Culture
Bollywood vs Hollywood: How Indian and American Movies Differ
Songs, intermissions, three-hour running times and family at the center — what makes Indian films so different from Hollywood, and why audiences worldwide love them.
Songs are part of the story
In most Hollywood films, songs play in the background. In Bollywood, songs are where feelings are spoken out loud: falling in love, missing home, celebrating a wedding. Soundtracks are released before the film and often become the year's most popular music in India.
Playback singers record the songs and actors perform them on screen. Singers such as Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar became as famous as the stars themselves.
The key differences
- Length: many Indian films run 2.5 to 3 hours; most Hollywood films run about 2 hours.
- Intermission: Indian films are often written with an 'interval' and a cliffhanger in the middle.
- Genre: Hollywood usually sticks to one genre; Indian films happily mix romance, comedy, action and drama.
- Family: parents, siblings and grandparents are often at the heart of Indian stories, which celebrate love and duty together.
- Volume: India makes far more films each year than the United States, across many languages.
- Audience: Indian cinema-going is lively — people cheer, whistle and sing along.
Learning from each other
Hollywood has embraced Indian talent — A. R. Rahman won two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire, Priyanka Chopra led an American TV series, and RRR won an Oscar for 'Naatu Naatu'. Indian filmmakers, meanwhile, have adopted Hollywood-style visual effects and tighter running times. The result is a golden age for Indian cinema on the world stage.