Bollywood: Undressed
There has been a dramatic shift in the style of filmaking due to the globalisation of film, and this has caused concern with conservative Indians. The Indian cinema industry, which churns out around 800 films per year, has come under scrutiny for producing films that were deemed too 'sexed up'.
The Initial argument
Bollywood has never had a background in realism. It consisted
of escapist musicals with common storylines of good vs. evil and boy
meets girl. The films were generally family orientated and the plot
was kept simple so that even the rural villager would find it easy to
relate to. There has now however been a gradual shift in film style
that could threaten the values and culture of the Indian people.
The current Bollywood formula has some cause for concern because the
transplantation of western ideas has led to extreme vulgarity with high
sexual innuendo and unnecessary violence in films today. This argument
begins with the comments made by the Film Federation of India, a regulatory
body that presides over film content. Their complaints were that the
films made in bollywood were too westernised and that they are degrading
and diminishing India's true cultural identity.
Too Westernised
All
six films short listed as possible entrants for the Oscar's
have been rejected by the FFI. The short listed films were Koi Mil
Gaya, Gangajaal, Janantaram Mamanantaram (a film based on Gulliver's
Travels), Jhankar Beats (Musical Beats), Andaaz and Jogger's Park.
FFI chairman Harmesh Malhotra was particularly critical of one of
the new releases, Jogger's
Park, which was half in English. Mr Malhotra speaking to
the BBC regretted that the films were now increasingly portraying only
the Westernised section of Indian society.
Another
case for concern is the duplication of popular Hollywood films. If you
point to any new Bollywood release you can bet that there existed a
Hollywood original 
somewhere
down the line. Koi
Mil Gaya mentioned above is a befuddled remake of ET
and other recent films like Bhoot
(Ghost) saw the emergence of an Indian Exorcist
and Raaz (Secret) was taken from What Lies Beneath.
This highlights the the worrying dependency of the industry on its Hollywood
conterpart.
The New Sexy Image
Recent
films like Oops
and Boom
have caused a lot of controversy in India. Oops deals
with the a story representing two male strippers, a concept so vague
and unfamiliar to the Indian audience that there was rioting in some
cinema theatres in an attempt to ban the film.
Boom
shows the three main female leads strut through most of the two hour
film in little more than bikinis and are frequently the target of crude
sexual remarks. One male lead asks a woman to perform oral sex under
his desk as he works. Elsewhere in the world that might be considered
relatively tame stuff, but not in India where even smooching in public
can still cause outrage.
This therefore raises questions about India's anxiety about the influence
of the west i.e. Hollywood. If the industry is producing films that
are too westernised and deemed too sexy by the regulatory bodies like
the FFI then it begs to ask why filmmakers are increasingly producing
such films.
Rashika Singh is a producer and up coming director who has worked on
many film projects as assistant director including Devdas
which won critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival. She believes
that filmmakers in India are increasingly targeting a minority youth
audience who are based in cities. She comments that “the younger
viewers want their idols to dance like Michael Jackson, swagger like
Tom Cruise, fight like Jackie Chan - and still croon to their beloved
in Swiss meadows, and deliver rhetorical dialogue with panache! It is
like having your Indian cake and licking the forbidden western icing
too.”
Director Rashika Singh's interview:|Modem|Broadband|
Therefore it can be speculated that there is a westernised audience that is catered for but what about the traditionalists with opposing values. India’s rural population of farmers and villagers make up more of the country and provide vital contribution to the economy of the film industry.They cannot possibly understand the values and issues expressed in a Hollywood style.
The Religious Far Right
The opposition to the change in film style also comes from the religious groups and separatist groups who feel that Bollywood films do not promote traditional values. Recently separatist guerrillas in India’s north-east have called for a ban on the screening of Bollywood films, claiming they are too racy for young people and threaten local culture.
Nine rebel groups, all fighting for independent homelands in seven
states in the region, say the movie industry is a bad influence because
of its "erotic song and dance" and the imposition of Indian
culture.
Manish Pandya a local Hindu priest in the UK agrees with the view adopted
by the religious far right in India. He argues that “Young people
are not interested in their traditions any longer and the lifestyle
portrayed in films is the root of the problem" he asserts. “
Yes you can be westernised and make films of high quality but not by
portraying a culture that diminishes out our values and traditions.”
The Western Viewpoint
Young British Asians living in the UK can be taken as ideal examples of an audience that has had to cope with merging their traditional and westernised values. You would have expected British Asians to welcome the idea that Bollywood is making films that are more westernised and in tune with the changing culture. Speaking to a few of them revealed that there were some young British Asians who felt that films with sex and nudity distorted traditional values.
British Asian response
to the 'sexed up bollywood':|
Modem|Broadband|
An example of where the globalisation of both east and west film styles can been seen to be a success is when Hollywood takes on the ideas of Bollywood. When Australian director Baz Lurman was filming Moulin Rouge he commented that his intention was to apply the 'Bollywood masala' formulae. When director Shekhar Kapur shot Elizabeth he insisted that it have all the kinetic color of a Bollywood film. Kapur was also the producer for the recent Bollywood style romantic comedy The Guru, complete with dance numbers and dream scenes. New releases like Bollywood Queen and Bride and Prejeduice aslo intend to apply this formula.
The lessons that the Indian industry can learn is that when they stick to their own techniques, films like Laggan are produced which get nominated for an Oscar. The current duplication and imitation only produces excessive and unnecessary sex and violence which does not fit well with the majority of the Indian audience. The Indian cultural ethos and its people are not as flexible as the west and therefore films deemed too westernised will always be rejected, regardless of the extent of the globalisation of cultures.
