Olin College of Engineering
DigitalCommons@Olin
2008 AHS Capstone Projects
AHS Capstone Projects
4-1-2008
Bollywood Since 1991: Repackaging the Same
Product?
Meenakshi Vembusubramanian
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahs_capstone_2008
Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies
Commons
Recommended Citation
Vembusubramanian, Meenakshi, "Bollywood Since 1991: Repackaging the Same Product?" (2008). 2008 AHS Capstone Projects.
Paper 18.
http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahs_capstone_2008/18
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the AHS Capstone Projects at DigitalCommons@Olin. It has been accepted for inclusion in
2008 AHS Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Olin. For more information, please contact
[email protected].
Bollywood Since 1991:
Repackaging the same product?
Meenakshi Vembusubramanian
April 30, 2008
AHS Capstone Teaser Presentation
Overview
• My project
• Scope of work, my argument
• Introducing Bollywood
• What, where, and for whom?
• Contextualising my project
• Economic policy
• Themes
• Bollywood conventions
• Conclusion
My Argument
• Economic liberalisation has
affected audience attitudes
• “Call centre generation”
• NRI market
• Changes
• Aesthetics
• Themes
• Bollywood remains
inherently conservative
• Movies converge to the
same, safe, formulaic
aesthetics and endings
Scene from Kal Ho Na Ho, 2003, set in NYC
Salaam-e-Ishq, 2007, modelled after
‘Love Actually,’ set partially in London
What is Bollywood
• 800 films a year
• Big budget films
• 3.6 billion viewers
worldwide
Bombay
CONTEXT
Economic Timeline
1857 – 1880’s
1880’s – 1920’s
• Colonial Rule
• Sepoy Mutiny
• East India Company
• Trade Colony
• The Advent of Industrialization
• Cities of Madras, Bombay, Calcultta nucleate
• Migration
1947 – 1990
• The “License Raj”
• Independence, partition
• Socialist-inspired, protectionist economics
1991 – Now
• Economic Liberalisation
• Soviet break-up, first Gulf War
• N. Rao and M. Singh
Meet Priya
•24/7 wind-machine
sexuality, but “Pure”
•Self-sacrificing, but
strong
•Never entirely
westernized
•Ideal of the classic
Indian woman
Hum Tum, 2004
Meet Raj
•Typically educated,
well-off
•Values family
•Hyper-masculine, but
sensitive
•Young, flirtatious, but
very respectful of
women
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, 2001
The NRI Romance
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, 1995
• NRI love stories
•
Love vs. family expectation
• Jazz vs. Simran
– British fiancee
• What has changed?
– Dress
– Music, choreography
– Some attitudes
Namastey London, 2007
CONCLUSIONS: WHAT HAS
CHANGED?
A New Urban Audience
• Rise of the multiplex
– Room for risk
• Increasing exposure to
international media
Black, 2005, targets an urban audience
with an unconventional theme
Dhoom 2, 2006, sells a Western-inspired
action and fashion aesthetic
Conclusions
• Indian audience
– 740 million rural India
– 290 million urban India
• There are some nonnegotiable values that
a Bollywood film must
adhere to in order to
succeed domestically
Scene from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, 2006, set in NYC
Want more???
Tomorrow, 4PM, AC 213!