Bollywood vs. Hollywood.

Byline: Dana El Baltaji

Summary: What happens when you pit Bollywood against Hollywood? Read on to find out.

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Bollywood

History (a short one)

Numerous Bollywood historians trace the industry's beginnings to the Lumiere Brother's films screening at Bombay's Watson Hotel in 1896. The screening inspired local filmmakers to use India as a base, and in 1913, India's first homegrown movie, Raja Harishchandra was produced by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke. He is widely seen as the father of Indian cinema. Score : 8

What's in a name?

Bollywood is an amalgamation of Hollywood and Bombay (which is known today as Mumbai). The term is generally used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema, in spite of there being a number of centers for the Indian film industry throughout the nation. We like amalgamations. Score : 9

Production

Bollywood produces approximately 1000 films per year, and caters to an audience of over 3 billion. The average cost of making a movie in India is around $5 million, although 50 percent of all movies in India are not released, and 95 percent of those that have been released are financial flops. So it's a quantity, eh? Score : 2

Financing

Indian movies are financed a number of ways, although none of which have been confirmed by the industry. According to media reports, a significant number of films are financed by businessmen and the 'underworld'. Other reports suggest that film directors fund the movies themselves. If the movies flop, so do the director's careers (and their bank balances). We value transparency, so Bollywood's shadiness doesn't appeal to us. Score : 1

Awards

You won't find a single, Oscars-type award ceremony for Bollywood movies. Instead, the Indian film industry has a number of well-regarded awards ceremonies, including the Filmfare Awards (organized by Filmfare magazine since 1954); Stardust Awards (organized by Stardust magazine since 2003); and the National Film Awards, which was introduced in 1954, and sponsored by the Indian government since 1973. More awards means more glitzy affairs, and which we love. Score : 8

Genres

Bollywood films are generally musicals, featuring elaborate dance scenes and catchy music. For many audiences, the better the musical scenes, the better the film's entertainment value.

As for the plots, many Indian film plots center around melodramatic love stories and include angry parents, villains, jokers, families torn by circumstance, and so on. How about a change? Score : 2

Final score : 30

Hollywood

History (a short one)

As early as 1878, Eadweard Muybridge showed audiences how to capture motion through photography by using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. However, it wasn't until 1910 that director D.W. Griffith was hired by the Biograph Company to travel to the U.S. west coast, and shot the first movie ever made in Hollywood called In Old California . The director and the movie studio liked the location because of the mild weather and the scenery. They also liked the fact that Hollywood was far enough away from New York City to escape Thomas Edison's fees, who owned patents on the movie-making process. In 1913, other studios and directors followed suit. Score : 9

What's in a name?

Hollywood, formerly known as Hollywoodland, is a district of Los Angeles, California. Some believe the area was named after the native Toyon plant, or "California Holly," which grows on the district's hillside.

The name is used to refer to the film industry in the U.S., although this is inaccurate. That's a boring story. Score : 4

Production

Hollywood produces an average of 500 films per year, and caters to an audience of approximately 2.6 billion. The average cost of a Hollywood movie is $60 million. Perhaps if we discovered this information before the credit crunch, it wouldn't have bothered us so much. But right now, we're bothered. Score : 2

Financing

Hollywood movies are financed by studio houses, which usual pay for actors and directors on a contractual basis. Unlike Bollywood movies, directors do not pay for their own movies, unless if they are working on independent films. Nice and transparent, that's what we like. Score : 9

Awards

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars and presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), are the industry's most prestigious awards. The awards were first presented in 1929. It's a glamorous affair, and we're always keen on watching it. Score : 10

Genres

Hollywood movies began as an homage to the country and its history, but later introduced plots about the 'wild West'. As Hollywood gained more power over audiences and their attitudes toward the local government, movie plots became more politically charged with messages that support the government's national and international policies.

Today, movies vary from romantic-comedies to historic epics. Hollywood gives a little bit of everything. Score : 9

Final score : 43

Verdict:

We have to wonder if the comparison was fair. Hollywood is far richer than Bollywood, and most of the world's population speaks English and watches American movies (perhaps because their production values are higher). Nevertheless, Hollywood win's with a score of 43, beating Bollywood by 13 points.

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