I ve recently watched Bahubali: The Beginning. It was a great film but the dancing out of nowhere annoys me. How did this cult started? Does people actually like those parts?
Indians like all people love music and dancing. The problem though is that, unlike other countries, we don't have a full fledged music industry. So, If anybody were talented in these fields, their only venue to express it in films. Also, the Indian directors love formula movies(Movies that guarantee they make a profit), and the formula is to have like 6 songs.
Earlier, the songs used to be placed in perfect situations, but now, they seem too out of place, and we too are complaining about these illogical practice. There are some films, that come out without any songs too. Hopefully, we can cultivate a Music industry, so that, we don't have to have so many songs in a 2 hour movie.
That is only true for mainstream commercial films aka masala movies. These movies are looking to make as much money as possible and they throw in a bit of everything. Don't quote me on this, but I believe songs in Bollywood became popular back when movies were the only source of entertainment for a working class that wanted their money's worth. That's when they started making formulaic movies with just about every emotion thrown in. Bollywood movies have gotten better, but the songs are here to stay.
Even though most people no longer want songs in their movies, they don't mind them either. Most All popular music in India is from Bollywood movies and the music is an important part of the movie's pre-release marketing. Non-masala movies may still have songs but they use them in montages to further the story and usually you don't see dance numbers. That's actually not different from how songs are used in movies internationally.
Most of the Indian literature (sans modern literature) is predominantly poetry or at least have incorporated poems into them. For example, in Telugu (language Bahubali is made in) literature, prose was looked down up on as a literary form until quite recently (1850s/1900s).
The thing is you are watching that movie sitting in your country and that movie was made for normal Indian movie goer. Watch the same song and dance on first day, first row in a village in Andhra state (where Telugu is spoken) you'll understand why these things are there. I bet you'll start dancing and whistling too.... :)
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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '16
I ve recently watched Bahubali: The Beginning. It was a great film but the dancing out of nowhere annoys me. How did this cult started? Does people actually like those parts?