Bollywood - How To Improvise
 "This love is so alive it will grow feet and dance." —Typical Bollywood lyric
IntroductionHighly musical, colorful cinema
from India recalling the heyday
of Hollywood musicals but with
a definite Indian slant.
Essence
- Music, singing and dancing whenever possible.
- Melodramatic.
- Usually romantic, often about impossible love.
- Everything very colorful. Especially the costumes.
- Out of sync sound: Singing and dialog recorded separately.
Characteristics
| Where | India, usually. However during songs, the actors can mysteriously appear in other
places around the world where they ski, swim, and climb mountains. |
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| When | Mostly the present. But can be historical. |
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| Who | Central characters:
Pretty girl from a higher class whose parents have arranged for her to marry someone
rich and powerful.
Boy from poor background, but honest (he’ll be seen giving his only meal of the day to
a street urchin or risking his own life to save someone else).
Sometimes there is a third character to create a love triangle.
Family is very important. Her mother is often strict, the father being more lenient and
understanding.
Criminals, kidnappers, scheming politicians; siblings separated by fate. Often a comical
servant who is on the girl’s side.
Backing dancers. |
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| What | Arranged marriages; falling in love; girl throwing a tantrum on her bed; weddings; sometimes fighting and magic.
Singing: the girl sings in a shrill voice and even the guys can sing high-pitched. Singing
is usually done by specialist performers so the actors lip-sync.
Dancing: Dancing is a mix of traditional Indian and modern including Western pop and
musical influences. The girl shakes her hips, the guy acts mesmerized, beating his
heart or pretending to be electrocuted. The girl teases him with her scarf. During the
song, the actors can suddenly change costume as well as location. Large numbers of
backing dancers dance in formation.
No kissing (respectable actresses refuse to kiss on screen ˛). Actors will lean towards
each other and film cuts to a song set somewhere else. However, the actresses will
often dress and dance sexily. |
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Examples (from Amazon)
Also known as: Indian Cinema |
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