Not a Name it’s a Statement.
In Ancient Egypt, it is believed that by naming their children, mothers actually made prophecies for them. That may be true for the culture of the Indian subcontinent as well, as observed by the ceremonial importance of naming a child. I do not necessarily believe in the Shakespearean idea, “What’s in a name?” Well, everything is in a name: one’s identity of the self.
As understood by the world, India or Hindustan is a country with a majority of Hindus. Who are the Hindus? Hindus are none other than those people who lived along the Sindhu river, and derived their identity by others who designated them by the land in which they lived. Interestingly, in Indian languages, there is no word for “religion.” Oh, but how can that be – India is such a religious country. The word used for “religion,” is “dharm,” which only means “duty,” or “righteousness.” Languages and, words, are not merely for communication, for they transcend to more meaningful and profound representations of a society and its culture.
Bollywood, is not merely a film industry. It has become a culture in itself. This culture has several colonial/westernized connotations. The first of these is that Bollywood is an off-shoot of a western film industry. From our post-colonial perspective, we love to be identified with the West, so in this case, it is not England, but America. If the “advanced and progressive” West approves an Eastern logic, idea, or theory, it must indeed be good. We look to the West for approval of our own identity – that is the post-colonial burden we are carrying, wittingly, or unwittingly.
The moving film, an invention of 19th century Modernism is representative of the western world’s radical and anti-traditional creative practice in the visual media. Hence the Indian adaptation of this medium itself is a move towards modernizing itself. Bollywood, the term, is a reinforcement of Indian modernity because we still associate modernism with westernization.
The Indian film industry, especially in Mumbai proudly refers to itself as Bollywood. At a time when Indian films are going global, and are being discussed by culturally diverse people, what does this term mean in this world? Bollywood, from the name of it has stood out to be a sister of the Hollywood industry, copying trends, themes, stories, and screenplays. But fortunately, not the entire Mumbai film industry is involved in making copies of western films.
Why should both types of products and filmmakers be clubbed within the same identity of Bollywood? Those filmmakers, who are genuinely original or making the best efforts to be original do not need to bear the burden of the tag of “Bollywood.” Their work itself has an identity markedly independent of the West, and its associations. And, this becomes an assertion of the Indian filmmakers’ independence in visual creativity. Let us continue to call those products “Bollywood” which are proudly and shamefully “inspired” by Hollywood.
I would like to thank Nisha Shanghavi, professor of Art History for theoretical guidance.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
There are many different claims as to who coined the term “Bollywood”. The most commonly accepted theory is that it was coined by Amit Khanna in the mid-70s or 80s. It was only after the mid-90s when Indian cinema really went global, albeit to diaspora audiences, that western journos really took a liking to the term. As you said, our craving to be associated with the west also pushed the Indian media to use the term to define Hindi cinema. Then came the stupid clones – Tollywood (Bengali – from Tolly Gunj), also used for the Telugu industry, Kollywood (Tamil – from Kodambakkam), Mollywood (Malayalam), and our brothers from across the border, not to be left behind decided to use Lollywood.
Whether we like it or not, the fact is the term “Bollywood” has become synonymous with any film that is Indian. Just like how the term “Hollywood” in India is used to refer to any movie that is American. A lot of indie-films are not Hollywood films, but that’s of little importance for the Indian media. Heck I have spoken to people who will refer to any film made outside India as a Hollywood film.
I feel it will be very difficult to break away from this term because of how much we ourselves use it. The fact is, it is a very convenient term to use. Hollywood is a part of LA synonymous with the film business exclusively. To draw a similar parallel, for the Mumbai industry, we would have to call it Lokhandwala…or Juhu. Not nearly as attractive a term as Bollywood now is it?
Welcome aboard Anshul.
Very nice article.
Personally I don’t care much about the name. Esp since most of our mainstream films are xerox copies of Hollywood anyways. So we kind of deserve it. As far as independent films goes, they are so few that they get completely overshadowed by the DVD rip offs.
Like they say people deserve the govt they elect.
Very interesting & true observation by Vijay too.
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Last film watched : Paris, je t
Nice write up Anshul, great observations. Totall agree that the term “Bollywood” is representative of how we look to the western world as our models and guides on how to be modern and progressive. Hindi movies are the most prominent outlet to translate/project just how trendy, modern and westernized Indians have become (even if most dont look, talk or act like that at all).
Its all very superficial really.
Vijay, its up to US to change the label and reinvent our identity. We need to stop using the term “Bollywood” and start using terms like “Hindi Cinema” (or Bengali, Telugu, etc) or “Mumbai Film Industry” (MFI anyone?) or whatever the new colloquial term we things fits best.
A lot of people I know refer to the films based on lanuage… ie – Hindi film, Punjabi movie, French film, etc.
You know with the whole “Tollywood” “Lollywood” reference… I once asked a Punjabi filmmaker if the Punjabi Film Industry should also be called “Pollywood” or maybe “Pullywood”… he told me to shut the fuck up…
Atleast the whole Indian Film Industry has no wood name. When it is divided the wood comes.
