INFLUENCE OF BOLLYWOOD MOVIES ON SOCIETY: A Long Journey from Reel to Real

Aashish Rajput Shrusti Patil

(17131090) (17131075)
Introduction

Movies nowadays leave a great impact on the minds of people. The effect of cinema on youth

can be easily observed. Not only can its effect be seen on the elders of rural and urban areas but

on the children as well. It cannot be said that all the films are corrupting youth. There are films

like “BAGHBAN” which was a family film and made us learn a lot .The current films are more

of action, thriller, romance, robbery etc. The youth tries to imitate each and everything which is

in the films and this reflects in their dressing style, their driving, their way of talking etc. The

people start imagining themselves in the story lines of those films. Girls and boys, especially in

the age of 15-21, are the easiest preys. The dialogues, the dressing style of the actor become the

latest trend for the youngsters. They try to imitate what all goes in films and without

understanding that some part of it might leave a negative impression on them. Knowingly or

unknowingly the films moulds the youth of today in one way or the other and effect of cinema on

youth can be seen widely. Even the youngsters in rural areas are so much affected by the movies,

that they place the heroes of the film in a very integrated part of their minds. They try to change

their lifestyle according to the films, starting from hairstyle, clothes, and dialogues and so on.

In the films today when the daily crimes, murders, robberies are shown some people take it in a

wrong way and they purposely learn how to commit such crimes. They learn the tricks and

tactics used for crimes in the films. In many films, stunts are being performed, the teenagers try

to copy such stunts on their bikes and cars which many a times lead to severe accidents. Also

now abuses are so common in almost all the films that even a kid of 10 years is able to speak

such abusive language knowingly or unknowingly. Harassment and rapes have increased because
of the free and western culture shown in films today. On the other hand, there are films like

“Rang De Basanti“, which is a wonderful film and films like “NAYAK“, are ideal lessons for

the politicians of this country. But this remains restricted only in the films whereas in the real

life, corruption is increasing day by day. There are family films which give such good morals to

the youth but the people just watch them, gets influenced for some time and forget the moral as

soon as the film gets over.

MOVIES AND THE ROLE THEY PLAY

There is no gain in saying that a movie does wield a tremendous influence in the society.

Children and the grown-ups are equally exposed to the dangers of the vulgarity and degrading

valued of cheap popular cinema, in the guise of entertainment.

Cinema has perhaps the greatest potential to be the most effective mass media instrument.

Besides proving cheap entertainment for masses, it can easily become a means of mass

instruction and mass education.

Cinema has certainly some clear advantages over other media. It combines primarily, both audio

and video and is thus very appealing to the eyes and the ears. With the development of colour

cinematography, and stereophonic sound, it is certainly one up on other media. The moral values

conveyed through the medium of cinema have a lasting effect on the audience. The audyience

also has a moral, emotional involvement in the course of events and the roles of various

characters, their language and style of speaking does leave an impression on the spectators.

The realization of this fact is, perhaps the reason for setting up a censor board which scrutinizes

all the scenes that are not likely to corrupt the wells of social morality. But this precaution could

not be of any significance today, when we are exposed to the internet where you can treat your
eyes to all possible vulgarity and mean, obscene and even pornographic films indiscriminately to

the young and the old alike.

Here are a few cases:

Negative-The use of cigarettes or smoking in movies has started to show its effects on the youth.

When biggies like Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham promoted it, teenagers were encouraged to

try it out and take it up as a ‘cool’ thing to do. A steady rise in the sale of cigarettes and underage

smoking has been noted. Then came the censorship of the smoking shots. But the damage was

already done. Same is the case with alcohol consumption; vividly seen through movies like

Devdas, Dev D and the likes. This somehow left a permanent mark on people’s minds that being

a slave to all these addictions is not wrong. Since our idols do it, why not we?

Positive – But it is not all a can of worms. There have been a fair amount of positive influences

too. Changing perspective is the main work done here. Movies like Rang de Basanti encouraged

people to take up things in their own hands. Taare Zameen Par and Three Idiots helped you to

accept what you are as you are. It showed you a way to believe in yourself.

In a changing world scenario, where the exposure to internet is growing at an alarming rate,

creating in the minds of the masses, especially children, a love for false values and vulgarity, one

should admit that influence of cinema might see a downfall. Nevertheless, its influence on

society cannot be altogether ruled out.

Movies have proved to be one of the best mediums of mass communication. You can escape in a

wonderland and forget your worries for those brief three hours or be shell-shocked when you see

the workings of terrorist operations or just get that good old feeling of being surrounded and

supported by your loved-ones.

They’re good, they’re bad but they do leave you thinking for a while.

