Hollywood and Bollywood Offer you 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 success 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" films, to which they tiredly reply that Bollywood is "escapist cinema." I can't blame them for giving reporters the answer they want to hear. The Bachchans are possibly attempting to be polite and diplomatic due to the fact they'd adore to obtain new fans in the West. Or possibly they're just sick of explaining what appears to be a baffling notion to Western critics: leisure is supposed to be entertaining.

But Bollywood films aren't all enjoyable and frivolity. What could be much more critical and grounded in the truth of most people's lives than obtaining appreciate and creating relationships work? Or how about struggling to resolve domestic issues and religious differences that tear households and communities aside? The clash involving tradition and modernity is another 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 crucial to us-and films are automobiles for asserting the meaning of people values and exploring their relevance.

So the declare that Hollywood is reasonable since it focuses on the marginalized and degenerate and that Bollywood is not since it focuses on various social realities doesn't make any sense. And practical or not, on a standard degree, all entertainment is escapist-in any other case, what would be the level?

If the film, The Wrestler, for instance, is sensible, then I'll have to take Hollywood's word for it because I don't know any washed-up skilled wrestlers, and I have no thought if Anne Hathaway's portrayal of a narcissistic drug addict in Rachel Obtaining Married is spot-on since I don't hang out with any person like that. And however, I view these videos and take pleasure in them-but not since of their realism. Rather, they're a departure from my normal, ordinary existence. And likewise, the purpose I love Indian movies is since they're so various 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 comfy nation, videos usually deal with lifestyle on the edge: danger and deprivation are glamorous to individuals who have every little thing. The identical, upside down, applies in India: it's a bad nation, so the movie image is of the middle, upper-center and fabulously-rich courses." I understand the latter-why would poor individuals want to observe films about sociable injustices they expertise each and every day? But the former, while clearly accurate, 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 have been offended by the portrayal of poverty (protesters exterior Mumbai theaters carried indicators that learn: "Poverty Porn" and "I am not a slumdog"), but also since they discovered the story so unrealistic-preposterous even. Possibly Indians are much more acquainted with the actuality that such stories basically do not take place in true lifestyle. Clearly, Americans felt in any other case (myself integrated-I loved it) since it was a fairy tale of determination and future triumphing over not possible odds (America's cultural myth), set in a nightmarish planet of poverty (we love cinematic grittiness)-and it created our hearts soar. Hmm, an emotional fantasy primarily based on cherished cultural values and instructed by means of accepted film conventions-variety of sounds like the exact same criticism leveled at Bollywood films.Read more:bollywood

Hollywood and Bollywood Offer you Equal Doses of Realism and Escapism

By: German Rush

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