Bollywood Embraces Kazaa Movie Downloads 522
MaximusTheGreat writes "While Hollywood tries to debate how to tackle P2P movie downloads, Bollywood the world's largest film industry has decided to embrace it. This could usher in a new era of legal movie downloads like iTunes for music, as Bollywood, the Indian film industry produces 1000 movies a year and outstrips hollywood by almost 3:1. Theaters worldwide sold some 3.6 billion tickets to Bollywood films last year, compared with Hollywood's 2.6 billion. In revenue terms Bollywood is already larger than the British, Hong Kong, Japanese and Italian movie industry and is growing at a very fast rate."
No kidding, Spanky. (Score:5, Funny)
Hollywood has been slow to embrace downloads
Understatement of the year.
Here Here! (Score:2)
Re:Here Here! (Score:3, Funny)
The most greivously understated comment of the year is:
a) Hollywood has been slow to embrace downloads
b) You own SCo $699.
c)
d)
e) Profit!
f)
etc.
I've attempted the comment, I'm afraid someone else will have to supply the humor.
Re:No kidding, Spanky. (Score:3, Funny)
Understatement of the year.
Maybe ther's still using dial-up...
Re:Hollywood has been slow to embrace downloads (Score:3, Insightful)
BTW, is anyone interested in setting up (a few thousand bucks investment needed) a commercial download service for public domain films (i.e. everything released before 1973)? There are places on this planet (like Russia), where copy
Bollywood movies are terrible, though. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Bollywood movies are terrible, though. (Score:3, Informative)
They don't get ripped off to watch movies though (Score:3)
Perhaps that's because the developing world doesn't get ripped off for TEN DOLLARS or more to watch a fucking ninety minute movie.
Most of us work jobs that pay a livable salary per year. Well, that's how they look at musicians, actors, etc.. they're all just doing a job, and not creaming off $20 million a picture.. this means ticket prices are lower and everyone can go enjoy the flick.
Re:Bollywood movies are terrible, though. (Score:5, Funny)
and hollywood doesn't make trash? man, i've got three words for you:
Re:Bollywood movies are terrible, though. (Score:4, Informative)
There are a number of great Indian filmmakers - of course, there was Satyajit Ray, one of the greatest filmmakers ever - but they don't enjoy the same beneficial relationship with Bollywood that American independents have with Hollywood.
Re:Bollywood movies are terrible, though. (Score:3, Insightful)
The Bollywood industry doesn't produce classics, or certaily have failed to export them (although a small film maker like Ray managed it). Out of thousands and thousands of movies, how many do you know? And yet, I imagine you could name some French, Australian, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese movie
C'mon you KNOW you were thinking of this.... (Score:5, Funny)
That screwy, ballyhooey Bollywood!
Where any office boy
Or young mechanic
can be a panic
With just a good-looking pan
And any barmaid
Can be a star maid
If she dances with or without a fan
Hooray for Bollywood!
Where you're terrific
if you're even good!
Where anyone at all from Shirley Temple
to Aimee Semple
is equally understood
Come on and try your luck
You could be Donald Duck
Hooray for Bollywood!
Hooray for Bollywood!
That phony, super Coney, Bollywood
They come from Chilicothes and Padukahs
with their bazookas
To see their names up in lights
All armed with photos
From local rotos
With their hair in curlers
and legs in tights
Hooray for Bollywood!
You may be homely in your neighborhood.
Still, if you think that you can be an actor
See Mister Factor
He'd make a monkey look good!
Within a half an hour
You'll look like Tyrone Power
Hooray for Bollywood!