Yah, many people refer to any film made outside India as Hollywood. And many people from outside India refer to any Indian film as Bollywood.
These Bollywood, Tollywood, Lollywood all sound very funny. It has to be a joke which some people took seriously.
I think the term has less meaning that many of you.
Yes, in the past it may have been a joke, or a symbol of post-colonial deference, but when every major or minor film industry in the world tacks the name “wood” at the end of its name, than the word loses any of the cultural imperialism that it may have had in past years, and becomes just another term to define the movie industry.
When I talk about Indian movies to my friends who know little to nothing about Indian cinema, I always make the distinction between Bollywood, regional, and independent films. It is up to us as film watchers to define these terms, but the fact is that the term “Bollywood” is part of the international venacular, and it won’t go away.
This is not an Indian phenomenon. As Vijay pointed out, I find myself quite often trying to educate people about the difference between independent films and Hollywood films here in the US as many people still see all movies as Hollywood products…
In the end, does it matter what they are called, as long as they are watched?
What I also find interesting is that we don’t want the term “Bollywood” to be used because it makes us seem like copycats of the West or wannabes. But still, we continue to illegally re-make Hollywood films. Let’s take Mr. Bachchan as a case in point. He is perhaps the most vociferous opponent of the usage of the term. Fair enough. To many he is the representative of the industry and so forth, a great actor yes. But on what basis is he protesting the term’s usage, when simultaneously he works in films like Black, Ek Ajnabee, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and others that are rip offs of Hollywood films. Who will take him seriously?
@Tony: I agree WE have to change the label if we have a problem with it. But based on the most popular reasoning that we give against its use, we first have to change our ways in more than just the usage of the term if we have to avoid ending up sounding like hypocrites.
Another useful article about this topic here check it out guys..
http://www.india-seminar.com/2003/525/525%20madhava%20prasad.htm
just 1 point… i think i heard Gulzar point it out somewhere that Hindustan is not derived from land of Hindus but from Hindu Khush (mountain region around Kashmir/Pakistan/Afghanistan(formerly part of Hindustan probably)) which separates India from the rest of the region, and was saying that it has been misinterpreted as above by Hindu/Muslim fundamentalists for their benefit…
i think it was in Brunch(sunday magazine, part of HT), not sure which issue
if u use the word bollywood in front of Big B or his beta B, they will make sure that u change it to hindi film industry or something else. film magazine cineblitz is also trying to use the word HiFi(hindi film indutsry)instead of bollwyood. but somebdy needs to tell mr nachchan ki sir plz stop doing films like ek ajnabee and black which r copied from other films. till then there is no point of asking someone to adress bollywood by other name.
n welcome onboard Anshul.
Bhai rbehemoth stop reading Sunday Brunch to get an idea about History.
That
Actually, Mr Vinayak,if you are talking about Kauls -that is medieval and Late medieval India.
The muslims too came towards the end of Ancient period, and beginning of Medieval period.
The sites that you offer from “professionals” does not open. Secondly, wikipedia is not a professional site.
What I would recommend is that you really look at some books (not websites) written by professionals who have worked in the field of Indian history and its art for several decades.
Books by Vidya Dehejia, Romila Thapar, Partha Mitter, Kapila Vatsyayana, Susan Huntington should help clarifying some of these points.
Thank you Vijay, Tony, Justin, t, Pheonixnu, Vinayak, Nisha
I respect your opinions but I would like to come to the topic:
The term ‘Bollywood’ is widely used by most of us whether we are part of the industry or not. But there are two kinds of people among us, ONE who know what it means have an opinion, SECOND who are ‘ignorant’ about it.
are’nt we reading too much into the labels? why cant we just go on about our business of making good , entertaining films. @ looking upto the west for approval— why does this notion disturbs so many so called flag bearers of Indian Culture and Ethos. The world looks upto people who stand out and it does not really matter what nationality they are. Does’nt the west look upto Indians in the matters of PSEUDO-SPIRITUALITY. I’m sorry if I sound a bit nihilstic. Lets get this anti-west sentiment out of our system and move the fuck on. And what locus standi does Mr. Bachan has on telling people not to call it Bollywood. I would’nt mind calling it BACHOLLYWOOD if the Bachans can do decent movies and get a decent daughter-in-law.
@ Miss Nisha
I don
@vinayak, i dont read brunch for history… i just said that i had heard/read Gulzar say so and hence believed it to be true w/o further investigation… and i really have not made much attempt to read your entire reply…
@rbehemoth
No problem. And I certainly don
Sorry, Anshul, this is not to burst your bubble, but half of your article is a full-on load of bull****. Seriously avoidable pseudo intellectual crap. I really could not understand the 3 paragraphs of opening followed by making one meek point and then moving on. Though the point being made is sure worthy of a debate, why precede it with utter humbug?
Next time, dont talk to any Art History professors! They are “All Fart, No Art”. Come straight to the point and you will get the eyeballs you deserve.