Hollywood versus Bollywood: Which is the most successful?

Hollywood

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by Olusegun Akanji

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Call a spade a spade and give unto Ceaser what is rightfully Ceaser's. How simplistic it most be to judge the progress of an entire movie industry simply by the volume of its audience or its predilection for dance routines. Without a doubt, Bollywood is a strong contender for the top spot in the international movie business however, the race is far from being won as some patrons would like to believe. The primary reasons for the recent flourish in Bollywood movies are the reduced cost of production of the movies sold and an ever increasing population of young Asian movie lovers who are drawn to their roots. Since Bollywood movies are cheaper to make and cut per CD or DVD, it is more affordable for the Asian continent and subcontinents who find such movies interesting. In addition, the Asian community in Western Countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America is gratly rising. At first glance, the fact that these lovers of Bollywood movies only watch these movies and no other kind of movies creates a false impression that Bollywood products have pervaded every cranny of the big and small screen.Same can be said of Nollywood in Nigeria.

However, this is the truth. Hollywood movies do not rely on movie watchers to make revenue. Ticket sales only form a certain percentage of their take home money. Since Western countries especially the United States contain the major companies that finance endorsement deals, much of the lucrative part of Hollywood movie business comes from the uncountable endorsement deals associated with the movies. Not only do the movies themselves engulf endorsement deals, the biggest actors and actress (all of which are Hollywood A listers)command a significant level of endorsements that are in many ways affiliated to the movies they make. Star wars movies and the merchandise from Toys, Games etc is a little example of how Hollywood grabs much of its revenue. Bollywood unfortunately is not situated in a vantage point to make the most of these lucrative deals. Infact, for a Bollywood movie or actor to reach that status wherein endorsement deals come calling, that movie or actor has to be recognised by players in the United States. Although, things are changing now as these actors are becoming recognised themselves but Americans have a way of only accepting stars from their country as the only real stars in the world. You only need to investigate how only few actors, musicians from abroad have managed to break into the American Entertainment scene successfully. Then again if they did, the truth of the matter is they had to come all the way to America to do that.

On the issue of Hollywood not recognising the importance of theatrical dance and singing in movies, the only answer is "been there done that". A huge percentage of the movies that came out from the mid thirties to the early eighties had theatrical singing and dancing in them (singing in the rain, Greece etc). Infact that was the only way some great names in the Hollywood Hall of fame got recognised as real screen performers. The focus of Hollywood movies has changed since then however some movies still carry that essence (high school musical etc).The reason for this change was the changing needs of the audience, the younger American audience know so much about movies, it is had to impress them. Only children's movies or animated movies now carry a lot of the previous theatrical singing and dancing-Hollywood movies have been more focused in creating reality amidst fiction perhaps to satisfy the audience who yearn for it.
Theatrical singing and dancing does not make a movie industry better. It may characterize it and perhaps form the greatest selling point of Bollywood movies however, I doubt if Bollywood movies can be bold enough to make such a drastic change in lieu of the direction their audiences were going. This is an important trait of any business, keeping the customer happy so as to stay in business. A typical example are the current chinese movies that have become more or less westernised. These cannot be compared to the ancient chinese movies or can they? Havent Bollywood movies started to contain kissing scenes when just a bout two decades ago, it wa a taboo?

On the issue of quality, Hollywood movies are by far of a higher quality. From the storyline developement, plots, movie shots, editing, special effects etc. It is impossible to watch a hollywood movie without getting some informal education on a subject. These is because the audience that watch Hollywood movies are smarter by the second. You make a movie and the facts are not clear, there is always a critic to slam your movie on its back. I doubt if detail is given to Bollywood movies to the point where there is a take home message. Apart from the beautiful actors with flawless looking skin and makeup and the constant interjections of melodious tunes, I dont think there is much to learn; and to their credit, I believe that is what qualifies what they represent.

Finally, where did the name Bollywood come from? sounds to me like a derivative of something I have heard before... thats right Hollywood.

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