Indians are crazy about two things:Cricket and Bollywood.Movies have always formed an integral part of Indian society whether to entertain or educate.Many things have changed since Raja Harischandra(1919) to Krrish(2006), for better mostly.In this review I’d like to present my views on what our film industry needs to do in order to develop progressively in the future.
1-Higher budgets:This I believe is of paramount importance.Movies need to have higher budgets in order to enhance the movie-going experience.More importantly there should be a judicious dispersal of funds.Presently the major cost in most movies happens to be stars’ fees.A healthy balance between stars and production should be attained.
2-Decrease in Plagiarism:This has been the bane of Bollywood for a long time.More than 50% of the movies made today are hollywood rip-offs(the directors called them inspired scripts).If we can make a movie like Rang De Basanti with original stories I think there shouldn’t be any problems.Inspiration is Ok, but Plagiarism is not.
3-Greater co-operative work between north and south film industry:This I believe is very important to take forward Indian cinema as a whole.Southern directors have excellent story ideas which could be incorporated in Hindi cinema.In terms of technical aspects, southern film makers have few equals in Bollywood.The main thing they lack is a strong budget, and a polished product which Bollywood can conjure up.Thus, greater co-operative work must be done.
4-Bold and strong scripts:Its high time that Indian cinema breaks away from the shackles of song and dance masala movies.Thankfully this has begun(albeit with plagiarised scripts) but more stronger stories and script ideas must be attempted in mainstream Indian cinema.
5-Judicious use of songs:Songs have always been an integral part of Indian cinema and hence no attempt must be made to scrap them.However, the songs must be incorporated in accordance with the script.Lagaan is the best example of songs which actually take the story forward.
These are some of my suggestions for Bollywood and its time we look into the future with hope that Indian cinema will finally live up to its American counterparts.