Indian Global Success in the Film Industry - Essay Example

INDIAN GLOBAL SUCCESS IN THE FILM INDUSTRY [Pick the The art of film making was initially started just for the sake of entertainment, this entertainment was its initial purpose but later on the process of film making gradually developed into a good business sector. Nowadays this particular sector is not just a sector in itself but it has transformed into a huge entertainment industry with a basic aim of extracting humongous profits. There are many countries that have excelled in this particular industry especially the United States of America through Hollywood and India through its film industry known as “Bollywood”. Cinema is a major industry in India. A film industry uses many technological and commercial institutions of film making. A Cinema or a film industry depicts the culture and the art of a country in the movie that it usually make, the Indian film industry is famous for its distinguished melodrama style of film making. The Indian film industry is multi lingual. The main language used in the films of India is either Hindi or Urdu, besides these languages there are other languages such as Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, etc that are used to present film and they target their respective language speakers. The Indian film industry in famously known as ”Bollywood”, this name is an amalgamation of Bombay (the previous name used for the Indian city of Mumbai) and the ever popular Hollywood (a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California where the American cinema exists). (Bollywood History) Background/Past Cinema made its first step into the Indian subcontinent in the year 1896 when Lumiere Brothers cinematograph film was screened in the city of Bombay on 7th July, 1986. This day, the concept of cinema was introduced in the Indian subcontinent but the initial silent film “Raja Harishchandra” (made by Indians totally) was released in 1913 to mark the start of the great Indian cinema. With this film, a trend of mythological and religious films took over the concept of film making in the Indian film Industry and this was further revolutionized in 1931 with the inception of sound in the first talking Indian film “Alam Ara”. The period after India’s independence was considered to be the golden era of the Indian film industry with respect to the songs, movies, etc made in the Indian film industry, by the 1970s and the 80s era, the Indian film industry had reached a great height and global recognition. In 1992, this global recognition was further enhanced in 1992 when Satyajit Ray, an Indian filmmaker received a life time achievement Oscar for his excellent work and the dedication towards the art of film making in the Indian film industry. (Indian Cinemas.com, Best India Films) According to a research carried out in 2002, Bollywood was deemed to be a comparatively better industry than Hollywood with an estimate 3.6 billion ticket sold as compared to the 2.6 billion of Hollywood. The initial target for Bollywood had always been the domestic market but later on it expanded and targeted foreign markets and moved towards globalization. In 2007, it was found that the Bollywood sector has an annual growth of 16%. Bollywood is the largest film producer globally and this trend is accelerating with the passage of time. The industry came up with 244 films in 2004 with a sharp increase to 1,041 films in 2005 (CBFC, 2006). With such great growth potential, it is expected that Bollywood’s export would further increase by another 20% of its figures in 2006. (CII and KPMG; DRUID, 2007). The big export markets for the Indian film industry include the Middle East, Singapore, Pakistan and gradual increasing trends of export in the United kingdom and the United States of America because of the reason that many Indians and other Hindi or Urdu speaking people have now settled up in this part of the world. (Bollywood: the shrine of modern India, 2007). Successful Indian Movies making an impact on the industry There are many successful movies that have made up their mark with the India film industry. According to majority of the sources, the prime consensus is upon the Amitabh Bachan and Dharmendra starrer movie “Sholay”. This movie made such an impact that many commentators of the Indian film industry hypthetically divide the Indian film business into two eras, Sholay AD era and the Sholay BC era. The movie is based upon an ex cop whose family has been brutally murdered and his hands chopped by a renowned gangster. To avenge all this, the ex cop hires two thugs of great temperament and wit. This movie was released on 15th August 1975, thus giving a new definition to the Indian film industry. From then on, this movie has made up its mark upon the Indian film industry, for all these 40 years or so, the film has influenced many film makers of the industry. After the initial success of the movie, many movies were made immediately relating to the same topic in the hunt of getting successful but all of this went in vain. This movie has over the years earned the highest amount ever to be earned by any Indian film amounting up to Rs. 7,562,013,184 (adjusted for inflation) and