Is Bollywood a Genre of Film?

Holi powders in Kerala, India.

I grew up with Bollywood. That was what I watched as a kid, and still watch now. It’s my preferred form of media, actually. But, being an Indian American, I’ve had the privilege of getting to see Bollywood from both the eyes of its intended consumer and from the eyes of an international audience, particularly one that has a major stake in the film industry. I’m talking about growing up in the land of Hollywood while watching Bollywood.

It’s been really interesting being someone so incredibly attached to Bollywood and watching other people consume it and talk about it. I was recently inspired by a coworker to think a little bit more deeply about Bollywood and whether or not it’s a genre.

Bollywood has… a reputation. One that I disagree with but see the merits of argument in from the perspective of an American movie-goer. There’s a certain way that the Hindi film-industry has been represented in Western culture. It closely reflects the arrogance of Americans in thinking that anything that isn’t Hollywood isn’t civilized or serious or worthy to be called art. But like Amitabh Bachchan says in Piku, “Western culture is not a benchmark of progress.”

Western film-watchers expect to see a certain thing when they see a Bollywood film. They expect lots of lively colors, lots of dancing and music (mostly unexplained and unfitting like a musical), lots of drama with incoherent plots, etc. etc. And honestly, I’ll grant that these stereotypes come from somewhere. There are lots of movies produced in India that fit that bill and that are honestly kind of bad. They’re films that don’t have substance to them but that are meant for pure entertainment.

Here’s the thing though: Somehow, those films have come to represent the whole of the industry to the Western world, and creates this sort of idea that Bollywood films are a specific genre that includes all of those markers. That’s fundamentally wrong, though, because Bollywood is a film industry, not a genre, and it produces films of all kinds.

Rua Wani says it perfectly in her article, “At the outset, let's remember that the Hindi film industry is exactly that - the Hindi film industry. Their work on screen reflects and caters to Indian tastes, preferences and sensibilities. Of course there is colour and music and celebration in Bollywood movies - they are a reflection of the incredibly rich Indian culture and tradition. Art imitates life… While watching a Hindi movie that doesn't fit in to this stereotype, I have often had non-South Asian friends say, ‘Oh, but this isn't really a Bollywood movie.’”

This coworker that I had this argument with asked me to suggest two Bollywood movies for him to watch. I gave him Dil Dhadakne Do and Andhadhun, two movies that I appreciate a lot and that I think represent benchmarks of the spectrum of the modern film industry. When we debriefed the movies, he said, “One of those movies was a Bollywood film and the other was a film made in India.”

However, they’re both Bollywood movies. They were both produced within the industry, with leading actors and directors and big budgets. Just because one had singing and dancing and was about romance, comedy, and families and the other wasn’t, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t Bollywood.

Think of it this way: Hollywood produces amazing films, yes? But it also produces Hallmark “trash” movies, like romantic comedies that are meant purely for entertainment purposes, that don’t have complicated plots or characters, that are feel-good, junk food movies. That’s exactly what Bollywood does too.

Bollywood produces your mindless garbage, like Entertainment, Singh is King, Student of the Year 2, etc. etc. But it also produces amazing, art-house films that talk about important concepts, like Highway, Lunch Box, Piku, and Pink. And then, it produces conglomerate, huge, big-budget films, like Zoya Akhtar’s films or Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films. It’s a huge, complex, and intricate industry.

In 7th grade, my school’s history curriculum was about world cultures. For a year, we spent time jumping through history, learning about all the interesting cultures of the world. Eventually, some time in the winter, we got to India. As one of the only Indian people in the classroom (there were two of us, I think), I was the token “Indian consultant.” Don’t even get me started on how problematic that was in and of itself. But then, part of the class was to show us examples of art and culture from those countries, so this teacher showed us a commercial from India about washers (or maybe detergent?) and it was this cheesy, stereotypical advertisement that honestly looked like it was pulled from some site meant explicitly to make fun of other cultures. Everyone in the classroom was laughing, and I was furious. How is this the one thing, from ALL of Bollywood and India, that you choose to show people to teach them about my culture? It was incredibly offensive, and I vocalized that, but as the token brown person sharing something contrary to racist people’s confirmation bias agendas, I was dismissed. This warped and unfair portrayal of my culture only makes me wonder at what I’ve been taught about other cultures.

Yes, I’m passionate about this topic from a “social justice” perspective. But, what does it really matter, correct? Bollywood markets itself in this way to the Western audience, and makes its sales based on these stereotyped notions of “exoticism.” So, if it sells, why change it? While that argument makes sense, it also doesn’t. As a lover and appreciator of art, I feel that Bollywood films don’t get their due. Yes, the movies that typically appeal to mass audiences are those that fit the stereotypical “Bollywood genre,” if you will. But, there’s much more to the industry, and to discredit the industry as a kitschy, unsophisticated production house is to discredit those filmmakers and artists who work in this space and are producing important, impactful movies.

There will always be ups and downs in every industry. There will always be the Haagen-Das and the Dairy Queen of ice cream — that’s just how it goes.