Attributes and Traits of Bollywood Acting and Film

Though I have already prepared to write my review for Dhoom 2: Back in Action (gotta get these standards out of the way. Still it seems a bit trite to even consider writing about Kal Ho Naa Ho), I think it would be a much better idea to introduce the main characteristics of Bollywood movies, before we get ahead of ourselves with films. Why will I again make you read something that isn't a review? It is important to keep in mind when watching and critiquing "bollies" that they need to be judged on a completely different set of standards. There are some things in Bollywood that are considered of high value-- traits that may be worthless in other film genres, such as being able to sucessfully kiss a girls neck and not make it look like it's the millionth time doing it in your 10-year career. So let's go over some.

Before we get into the aspects of acting, lets go over plot stuff first:

- ALWAYS add some twist. There has got to be a twist or it's not Bolly, that is like the BIG thing. I mean, maybe I have watched one where there wasn't a twist, but let's get serious folks. What would Kuch Kuch Hota Hai be if Kajol was still in love with Shahrukh Khan? What would Race (as godawful as it was) be if...ok, I can't even begin to count the twists in this movie.

A NOTE ON RACE

I would seriously advise you to not watch this movie until you're somewhat versed in the genre, or else your head just might explode. There are something like 20-30 major plot twists, which can be handled, though with some difficulty, by a more seasoned bollywood afficionado, but I would leave it up to those folks. I saw this gem in a theatre, and I seriously pissed my pants. No joke, the attendant guy had to clean it and everything.

Well not really, but seriously, Race was ridiculous. And DON'T STOP READING, I'M COMING BACK TO MY POINT, as insane as the plot might have seemed, it was a PERFECT Bollywood story, and followed all the main attributes to a T. That's the thing about Bollywood-- the movies can be unbelievably farfetched and ludicrous, but...that's kind of the point.

-There obviously should be music and dance. I've only seen one movie that didn't have dance and song, which featured the 2008 Filmfare Best Actor award winner, Shahrukh Khan-- Chak De! India. However, even this movie had music, and the title track was a big radio hit in 2007. So does that mean there are no serious movies? Heck no. Taare Zameen Par, last year's Filmfare Best Movie award winner, was a story about a little boy with autism who is helped by a sensitive teacher. There wasn't even a love story. I guess there wasn't really too much dance either, but two of the songs went on to get a good deal of radio time. There is a growing art house film industry, and these movies for the most part do not feature music and choreography, but that's not BOLLYWOOD. Another thing about these dance sequences--if it's a club scene or a scene with more people than just the hero and the heroine, then the back up dancers will usually not be Indian. If the scene is kind of sexy, then the girls will all be white specifically. See the title track of Heyy Babyy and "Dard-E-Disco".

-Most of the time there will be a love story, even if it's not the main plot of the movie. If you're lucky, a good B-wood will have 2 or 3, usually involving the plot's twists. This is not a Bollywood must, but it certainly adds to the other musts-- how great is a choreographed love song? Or a love triangle? The love triangle is a standard bollywood plot trait, and these days is a bit trite, but it still sells. The two major forms are:

1) Two parties in love with the third party is secretly in love with one of the first two

2) One party is in love with the second party, who is in love with a third party

The first form is usually found in stories about a married couple and then a new character or a friend from the past comes into the story. The second form is very common is stories about friends who develop a love throughout the story.

-Just as important as this plot point is for the overall genre effect, is the outcome of the love story. A major difference between Bollywood and other genres, is that in a bollywood plot, the couple that are "meant to be" rarely wind up with eachother, and the already married or arranged to be married couple usually stay together. You will see this in Devdas and Kal Ho Naa Ho. I think this attribute is reflective of the overall emphasis that Indian society puts on marriage, and the preservation of marriage. Not just anyone can get married, not even if they've been best friends all their lives or are crazy about eachother. The stars determine who should marry. There are of course exceptions to this rule, where the "meant to be" duo get together and the third party is out of luck. I am thinking of Kabhi Alvidaa Naa Kehna and Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham. But then of course there is Namastey, London, where both plots occur, thus involving the necessary plot twist.

-So that all being said, it should be clear that unlike American movies especially, we don't see in Bollywood that justice is always served. Sometimes the wrong guy will get killed, and he will be a hero; sometimes we see the right guy get killed, but the hero's girlfriend is also killed or something. So overall, I think it's safe to say that most endings try to preserve some bittersweetness. Even if you do get the fairytale ending that you wanted from the beginning of the story, it will usually come with some sacrifices, like an estranged family or something. That is usually consistent through most movies.

