Bollywood Music

Bollywood Music and Movie History

The Indian movie scene appeared in the late 1800’s, more precisely in 1896 and 1899. This is when the first two movies were produced in the area of Calcutta and Bombay. At that moment, sound wasn’t available for cinema and people only viewed short motion pictures.

When sound first appeared in 1931, the silent movie industry came to an abrupt stop. Perhaps faster than anywhere else in the world, India turned from silent movies to the new era. A name which has to be mentioned in this context is Alam Ara. He produced some of the first films during this period. Colour cinema was introduced in the 1960 and at the end of the ’80 people were starting to get drawn by musical love stories.

Bollywood music started to gain popularity and the movies which contained songs were sent all over the world. There where some European countries which preferred Bollywood music and movies over the much more advertised Hollywood genre. During this period, some of the most popular films where: Chandni, Hum, Hum Hain Rahi Pyarke, Krantiveer, Rangeela and Rakhwala.

During the 90’s, Bollywood expanded their reach by creating some movies in other languages. However, English was never used.

Even if the industry is more than 100 years old, the Bollywood scene is not about the movies themselves, but about the songs. It seems that the musical part of each film is the one which attracts more viewers.

This type of music is called “filmi music” and here are some facts about it. In the beginning, songs where written and recorded by professional singers and actors simply had to lip-sync and dance. Producers soon realized that people are attracted to this part of their movies and decided to find people who are qualified to do both singing and acting. This led to a whole new type of superstar. Indian actors often signed and danced at expert level and this is part of the reason for Bollywood’s success. However, there are many actors who continue to lip-sync.

An interesting part about Bollywood is that the actors who don’t use their voice don’t get credit for the songs. The singers behind the screen have their own fan base and they receive credit for their work. Two of the most dedicated singers are Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar, having more than one thousand songs under their belt.

When it comes to the dancing part of Bollywood movies and music, there is a lot to talk about. At first, actors had complicated dance routines which were mainly based on traditional moves. In the last years however, more and more western elements are presented in these films. 

Most Bollywood movies are musicals. There are dozens of songs which appear during the span of a regular movie and these elements can be introduced during the storyline directly or they can be part of the main character’s imagination. Either way, each Indian movie will certainly have some interesting dancing scenes and a few catchy songs.