Bollywood & Hollywood rule hearts of billions of movie-buffs worldwide. Bollywood is a casual term for Indian cinema based in Mumbai, Maharashtra whereas Hollywood is a place named in Los Angles, United States and the headquarters of the American film Industry. Despite various similarities both the movie industries draw their inspiration from varied sources, which provide basic ideas for commencing with a celluloid venture.
Earlier the Bollywood Competition was amongst the Big Budget Films VS The Small Budget Films fighting for a greater number of screens and the Khans were trying to outdo each other with their 100 Crore and 200 Crore Films. But now the competition has increased tremendously since Hollywood has taken over the Film Industry.
Bollywood has started losing its sleep over the fact that the Indian cinema-goers have started opting for Hollywood films over the domestic releases. And the trend is only gaining momentum.
Spiderman 3, Avengers Age of Ultron, Avatar, Jurassic World, Furious 7 and 2012 have made over 100 crores. Each of these films has released in less than 1500 screens initially. With audience interest picking up swiftly, exhibitors across India have added the number of screens showing these films- either in English, with subtitles or in dubbed Hindi and regional versions. Their strongest appeal is word of mouth positive publicity from viewers.
Avengers Infinity War has grossed over Rs.246 crores in less than a fortnight since it’s release. Seasoned trade analyst Taran Adarsh, calling the film a ‘marvel’ in the Indian box office, has reiterated that it’s unprecedented success sets a new benchmark for Hollywood films and their increasing reach with Indian audiences. Having released in just 2000 screens, which is about half as wide as a big Hindi film, this Marvel superhero spectacle is easily set to be the biggest Hollywood film in India ever, beating Jungle Book and Avatar. Prior to this one, Jungle Book, Disney’s innovative animation meets live-action film made an approximate 188 crores gross in 2016.
Until a few years ago, Hollywood was considered as a niche market in India, but the scenario has changed drastically in the past couple of years. The superhero films, along with other franchise films, are starting to make a strong foothold in the domestic markets. With the increasing number of multiplexes in smaller cities, the audience is getting exposed to these films. To get connected with the masses, the studios are now engaging popular Bollywood actors to dub for the Hindi version.
Varun Dhawan recently dubbed for Captain America : Civil War and many Bollywood stars including Priyanka Chopra & Om Puri dubbed for The Jungle Book, which has set new benchmarks in the Indian market.
With the release of major franchise films which also include superhero films, the Indian market is getting affected on a large scale. Also, it’s not just the graphics that are attracting the movie-goers, the hunt for a good story continues whenever we watch a film and unfortunately in the past few months, Hollywood has managed to offer good content and the audience is starting to recognize that.
