MDA30011 Global Screen Studies - Final Project Essay

Bollywood comedy movies is becoming more popular, for preparation of my final essay. I have prepared an annotated bibliography and critical perspective.

Nayar, S.J., 2015. Bollywood Religious Comedy: An Inaugural Humor-neutics. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 83(3), pp.808-825.

Religious comedy is a new sub-genre in Bollywood that brings a new angle in Indian films. Religion has always played a vital role in Bollywood films because of Hindu culture. However, in religious comedy, the script uses comic worldview together with religious themes to make it more interesting. Comedy and religion do not click together because playfulness does not concur with the solemnity that is accorded to religion. According to academicians, religion should be treated as serious business and jokes should not be part of it. However, the film is art and religion can make comedy even more interesting as people can relate to the religious themes being used.

Bhaskar, M.S., Kulkarni, R.M., Sherke, V.A., Dhond, P.P. and Pardeshi, T.P., 2015. Recent Genre Based Categorized Comparisons of Bollywood Movies Through Radar Plots.

Over the years, Bollywood has grown to become the largest source of movies in the world. This article seeks to determine which film genres are popular in Bollywood and which ones have dominated the sector in the period between 2010-2015. The most popular genres are action, horror, comedy romance and thriller. According to the data collected, comedy movies are the most famous in Bollywood. Although romance movies production does exceed them a little in some years, comedy is quite dominant. Action movies are the least produced movies and are not very famous in Bollywood. However, it should be noted that the production and the preference from the audience do not correlate. For example, horror movies are the least produced, but their demand in the audience is high. 

Rahul Sachitanand., 2014. The Comedy Business Boom: How comedians in India have learned to make big money, ET Bureau.

After Dhoom 3 was released in 2013, satire groups realized they could make money by making parodies based on such films. When they approached the producer of the movie hit, they were denied the rights to proceed as their project was deemed uneconomically viable. These groups started by placing their films in youtube why they gained popularity as people logged in to watch the videos. They utilized dark humor to attract viewers by concentrating on controversial topics such as rape. These videos on YouTube have played a vital role in reshaping comedy movies in India. Some of these comedians are now invited to take up roles in movies and comedy films.

Sanchita, Paul., 2015. History of Indian Cinema.

The first Indian film dates back to 1896 when the Lumiere Brothers shot it in Bombay. After several other movies, in the 20th century, Bollywood emerged after several movie directors joined the industry. By 1920, there were numerous production companies in India that made the sector more competitive. As the productions increased, so did the audiences, which led to the construction of more movie halls. The emergence of modern Indian movies took place after the second war. The themes of the movies shifted from mythology and history to social themes. By the end of the 20th century, all movie genres were produced with comedy being quite dominant.

Mohit, Paliwal., 2018. Best Indian Comedy Films to Watch with Family. A good laugh heals many hurts. 

Indian comedy movies are filled with much humor depending on what makes various individuals laugh. Not all comedy films are favorable to watch as a family because of the children and adult content. This article helps choose some of the best Indian comedy films that are suitable for all the family members. The author of the article seeks to select those movies that people can easily relate to and are hilarious. An example of a movie stated in the article is Gol Maal which is one of the best comedy films in the history of Bollywood. Such articles are helpful when one is looking for an excellent movie to watch.

Kukenshoner, C., Martinez, M., Mbaya, M., Schmutte, C. and Watanabe, Y., 2008. Bollywood–Maharashtra and India’s Film Cluster. Final Paper for Microeconomics of Competitiveness.

India remains to be the largest producer of films in the world, producing more films per year than the United States. However, in terms of the revenues received from the films, Bollywood films perform very poorly in the market commanding only a small percentage of the total film revenues in the world. Although the revenues are not very attractive, the film remains an essential source of livelihood for a significant number of Indians. It is expected that the overseas market for all genres of Indian films will grow significantly in the coming years which ill improve the revenues generated from the sector.

Lutgendorf, P., 2006. Is There an Indian Way of Filmmaking?. International Journal of Hindu Studies, 10(3), pp.227-256.

A.K Ramanujan, a polymath, and poet once asked do Indians think differently from the rest of the world. Indian films are trendy across the globe because they tend to have a different style as compared to the rest of the world. Film scholars have indicated that movies from other countries such as America and France tend to have a similar filming style. However, for Indian movies, the sound and the film's outlook are so different from those from the rest of the world. Thus, the question most people ask is whether Bollywood has a different filmmaking style from the rest of the world. 

Takhar, A., Maclaran, P., and Stevens, L., 2012. Bollywood cinema’s global reach: consuming the “Diasporic Consciousness”. Journal of Macromarketing, 32(3), pp.266-279.

Bollywood has played an essential role in promoting Hindu culture across the world. Numerous movies with the Indian theme give people an imaginary identity of how the Indians live and how their communities are. From these movies, Indians living overseas have reaffirmed their pride in their heritage and known the importance of various values that their people stand for. The love stories in the films give a different view of romance and show how relationships should be. Indians have settled into various countries in the globe. Bollywood has helped create awareness of ‘Indian-ness’ to the rest of the world. Also, it helps teach young Indians how to handle love and familial matters.

Telang, R. and Waldfogel, J., 2018. Piracy and new product creation: A Bollywood story. Information Economics and Policy, 43, pp.1-11.

Sharing of films or piracy undermines the demand for film and consequently lowers revenues in the film industry. Piracy is a significant challenge facing the film industry in India. We are living in a technological era where it has become so easy to piracy on large-scale. In India, cable television and VCR were diffused which made it easy for people to watch movies without paying. Between the year 1985 and 2000, the number of movies produced in Bollywood reduced significantly because cases of piracy were on the rise. Producers were making losses and hence were not willing to make more films with very minimal returns. 

Lorenzen, M., 2009. Go west: The growth of Bollywood. PDF). Creativity at Work. Copenhagen Business School.

Globalizations plays a vital role in the spread of various culture in the world. The film is a cultural industry, and just like others, it tends to cluster in specific cities. Bollywood has tried to put its mark in Mumbai and the local cities in India. However, in order to increase its revenues and popularity, it has been breaking into the western market. Globalization has played an essential role in aiding Bollywood to make essential steps in the global film industry. Since the Indian movie industry has grown in terms of volume, more growth is expected in terms of revenue and a global audience.