Bollywood: The Show Must Grow On

The jarring sound, the cramped seats, smell of tobacco and sweats and the uneven focus of lights from a small rectangular hole on the dust-laden screen used to create an eerie atmosphere. But watching a Hindi film in those damp and claustrophobic cinema halls fifteen years back in a small town gave me the same sense of grandeur for the India cinema that it uses to give me now in any beautiful and comfortable multiplex theatre. That is the magic of our cinema – it casts a spell on us even if we are glued to a small television screen.

Enter the big, dashing and daring world of Bollywood – the place where dreams are woven in celluloid, the place where perhaps the best of the Indian creative potential gets the opportunity to showcase their talent each Friday. This is the place where ground rules changes faster than perhaps the indices of the stock market. This is Bollywood, which has finally realized its dream of getting the status of an industry, the status that it craved for a long, long time. Now, with this status, it enjoys the privilege of functioning like corporate bodies – raise money from the market through equities, turn the dream script into a powerful movie and give the investors’ their due share. Lately and painstakingly, our own Bollywood is slowly realizing its own dreams. It has witnessed highs and lows, but like the proverbial phoenix that rises from its ashes, Bollywood has grown matured form its humble beginnings. Like an unbridled horse that makes its way to the green pastures, Bollywood has spread its wings and its effervescent aroma to the international shores.

The visual grandeur of Indian cinema exuding the imagination of the scriptwriter, director, cinematographer and many people who put their best are forceful enough to lure the audiences worldwide. And with millions of people of Indian origin in the US, Canada and Europe who love to stick to their culture and to their identity find solace in the song and dance sequences of our Bollywood creations. And as a matter of fact, not only the Indians but also the popcorn generation of the West has come to value the Indian cinema post Lagaan and Monsoon Wedding. With the young breed of directors who keep on experimenting, this medium has helped to deal with issues that were hither to reserved for Hollywood only.

Bollywood has always been ruled by film dynasties like the Kapoor dynasty or the Barjatya family, but nobody could have ever realized that this powerful medium called cinema would attract the prominent business houses of India. Enthusiasm, after all, is considered contagious and it goes a long way towards creating enthusiasm in others. We only thought that the boardrooms of the Tatas, Birlas, Raymonds or the Pantaloons used to confine their discussion on product life cycle or competitive strategies. But the fact is that these corporate firms are actively engaging themselves in film production. In the long run, this trend could work well as the life saving mechanism to keep the heartbeats of this industry ticking.

And who says, our theatres are not worth a visit. In the span of fifteen years, sophisticated and beautiful theatres have replaced the shoddy and substandard cinema halls. "Indian cinema enables Indians to dream with their eyes open," says Shashi Tharoor, author of "Show Business," a novel about the Indian film industry. When our mass audience have grown and survived on the staple diet of Hindi cinema and dream of palatial homes, fancy cars and glamorous world, the business show of Bollywood must grow on and on.