Literature Review

Products of media culture provide materials out of which we forge our identities, our sense of

selfhood, our construction of ethnicity, race and nationality, of sexuality and of ‘us’ and ‘them’

(Dines, 2003) . The most powerful medium of communication in Indian society is commercial

Indian cinema (Butalia, 1984). Film and cinema are the most commonly used mass media to

communicate with the public. The fact that cinema is a mediator of social realities and personal

dreams, collective concerns and individual aspirations make it assume a seminal dimension as a

humanistic discourse which has the potential to redirect the cultural and material fabric of our

everyday lives (Jain, J. and Rai, S, 2002).

MONEY, MARKET AND MOVING BEYOND…

Bollywood has harnessed only a tiny part of the immense power of in-film branding.

Today’s concepts of marketing have undergone a huge change — it’s no longer plain vanilla

usage of mass communication tools. It’s no longer just about catching your audience when they

are reading a newspaper or a magazine, or watching a cricket match on TV, or listening to the

radio. It’s about engaging with your customers, and being able to make the brand relatable, given

a certain apt situation. (Dr. Meera Mathur & Dr. Shubham Goswami, 2002) In the movie Chalte

Chalte actor Shahrukh Khan acts as a truck driver, he uses Castrol CRB engine oil for his trucks

and also recommends it to other truck users. This is a kind of celebrity endorsement tool.

ICICI bank is featured in the movie Baghban. Amitabh Bachchan acts as an employee of this

bank this in-film placement was an added advantage because Amitabh is already its brand

ambassador. Passive placement along with additional triggers like contests, sample testing etc.

within the theatre environment can boost the brand awareness too. The advertising agency has an
opportunity to promote film and the brands associated with the film simultaneously, during the

pre and post release of the movie. The benefit of having association beyond in film placement is

to bring credibility to the story of the movie, bringing in the emotional value and transferring the

image of the end user (Dr. Meera Mathur & Dr. Shubham Goswami, 2002).

THE GENDER BUSNIESS

Gender and sexuality plays an integral role in Bollywood where the scopophilic pleasures of the

spectators are much catered for its wide viewership, creative appeal and transnational marketing.

Over the years, there occurred a wide variety of progressive advancements and technological

innovations in the Indian film industry. The initial years of the 21st century witnessed a considerable

increase in representations of the diasporic Indians and of the West in many movies. Though the

depiction of foreign locations and life in exile, such movies provide the diaspora a glimpse back into

their homeland which aids them cope with the sense of loss caused by dislocation from the culture

and tradition of the homeland.

As a cinema of displacement , diasporic cinema is characterised by a heightened sense

of spatial activity , a preponderance of liminal spaces and journeys of quest. The numerous

claustrophobic interiors and a predilection for locations on the urban periphery draw attention

to the social exclusion on marginalization experienced by the migrant or diasporic subjects in

the films. As a significant cultural marker and a pervasive cultural entity, Bollywood has a large

impact on all of its viewers, especially in the diaspora. The trend of portraying the second generation

and diasporic Indians as purely Westernized or perpetually nostalgic for a traditional

India must be altered so as to break down the binaries that separate India from the diasporic

(Georgy, 2019).
A moving tale of the heroic struggle of a common prostitute to break the shackles of the evil

environment within which she is condemned to live, it was again taking off from the point where

Barua had left his golden hearted prostitute, Chandramukhi in Devdas. The sentimentalized

Characterization of Barua is left behind for a stronger, hardened and more realistic

Portrayal. Like Chandramukhi, Kesar is doomed to lose, but she fights to the last,

Valiantly. Dahej (1950) made a statement on the evils of the dowry system. It showed

The struggle of a woman who fights for her rights in the face of the evil tradition of

Dowry. Sadhana (1958), directed by B.R. Chopra, was a bold attempt to show the

Human side of a woman on the outskits of society – a prostitute. Sahir Ludhianawi’s

lyrics were a candid comment on the exploitation of women. “Aurat ne janam diya

marodon ko, mardon ne use bazaar diya”, and “Suno ji tum kya kya kharidoge” are

heart-rending expressions of a woman caught in the vicious net of prostitution (Bandiwadekar,

2008).

PLAYING WITH RELIGION SENTIMENTS

Like other ethnic minorities, Sikhs have been conventionally represented in popular Hindi

cinema either as brave warriors or as uncouth rustics. In the nationalist text in which the

imagined subject was an urban North Indian, Hindu male, Sikh characters were displaced and

made to provide comic relief. Since the mid-1990s, Hindi filmmakers have genuflected to the

rising economic and political power of the Sikh diaspora through token inclusions of Sikhs.

