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Surabhi's definition (?) of Bollywood is historically flawed and is untenable in the field of film studies.
The term gained credence in the 80s with the advent of colour television and later (almost a decade later - that implies that the term went through a period of incubation) the opening up of our skies to the multiple satellite channels.
Superficially, at least, the term "Bollywood" would imply mainstream, commercial film productions happening in what was then Bombay (now Mumbai) - the letter B holds the key - and was regulated through an entrenched structure of distribution network which in turn dictates the production of films that as per the logic of this network would or wouldn't make money at the box office.
This means that an any given time the Bollywood productions would be guided by an unwritten understanding of formulae that would in some form or the other mimic the Hollywood genre. It may be pointed out though that the genre in the Indian cinema is differently construed from its accepted classical sense in the Hollywood. In time the term Bollywood has assumed somewhat of a generic status that cuts across mainstream cinemas being produced in Bombay, Hyderabad and Chennai.
The Bollywood productions are almost fatalistically tied up with the iconic idea of a superstar in the mainstream cinema. This physical iconography carries in its weave a series of cultural subsumption and, in a manner of speaking, seeks to reflect cultural and historical anxieties, desire and other imaginaries.
Bollywood cinema is no longer about the films produced in Bombay : it is about a mode of production now irreversibly tied up with a series of cultural investments - relating mainly to fashion, page three lifestyle, music industry, tv promos, glitzy film award functions/spectacles, trivia journalism, sting operations, song and dance troupes traveling to Europe, US and the Middle East... It is also about a near narcissistic and entirely misplaced self-belief in taking on the world's best cinema.
Bollywood is also a dangerous place to be in if you have any sense of self-respect. It is the place where the body is utterly devalued before being recovered as an icon.
Bollywood is also about a pathetic desire to mimic Hollywood.
Bollywood has nothing whatsoever to do with Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things. Were she to know of the connections being made by the Western academes, I'm she would faint with horror.
Finally, on a lighter note, Film Studies need to be rescued from the departments of English. They are doing an incalculable harm to this nascent field, at least in India.
Sukhbir
From: Surbhi Goel <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Film-Philosophy Salon <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Bollywood
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 22:00:22 +0530
>Hi,
>Bollywood actually stands for the "masala" or formula movies with the
>classic song and dance sequences and melodramatic dialogues. Mira Nair's
>"Monsoon Wedding" is not a typicla Bollywood film. However movies like
>"Dilwale Dulhaniya le jayenge"( the brave will win the bride) or Subhash
>Ghai's "Pardes"(1997) is more typical the clash/merging of east and west.
>However even Deepa Mehta's "Bollywood Calling" would fit in better among the
>crossover movies being made. In a way Gurinder Chadha's "Bend It like
>Beckham" talks about the clash of east and west among the immigrant
>Population. These are the recent flicks. However, in 1970, Manoj Kumar made
>a film, "Purab Aur Pachhim"(east and west) which talked of this clash
>again. These films would be called typical Bollywood movies.
>Best Wishes,
>
>Surbhi Goel
>Lecturer,
>Department Of English,
>Panjab University, Chandigarh
>(India)
> >From: Peter Caws <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: Film-Philosophy Salon <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Bollywood
> >Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 10:26:09 -0500
> >
> >Elaine - Not sure if it's actually Bollywood (I think so though) but try
> >Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding" (2001) - cheers, Peter
> >
> >Peter Caws
> >University Professor of Philosophy
> >The George Washington University
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Elaine Pigeon <[log in to unmask]>
> >Date: Saturday, February 11, 2006 9:50 am
> >Subject: Bollywood
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> > > For one of my classes I'm teaching Arundhati Roy's The God of
> > > Small Things. I would like to show the class a typical Bollywood
> > > film, i.e., one that reveals a clash/merging of east and west. Can
> > > anyone suggest a film, preferably one made in English!
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > > E. Pigeon
> > >
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