Case Analysis: Can Bollywood go Global?

The following case in a nutshell talks about the Indian film Industry, Bollywood and how it
has evolved over the years and has become an influential industry in the country and has
slowly been trying to expand into the global space. And the discussion is about the fact that
whether Bollywood going global is a feasible possibility.

The case starts off with a detailed history of cinema and its evolution over the years in the
countries where it was the most influential like the United States, UK and France. Cinema
originally started off in Europe and was the biggest in France originally but as the years went
by and due to the world wars production costs in Europe were high and so cinema could not
be produced easily and so to fill this gap American cinema better known as Hollywood came
up. Hollywood started off modestly but today it is one of the most popular if not most popular
and most influential film industry in the world. From the early years Hollywood has been
shown as a glamorous industry. It first expanded into Europe post the world war and
introduced various European stars like Charlie Chaplin who was originally from Britain but
was made popular through his hits made in Hollywood. Over the years Hollywood has had
great evolution in technology to cater to its customers and give them a better experience. And
due the movie’s massive success they got more investments and financing from Wall Street
bankers and such so Hollywood was always highly financed. France which used to be the
biggest movie industry at one point of time fell behind Hollywood and later many French
production companies moved to distribution when they realised, they could not compete with
Hollywood movies and Hollywood studios anymore. Another main competitor for
Hollywood other than France was UK. UK had produced great stars and had a wonderful
history in films. Hollywood films later started to invest heavily in production in British
movies because production was much cheaper in Britain compared to America.

After the general evolution and history of world cinema we come to the main part of the case
that is Indian cinema and we start off with the history of Indian cinema. We see a brief
journey of how cinema was brought into India and what kind of cinema was made and had an
appeal among the Indian audience. We see how originally the studios had power over actors
and movies in general and then it turned more into free lancing and not super contractual. We
also see how technology evolved in Bollywood. We started off with silent movies but then
we got talkies or movies where the actors talk and there is music and dancing. Post partition
the type of movies that had an appeal among the people started to be more related to social
issues and realistic situations. We also see the reaction of the government to the film industry
and the rise of the censor board who were there to keep tabs on the kind of content that can be
shown to audiences. In the 1950’s the concept of neo-realist films came into the picture. Cold
War was another phenomenon that helped Bollywood movies because in socialist nations like
Russia and China who had banned Hollywood content accepted Bollywood movies. Other
south Asian countries like the Turkish and Arabic countries also were interested in
Bollywood films and had audiences among whom there was good reception of Bollywood
films. We later see the effects of liberalisation on cinema when we got many movies where
rich people were not portrayed as villains anymore but were seen more as fascinating people
who had interesting lives whose glimpse was wanted by the people.

From the late 90’s and the 2000s we could see the trend where movies were either made with
a big budget and shot in various locations etc and on the other hand we have movies that was
made on a lower budget that was shot in local places and tackled topics that were relevant in
the contemporary world. This is the time we could see the needs and preferences of the
people were changing according urban and rural division. Cinema was not something that
was successful because it could appeal to a large audience anymore. Because preferences
were that varied among the people of the same country. The main industry structure could be
seen as three main parts that is production through various movie production houses in the
country, then we have distribution that is done by domestic as well as international
distributors and finally we have the exhibition or how movies reach and is shown to the
general public. This usually happened through single screen movie houses but now there is an
advent of multiplexes which caters to a larger audience. The main content of the movies also
evolved over time. We have masala movies with special effects, large scale music shoots,
exotic locations etc and the new kind of movies also known as Multiplex movies that
appealed to the youth of urban areas and that which tackled issues that were relatable to the
youth in urban areas. Another type was the crossover films which were more popular globally
along with just domestically. Such films had Indian cast or crew but were based in another
country or was influenced by foreign countries in some way.
The last part of the case talks about Indian Cinema going global and how there are various
factors driving this globalization of Indian Cinema. Content shown in movies started being
more inclusive and started catering more to NRI’s and foreign audiences. Indian films started
getting international financing from foreign companies like Sony Pictures etc. which helped
promote Bollywood films. Another factor was Indian starts like Amitabh Bachchan and
Rajnikanth who were crucial in spreading Indian Cinema around the world. Due to this star
power various international brands started asking Indian actors to be brand ambassadors and
also let their products be used for product placement in Indian movies. One of the reasons
was the popularity of satellite television and entry of more channels and content into the
Indian market. Some drawbacks of globalisation and roadblocks of going more global was
noted to be piracy of movies and the major impact of Hollywood on the people and youth in
urban areas. Thus, this case gives us a clear picture of how globalization has made it possible
for Indian cinemas to be known outside India and how they could become global.