Bollywood Basics for the Uniniated (including best Bollywood movies)

To understand Bollywood, one has to understand what bollywood means to an average desi [(term which refers to a person belonging to India) literal translation -someone who belongs to 'desh' desh being country in Hindi the National language of india].

India, as many may have heard is a land of contradictions. Its the largest democracy in the world with its population almost closing in on the Chinese population which is presently the nation with the highest population.

This population is a diverse and multi lingual population.There are 61 accounted for languages which more than 10000 people speak.However, almost every literate Indian(who goes to a school) on an average can speak three languages apart from his/her mother tongue and everyone of us learns Hindi- the national language to some degree of fluency.

Why are these facts important?

Well, Bollywood is the biggest and the largest film industry in India, and it caters to that wide group of people who can speak hindi. But there are many other off shoots of this industry: To cite a few popular examples: tollywood which refers to telugu movie industry,kollywood which refers to tamil movie industry (infact the biggest star(actor) in Tamil Nadu is equivalent to a Bollywood superstar- Shah Rukh Khan)sandalwood which referes to the kannada movie industry etc.

You will notice their names are all influenced by probably the American terminology of Hollywood! We Indians love American influences :D Hollywood movies have amazing following in Indian cities.

And there are other language movies too which I am not sure as to what they are refered to as -bengali movies(some of the best Indian classics are in this language),marathi movies, oriya, punjabi and many more.

Bollywood caters to audiences who not only watch these regional movies but who understand and communicate in Hindi.

Bollywood attempts to reflect the joy and celebration of being Indian. indian's are a fun loving race. We love to dance, sing and celebrate. We live in crowded cities and towns filled with aroma and color and can laugh and enjoy the dust in the rain!

Most of us are usually trained in singing and dancing from a young age. Usually the men learn the instruments and the women dance to the rhythm.

We have plenty of festivals and their celebrations have dance and music as their essence. Even our spiritual and religious beliefs are conveyed with deeper eloquence through music and dance.

Bollywood lends vibrancy and spirit to this way of life. Most Bollywood movies are in a musical format where there are songs for all kinds of occasions- occasions that are all pervasive - they could be festive/playful/sad/joyous its like different rhythms at different points in the flow of a movie. Its like a sudden crest in the trough of a storyline.

The theme behind most movies are about finding love and the victory of good over evil.Just the way one breaks into a song and dance there is a fight between the hero and the villain - probably this is because we all seek to see reflections of the good over evil stories from Mahabharatand Ramayan that we have heard and grown up on.

Now as I wrote earlier since most of us learn to sing and dance at a young age- as early as the age of 3, we aspire to become one of the Bollywood actors - so there are always many men and women- especially the youth starry eyed, following their superstars- so Bollywood caters to these aspirations too. many of these people who come to become stars to Mumbai which is the central hub and energy behind Bollywood may end up becoming everything from being a light boy to a costume designer to a choreographer to a big super star (being a super star is like being a Julia Roberts ro Arnold) many Indain actors may like their Hollywood counterparts also seek to get into politics or support political leaders they believe in.

So if you read through this hub - you will find the basics behind what Bollywood is about but if I were to recommend the best Bollywood movies they would remain my choices alone.

If you could tell me what are the kind of movies you like watching - give me movies from Hollywood, I could suggest similar genre in Bollywood. But you must take note that bollywood movies are longer by another half hour or sometimes an hour too.

ill give a list of contemporary bollywood movies I like just to get initiated(these are more recent ones- all of them in color and ill give a brief one line description on the kind it is, so that you could choose it on the basis of it)

• Fashion - this is a realistic drama on the fashion scene, interesting, engaging and has many talented performances who dont belong to the top 3 slot in Bollywood
• Jism - This is a movie that is about women and thier uppitiness - very stylish and beautiful music
• Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam - One of Aishwarya Rai's best movies. It has plenty of dance and music sequences. Extremely beautiful colors and authentic indian clothes. This is a typical bollywood movie but a true masterpiece in presentation
• Chak De - It has King Khan(Shah Rukh Khanthe number one Bollywood star) as a coach to a hockey team. Its very similar to all the sports coach movies in Hollywood but invokes a sense of pride amongst us Indian's and it released during our Independence day month which made it all the more dear to us
• Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge - This is the absolute romantic movie of present times. People still hum the numbers in this movie and go ga ga over Kajol - an actor who was usually paired as King Khan's Heroine
• Munnabhai MBBS - This one stars a much spoken about and usually controversial actor Sanjay Dutt - he was born to two amazingly gifted actors of yesteryears.Hes been imprisoned on charges of carrying weapons and drugs and has weathered many a controversies to come clean. This movie is a comedy and if understood would make you laugh at the clever one-liners. Its my all time feel good movie and laugh riot :D
• Jab we Met - This was one fo the biggest hits last year. A beautiful love story between a bubbly(very talkative) and sensitive girl and a corporate head honcho, its simple and has some foot tapping numbers
• Taare Zameen Par - This movie stars someone who towers over Shah Rukh in his acting abilities - Aamir Khan - he doesn't make movies he doesn't believe in. Usually self produces them and makes one movie a year. But his dedication and passion are amazing! This movie is simply one of his best where he helps dyslexic kid learn in a regular school as a teacher
• Sholay - This is often referred to as the best classic of bollywood. Its on the must watch of most indians and stars the biggest stat in Bollywood - Amitabh Bachchan. Now if you wonder that i have earlier King Khan as the biggest star how could Amitabh be? Its a chronological reference- Amitabh still gives some stunning performances and is widely revered but Shahrukh is the popular one who has taken his place.
• Finally, how can I say no to a movie that brought Bollywood onto the radar of the world Slumdog Millionaire. i love the cinematography and the child artistes in the movie and believe that there is a decent reflection of reality coupled with magic of Rahman's music

This most definitely is not all that I can say about Bollywood but I am sure it will sufficiently inform the curious about an indutry that is raking in the moolah!(moolah is a term we use to describe money- n by using raking in, I mean making truckloads of it!)

Enjoy Bollywood without any judgement and you will be left with a happy heart and some pretty faces to dream off!