Apart from the so called commercial feats or its standing as the biggest trade and commerce center in the country Mumbai, the home to Bollywood film Industry, is also considered as the entertainment capital of India. The Hindi film industry based in Mumbai famously known as Bollywood holds a significant place in the global film industry as well. Bollywood for has been synonymous with India's most dazzling glamour world. The name Bollywood itself makes everyone visualize a world full of glitz, glamour, razzle and dazzle, colorful locations, a romantic love story or a rom-com, a power packed action drama or underworld ballgame. Bollywood though over the years produced many great films of outstanding cinematic excellence the vast majority of films made here are mainly of mediocre quality and these films are mainly on demand for their typical entertainment components rather than any cinematic achievement or brilliance. A viewer is assured of complete entertainment comprising various sensations, an option for the common movie watcher to enjoy and relieve stress after a hard day's work.
History of Bollywood Film Industry
Hollywood the center of the American film production is synonymous with film industry worldwide and in spite of severe differences in film making aspects, budget or commercial aspects or in cultural aspects it made its mark on the film industry of Mumbai with the coinage of the term Bollywood. Mumbai, the home to Bollywood film Industry has showcased the Indian spirit and culture and historical struggles in the sagas of the silver screen. The journey of this spectacular world started with the first feature film made in India, "Raja Harishchandra" in 1913 by Dadasaheb Phalke who is respected as the father of film industry in India and from then on the industry only grown in multiple directions to encompass almost all cultural and social aspects to incorporate into popular cinematic entertainment.
But from that silent film era almost a century before, the industry continued to progress in numerous dimensions until it came to this formidable dimension to produce more than 100 films a year. In the year 1931 the first sound film Alam Ara was made by Ardeshir Irani which proved to be a major commercial success and was the mark of start of the era of talkies and musicals in India. The whole Indian film industry including regional industries based in other cities started following this trend. It was again Ardeshir Irani in 1937 who with the release of Kisan Kanya made Mumbai enter into the color era.
The hypnotic "Golden Age" during 1940's to 1960's with a wide array of great cinematic masterpieces from the directors like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapur, Bimal Roy and many others consolidated the reputation of Mumbai, the home to Bollywood film Industry in the global arena. From this period music and choreographic score started to become prominent elements of Bollywood films. The success story in the following period gave rise to other genres or types of films like indie western, romantic musical, patriotic, gang star movies, romantic comedy, thrillers, independent cinema and many more. Either in commercial aspects or in relating cinema to the chores of reality or in artistic exposure, in the past 50 years the silver screen Mumbai, the home to Bollywood film Industry evolved to encompass many facets and in doing so it also gave a place of survival and fulfilling aspirations to millions of film technicians and great many talented artists from all over the country and even beyond.
Bollywood films have been influenced by Indian theatre. Local folk theatre of various linguistic societies in India, yatra, Ramlila used to be subjects of Hindi films. With the change from golden era to modern era such influence in parts and at times in totality are commonly observed in Bollywood movies. Dramatic discourse is a definite sign of theatrics in the films. Parsis played great roles in building Bombay cinema and left indelible color of their dramatic excellence. Indian epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata and pieces of small dramatic poetries of Sanskrit bards used to rule in olden days and even find placement in modern day Hindi films produced in Mumbai. In short influence of mythological, historical, local folks and fairy tales especially from India's rich mythical context are deep rooted in Bollywood cinema.
Statistics of Bollywood Film Industry
Indian film industry is considered to produce maximum number of films in the world also the largest with respect to the number of tickets sold while 2nd largest in terms of revenue earned. Bollywood being in the epitome of the Indian film industry, Mumbai, the home to Bollywood film Industry is also considered much in the fashion of Hollywood as the city of cinematic exposure and silver screen stars.
Growing in Stature
With technological advancements and involvement of renowned production houses Mumbai, the home to Bollywood film Industry has made its mark in the global commercial aspect of the cinema as well. In the recent years with overseas releases in western countries and with a wide array of award winning feats and nominations in international film festivals and in top international film awards, Mumbai is no more just considered a factory of cinema presenting typical formula chores for mass entertainment.
Though Bollywood is open to experimenting new concepts, most of the commercial film producers feel comfortable in making a film for the mass, a complete entertaining package. With all the hard work, technological advancements, involvement of superstars, the ultimate god or decider is the public that is a film to be a hit or flop, blockbuster or box-office failure remains in the hands of the public.
Bollywood film production needs high level of financing from few millions to even a billion based on shooting expenses and marketing of the film. Budget for a film depends on factors like popularity and standing of actors, director, music director, photographer and choreographer, lyricists, sets and locations, costume and distribution chain for market coverage. Besides competition amongst Bollywood films and TV it competes with regional language films. Today Hindi films made in Mumbai are taking on western films in terms of action and special effects particularly for science fiction movies. In short a film has to hit box office. Financing is provided primarily by studios and distributors and also borrowings from banks and other financial institutions. However Bollywood films in most cases recovers its costs and some make huge and unprecedented money as the market for Bollywood film is steadily expanding. Mumbai films have made inroads to western countries also wherever there is sizable Indian or south-east Asian population.
Employment Generation in Mumbai
Bollywood has become a big employer though a greater percentage of which are not permanent employee. Employment embraces directors, music and dance directors, photographers, lyricists, cinematographers, editors to studio and film laboratory technicians and workmen. Acting area employs senior and lead actors to those playing tit-bit roles of importance to so called extras. Similarly dancing calls for main dancing artists to group dancers. Studio staff and daily laborers make a large section of total employment. Mumbai, the home to Bollywood film Industry more than all other feats known to the world for statistics or cinematic milestones primarily is known for its outstanding feat as an industry of huge employment record. From regular employees of proven work experience and track record of technical excellence to daily wage based workers Mumbai is harbored by millions of people as a career destination or for earning their daily bread.
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