Hollywood and Bollywood Offer Equal Doses of Realism and Escapism

Bollywood's elder statesman, actor Amitabh Bachchan

, and his daughter-in-law, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who has had some crossover good results in the West, are the two Indian film stars most often interviewed by overseas media, and condescending Western reporters frequently ask them why Bollywood doesn't make "serious" or "realistic" movies, to which they tiredly reply that Bollywood is "escapist cinema." I can't blame them for giving reporters the reply they want to hear. The Bachchans are possibly making an attempt to be polite and diplomatic due to the fact they'd really like to acquire new followers in the West. Or perhaps they're just sick of explaining what appears to be a baffling notion to Western critics: amusement is supposed to be entertaining.

But Bollywood motion pictures aren't all entertaining and frivolity. What could be more severe and grounded in the truth of most people's lives than acquiring really like and generating relationships perform? Or how about struggling to resolve domestic issues and religious variations that tear households and communities aside? The clash among custom and modernity is an additional favored Bollywood theme, as is the knowledge of Indian emigrants. Indians are fiercely proud of their culture and they want to safeguard their values-just as American values are important to us-and films are autos for asserting the that means of individuals values and exploring their relevance.

So the claim that Hollywood is practical simply because it focuses on the marginalized and degenerate and that Bollywood is not since it focuses on different social realities doesn't make any sense. And practical or not, on a fundamental stage, all leisure is escapist-in any other case, what would be the point?

If the motion picture, The Wrestler, for instance, is practical, then I'll have to take Hollywood's phrase for it simply because I don't know any washed-up professional wrestlers, and I have no concept if Anne Hathaway's portrayal of a narcissistic drug addict in Rachel Obtaining Married is spot-on because I don't hang out with anybody like that. And however, I view these videos and take pleasure in them-but not since of their realism. Somewhat, they're a departure from my normal, ordinary existence. And likewise, the cause I adore Indian films is since they're so diverse from my American lifestyle.

In August 2003, Time magazine reporter (and Bollywood fan) Richard Corliss wrote: "Films give audiences what they don't have. In the U.S., an economically comfortable nation, films frequently deal with life on the edge: danger and deprivation are glamorous to those who have every thing. The exact same, upside down, applies in India: it's a weak country, so the film picture is of the center, upper-center and fabulously-rich courses." I comprehend the latter-why would very poor men and women want to observe videos about social injustices they experience each day? But the former, while clearly correct, is unsettling to me. Discovering deprivation glamorous-and fancying ourselves hip and enlightened for it-says what to the deprived?

Indians weren't wild about the film Slumdog Millionaire, partly since they had been offended by the portrayal of poverty (protesters outdoors Mumbai theaters carried signs that study: "Poverty Porn" and "I am not a slumdog"), but also simply because they identified the story so unrealistic-preposterous even. Possibly Indians are more acquainted with the reality that such tales merely do not occur in genuine lifestyle. Of course, Americans felt or else (myself integrated-I loved it) simply because it was a fairy tale of determination and destiny triumphing over impossible odds (America's cultural myth), set in a nightmarish world of poverty (we adore cinematic grittiness)-and it produced our hearts soar. Hmm, an emotional fantasy based on cherished cultural values and told via accepted film conventions-type of sounds like the same criticism leveled at Bollywood motion pictures.Read more:bollywood,bollywood movies,new hindi movies

Hollywood and Bollywood Offer Equal Doses of Realism and Escapism

By: German Rush

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