this is still increasing day by day. (Box Office Results, 2008) Even after all this time frame i.e. since the movie’s release in 1975, it is still screened at many cinemas around India and few other countries and there are still people out there who are keen on watching the movie again. (DesiClub, 2005) Indian Film Industry helping the Country’s Income The Indian film industry can definitely help the country’s income numerous ways. The Indian film industry helps in creating many jobs which in turn decreases the level of unemployment in the country. The Indian film industry is by far the biggest producer of film annually. The country’s income can be boosted by receiving the taxes that the film makers would have to pay for the profits that they have earned from the movies. These taxes would be huge amounts that can really help boost the country’s income extensively. Besides the film makers, the actors too would have to pay taxes for all their earnings that they have made while making the film. “India accounts for 73% of movie admissions in the Asia-Pacific region, and earnings are currently estimated at US$8.9 billion”. “Going forward with improvement in distribution, exhibition infrastructure, the advent of digital cinema and better exploitation of films, the industry is likely to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 18% to gross $2244 million by the year 2008. The overseas market has become increasingly lucrative for Indian producers with most films realizing 15-20% of their income from overseas”. (IIFA, 2008) The grater the number of movies produced in the Indian film industry, the greater it would be good for the government as they would be able to gather more income from the films produced in the forms of taxes. The government collects taxes from the theatre owners in the form of entertainment tax, the level of entertainment tax is quiet higher in India as compared to other countries like U.S.A or the U.K, besides the entertainment tax, the local civil administration on behalf of the Indian government collects a show tax which approximately amount to $0.25 for each show put on by the theatres. This tax system varies within different states; each state might have a different tax rate than the other, even some of the states may receive some tax exemptions schemes. The income generated from the taxes is not the just the only source for the government, besides the taxes, the government and other financial institutions provide funding or loans to the Indian film industry and in return they get an interest payment for the loans. The longer the period of time the loan is with the debtor, the more would be the earnings that the government would earn in the form of interest payments. (Indian Film Industry, 2006) Besides the income from the Indian film industry, there are other ways in which income can be earned indirectly. The Indian film industry has over the years helped in harmonizing relationships between neighboring countries such as Pakistan. There has always been a tension between the two countries since their respective independence. The Indian film industry has called upon artists from across the border and has given them chance to work within the Indian film industry. Both the countries have worked in many different arts and media collaboration with the help of the Indian film industry and this has helped both the countries to keep better ties and good trading relationships between each other. The Indian film industry has helped in reducing the tension between the two countries when no other alternate except for a harsh cold war. Bibliography Best India Films, History of Bollywood http://www.bestindianfilms.com/history-of-bollywood.shtml Bollywood History, A brief history of Bollywood http://www.uploadmega.com/bollywoodhistory.html Bollywood: the shrine of modern India, by Danny Jeyaseelan, 2007 http://www.guidomedia.com/archives/Bollywood07.pdf Box Office, Box Office Results, Biggest Grossers of All Time (adjusted for inflation), 2008 http://www.ibosnetwork.com/asp/actualalltime.asp CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and KPMG, 2005. Indian entertainment industry focus 2010: Dreams to reality. New Delhi: CII. CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification), 2006. Collected statistics. Indian Cinemas.com, BlockBusters and Beyond, History http://www.indiancinemas.com/News-28/The+History+Of+Indian+Cinema.html?newsid=40&linkid=28 DesiClub.net, Connecting South Asians Worldwide, Sholay: Thirty Years of Pop Culture, 2005 http://www.desiclub.com/bollywood/bollywood_features/bolly_article.cfm?id=248 DRUID Working Paper No. 07-06, Breakout from Bollywood? Internationalization of Indian Film Industry by Mark Lorenzen and Florian Arun Taeube, 2007 http://www3.druid.dk/wp/20070006.pdf Indian Film Industry: Distribution Sector, 2006 http://issuu.com/gbijumohan/docs/indian_film_industry_-_distribution_and_exhibition International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), BANGKOK 2008, THE INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY http://www.bangkokpost.com/indian_film/indian.html The Indian Film Industry, ThinkQuest http://library.thinkquest.org/11372/data/film.htm Read More