Why Are Bollywood Films So Popular Worldwide?
Bollywood has been a tremendous influence across the country since its early days. Nobody is really untouched by the enthralling aura of Hindi cinema. There was a time back in the day when Hindi Cinema was everybody’s pipe dream in order to achieve big things in life. Unlike Hollywood, Hindi cinema never focused on making films instead, it sold dreams to the people of a country who are struggling not just economically but socially too. People from the so-called third world wanted to go beyond the general drudgery of life and that’s why they resorted to Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man or Deepika’s next-door charm in Piku. Everybody wants to relate to the characters in the films but with a bit of larger than life touch to it.
The popularity of Bollywood is not limited to India. People across the US, Pakistan, UAE, and more are incessantly in love with Bollywood films. Global actors like Alia Bhatt, and Shahrukh Khan take these films overseas and make them famous. Amitabh Bachchan once said that it’s unbelievable how many people know Shahrukh in Germany. However, from the western point of view, things are a bit skewed as they mockingly enjoy the Bollywood musicals and there is always a tone of superiority. Another aspect of the rising trend of Bollywood films across the globe is the economy of films of course. As more and more films are being dubbed in numerous languages the film automatically earns more. There are films like Dangal that got released in China and opened inexplicably big.
The songs and dance aspect of Bollywood draws a lot of people toward it. In a culture where people tend to be overtly emotional and express themselves loudly, Bollywood breaks into dance-worthy songs to give the audience a little break from the film. It’s interesting that a section of the Hindi cinema industry who don’t like being called Bollywood actors as it is a blend of Hollywood and Bombay. Especially when it comes to the fact that songs and dance are an integral part of the storytelling westerners can’t seem to wrap their heads around it.
Although, things have started to change now a bit as the Indian narrative is becoming comprehensible for the international audience as they are exposed to the idea of musicals too. No matter how people perceive Bollywood films everyone has a kind of fondness towards them that they can’t seem to shake off.
