Chuck Norris Beware

If you want to see hundreds of people performing a choreographed dance to music sung by a beautiful female and a male in their mid-forties with an exquisitely well-groomed mustache, then Bollywood is right up your alley. Musical lovers eat your heart out.  You think Hollywood is known for their formulaic movie making, you got another thing coming. Bollywood is so notorious for their formulas for making movies; they make Hollywood look like original, well-written Independent movies. These formulas include and are pretty much limited to three to four hour movies having very famous Indian lead male and female character love interests, who sing and dance along with several other choreographed dancers, contain a lot of non-violent action and always end happily ever after.

The Bollwood phenomenon, which is primarily produced in the city of Mumbai, India, is responsible for over 800 movies a year. That is double the number of feature films in America. The Bollywood film production center is a government owned studio in Northern India called “film city.” The majority of Bollywood films are produced in Mumbai but are made in other cities in India as well, just like movies made in America come out of other cities besides Hollywood. Because the cost to see one of these movies in India is between 1-3 US dollars, the equivalent of the average Indian’s day’s wage, only 1.4 percent of Indians go to see the movies. That miniscule 1.4 percent of the population, is still around 14 million Indians going to see movies. The Bollywood movie stars are very famous in India and can make close to a million dollars for one of their films.

I have been blessed with the opportunity of visiting India on multiple occasions and while there, was able to see many Bollywood films that were shown on practically every other channel. It didn’t take long for me to notice the formulas that were so commonly prevalent in every Bollywood movie that I saw.  It didn’t matter whether the movie was new or old; the formulas remained constant in each one. The only difference I noticed was in the newer films. The characters were dressed in western, and when I say western, I don’t mean country western, I am referring to European and American style of clothes instead of wearing classical Indian clothing.  Other than their clothing, every movie I watched had a lead male and female character who were either in love or the male was pursuing the female, sang and did a choreographed dance with several other dancers and had a happy ending. It was quite comical at first watching these formulas in every movie I watched. Especially seeing the reoccurring male Indian version of a George Clooney (with a mustache) in several of the movies. I say George Clooney because in the older films, the male lead character was usually in his forties and 99.9 percent of the time had a mustache that would make Chuck Norris jealous.

To be honest, I am a little bit disappointed with these simple formulas in Bollywood used to entertain the escape seeking movie viewer. I wish that Bollywood would start creating movies that portray real life in India, instead of constantly creating some sort of fantastical escape from reality. One of my favorite movies filmed in India that was a brilliant depiction of life in India was “Slumdog Millionaire.” This movie really captured the essence of life in India, at least the point of view that I had from visiting several cities and being on a train for thirteen hours.  I realize that this movie was acquired and funded by Hollywood, but wish that Bollywood would make some movies more like “Slumdog Millionaire.”

It's not Hollywood, It's Nollywood

        Hollywood you could be in trouble because there is a new circus in town. At least that is what a man by the name of Remy Ohaijanya, the executive chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria Lagos Chapter, movie producer and actor in Nigeria believes. He says, “We are growing and in the shortest time, we are going to overtake the world renown or recognized Hollywood, by the way we are going. We are going to make a greater mark.” Those are some pretty ambitious words. In the small poverty and crime stricken country of Nigeria, there is a huge movement of low budget films being made by local Nigerian filmmakers known as “Nollywood.” These films are very low budget compared to Hollywood standards and are often times made in as little as a week. Because the films are funded by independent investors, the desire to have quick production and getting the films into the market as soon as possible are the commonality. According to the reporter from “Hooray Nollywood,” Nigerians don’t go to the movie theaters as much due to the increase in crime. Because of this fear of going to the theaters, the demand for cheap dvds that can be watched at home have also increased. Just like in America there is an actors guild as well as Nigeria’s version of the Academy Awards.

I personally am glad that Nigeria has some of their own directors and filmmakers creating films in Nigeria. I think it is important to have indigenous filmmakers in order to keep authenticity and addressing real issues within a particular country.  An indigenous person has personal objective experience as opposed to just reading or learning about a country. Someone who lives in that country can portray a more accurate depiction of life within that country; the same way someone from streets in America can portray life on the streets or a person of a certain race or culture can portray their race or culture. One thing I have learned about Hollywood is that they tend to portray things through the perspective of a white male. That gives us as an audience a look at a particular geographic region through the eyes of a white man, who may not necessarily know the true facts or who changes the facts to make that geographic region look inferior and in need of the United States for redemption.  In Hollywood this is a very common theme and it is very common for the United States to be portrayed as the superior country in every way humanly possible that is going to save the poor countries and the world from total destruction. This also happens all the time in other avenues of the media . Because political parties are in control of that media outlet, depictions of life in other countries can be distorted by the media for political reasons.

            I do not intend to turn this into a political paper, but instead make these statements in hopes that these Nigerian filmmakers will stay true to their country and not fall into Hollywood’s formulas for making movies. I was a little bit disturbed about watching Nigeria’s version of the Academy awards and the way their actors were worshipped just like Hollywood stars. My fear is that the Nigerian movie industry will be nothing more than a carbon copy of Hollywood. I hope that they will address issues that need to be addressed in that country and not just make fluff movies that are merely just entertainment or an escape from their everyday lives; even though those are the main reasons why most Americans go to movies. I am sure that many people living in Nigeria need to see movies that are purely entertaining in order to escape their everyday lives. However, for the sake of representing their country to the rest of the world, I hope that at least some of the movies accurately portray real issues of life within their country.