http://www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com/western-cultures-overbearing-influence


Times on-line
'Saawariya (Beloved), which opens around the world tomorrow, is the first Bollywood film to be produced by a major Hollywood studio, Sony. Saawariya, on the other hand, is radically different: it is in Hindi, it has 11 songs and it is the traditional three hours in length. Hollywood studios are desperate to penetrate the Indian and global NRI (nonresident Indian) market. This is because, with a few exceptions such as the Jurassic Parkand Spider-Man series, Hollywood films usually flop in India. Moreover, the overseas audience for Bollywood films remains predominantly South Asian. With five Bollywood films grossing more than $2 million (£950,000) in America in 2006 and with films routinely making their debut in the British Top Ten, it is an astute recognition by Hollywood of a potentially lucrative new market. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Indian films will now gain access to possible new audiences through a much wider worldwide release.'
Posted by Alishba at 15:43 0 comments

'Bollywood- Sociology goes to the movies' Sec. research
Bollywood & the south-asian diaspora:'A non-resident Indian (NRI) is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides outside India.' wikipedia
Estimated Indian diaspora worldwide= 11 million one of fastest growing global diasporic communities)'
Bollywood not only signifies the large number of films made and viewed in the city of Mumbai...but also the distribution, subtitling, dubbing and watching of these motion pictures worldwide.'
'...with the emergence of the diaspora as an important export market for the films since the 90s, film-makers are re-thinking their approaches to established conventions and genres in the light of temporary audience expectations.'
Familiar features in past Bollywood films: '...binary oppositions in the representation of East and West, tradition and modernity, rich and poor, the village and the city.'
Old films: West & western values seen as evil and a threat to tradition and culture
Now: they're seen as desirable.Films in this sense are reflective of social change and change in the mind-sets of people.
"Urban themes with style and attitude are the order of the day...The tide tilts towards contemporary themes concerning the urban Indian, while paarivaarik issues are consigned to television soaps."-

http://reviewsfm.blogspot.com- HINDI FILM REVIEWS,BOX OFFICE COLLECTIONS,PUBLIC COMMENTS OR FILM

In the past, there were big diasporic communities in the UK ('The UK has the largest audience for Indian cinema outside India (Neilsen EDI)')hence many Bollywood films were set in the UK and portrayed the lives of British Asian characters.

Now there are big diasporic communities in the USA, so films focusing on the lives of American Asian characters are being set in places like New York.

'The naming..."Bollywood" not only reveals on a literal level an obvious reworking of the appellation of the cinema of Hollywood, but, on a more significant level, that Bollywood is able to serve alternative cultural and social representations away from dominant ethnocentris audio-visual possibilities.'
So instead of accusing it to imiate Hollywood, perhaps Bollywood offers antidotes and alternatives to the diaspora who are constantly exposed to Western films about western culture. Bollywood can give them something reflecting their own culture, yet the western influences still have to be there since that is what the diasporic community relate to on a daily basis.

Question for thought: Do the diasporic community actually need Bollywood films to reflect the western culture in which they live, since they most likely watch the films to escape that culture or to view something that reminds them of home?

But what impact does the westernisation of films have on domestic audiences?
Overseas revenues allow film makers to persue films with bigger budgets and better facilities

Domestic audience:More exposure to Hollywood films means audiences expect better quality, action, sfx, modern plots with characters who have a modern mentality.
So maybe film-makers don't seek to follow Hollywood conventions, but have to, in order to satisfy audiences (engage the interest of young audiences)and keep business running.

Indian classical and folk music in past with traditional instruments, being replaced by western genres (pop, rock, rap) or mixes/ re-mixes