The Glitz and Glam of Bollywood!

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Today we’re going to learn about something so entertaining and unique, coming from an industry I have a great passion for.  Asher would you like to introduce our topic for the week 

Asher:  Bollywood!!

Bollywood is the Mumbai Film Industry- it’s used to describe the Hindi language movies in India.

Me:  what is the Hindi language,

Asher: Hindi is an official language in India, Nepal, and Fiji. 

Mom:  The Hindi language is spoken in more than 20 countries outside India.

And there are Hindi speaking communities in the United States too.

Me: Bollywood is often understood to describe Indian movies as a whole, but that is commonly misunderstood.  

Asher: Bollywood only refers to Hindi language movies. 

Mom: So to clarify, even though all Bollywood films are from India, not all Indian films are Bollywood films.  In fact, India as a whole is a country with one of the largest film makers in the world, with studios making movies in over twenty languages. 

Asher:  but Ofcourse, Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry, is the biggest.

Asher: and the term Bollywood combines the word Bombay and Hollywood.  

Mom:  an important fact to note is that Bombay is a city which was renamed to Mumbai in 1995. 

Asher:  oh.  Mumbai starts with the letter M.  So shouldn't it be called Mollywood because if they don’t call the city Bombay anymore, why is it Bollywood?

Mom:  That's an interesting question!  I’m really not sure but I guess Bollywood is now Such a huge and globally known industry, it’s going to be kinda hard to change the name.  The city Bombay was renamed to Mumbai in 1995, and the Bollywood industry had been making movies wayyyy before that.  

Asher:  ohhh. 

Mom:  So let's explore what makes Bollywood so unique and addicting to watch!

Asher:  Bollywood film’s story is known for its lively music and dance. 

Mom:  Yes.  Music is such a big part of Bollywood movies, that it’s hard to imagine one without it,  Some of the characteristics that makes a Bollywood movie unique, include: Musical numbers, colorful, beautiful costumes,

Asher:  Dramatic love stories, fancy sets, big dance scenes

Mom:  And also some comedy and complex plots. 

Mom: Honestly, Bollywood movie dance scenes are some of the most beautiful, captivating and stunning dance numbers I have ever seen.  Some scenes are just truly breathtaking.

Asher:  But even though the music and dance is a big part of a Bollywood movie, the plot is usually very complex.  A lot of Bollywood movies are about 3 hours long!  That’s so long!

Mom:  A lot of stories include themes involving love triangles, family ties, corrupt politicians, scheming villains, 

Asher:  Ooh like evil guys.

Mom:  Yup.  Long lost relatives, dramatic coincidences and so much more.  Some movies are based on true stories too.  The movies are mostly melodramatic.  Do you know what melodramatic means?

Asher:  Hmm like dramatic?

Mom:  Yeah kinda.  So whena film is melodramatic, it means it is very emotional or sentimental.  Almost theatrical.  The term means "music drama", with music being used to increase the emotional response or to suggest characters. 

Asher: I guess that’s why they are almost 3 hours long!

Asher:  But since the music and dance is such an important part of the Bollywood movie experience, let’s dig a little deeper on how beautifully complex the moves and dances can be.  

Mom:  Bollywood dances from a long time ago were originally based on Indian classical dances as well as Indian folk dances.  These dances included the classical art forms of Kathak and Bharata Natyam. 

Asher:  But over the years Bollywood movies started to combine the classical and folk dances, along with other styles of modern dances.

Mom:  Now Bollywood movies incorporate dance styles such as salsa, belly dance, hip hop, jazz and more.  

Asher: Yes, so it’s important to learn about the classical and folk Indian dances if you want to understand the foundations of Bollywood dance.  

Mom: Many dances combine facial expressions, hand gestures, body postures and movements.

Asher: The hand movements are almost like sign language that can help tell the story.  

Mom:  The dancers express meaning through the hands, and as Asher mentioned, the hands can help  tell the story.  There are different type of hand gestures, called hasta mudras.  For example, single hand gestures are called Asamyuta Hasta.  This is when a dance will use one hand to make a gesture.  Then there is a double hand gesture, called Samyukta Hasta Mudras, which is when a dancer will use both hands at the same time. These hand gestures are used in many traditional Indian dances, such as bharat anatyam and kathak.  

Asher:  So I guess it’s important for any Bollywood dancer to learn these hand gestures.

Mom:  yes! These traditional hand gestures are the basics and foundations of what makes great Bollywood dances. 

Asher:  That’s so cool.  And they also use their necks to be more expressive during the dance.  It’s a big part of Bollywood dance.  

