Over the last few years the Hindi cinema produced by Bombay, Bollywood for short, seems to have come of age. With a far greater slickness in production values, with a visible presence in metros of the West, with talk of crossover films and crossover stars being the rage, and with the injection of unprecedented numbers of young directors and producers, Bollywood would seem set to conquer the world.
There is also celebration of a new kind of cinema, a neo-real cinema that feels confident of breaking away from the old formula, from old song-and-dance routines to newer films like Black, Rang de Basanti and Bunty Aur Babli, new both in their themes and treatment. But in this turning away from formula, Bollywood is also rejecting something that had once made it so universally popular, from Bombay to Padrauna, from Kathmandu to Indonesia, from Egypt to China. By eschewing the underdog and celebrating the 'real Indian', it is also creating – as well as pandering to – a new kind of India, one that celebrates itself, its money and its greatness.
Over the last half-decade, Bombay cinema has discovered a new sense of professionalism. Producers are turning into conglomerates with multiple productions – witness the way that director Subhash Ghai has transformed Mukta Arts from being the provider of occasional mega movies into a company that turns out a number of smaller productions. The most successful examples of this trend are producer Ram Gopal Verma's 'The Factory' and Yash Chopra's 'Yash Raj Films'. In the case of the latter, film production has now been subsumed under a whole variety of ancillary activities, such as distribution, music production and publicity. The industry greats have consolidated their holdings, and the older stars are now a part of a conglomeration where their families play a greater role than ever. Indeed, with ten or so families commanding 80 percent of the Bollywood industry, the family matters to Bollywood as never before (see box).
Along with the greater family-based control, there is also a new corporatisation, as an incipient studio system emerges. Producers are now venturing into film distribution and music production; exhibitors such as IMax and Adlabs are moving into production; and music companies and television-software makers such as UTV are making films (they produced Rang de Basanti). Producers are hiring whole teams of writers, directors and technicians, and in-house studios and production facilities are creating a one-stop shop for the entire filmmaking process. Market surveys, research and payments by cheques are becoming the norm in the industry. Even as this consolidation bars outsiders, however, the success of the new 'small film' opens doors for new entrants. In particular, the multiplex phenomenon has created the space for 'niche' films – those made for a targeted audience in the metros – which allows many more first-timers to essay their luck. To an inordinate extent, the industry is now dominated by Delhi-wallahs – products of a convent education, trained at mass-communication or film institutes, managers, technicians and writers who understand and speak the language of business, who talk about dividends and returns and product placement.