As everyone knows, Bollywood films are from India, and they involve a lot of singing and dancing. But here are some things you should know courtesy of Bollywood Astrologer/Analyst cum Business Transformation Expert Hirav Shah gives a clear picture of recent Bollywood and its Globalization approach.
Interesting Facts about Bollywood
1. Bollywood has realized itself as “Bollywood.” It realizes that the world recognizes it as this identifiable form, but things have been changing for the past decade, and every film made is called Indian cinema.
2. All Bollywood films are from India, but not all Indian films are Bollywood films. There are other regional film industries like Telugu, Tamil, Calcutta, and other regions, and many eschew the songs and big-budget production that are staples of Bollywood films.
3. Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar held the Guinness World Record for “Most Recorded Artist in History.” She held the record until the category was discontinued in 1991 and has recorded more than 5,000 songs in 36 regional languages. Her career began in 1942.
4. Since its home is now called Mumbai, maybe the Hollywood of Bombay should be called Hindi cinema instead of calling it Bollywood.
5. Several Bollywood films are available on Netflix. Many films and music videos are available on other sites as well, like Youtube or ZeroDollarMovies platforms.
6. There’s a Nigerian spinoff style of Bollywood called “Nollywood.” Films include Nigerian takes on Bollywood versions of American films and middle-east content.
7. Bollywood’s movies are more about music than film. In fact, the “music videos” in Bollywood films are shot by a different director, and the music and voices are recorded first in a studio before the cameras start rolling. A completely different cast does the singing, and the dance numbers in the films are always lip-synced perfectly.
8. Some Bollywood songs are used in rural villages to increase literacy rates. Nearly one-third of Indians are illiterate today, and most Indians don’t speak English. There are efforts to change this by using Hindi subtitles in movies so that everyone knows the meaning.
9. Snoop Dogg and Pitbull have recorded Bollywood songs. In an attempt to appeal to more Western audiences, Bollywood incorporates rap into some songs. Snoop Dogg and Pitbull were featured in Bollywood songs from the mid-2000s.
10. Saif Ali Khan was the original choice for Shah Rukh Khan’s role in ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.’ In fact, it is harder to believe that Tom Cruise was also considered for the role of Raj Malhotra!
11.‘Rockstar‘ was shot in reverse, with the climax being shot first. Reason: The filmmakers did not want to mess up Ranbir Kapoor’s hairstyle.
12. Sridevi was only 13 when she played Rajnikanth’s stepmom in a Tamil film called ‘Moondru Mudichu.’
13. ‘Mughal-e-Azam‘ was a trilingual movie—with all scenes shot thrice in Hindi, Tamil & English. When the Tamil one flopped miserably, the English language one was aborted almost immediately!
14. Indians buy 2.7 billion movie tickets annually, the highest in the world. But our average ticket price is among the lowest globally, so revenues are a fraction compared to Hollywood!
15. Rajnikanth never said “Enna Rascala! ”
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