Mom:  They slide their necks side to side or front to back and it looks really beautiful and fluid.

Asher:  And this is probably the same for a lot of dances around the world, but facial expression and eye movement are very important too. It’s about storytelling so the actors have to use their faces and eyes to show how they are feeling while dancing.

Mom:  The movements created by the feet are also an important part of classical and folk dances.  For example, Kathak, which is a dance from northern India, includes movements with complex footwork using bells worn around the ankles.

Asher:  And in Barat a nat ya, the dance movements have bent legs, while feet keep the rhythm.  This sounds really hard but so cool.

Mom:  One major difference in classical Indian dance from a western style dance such as ballet, is that in indian dance, the legs are usually bent, with the feet flat.  

Asher:  But in dances like ballet, the feet are pointed or lifted.

Mom:  The costumes of traditional Bollywood dance have elaborate gold, silver patterns that are highlighted by gold and silver jewelry, which includes bracelets, earrings, hair pieces and more. Henna on the dancer’s hands have also become popular in Bollywood movies as well.

Asher:  Henna tattooing is a temporary body decoration kinda like a tattoo.  The color of the henna is a little like red, orange, brown.  They are beautiful and very intricate.

Asher:  Let’s learn about the history of Bollywood dance and how it became so popular around the world!

Mom:  So Asher, before we begin, did you know that a long time ago wayyy before even mommy was born, movies used to be completely silent?  

Asher:  What?  Like it’s just pictures?  That’s not a big deal because that’s how sometimes you make me watch shows at restaurants.

Mom:  That’s so true.  Well, the first full length feature made in India was in 1913, a silent film called Raja Harishchandra.  Then in the years to come, the first talking movie, which they called it the talkies, was released in 1931.  And around this time, India was already making more than 100 movies a year!

Asher:  Then in 1947, India gained independence from Britain.  This is when the Indian film entered what historians call the Golden Age of Hindi movies.  

Mom:  And in 1958, the first Indian film was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. It was called Mother India. Now this award is a big deal to any film maker in the world, just to be even nominated  

Asher:  Then in the 1970s, the term bollywood was formed.  By then, many people knew about Bollywood movies.  And by 1980s, they were making more than 800 films every year.  

Mom:  Shortly after, Bollywood started making bigger productions with larger budgets, and now it is one of the biggest film making industries in the world and people from all over the world can not stop watching them.  

Asher:  And there are kids Bollywood movies too!  I don’t really like to watch any movies, not even Pokemon movies because sometimes they are scary.  But I loved watching the Bollywood dance scenes with mommy.  They are so colorful, and exciting.

Mom:  Yes!  Though I would say that the majority of the Bollywood films are more for grown ups, There are tons of family friendly Bollywood films that kids can watch, too.  My personal favorite is the Blue Umbrella.  Asher got to watch some of the dance scenes for the movie.

AsherL;  Yes the kids are really good dancers and it made me so happy!  The movie showed a lot of different things from where I live here in California but that was the fun part.

Mom:  Yes!  That’s teh beauty of watching movies made in other countries.  It takes you to a temporary adventure that you wouldn’t experience here at home.  

So the Blue Umbrella is a story about a little girl named Biniya that lives in a village, who traded her charm for a marvelous blue umbrella from a Japanese tourist.  From then on, everyone in the village could not stop thinking about the umbrella and some people got very jealous.

Asher:  Yeah like how sometimes Arden gets jealous of my new toys.  

Mom:  Yup. Then eventually the umbrella goes missing…and the movie shows  a surprising and heartwarming ending that makes the movie so special.

Asher:  Yeah and I love the music and dancing.  I guess our friends will have to watch it to find out what it’s like!

Asher:  And you can also learn how to learn classical Bollywood dance moves, too!

Mom:  Yup.  If you enjoy watching Mira, Royal Detective and want to learn about classical Bollywood dance moves, they have a special series called Dance with Mira and Friends, where they show simple dance moves you can practice at home!

Asher:  They were not simple, it was hard for me. But it was still so fun.

Mom: Yes!  The moves were put together by a real Bollywood choreographer named Nakul Dev Mahajan and they have done a great job breaking down the dance moves.

Well this was so fun learning about Bollywood we can’t wait to watch more.  We also want to say a special thank you to our friends 

We never end our episode without some jokes.  

Why didn’t the skeleton dance in the bollywood movie?

Because they had no BODY to dance with!

What kind of a dancer is the goat?

A baaaaaa-lerina

Well thank you for joining us today on another fun episode.  We have another fun episode coming up next week so don’t forget to subscribe to our channel.  Until next time!  See you later alligator!