Re:C'mon you KNOW you were thinking of this.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:C'mon you KNOW you were thinking of this.... (Score:5, Funny)
But... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:But... (Score:2)
Re:But... (Score:2)
Bollywood (Score:5, Insightful)
my roommate in college (Score:3, Interesting)
2 boys, separated at birth, fall in love with the same woman, except one is rich/ powerful/ a cop and the other is poor/ a farmer/ a thief... they fight each other for the woman, and there is much singing and dancing throughout
he said that is basically every movie made in bollywood
Re:my roommate in college (Score:4, Informative)
Where are the testosteroned rivals, here ?
it was a joke (Score:5, Insightful)
but an indian can make fun of his nation's movie industry if he wants to, just like americans like to say hollywood is too liberal/ too gun crazy, when the truth is of course more complex
Re:it was a joke (Score:2)
as a natural born citizen of the US, I think it's pretty safe for me to say that no it's not more complex, and that in fact, hollywood actually IS gun crazy.
If you define "liberal" as "lots of boobs and sex", then yes, hollywood is too liberal as well.
the outdated stereotype of liberals in hollywood (Score:5, Insightful)
so it's a contraction i was trying to show: either hollywood is too liberal in which case there are no war movies, all problems are solved without violence, and no one carries a gun (not true at all), or it isn't liberal
so hollywood clearly is not liberal
hollywood is what it is: an industry maximized to project to americans what they want to see, so whatever you call hollywood is twisting the truth of what it is
you cannot blame hollywood for sex and violence in their films, you have to blame the amercian public: that's what they want to see, they vote with their pocketbooks
hollywood makes movies to make money, not political statements
you can't move into hollywood, change how it works, and suddenly change humanity. humanity is in control of hollywood through their pocket books, not vice versa.
but certain segments of society think they can control hollywood and therefore change ugly sides of humanity, because they think that hollywood is somehow in control of what people think. that's a logical fallacy of not understanding how the cause and effect relationship between the movie and the audience actually works.
conservatives complaing about the liberal media went out of vogue as soon as fox news grabbed ratings, so your complaint against "liberal" hollywood is outdated and contrived
Re:it was a joke (Score:3, Interesting)
Er, have to disagree with you there, in the strongest possible terms, I'm afraid. If you're talking about mainstream Hollywood films, then I'm constantly shocked at the lack of "boobs and sex" in them, compared to, say, European, or even British, Cinema. I think it's getting worse, too. I'm sure that there used to be more nudity in hollywood films, say fifteen years ago. This is a worrying trend. Violence is ge
Re:it was a joke (Score:4, Insightful)
Tired of the lack of decent domestic films, I've recently filled my Nexflix queue with foreign films. Apropos, just last night, my wife and I watched Sex and Lucia [imdb.com]. We saw the unrated version, but had it been rated, I'm pretty sure it would have received a "X" rating in the US. I have no idea what rating it had in its country of origin (Spain?), but I imagine it would have been equivalent to the US's "R" rating. Having lived in Germany for a year in my youth, I know that Europeans have a much more balanced view of sexuality than most Americans.
The point is that while there was plenty of nudity and "graphic" sex (by US movie standards), it was presented so matter-of-factly, that it blended perfectly within the context of the film. Let's face it, people have sex, and they walk around naked (at times). In a US film, every furtive (or gratuitous) breast shot or sex scene is presented in such an eye-popping, oogling fashion, that you'd think such events were somehow not normal.
The filming was top-notch, and the story was quite the mind-bender. I highly recommend it. I just hope the rest of my non-domestic film rentals prove to be of such quality. BTW, can anyone recommend good films from Central and South America?
Re:it was a joke (Score:3, Informative)
That was its country of origin, no idea about the rating. In France (where I saw it) it was rated for age 12 and above. I suspect that was because of the violence and psychological stuff, not the nudity. "Eyes wide shut" had no restriction at all. In general, o
Re:it was a joke (Score:3, Informative)
Certification: Argentina:16 / Australia:R / Canada:R / Finland:K-15 / France:-12 / Germany:16 / Hong Kong:III / Italy:VM18 / Netherlands:16 / Norway:15 / Peru:18 / Spain:18 / Sweden:15 / Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) / UK:18 / USA:NC-17 (uncut version) / USA:R (cut version)
Quite a few countries rate the movie as R or 18 (the equivalent of R in most cases).
