Oct 22, 2020

Bollywood Musicals vs. Hollywood Musicals

(Photo from Wix)

The difference between Bollywood and Hollywood has always been great due to the different cultures that are present in both the East and the West. While most Hollywood films are non-musical, most Bollywood films are musicals. However, today's topic is about the difference between Bollywood musicals and Hollywood musicals.

(Photo from Wix)

For many Western audiences, Bollywood is a film industry that they don't really understand. Practically every one of its film genres is musicals that range from love stories to gritty action films. It's not surprising that some people feel overwhelmed with all the musical numbers throughout the film, plus most Bollywood films are longer. Not to mention that there are many times Bollywood films break the rules that Hollywood films have. However, both Bollywood and Hollywood films have really memorable moments that cause people to stop and enjoy the music and storyline.

(Photo from Wix)

One of the biggest differences between Bollywood and Hollywood musicals are the singers.

In Hollywood it is expected that the actor or actress portraying a character in a film to also sing the songs in the musical numbers. In 1963, there was a big controversy in Hollywood when the non-singing actress Audrey Hepburn was chosen to portray Eliza Doolittle in the movie version of My Fair Lady instead of the original Broadway actress, the then little-known Julie Andrews.

The same cannot be said for Bollywood, where actors and actresses, although they do dance and act, regularly lip-sync to the songs that playback singers recorded for them. However, the great thing about the playback singer system is that Bollywood can hire people who are very talented actors and they don't have the limitation of finding adequate actors with great singing voices. While some people might find this as a bit unfair to the playback singers, the truth is that many of the playback singers like Lata Mangeshkar and the recently deceased S. P. Balasubrahmanyam have a large following in India and other places where people of Indian (from the Indian Subcontinent) descent are. In India, Bollywood actors and actresses like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Rani Mukerji and many more that have a large following and are celebrated for their acting and dancing skills.

While the average number of movie releases in Hollywood are around a 300-600 a year, while there are as many as 1,500-2,000 Bollywood movies released in the same period.

Here is a quick introduction to some of Bollywood's musical clips, if you are interested in more let us know.