Although 1990s films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) included attractive images of Sikhs,

Hindi cinema could introduce a Sikh protagonist only in the new millennium in Ghadar: Ek Prem

Katha (2001) and featured a turbaned Sikh as a protagonist only two decades later in the film

Singh is King (2009). Ever since the film became a super hit, top Bollywood stars such as
Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and even Rani Mukherjee have played Sikh

characters in films like Love Aaj Kal (2009), Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (2009) and Dil

Bole Hadippa (2009). Even though Bollywood stars have donned the turban to turn Sikh cool,

Sikhs view the representation of the community in Hindi cinema as demeaning and have

attempted to revive the Punjabi film industry as an attempt at authentic self-representation. This

paper examines images of Sikhs in new Bollywood films to inquire if the romanticization of

Sikhs as representing rustic authenticity is a clever marketing tactic used by the film industry to

capitalize on the increasing power of the Sikh diaspora or if it is an indulgence in diasporic

techno-nostalgia that converges on the Sikh body as the site for non-technologized rusticity. It

argues that despite the exoticization of Sikhs in the new Bollywood film, the Sikh subject

continues to be displaced in the Indian nation. (Roy, 2014)

Popular culture has always developed in response to a country’s political

situation. The production of a self-conscious and aggressive nationalism in Hindi

cinema recalls the idea of saving the nation by protecting the female body from

invaders or the ‘Other.’ As the ‘love-jihad’ campaign considers women as the

nation’s pride and the male members of the society as protectors of that honour, the

same ideology finds reflection in Bollywood as well, which is often used as a

platform to propagate contemporary political discourse. Popular culture through

films such as Padmaavat encourage women to uphold their honour even if it means

sacrificing their life to avoid being captured by the ‘Outsider.’ On the other hand

Jodhaa Akbar represents a one-sided assimilation of Muslim culture into Hindu

practices and showcased the cultural superiority of Hinduism. Most interestingly,

in both the films, the spiritual sphere, which was represented by women, was
protected from the ‘Others’ who happened to be ‘outsiders’ as well, sometimes by

portraying them as inferior or by vilifying the characters. By analyzing these two films, we can

infer that Bollywood has created a space for popular historical perceptions which have been

developed through a complicated process on interaction between academic history writing and

political ideology.

It is also re-emphasizing the narrative of how women can save the honor of our society

from outsiders, much in the same way as the concept of ‘love-jihad’ argues. We

find that Bollywood has contributed to the hegemonic Hindutva discourse through

multiple representations of the concept of the Hindu nation and Muslim minority

as a kind of Manichean rivalry (Khatun, 2018)

Year by year Indian cinema has continued patriotism in the hearts of Indian be it movies or be

its songs

NEW ERA: Rise of Social Issues

Today’s audience live a digitalised life, with social platforms, Web films – Amazon, Netflix,

Hotstar – media exposure, preference and choices. A sense of quality has seeped in and sab

chalta hai doesn’t chalo any more. Also, the new breed of directors, young men and women,

intelligently blend realism, engagement and entertainment with market forces, with story-telling

leading the way. This, they do with passion, purpose and perspective championing the slogan –

Small is the new big! More wind beneath their wings. (Lahiri, 2018)

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (Toilet: A Love Story) is a movie vividly sketching the current sanitation

situation in India, which is similar to many other southeast Asian countries. Nearly 600 million

of India's population do not have access to a toilet. The prime ministerial initiative, the Clean

India Mission by Narenda Modi, had a mixed response in many states where cultural dogma on
sanitation prevails. Entangled with the culture and tradition, people prefer to defecate in the

open. The religious impediment is even worse, and as a consequence eradication of open

defecation is challenging. (Bipin Adhikari, Shiva Raj Mishra, 2018)

Promoting TOURISM

Tourists generally happen to be in a film destination anyway, and film is one of many

reasons for the film site visit. Thus, for the vast majority of travelers, film-induced tourism tends

to be incidental or serendipitous. Finally, this article concluded that membership of the likely to

take a film-induced tourism holiday in the future group was most probable among respondents

who had taken a film-based holiday in the past and had high novelty and high personalization

motivations (Niki Macionis , Beverley Anne Sparks, 2009)

the impact that movies have had on increasing tourism to the locations mentioned. Furthermore,

it is noteworthy that the studies cited earlier show evidence of movie-induced tourism world-

wide in Asia, Europe, South America, and the UK. (Jose K Antony , Rashmi R, 2015)

INFLUENCING YOUTH

n almost every Hindi movie there are scenes of smoking and drinking alcohol that also

encourage many of the young people to adopt bad habits of smoking and drinking alcohol when

the young generation see their favourite actors endorsing alcohols and cigarettes and when they

see the big stars shaking their legs on the vulgar songs like; “whisky kaa peg laga ke party yunhi

chalegi” & “har bottle pe kehta hai yeh last hogi aaj ki”; they have no reason for why not to

follow those actors? (vikas, 2008)

Some exemplary movies like Rang De Basanti, 3 idiots, Iqbaal, Chak De and etc.,

have tremendously motivated the youth to bring improvement and good spirit in their
lives. The youth get highly motivated by good movies which have something worthy

and positive to show and serve to the mankind. (vikas, 2008)

Bollywood represents everything that is wrong in our society. It’s racist, plagued with

plagiarism, it demeans and objectifies women, relies more on the packaging than the product and

is constantly reminding the population to rely on white skin and a connected family, in the

absence of which, success is that bleak light existent in the Neverland. (Mohanty, 2017)

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