Re:it was a joke (Score:3, Informative)
I wish they did. It's ridiculous to say Bollywood has only 1 plot. Maybe, a second one accidently gets in here and there. (j/k)
Seriously, Bollywood movies suffer being built from a very limited number of templates. That's true in Hollywood only for those family feel-good goofy comedies and mindless action movies (but not ALL action movies suffer from this). Bollywood also suffers from ridiculous melodrama and absurd plot contrivances. Again, this prob
Re:my roommate in college (Score:2)
And it's rubbish, anyway.
If you want to see a good British-film-with-Indians-in-it, check out "East is East".
Re:my roommate in college (Score:5, Funny)
Re:my roommate in college (Score:3, Informative)
Well, he's wrong :-)
If I were to list my all-time favourite top-five films, it would include one from Bollywood: Lagaan, whose plot (apart from the singing and dancing) doesn't look anything like what you describe. And FWIW, the tunes are simply wonderful. It's the best soundtrack I have.
It is, of course, true that Bollywood makes a lot of what Westerners would think of as junk. But then, so does Hollywood.
It will be really interes
it was a joke (Score:2)
but it wasn't meant for you to draw some stupid ignorant racist conclusion
consider yourself a provincial backwoods hick on a global cosmopolitan website
then maybe you can adjust your opinions accordingly before you post
Re:it was a joke (Score:2)
Everybody on Slashdot is a "provincial backwoods hick on a global cosmopolitan website". That's what makes it so much fun to read.
And by the point of view of the global cosmopolitan community in general, everybody in the computer/technical/engineering professions are provincial backwoods hicks.
the irony of the "anonymous coward" (Score:2)
Last I recall, Slashdot isn't a post-only-when-circletimessquare-thinks-you-can-p o st site. So I can say pretty much whatever I want. And what I've said earlier has a ring of truth in it.
of course slashdot has nothing to do with what i think should be posted or not... maybe your paranoia is tricking you into thinking i have more power than i actually do? maybe that is why you are an
Not gonna work... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not gonna work... (Score:2)
Outsourcing (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Outsourcing (Score:2)
Lets just say that if a producer in the US has a movie to make, India is probably the LAST place he's going to look to shoot it...
They've done what? (Score:3, Interesting)
Either way, it IS a good step, and great news.
Damon,
Re:They've done what? (Score:2)
Their movies are kind of thrown together...mostly stuff that wouldn't even make a TeeVee movie here...
The truth is, if any of their movies were half-way decent, we would be seeing Dubs and Subs of them available in stores, like we do with Chinese and Japanese films...
Bollywood (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bollywood (Score:2)
-fren
*Sigh* (Score:2, Funny)
Just when we thought the typos and lack of editing on slashdot couldn't get any worse, we get 'Bollywood' in the title. This is a sad, sad day for slashdot. (Note I did not RTFBlurb before posting.)
programmed to self-destruct? (Score:2)
Now... (Score:5, Funny)
Bad plots (Score:2, Interesting)
99% of the stories in Bollywood have this same plot line and seriously, it's amazing they chalk up 3.6 billion tickets.
Re:Bad plots (Score:4, Informative)
S
Re:Bad plots (Score:5, Insightful)
1. EXPLOSION!
2. GUN FIGHT!
3. Advertisement
4. EXPLOSION!
5. GUN FIGHT!
Re:Bad plots (Score:2, Insightful)
Obviously, most of these were already explored by the ancient Greeks. Most likely even before that.
If we were to apply this outline to, say, the first Matrix movie, we'll get:
1. Neo meets Trinity
2. There's nothing going on at first (apparently)
3. Trinity remembers (or considers, or whatever) what the Oracle
goodness gracious me! (Score:4, Insightful)
For those of you not familiar with Bollywood flicks, you kind of have to watch them in a similar way you watch Hong Kong kung-fu flicks. You have similar cheeziness factors, recurring themes (boy meets/loses girl and singing and dancing in one, "you killed my father..." and fighting in the other), and so on. It's good fun actually...
