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Why does every Bollywood movie have an unrelated dance and song number?

Posted on 1/11/15 at 2:40 pm
Posted by LeonPhelps
Member since May 2008
8185 posts
Posted on 1/11/15 at 2:40 pm
Even in the most unlikely movies like Slumdog Millionaire. I enjoyed the first Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but the trailer for the second shows an elaborate song and dance scene. Why is this necessary?

I read this on Wikipedia but it did not explain the why of it.

quote:

Bollywood films have always used what are now called "item numbers". A physically attractive female character (the "item girl"), often completely unrelated to the main cast and plot of the film, performs a catchy song and dance number in the film. In older films, the "item number" may be performed by a courtesan (tawaif) dancing for a rich client or as part of a cabaret show.
Posted by Teddy Ruxpin
Member since Oct 2006
39578 posts
Posted on 1/11/15 at 5:29 pm to
No idea. I think it's just become tradition. They don't do it in really serious movies.

But if you ever get the chance you must go see a Bollywood movie in India. It's a great time. Saw one in this theater. Huge and everyone is in to it, but not in an annoying way.




This post was edited on 1/11/15 at 5:32 pm
Posted by diat150
Louisiana
Member since Jun 2005
43535 posts
Posted on 1/11/15 at 5:31 pm to
because it gives them an opportunity to show off a sexy indian woman. enjoy.

LINK
Posted by LeonPhelps
Member since May 2008
8185 posts
Posted on 1/11/15 at 11:02 pm to
That's cool. I doubt I ever make it to India. I cannot imagine why I would ever go there unless it is for business, which still seems like a very big long shot.
Posted by SystemsGo
Member since Oct 2014
2774 posts
Posted on 1/11/15 at 11:17 pm to
Because the bollywood equivalent of the MPAA wouldn't take kindly to a porn scene involving an attractive female unrelated to the movie, so they take what they can get.


I should also note:
1. Bollywood actresses are so smoking hot.
2. There actually should be random porn scenes in movies. I think so, and Dennis Reynolds thinks so too. Crime and full penetration.
Posted by randomways
North Carolina
Member since Aug 2013
12988 posts
Posted on 1/11/15 at 11:22 pm to
Drama (as in dramatic rendition, not the genre) develops differently in different cultures. Not every culture develops drama as English-speaking cultures did (and even in England during the Middle Ages, various types of drama were highly stylized. You could travel across England attending passion plays, for instance, and pretty much know exactly what to expect in terms of characters and symbolism.) There are any number of other examples: Greek chorus style of, well, Greece (strophe, antistrophe, and epode of Grecian tragedy); kabuki from Japan, which is extremely stylized in performance, dance, and make-up (the modern ninja, for instance, came from kabuki using dressing ninjas in that fashion, after the dress of stage workers, to indicate that they 'weren't visible' even when the audience could clearly see them.) Central African cultures make extensive use of iconized masquerade. And so forth. Why Indian drama evolved like that is less important than the fact that it performs the function of a cultural touchstone. The very fact that you can identify a Bollywood production thusly allows Bollywood maintain a certain hermetic fidelity within the context of Indian culture. It doesn't appeal to most Westerners, granted, but, then, is it really all that different from the convention of a character in a musical singing about his or her feelings while every other character pretends not to hear it?
Posted by SystemsGo
Member since Oct 2014
2774 posts
Posted on 1/11/15 at 11:53 pm to
quote:

Drama (as in dramatic rendition, not the genre) develops differently in different cultures. Not every culture develops drama as English-speaking cultures did (and even in England during the Middle Ages, various types of drama were highly stylized. You could travel across England attending passion plays, for instance, and pretty much know exactly what to expect in terms of characters and symbolism.) There are any number of other examples: Greek chorus style of, well, Greece (strophe, antistrophe, and epode of Grecian tragedy); kabuki from Japan, which is extremely stylized in performance, dance, and make-up (the modern ninja, for instance, came from kabuki using dressing ninjas in that fashion, after the dress of stage workers, to indicate that they 'weren't visible' even when the audience could clearly see them.) Central African cultures make extensive use of iconized masquerade. And so forth. Why Indian drama evolved like that is less important than the fact that it performs the function of a cultural touchstone. The very fact that you can identify a Bollywood production thusly allows Bollywood maintain a certain hermetic fidelity within the context of Indian culture. It doesn't appeal to most Westerners, granted, but, then, is it really all that different from the convention of a character in a musical singing about his or her feelings while every other character pretends not to hear it?


I hate musicals.
Posted by Fewer Kilometers
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2007
36040 posts
Posted on 1/12/15 at 12:16 am to
There's some controversy in Asia over the Bollywood trend to cast light-skinned actresses. It's gotten to the point where they're casting actresses from South America and other places to portray Asian woman.

And, FWIW, the AMC theaters in Baton Rouge often have a Bollywood film showing. Very few people in the audience and they're pretty entertaining.
Posted by ReauxlTide222
St. Petersburg
Member since Nov 2010
83459 posts
Posted on 1/12/15 at 2:17 am to
I don't remember what started this trend, but my buddy and I watched nothing but Japanese and Bollywood movies for a few months. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd enjoy Bollywood films as much as I do.
Posted by dallastiger55
Jennings, LA
Member since Jan 2010
27702 posts
Posted on 1/12/15 at 6:13 am to
i don't know but its pretty gay

that's why I try not to watch Bollywood movies
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