Indian Television & Film Industry…My Experiences…Part Eight

“The Human Spirit Is Very, Very Powerful and it knows it can do anything, but the mind is lazy, it puts in doubts.”

No these are not my words…I am just a Copyist in this case..that’s why I put them in double quotes…but unfortunately or rather fortunately … in Bollywood ..we don’t use the double quotes..that’s why we copy without crediting…from virtually every nook and corner of this world..and hope to get unnoticed…and the system went on fine..till the last decade…

But now, actually a high percentage of Movie lovers…in India…have exposure to World Cinema and Hollywood….but that percentage pales in comparison to the percentage of the same in the film industry… From my past 2 years experience of lunching and dining with industry people ..i can say..that at least 60% of Bollywood (i mean people who matter in Bollywood) … watch World Cinema and especially Hollywood…to get inspired…and the inspiration is so strong that you will find even the color of the background wall of a scene.. to be retained as it is as they might have seen in the Hollywood/ World Movie that inspired them …that’s what we call…”Frame To Frame”…Copying…

A lot of learned people in the Indian Film Industry dislike the term “Bollywood”…but I think..its a very very apt term…because…all we do …is copy Hollywood…so the term Bollywood is perfectly honorable…actually….on second thoughts no…we have to find a better term now…because we now copy not only from Hollywood but also from Korean, French, German, Japanese and Chinese “woods”…i cant think of a name right now…but may be…”Copywood” is ok.

So when some of my friends (both inside and outside the Industry) ask me “Even Though You Work In Bollywood…Why Don’t You Watch Bollywood Films?” my standard answer is…”I must have seen it already…in a different language..so I can skip the Hindi version”

Yeah but one thing is original..in Bollywood films…its …Item Numbers and the desperate attempt to inject fresh blood into a screenplay…through 3 minute Songs..

I mean…I love Bollywood Music…A Half of my music collection is made up of Songs from Bollywood…but come on…treat Cinema as Cinema…not as Music Videos….and Indian Cinema is more than 100 years old now…every lead character need not sing…and how many decades more will Indian Cinema (read Bollywood) need to be treated as a child and be helped by Songs (like a mother) to walk (be a BoxOffice Hit)….

No, I am Not Frustrated Yet…Have To Go For A Shoot Now… 🙂

Take Very Good Care..

Ba Bye…

The Free Spirit…