Re:goodness gracious me! (Score:3)
Hallo! My name is Sandeep Montoya! You killed my father... prepare to SING!
Re:i can tell that you are from the UK (Score:2)
I'm a Yank but have been living in Europe for 10 of the last 11 years.
But I know why you thought I was from the UK ;-)
Do demographics factor in? (Score:5, Insightful)
It almost seems as though Bollywood's perception is that their core Indian market won't be affected by offering the movies online-the original article quotes something like 1 million out of 1 billion people in India have Internet access. So from their point of view, putting movies online can't really parasitize their existing market because it isn't connected. So they can only win-even if somebody finds a way around any protection on the movies, it still can only increase their customer base to reach people they haven't been able to in the past. In other words, even if only 1 out of 100 people actually buy the movie rather than watch any cracked version, that's still 1 more customer than they would have had otherwise.
In contrast, Hollywood seems to perceive their customers as more connected Internet-wise, and so putting movies online will parasitize their existing market. Using the same 1 out of 100 people idea, Hollywood sees it as losing 99 rather than gaining 1.
I'm not saying either or both is right or wrong, it just seems to me to be a difference in how each sees their core market.Re:Do demographics factor in? (Score:3, Interesting)
For the lower class, movie tickets are dirt cheap. But this cheap ticket gets you standing room only, right in front of the screen, with thousands of other cheap ticket holders.
If you can afford it, expensive tickets land you a seat in the balcony, where you don't have to rub elbows with everyone else.
By this design, the movies are more of a soc
No. (Score:3, Informative)
The reality is that Bollywood earns far more from outside India than within. This is not just because all revenue is in dollars (and not rupees), but also because the government doesn't tax all that forex earnings. Besides, those homesick non-resi
This won't work (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not saying this is a bad idea...I'm just saying it won't work with Bollywood movies.
Only one problem (Score:5, Informative)
But on the other hand maybe movie distribution will become the killer app for broadband in India :)
How to cut costs in Bollywood? (Score:5, Funny)
The article is misleading. (Score:4, Informative)
This indicates revenue of a million a movie; that's a paltry sum which no American movie house would bother with.
"Bollywood's global annual revenues, estimated at $1.3 billion this year, are small change compared with Hollywood's $51 billion." --Business Week [businessweek.com]
This shoots down the other misdirection in the article. Sell all the tickets you want, Bollywood. You're still pulling less than 1/39th the cash that Hollywood takes in.
A lot of people watch these movies. I have seen a few. To a film, they were insipid. Do yourselves a favor and avoid the musicals at all costs.
But don't worry. They're not going to take over the film industry.
Missing the point (Score:2)
Re:The article is misleading. (Score:2)
I think the porno industry would probably not agree with that
Things You Would Never Know Without Indian Movies (Score:5, Funny)
Introducing Things You Would Never Know Without Watching Bollywood Movies
This is happening all over USA (Score:2)
Hollywood should be embracing the change, but they will not until it is too late. Hollywood needs t
Some indian movies can be really good... (Score:2)
Perhaps that's true for many of them, but in doing so you're painting them with the same sort of brush that people use against Anime - "Oh, it's all animation!! That's for kids" turns into "Oh, it's all about singing and boys and girls. I couldn't possibly enjoy that".
Yes almost all Bollywood movies seem to enjoy musical numbers. But that's part of the style. There are some movies that are really great - one example
I bet that they do well with this. (Score:3, Insightful)
Ever seen a Bollywood movie in a theater in the US?
Supply meets Demand and there are some people who like these movies here in the US where they can't (easily) see them in theaters.
I'm sure that lots of folks will take advantage if this if for no other reason than to have something from their culture for their children (born here) to watch.
Good luck to them!
