SELLING INDIAN MOVIES IN THE WEST

Selling Indian Movies in the West

Selling Indian Movies in the West

In a nation that produces around 800 films a year Indian people see films a very important part of their culture. For Indian people "cinema is integral to their lives; it is not a distant, two to three hour distraction, but an explicit life-style for them. The large screen provides an alternative, an escape from the realities of day-to-day life. The protagonists are totally identified with, the hero is applauded, the virtuous is worshipped and the villain is condemned. The actors and actresses are household names; there is no escaping their omnipresence (Juluri, 2002). Through this essay I will try to examine what makes Indian cinema Indian. By that I mean what narrative and visual traits are intrinsic to Indian cinema and have little relevance to cinema of America or Europe. The subjects I am going to look at are the song and dance routine, how it came about, what it means and why it's so important to Indian cinema. I will look at the treatment of women and how sexuality of women is represented in Indian cinema, the importance of the actor within Indian society and will briefly look at the use of costumes and elaborate sets used within the Indian film industry. First I will briefly consider some traits associated with American and European cinema as to see how these cinema types differ from that of India.

The cinema industry in Europe has a highly complex make-up, reflecting the cultural and expressive diversity of individual nations. If, on the one hand, the quantitative production levels of Europe's cinema industry have remained high (at roughly 600 full-length features a year, on a par with the United States, However only a minority of European titles manage to cross the borders of their country of origin (Juluri, 2002). This is one major difference from Indian film with it having one of the highest worldly distribution figures off all cinemas.

Hollywood makes films for the public, and if the public's tastes change then Hollywood films will also change. They pay money to have their ideals massaged and their values reaffirmed. And if Americans won't pay money for it, then Hollywood doesn't want to sell it. The narrative of Hollywood films' is a straight plot, in which nothing is left unclear, unsettling or unexplained and every shot is justified by a link to strictest cause and effect. Hollywood films are often viewed as dulling the mind. This is far from the case in Indian cinema where the plot is created with the aim of making people think about what has happened, this is often applied to their own lives in some way. In America people generally view films for mere entertainment where as Indian people watch films and use the moral codes implied within the narrative to better their own lives. Special effects, violence, and actors' names are often major themes that bring Americans to the ...