A Comparison of Bollywood and Hollywood - Assignment Example

?Cultural Objects: A Comparison of Bollywood and Hollywood Films depict the culture of a nation. They provide a robust platform for the reflection ofthe norms and values that are typical of a particular culture. People belonging to one land relate to one another by means of the culture promoted by their film industry. …while he was drumming on the tabletop, singing a song of the famous now-deceased Indian singer Mukesh…I realized with a shock that this strange man and I, due the melody, had comething in common, that we originated more or less from the same culture of which the melody, the words, the language and the singer were characteristic elements. We were not connected by the fact that we were social scientists, but by Bollywood. Because of that Bollywood song, I felt a cultural kinship with this man. (Gowricharn cited in Assisi, n.d.). The difference between the East and West is ingrained in the difference between the Hollywood and Bollywood respectively. Hollywood films are characterized by their quality of cinematography, action and graphics. On the other hand, Bollywood films are famous for their songs, tragedy and drama. These elements mark the history of the respective nations that are associated with them. Technology is the strength of USA and arts and crafts are the strong areas of the Indian culture. India has seen a long history of Moughal rulership. Moughal kings were very fond of songs and dance. Listening songs was their favorite pastime. The same culture was passed down the line to everybody in the society. That was the time when West was busy exploring the nature and making technological advancement. The British industrial revolution of the 19th century opened the gate to technological advancement and the trend spread far and wide everywhere in the West including America. The influence of British industrial revolution of the 19th century was so widespread because Britain ruled a lot of countries in the world. Over the centuries, West has reached the apogee of technological advancement. Today, they make use of the best quality cameras for making their movies like The Master Course. “The Master Course is a powerful system of single-camera blocking and an unprecedented language of camera work, that may fundamentally change the way you direct” (Hollywood Camera Work, 2011). That is why, they come out far better in graphics, effects and print than Indian movies do. However, Hollywood movies lack songs. Every movie that is made in Bollywood has at least five to six songs. People normally place more emphasis upon the effects and quality of print that reflects in the Hollywood films and tend to underestimate the songs that are the strength of the Bollywood movies. This is primarily an outcome of the influence of the West that has dominated the East for a major part of the history. A lot of Bollywood movies copy the stories or ideas of the Hollywood movies whereas the same cannot be said for the Hollywood movies. In this sense, Hollywood is far more original as compared to Bollywood that has tried to imitate Hollywood a number of times. A potential example of this is the movie Omkara that was released a couple of years ago in Bollywood that is actually a Hindi version of the play Othello written by Shakespeare. Indian filmmakers have changed the names of the characters, but the starting alphabets remain the same which also serve as a hint that the movie is based on Othello. For the character Lago in Othello, there is Langra Bhayya in Omkara. Othello is played by Omkara. Desdimona’s character is played by Dolly. Similarly, other first alphabets of the names of all other characters have been maintained as such. The fact that Bollywood has copied Hollywood a number of times also reflects the Indian psychology that has historically been inspired by the West. Indians wear pant shirt like Americans but Americans don’t wear kurta dhoti like Indians. Most Indians learn and speak English but there is only a small number of Americans that tend to learn and speak Hindi. The difference between Bollywood and Hollywood reflects in every aspect and every level of the society. There is a growing trend among the Indian film producers to hire Western dancers to give company to the main character. Western dancers in the background can be seen in a number of Bollywood songs. Not just that, Indian songs tend to merge Hindi with English in the lyrics. Nobody knows when a song that was primarily meant to be scripted in Hindi would turn English and the conversion from English to Hindi is again sudden. There are Western outfits, Western dancers, Western language and Western themes in the Bollywood songs, but there is hardly any Hollywood song that has Eastern or particularly Indian elements in it. Although few Indian actresses like Ashwarya Rai have played a role in some Hollywood movies, yet the movies were never customized according to the Indian culture. If Ash worked in a Hollywood film, she had to speak English all through it and be as much of an English woman as Hollywood actresses are expected to be. This tells that Hollywood is characterized by originality whereas Bollywood’s strength is flexibility. One factors that particularly distinguishes between the Hollywood and Bollywood movies is the level of exposure approved by the censor-board. Indian censor-board is far more conservative and critical in its analysis as compared to the American censor-board. This can fundamentally be attributed to the cultural differences between Indian and USA. The culture of USA provides its citizens with far more freedom of choice in the outfits and the degree of exposure as compared to the Indians whose culture is influenced by Islam because Muslim Moughals have ruled India for many centuries. Several movies made in Bollywood recount incidents of the past. “'The Rising' - the costliest Bollywood movie ever made - is based on the 1857 revolt by Hindu and Muslim soldiers against the British rule over the issue of gun cartridges being greased with animal fat forbidden by both the religions” (Das, 2011). References: Assisi, F. C. (n.d.). Bollywood Culture Binds Global Indian Diaspora. Planet Bollywood. Retrieved from http://planet-bollywood.com/displayArticle.php?id=051806123941. Das, S. (2011). 'Mangal Pandey - The Rising'. Retrieved from http://hinduism.about.com/od/moviestillsreviews/a/therising.htm. Hollywood Camera Work. (2011). The Master Course In High-End Blocking & Staging. 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