Movie quality? (Score:2)
Finally someone understands (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is a thriving industry (The Indian and Pakistani film groups) offering their goods online to make them available to those who live in geographical areas that would not normally be accessible. It eliminates videotape piracy which is rampant in this marketplace and allows fans access to the content. Why have the Bollywood chiefs picked this up and the American and British Music Industry dropped the ball. Was it pressure from their distributors? Lack of knowledge of the internet? No method of micropayments?
I would really like to know why it took a hardware manufacturer to bring in a system of legal digital content delivery (Apple and iTunes).
It also is good to see one of the largest and most productive media producers embracing digital video distribution. This completely jumps the gun on Hollywood and leaves the North American producers playing catch-up.
Let's factor in... (Score:2)
Stupid trivial DRM (Score:2)
The file was programmed to self destruct after being viewed and could not be copied.
I'm sure that's going to be really effective. Go to suprnova.org and you can download a Hindi movie every couple of days.
What these morons never seem to realize is that trivial restrictions may work with 99% of the population but it only takes one person to circumvent it and upload it for everyone else.
Bullshit warning... (Score:2, Informative)
- The Film Ms and Mr. Iyer is not a bollywood movie (not a single song in it...) more a movie about Hindi/muslim differences see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329393 for IMDB info
- there is no price for best asian film at the Locarno film festival, this film got second prize from the youth jury...
my 2 words...Fantastic News (Score:3, Interesting)
And while we're at it get hollywood doing the same. Sunday I wanted to watch about schmidt but not badly enough to go to the video store. They have taken a few quid off me if I could have downloaded it there and then. P2P isn't at threat it's a distribution method. With or without DRM there are plenty of people willing to pay for the convenience of media downloads.
VCDs are still there... (Score:3, Informative)
On the quality of Bollywood movies (Score:2)
My point is that as (mostly) Westerners, we have a hard time understanding how anyone could like those movies, because our culture is so different. I'm sure they have a difficult time understanding why some of the most popular shows on TV now
Bollywood tips (Score:3, Insightful)
meh? (Score:2)
World's largest film industry? They make porn?
Bollywood Stats (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, Bollywood does not make 1000 movies a year. Indian film industry does make 1000 movies a year. The difference is that Bollywood (based in Mumbai earlier known as Bombay) is focussed primarily on Hindi movies. However, this constitutes maybe a third to a half of the 1000 movies a year. There are other languages / locations which make movies by the dozens and that make up the rest of the numbers. Most of the Southern states, which incidentally do not have Hindi as their primary language, have factories chruning regional language films. Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam and (I think) Kannada movies are made to the tune of 50-100 per year. There are other languages contributing a smaller share.
Irrespective of whether the movie is Hindi, or one of the regional movies, they all do have similar formulaes. 95% of the movies adopt romance / action formula, with maybe less than 5% movies trying to do something different.
However, Hindi movies are the ones which are known globally historically and people get the mis-impression that all Bollywood is Indian Movies (which is right), and all Indian movies are Bollywood (which is wrong).
Why Bollywood is popular in some countries: (Score:2, Informative)
97% of movies shown in Africa were Indian moview dubbed in the local languages. An increasing percentage of foreign filmes being screened in the Middle East, Israel, Australia and now England and the US are Indian movies.
You could argue that the success of Indian movies in England and the US is because of large immigrant population from India. However, the other countries mentioned have few Indians.
When interviewed, most people s
Re:India (Score:3, Interesting)
Not unless they figure out how to think as one nation [blogspot.com] instead of several chauvinistic states. Oh, and get rid of the pork-bellied [indianexpress.com] ruling class that has held the country back so far.
Re:India (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:India (Score:2, Insightful)
The British have not been the dam holding back the Indians from prosperity, Indian culture has been.
British rule did not stop Hong Kong Chinese or Aussies from prospering to second-world status. Israel was only formed recently, thanks to a British grant and UN intercession, yet is a world power today.
