Big success of Bollywood

Bollywood has become brand image recognised for quality entertainment worldover, writes Pavan K Varma.

Is Bollywood a pejorative term? Who coined it? And when? These were some questions that came to the fore when a glossy book on Bollywood published by Pramod Kapoor's Roli Books was being launched by Sharmila Tagore at the Nehru Centre last week.

Sharmila felt that perhaps the word was coined by Shashi Thiroor, the writer-diplomat who is currently the youngest Under Secretary General at the United Nations in New York. I would not be surprised. Shashi had written a novel on the Bombay film industry some years ago. He was with me in St. Stephens, and I know that he has a witty and inventive turn of phrase.

Suman Boucher, a journalist and theatre aficionado pointed out, however, that the word Bollywood came into usage in the mid 80s, much before Shashi had written his novel. She was of the view that the word was the handiwork of a programme on the BBC. Another person was of the view that it would be impossible to identify one creator, and that perhaps more than one person had begun to use it simultaneously. Whatever the truth, the fact is that the word has come to stay.

But is it a term of caricature? Bollywood is, of course, a take on Hollywood. Did the person who first coined it mean it as a slight, wanting to portray the Bombay film industry as a poor cousin imitation of the real thing which is Hollywood? It is quite possible that the label was used initially in a derisive context. Hollywood held world sway. It symbolised the pinnacle of glamour. Films there were made on budgets that were many times those of the aging studios in Mumbai. Hollywood equipment and techniques were better, and the actors in Los Angeles made more money, and lived in greater splendour and luxury.

No more. Bollywood has today become a brand image recognized for quality entertainment the world over. India is the world's largest producer of films. We make close to a thousand films a year, which translates to a mind boggling three films a day! Every day about 15 million people throng the 13,000 movie halls in the country. Many more watch films on VCRs and DVDs. In any given year over half a billion dollars is invested in films, but in spite of the many flops, the film industry earns twice that in return and continues to grow at a healthy rate of 15 per cent a year. Bollywood itself churns out 100 films a year that attract an audience of 3.5 million people daily leading to ticket sales of 100 million every week.