MGM. Theerant.yuku.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/34416/Bollywood-Takes--Hollywood-Indian-Conglomerate--Buy---Great-.

Woke. (2007, February 01). Bollywood vs Hollywood – The Complete Breakdown. Mutiny.wordpress.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011 from http://mutiny.wordpress.com/2007/02/01/bollywood-vs-hollywood-the-complete-breakdown/.