In an analogy to the formative USA, the denizens of India would be more suited, no irony intended, in the role of "Indian" as opposed to colonist.
The proble
Re:India (Score:5, Informative)
israel is a "world power" because it is completely propped up with american handouts. the state of israel is the single biggest recipient of american foreign aid. thrity per cent of all u.s. foreign aid money goes there. thirty percent! that's $3billion a year.
not hard to be a "world power" with those kinds of freebies.
oh yeah, here's my source [ccmep.org]... and here [miftah.org] and here [csmonitor.com]
Re:India (Score:3)
Re:India (Score:3, Interesting)
Aid for Israel is mostly (like 60%) military aid. That dollar turns right around and ends up back stateside in the pockets of Boeing, Grumman, etc.
If there is an Insightful Troll, look no further than the parent post.
Re:India (Score:2, Funny)
Re:India (Score:3, Insightful)
How does wasting the resources to acquire nuclear weapons help to become a intellectual or financial power ?
Are you serious? (Score:2)
But, I'll bite anyways.
Re:India (Score:2)
You dont need nuclear weapons for that. Look at Japan. Heck even cuba doesnt have nuclear weapons. They all manage to stand up to US "bullying". And now after being nuclear power also, successive Indian govts vie (with pakistan) to be "better friend" of US rather than saying anything against their "bullying tactics".
>> Also, the radiation safety and other protocols will go a long way toward getting a prope
Re:India (Score:5, Funny)
I think in another 50 years that India will be beside the US in terms of being a world superpower. In a hundred it will be the most powerful nation in the world.
And in 200, it will conquer Texas for its petrol... Yeah!Re:India (Score:2)
More likely that in 200 years, the Texans will be selling oil to Indians despite the fact that they don't have any to sell. Companies like Haliburton, Harken and Arbusto will still exist then
(Look 'em up.
Re:India (Score:2)
How is this different from China?
The biggest thing that America has that cannot be duplicated is that they are bordered by huge oceans and very friendly countries.
India has lots of issues just under the surface such as Pakastan.
Re:India (Score:3, Funny)
India is a (troubled) democracy. The reason they shoot 1000 movies a year is because of primordial capitalist soup breeding there.
In China you would have just one, government-approved, red-flag-covered-boobies feature
Re:India (Score:3, Interesting)
The single biggest factor that made America great was that America found the right amound of economic and social freedom to allow entreprenuers to innovate and grow their businesses. This was the result, in large part, from inheriting the individualism alive in
Re:India (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not talking about % im talking about sheer numbers. In the 1991 Cencus there were 101 million muslim's in India. According to CIA world fact book, there are currently 126 million in 2003.
And there are 180 million Muslims in Indonesia and 140 million Muslims in Pakistan. Therefore India is number 3 in muslim population. It isn't even close.
Re:Nukes? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm hoping that you're kidding, but in case you're not...
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/data.html [csi.ad.jp]
Re:India (Score:3, Offtopic)
Re:India (Score:3, Funny)
"Having a war on terror - its like having a war on jealousy... At no point in time EVER are we going to go: 'Phew! Got em all! Everybody loves us again'."
-David Cross
Re:India (Score:3, Insightful)
People fail to realize that USA became wealthy BEFORE it started practicing IMPERIALISM. If anything, US imperialism will be its downfall... USA probably has more enemies
Re:hollywood vs bollywood (Score:2)
Name 5 of those thousands of movies that came out of Bollywood this year without doing a web search.
You can't, can you? So STFU.
Re:Statistics and all... (correction) (Score:2, Redundant)
Yes, those numbers are ticket sales -- still means that any Bollywood flick is getting a fraction of the penetration of a Hollywood flick. The Hollywood tickets cost more, too. :-)
Re:Statistics and all... (Score:2)
Coming to your point, Indian film tickets and rentals don't cost anywhere close to tickets here. So, Bollywoods sells more tickets per film even if the revenue in USD is lower.