Submitted by: Raquel Rusing

Body: Few of you may know that I have danced the dances and sang the songs of Bollywood… right here at Cal Poly!

Each year a group of students organize a Student Spring Dance Show to promote Cal Poly’s under-recognized dance department. Those in charge of organizing the event also serve as choreographers who teach routines to voluntary students for the duration of the quarter. The routines are a wide variety of styles aimed to educate about the diversification that exists in dance.

For the last five years, I’ve taught a hip-hop class, but have also chosen to participate in a colleague’s Bollywood number. I was initially very skeptical because of its cheesy nature and awkward movements, but through some miraculous leap of faith, I joined nonetheless and fell in love with the energy and colors of Bollywood. Now, after Dr. Singh’s discussion of India at our last Chindia meeting, I have no choice but to share more!

Obviously when someone hears Bollywood, they think Hollywood. And they should because the name is derived from the combination of Bombay (the former name of Mumbai and the central hub for this genre of film) and Hollywood. As Alex Van Dalen said in our meeting, these films are purposely unrealistic, similar to Western musicals during the World Wars, because they serve as a form of escapism. They incorporate catchy song-and-dance numbers, less than logical transitions between everyday sets to extravagant and exotic locations, extended melodramatic moments and formulaic storylines. However, despite that these types of film have only become increasingly popular within the last decade overseas, Bollywood has been around since the American Great Depression.

The shift of popularity to the Western world is mainly attributed to Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, which was directly influenced by the Bollywood style. The play within the film follows the storyline of an ancient Sanskrit drama, The Little Clay Cart, and Nicole Kidman leads a Bollywood-styled dance sequence to the famous song Chamma Chamma from a 1998 Bollywood film, China Gate.

The China Gate version can be accessed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKtdZDE_orw

The Moulin Rouge! version can be accessed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thbqyJxP0ok

The music is probably what makes or breaks an experience for a member of the audience. If you don’t catch onto the tune… you might as well not watch the films. The music itself is called filmi (meaning “of films” in Hindi) and although the actors and actresses are dancing, none are singing. The entire film is lip-synced and the majority of the actors and actresses don’t even record in the studio. They enlist professional playback singers. Does this remind anyone of the Chinese incident during the Olympics – the young cute girl performs to the voice of a hidden and less attractive, but vocally gifted young girl? I thought it might until I found out that most of the playback singers are featured with pride during the opening credits and have their own fan base. Furthermore, to promote interest in the movie, the soundtracks are often released prior to the movie itself.

By the by, if you’re a male thinking that you’re not interested in these chick flicks, let me inform you of a couple of reasons for why you should think about watching them.

Item #1: Snoop Dogg. That’s right. Last year D-O-double-G signed up for a guest appearance on the title track of Singh is Kinng.

Here are the words of Mr. Snoop himself from a NY Times article:

“I really dig how much music is infused with the movies in Bollywood… Lots of hip-hop tracks sample Indian music, and a lot of their music sounds like it was influenced by hip-hop. Snoop Dogg’s got love for everybody. I like how the Punjabis get down; the way they dress is fresh and they got a real appreciation for music. Watch out y’all. I’m coming to take over Bollywood… this is just the beginning.”

Check out the music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1BgMwyZhtU

Item #2: Have you seen the ladies?! As Dr. Singh would agree, let me show you some of these beauties.

Mallika Sherawat

Priyanka Chopra

Aishwarya Rai

Item #3: Business opportunities. Yep. I read a Time Magazine Article called Ring, Ring, Bollywood Calling! and the mentioned company by the name of Saavn (acronym for South Asian Audio/Visual Network) is profiting significantly thanks to Bollywood.

According to the article, “[Saavn] controls global distribution rights, outside India, to a massive number of Bollywood films, songs, albums and music videos, all downloadable to iPods, MP3 players, cell phones and computers. And if consumers in America are captivated by the song-and-dance… Saavn believes its offerings will be attractive marketing tools for U.S. companies. [They] have already conducted a brand-marketing campaign for Verizon. Half a dozen major U.S. companies are now in discussion to use Saavn’s content to pursue the same market. The wealth and education level of South Asian consumers in the U.S. make [Saavn] a desirable target.”

This makes me think of William Chillingworth’s discussion about owning exclusive rights to Western commodities overseas. Is there a possibility for a profitable reverse – exclusive rights to Indian commodities in the U.S.? Will Saavn continue to grow as the popularity of Bollywood rises in the West or is this another passing fad? What do you think of the Bollywood craze? Will it be as successful as Hollywood? Domestically? Globally? What are some other business opportunities available through this industry both directly and indirectly?