Hailing as the leading industry in the world, Indian cinema is a multi-crore industry churning approximately around 700-900 movies per year. And yes there is a ready audience to swallow in whatever the industry dishes out.
The Indian audience love movies that have a mix of most of the genres like drama, music, action, adventure, tragedy….. all mixed into one. This is what they call paisa vasool in Hindi parlance meaning complete value for money. All the genres are packed into a 3 hour long exasperating experience that releases on every Friday. Multiplexes and single cinema halls begin the preparation of the release 2 days prior. But the advance booking begins sometimes a week prior to 3-4 days in precedence so that patrons can book their tickets in advance while producers, distributors and the exhibitors are assured of the incoming flow of money.
Bollywood is the name given to all the movies especially made in Hindi in India. It is procured from Hollywood that stands as the epitome of English movies. There is also Tollywood for all Telugu movies made in South India. Thus there are various aberrations to Bollywood for movies local to a particular place.
Songs are pivotal to every Bollywood movie. The lyricist and the music director play an important role. There has been a stark transition from music of yesteryears to today’s music. But then change is important as the country is experiencing a wave of modernity among individuals and households. Lyrics are now cooler with the modern youth in mind and the music too is hip hop, rock and funk. Locations for shoot have seen a great change from Indian locations to foreign shores as it adds a lot of drama and brings in freshness to otherwise staid shooting locales. Italy, England, Australia, New Zealand, Bali, Manila, Mauritius, name it and the Indian crew has been there to shoot for their movie.
Some all time favourite Hindi movies include Jugnoo, Junglee, Deewar, Sholay, Kashmir ki Kali, Mother India, Mughal-e-azam, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Rang De Basanti, Munnabhai MBBS, Darna Mana Hai, Chak De India and Taare Zameen Par.