Bollywood vs Hollywood
Difference between Bollywood and Hollywood is very easy to understand. Bollywood and Hollywood are two words that are often used in a country like India. There is a lot of difference between the two words. Bollywood was an informal term when it was introduced whereas Hollywood is an original and formal term. This is one of the main differences between the two terms. It is evident that the term Bollywood was inspired by the term Hollywood. When at the beginning, Hollywood held more value. However, by the present day, both Bollywood and Hollywood carry great weight as both refer to the two most successful film industries in the world.
What is Hollywood?
Hollywood is the formal term used to refer to the American film industry or the American cinema in general. Hollywood is actually a neighborhood in Los Angeles in California. It is considered a center of movie stars and movie studios and also is famous as a cultural center.
Hollywood film industry is an amazing field. Every year it produces hundreds of interesting movies in a variety of genres such as action, fantasy, horror, thriller, drama, etc. By now, more and more Hollywood movies are using visual effects techniques very impressively. A normal Hollywood movie is less than two hours. There are exception such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit movies, which are more than two hours. From the number of movie awards held for Hollywood movies, Oscar Awards or the Academy Awards is the most prestigious.
When we look at Hollywood, the actual place, it is a physical place and is a district within the country. It is not characterized by its own municipal government. The chief official of Hollywood is the Mayor of Hollywood. The place occupies a total area of about 24. 96 square miles. It has a population of about 123, 435.
What is Bollywood?
The term Bollywood is used to denote the Hindi film world and industry. It is mainly based in the city of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra in India. It should be remembered that it refers only to a part of the India cinema, namely the Hindi cinema and not the whole of the Indian cinema, which also include Tamil films, Telugu films, etc. When introduced, Bollywood was known as an informal term as it was not accepted. However, by now it has been accepted as even the Oxford English dictionary contains the word Bollywood. Hindi cinema has been named Bollywood primarily because of the fact that English sentences are spoken here and there in the movies as part of the storyline. Dialogues contain English phrases quite often and sometimes whole sentences too.
It is interesting to note that name Bollywood is derived from Bombay the first name of Mumbai and Hollywood the center of American movies. The term Bollywood was coined sometime in the early 1970s. It was the period when India overtook America as the world’s largest producer of movies. Scholars have felt that there would have been several influences for Bollywood. Some of the influences for Bollywood include ancient Sanskrit drama, ancient Indian epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Parsi theater, the traditional folk theater of India and of course Hollywood.
A bollywood movie is typically between two to three hours. Also, they contain songs, which is not a feature in Hollywood movies unless you are watching a musical. Bollywood industry too is beginning to use more and more technological aspects in movies such as visual effects. Year 2013 marked the 100th anniversary of Bollywood movie industry. The period from 1940 – 1960 is known as the Golden Age of Indian Cinema as Hindi cinema flourished during that period. The most popular genres of Bollywood movies are romance and action.
It is no hyperbole that Bollywood has been influencing the music world pertaining to the western world too. This is because of the fact that several Indian film music composers have influenced the musicians worldwide. Unlike Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as a place.
What is the difference between Bollywood and Hollywood?
• The term Bollywood is used to denote the Hindi film world and industry. That means it is not used to refer to whole of Indian cinema.
• Hollywood is the formal term used to refer to the American film industry or the American cinema in general.
• While Hollywood is actually a neighborhood in Los Angeles in California, there is no actual place as Bollywood in the world. This is the main difference between Bollywood and Hollywood.
• Bollywood was a name inspired by the term Hollywood.
• Both Bollywood and Hollywood are by now two most successful film industries in the world.
Images Courtesy:
- Hollywood by Sörn (CC BY-SA 2.0)
