[1]2,096 words
May 7, 2003
Sick of Hollywood? Try Bollywood. “Bollywood” is the world’s largest film industry, the Indian film industry, centered in Mumbai (Bombay). My first exposure to Bollywood was over lunch in an Indian Chaat House. A music video compilation was playing on a big-screen TV, and I was totally captivated.
Although the words were all in Hindi, with no subtitles, the messages and emotions were universal and immediately intelligible. The videos fell into two basic categories. One type featured Western style pop music with contemporary clothes and settings. The influences of MTV, American advertising, and American pop culture were strong and obvious. The other type featured more traditional-sounding Indian music, costumes, settings. But both types...