Cinema in India

The Indian Cinema Industry, in Bombay, India is slightly below standard  compared to the modern, sophisticated Hollywood 
Cinema Industry, in California, USA, in terms of quality and technology. Nevertheless, India is the worlds largest movie 
producer nation. Japan follows 2nd, with the USA trailing behind at 3rd place. However the Indian Film Industry is slowly 
trying to catch up with Hollywood in terms of technology (3-D, special effects, computer animations, modern electronic sets, 
etc) & quality (realistic fight scenes, car-chases, rescue operations etc). The Film Industry is refered to as Bollywood ! 
          
The Western cinemagoers must realize that the Indian cinema is produced for the Indian audience and not the Western audience. 
India and America are two different 'Cultures'/'Societies', with people having different norms, beliefs, values and ways of 
thinking ! What might be considered appropriate & entertaining in India, might be interpreted as inappropriate and boring 
(poor performance) in the United States and Europe ! Every Indian movie whether it be  a romantic, action, adventure or 
comedy consists of about 5 songs. These song scenes might not appeal to the Western audience but to the Indian cinemagoer, 
a movie without any song is considered not entertaining and consequently a big flop. Everyday in India, approximately 20 
million Indians, watch 'Hindi' movies in about 13,000 movie theaters all across the country This large Indian audience is 
a very 'descisive factor', in the ways movies are produced and directed in India. 'Singing and Dancing' are important 
elements of the Indian culture ( Asian culture). If you happen to watch any Japanese or Chinese movies, you will also notice 
that singing and dancing are an essential form of entertainment. In Hollywood, back in the 1940's and 1950's, singing and 
dancing were an important element in almost every movies. Some of these movies are classics now, with actors such as Frank 
Sinatra; Elvis Presley; Jack Lemmon; Sammy Davis Jr; Peter Lawford; Tony Curtis; etc singing and dancing away to glory !
        
The Indian movie stars are professional and extremely talented. They are westernized, sophisticated and often well educated 
in the English language. Besides possessing these qualities, they are often quite 'Handsome and Beautiful & Charming', from 
a middle-class Indian family. The Indian movie star is a good performer, but he/she has to follow the directions of the Movie 
producer / Director. He has to sing a song and has to perform a dance routine. Without these 2 elements, the movie will be a 
flop. He has to keep the Indian audience in mind and perform to please them. In the due process, he acts stupid at times. 
(I am speaking from a Westerners point of view) But that is a form of acting indeed ! In the last decade, since the early 
1990's, five Miss World/Universe titles have been won by Indian women; which is quite an achievement, especially when you
compare Indian women with the modern Western women.
         
I think that the Indian movie stars should change their style a little bit. While performing their 'Song and Dance' routine, 
they should not jump around too much and not indulge in any gerky (fast) movements. Maybe they should just walk around 
singing a song with very little physical gerky movements like they do sometimes in sad-passionate love songs. This will also 
look better and more serious and will also be more appealing to the Western audience. I personally liked the song scenes from 
the Western Musical " PAINT YOUR WAGON ". The American stars performed well in these song scenes.

      
I think the Indian movie stars are very talented, smart and nice looking but they should try and change their style if they 
are to be a dominant force in the GLOBALIZATION of the Film Industry. They have to also be appealing to the Western audience 
as well. India can produce a Classic action packed adventure or suspense feature film compared to any Hollywood blockbusters. 
The Indian movie stars possess these characteristics. It is up to the Producer/Director team to make the initial effort. The 
Producers should try and insert 'Song & Dance' scenes only when absolutely necessary to the particular scene & try to minimize 
the song scenes and make them as  simple as possible without too many fast gerky physical movements by the stars.


               
List of my favorite Hollywood actors:

 such as.... 
John Wayne; Gregory Peck; Charlton Heston; Kirk Douglas; David Niven; Burt Lancaster; Sean Connery; Alec Guinnes; Jeff Coburn; 
Richard Burton; Robert Mitchum; Paul Newmann; Jack Lemmon; Charles Bronson; Clint Eastwood; Warren Beatty; Walter Matthau; 
Jack Nicholson; Al Pachino; Michael Caine; Gene Hackman; Bo Svenson ; Robert Deniro; Alain Delon; Ryan O'Neal;    
Robert Redford; Jean Paul Belmondo; Dustin Hoffmann; Michael Sarrazin; Tom Selleck; Bruce Lee; Chuck Norris; Sidney Poitier; 
Richard Gere; Sylvester Stallone; Kurt Russell; Harrison Ford; Arnold Schwarznegger; Mel Gibson; Bruce Willis; Don Johnson;  
Nicolas Cage; Patrick Swayze; Keanu Reeves; Steven Seagal ; Morgan Freeman; Denzel Washington; and Don Wilson; (..the dragon)
 
List of my favorite Hollywood actresses:

 such as...
Catherine Hepburn; Shirley McLaine; Jacqueline Bissett; Ali McGraw; Jennifer O'Neill; Goldie Hawn; Sophia Loren; Racquel 
Welch; Natalie Wood; Candice Bergen; Jane Fonda; Stefanie Zimbalist; Mary Ann-Margaret; Debra Winger; Drew Barrymore; Sharon 
Stone; Demi Moore; Nicole Kiddman; Catherine Zeta-Jones; Marisa Tomei; Jennifer Connelly; Carrie-Anne Moss; Cameron Diaz; 
Rachel Weisz; Natalie Portman; Jennifer Garner; Renee Zellweger; Michelle Monaghan; Keira Knightley; Rhona Mitra; Ziyi Zhang; 
Gong Li; Rebecca Hall and many many more !!!

                        
List of my Favourite Bollywood Indian actors: 

 such as....
Dev Anand; Raj Kapoor; Dharmendra; Shammi Kapoor; Sunil Dutt; Askok Kumar; Rajendra Kumar; Pran; Jeetendra; Sanjeev Kumar; 
Rajesh Khanna; Manoj Kumar; Shashi Kapoor; Amitabh Bacchan; Prem Chopra; Vinod Khanna; Raj Kumar; Feroz Khan; Om Prakash; 
Om Shivpuri; Ajit; Mehmood; I.S. Johar; Kishore Kumar; Uttam Kumar; Utpal Dutt; Sanjay Dutt; Sunny Deol; Ajay Devgan; 
Hrithik Roshan; Akshay Kumar; Ahshaye Khanna; Sunil Shetty; Ranveer Singh; Vidyut Jammwal; etc, and many more !!
List of my favorite Bollywood Indian actresses: 

 such as....
Vayjantimala; Mala Sinha; Nutan; Nirupa Roy; Sulochana; Babita; Sadhana; Sharmila Tagore; Mumtaz; Hema Malini; Jaya Bhadhuri; 
Helen; Raakhi; Rekha; Lena Chandravarkar; Zeenat Amaan; Neetu Singh; Dimple Kapadia; Aishwari Rai; Urmila Matondkar; 
Manisha Koirala; Mahima Choudhury; Preeti Zinta; Raveena Tandon; Shilpa Shetty; Namrata Shirodkpar; Juhi Chawla; Sushmita Sen;
Bipasha Basu; Amisha Patel; etc and many many more


         
          
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