I guess that's most of the consistencies of Bollywood plot. The plots aren't always the same, but there are of course certain stock characters.

Uday Chopra

"The Bumbling Lackey"- Dhoom 2: Back in Action (Uday Chopra), Welcome (Anil Kapoor), Heyy Babyy (Ritesh Deshmukh)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

"The Virtuous Heroine"- Om Shanti Om (Deepika Padukone), Welcome (Katarina Kaif), Devdas (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan)

Kareena Kapoor

"The Offbeat Heroine"- Jab We Met (Kareena Kapoor), Bunty aur Babli (Rani Mukherjee), Sunday (Ayesha Takia)

Shahrukh Khan

"The Sensitive Hero"- Kal Ho Naa Ho (Shakrukh Khan), Jab We Met (Shahid Kapoor), Namastey London (Akshay Kumar)

Hrithik Roshan

"The Badass"- Dhoom 2 Back in Action (Hrithik Roshan), Don (Shahrukh Khan), Race (Saif Ali Khan)

Amitabh Bachchan

"The Hardass"- Mohabbatein (Amitabh Bachchan), Chak De! India (Shakrukh Khan), Kal Ho Naa Ho (Sushma Seth)

There are of course more stock characters, but these are the big ones pertaining to this genre.

As far as attributes of Bollywood acting go, they kind of go along with the stock character being played (the virtuous heroine would shudder when a man touches her while the offbeat heroine would smile or laugh). However for the most part the best male Bollywood performances I've seen are ones that find a perfect balance between unbearably corny and corny enough that it still qualifies for Bollywood. Shahrukh Khan is the master of this skill and that's one of the reasons why he's so damn famous (the other reason is because he is wicked good at kissing necks...since mouth kissing is not allowed in Bollywood film, and the actresses who do so are usually criticized, SRK, who has starred in a billion movies, has become somewhat of an expert on how to make a scene really steamy or romantic, but not involve any making out). Other actors are just not good at looking super vengeful when the camera zooms in, or good at falling into an embrace while crying in the rain-- I'm thinking Abhishekh Bachchan and Hritik Roshan. Someone who I found is WICKED good at this and is not really getting enough credit is Shahid Kapoor of Jab We Met. His staid nature is extremely refreshing with all the one-teared, giant-bicep-toting heroes of today's Bollywood that star in every movie, but his dedication to find a girl that he'd only known for a DAY kept me grounded to the fact that I was still watching a hindi movie.

There is a problem that I have with Bollywood and that is that none of the girls are good. Seriously, there are very, very few decent Bollywood actresses. Aishwarya gets by on her looks; Katarina Kaif can't dance if her life depended on it and can't even speak hindi; and these girls do not do any justice to women in film. The attitudes that they bring to their characters are ones that say "I'm so weak that you might as well just kill/rape/marry me without my consent". These girls don't bring any strength into their characters. Everything Aishwarya has done is a girl that deserves to be slapped back to conciousness; Kareena Kapoor seems to think that everyone knows that women are only good at being sluts so that's the kind of attitude her characters have (EXCEPTING JAB WE MET, SHE WAS REALLY GOOD IN THAT).

The only two women that I think are good at what they do are Kajol and Rani Mukherjee. Kajol was one of the big female players in the 90's, and she was the Julia Roberts to Shahrukh Khan's Richard Gere-- they did everything together. Directors soon realized after a few of their films that the audience LOVED their on-screen chemistry and they were soon slated to make like a billion movies together. Kajol was an ace at playing a sensitive woman, but one who still kept her dignity and never let her life get away from her. She was respectful, but she was able to do what she wanted because it was the right thing. I love Kajol. She was beautiful too. Unfortunately, she got married and stopped making movies as all Bollywood actresses do. That is why there's no good actresses-- none of them are able to act for long enough to get good, because they get married when they just start. The other actress I mentioned is Rani Mukherjee. In no way is she a Kajol, but she holds her own, and the strength and quirkiness she brings to her characters makes them look like they're actually worth something, and not some object for the plot to toss around.

Want to know what the real attributes are? Watch a movie already, you'll pick it up after 3 or 4 of them and then you'll never be able to watch a western movie again. The lack of constant heart-wrenching twists, silent, caught-in-the-rain moments, and testosterone driven dance sequences will make you really value the spirit of Bollywood.