Indian Cinema and Its Impact on Society

Summary from the Program

Hindi cinema produced in Bombay, now superficially well known as Bollywood is
essentially a generic cinema that pervades India. But of late the products of
Mollywood (Madras) have quite markedly influenced its aesthetic strategies while
Tollywood (Tollygunge, Calcutta) has been constructing its popular idiom following
Bollywood. Hindi cinema is also considered as an "all-India formula film" [critic
Chidananda Das Gupta]. However, one has to be cautious not to generalize Hindi
cinema as such.

As it is well known India produces a massive number of feature films in many

different languages, including several dialects. In 1999, the total number of films
produced, in as many as 35 official languages and dialects, was 601 - up to October
but one could add about 30 - 40 feature films to this number up to end December,
1999. The production figure has been steadily declining since 1990 when India
produced little less than a thousand films a year. The debate, however, keeps going
whether it's cinema that influences society or vice versa.

Most of the dominant formula films get their narrative base, in one way or another,
from the two Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. The dream merchants seem to
be knowing this fact well to extract an impact as wide as possible for a box-office
success. This holds true of the generic Bollywood, including television.

The reality that obtains in southern India (especially in Tamilnadu and Andhra
Pradesh) is substantially different from that in northern India. The cinema politics
nexus in Tamilnadu, for instance, is quite interesting. All five chief ministers who
have governed Tamilnadu since 1967 have been associated with cinema. "The
immense popularity of film as an entertainment form and its emergence in Tamilnadu
as a major cultural preoccupation underscores the significance of the role of audio-
visual communication in Tamil society." [S. Theodore Baskaran] Superstars MGR
and NTR - doyens of Tamil and Telugu cinema respectively - were quite active in
regional and national politics.

The social impact of the cinema in India is also seen in the nationwide popularity of
film-based programs on various television channels. It's mostly the young generation
that has been caught up by the film-song programs. Popular film song has gone very
deep into the Indian collective memory and conscience.
In a nutshell, my presentation will take up some concrete examples of what impact the
cinema has on Indian society by and large - including how the classical villain
eventually turned into a hero or how social values underwent a certain change.
Popular films have even been changing people's dress and hair styles; in Bombay, I
remember even shoes would be branded after a box-office hit film. The cinema's
social impact is reflected in the way censorship operates in India. In colonial India, the
local, police controlled, film censorship, was mainly political in nature, but in post-
colonial India it has acquired moralistic overtones; I'll touch upon some recent
examples in this realm. I think it's the state that constantly finds itself insecure vis-a-
vis society at large and artists in particular. All said and done, the cinema hasn't yet
shed its mystical hallow in India.

Cinemas

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Cinemas are meant for entertainment when it was initialized however it has captured
the concentration of all.It certainly creates an impact on audience,kind of styles and
behaviour shown on the screen performed by various actors are always imitated in
real life.

Neglecting the fact that movies are for pure entertainment,few consider it personally to
the extent that practising different abnormal and non-practical facts are
followed.Especially students whose thougths are fresh and ideas to be untilised for
strong foundation of their career are drived in wrong directions.

We cannot deny the fact that cinemas are never true,people create their own platform
of characters to repalcing their identity in real life.Students ratio influenced is more
comparitively others,fresh and young blood is diverted to achieve uncommon things.

Instead of censors launched to reduce the effects of impact,they fail.

The importance of approaching cinema as a medium to project present day life, the
portrayal of urban women in films, the psychological aspect of human relationship and
Man's relationship with Nature, unrealistic portrayal of law and order in cinema and
creation of a pan-Indian identity... these were some issues that were raised.

While it was not denied that most social evils had been attributed to the medium, some
thought-provoking points were raised on how cinema can be used to develop society
towards nation-building.
Movies definitely impact the youth. Young people who have not had ample time to
develop the brain capacity to evaluate the actual consequences of their actions.

Kids will copy what they see, without being able to consider what the risk is.
Remember the movie The Program? I believe it showed some young people lying
down on the center line of a road - and a bunch of incidents happened in real life after
that, and of course, to much more negative results.

There are many many incidents of learning new lingo from movies. I would say that
Clueless gave us more slang / catch phrases than anything else in recent memory.
"whatever" "as if" "I'm outtie" to name a few. They created a way of speaking that
filtered through the youth of the nation and actually stuck for quite awhile. I still hear
these phrases off an on today.

And then I could always bring up the horrifying rise in teen sexual activity. Pretty much
every movie out there portrays fornication as normal, and expected behavior. But ...
the movies don't show the reality of what happens in the lives of those involved after
the fact. There are so many more teen pregnancies and ruined lives today than there
were in the 50's when couples slept in twin beds on tv. :) Sex is all around us, and the
message is clear, "if you're not sleeping around with lots of people, there's something
wrong with you" and we're seeing the ruined lives to prove that message is getting into
their head

Author:   Rajeev Vashisht     Member Level: Gold      Member Rank: 353     Date:

27/Feb/2009   Rating:       Points: 3

Cinema has a profound impact as a mass media on Indian Citizens Psyche, including
students. Regrettably the credentials of those who make films may not be so clean.
Also the agenda of Cinema is neither known nor validated by any authority.

In this scenario it is up to an individual to decide what may be good or bad and hence
films are open to individual interpretations .

Of course media plays a vital role in this. Cinema as such has to be considered only
for entertainment and not to influence any one. Most of the things shown on the big
screen is unrealistic, which can never happen in your real life. Whether it is
love,horror,stunt.....

Students are really influenced by this. It may be in their dressing style, walking,
speaking to elders/teachers.....

Movies definitely impact the youth. Young people who have not had ample time to
develop the brain capacity to evaluate the actual consequences of their actions.

Kids will copy what they see, without being able to consider what the risk is.
Remember the movie The Program? I believe it showed some young people lying
down on the center line of a road - and a bunch of incidents happened in real life after
that, and of course, to much more negative results.

There are many many incidents of learning new lingo from movies. I would say that
Clueless gave us more slang / catch phrases than anything else in recent memory.
"whatever" "as if" "I'm outtie" to name a few. They created a way of speaking that
filtered through the youth of the nation and actually stuck for quite awhile. I still hear
these phrases often on today.

And then I could always bring up the horrifying rise in teen sexual activity. Pretty much
every movie out there portrays fornication as normal, and expected behavior. But ...
the movies don't show the reality of what happens in the lives of those involved after
the fact. There are so many more teen pregnancies and ruined lives today than there
were in the 50
's when couples slept in twin beds on tv. :) Sex is all around us, and the message is
clear, "if you're not sleeping around with lots of people, there's something wrong with
you" and we're seeing the ruined lives to prove that message is getting into their
heads.

The importance of approaching cinema as a medium to project present day life, the
portrayal of urban women in films, the psychological aspect of human relationship and
Man's relationship with Nature, unrealistic portrayal of law and order in cinema and
creation of a pan-Indian identity... these were some issues that were raised.

While it was not denied that most social evils had been attributed to the medium, some
thought-provoking points were raised on how cinema can be used to develop society
towards nation-building.

There are many factors on which the influence of cinema on the students depends. The
age group of the students, the individual nature of the student and family too. Indian
cinema influence the students of age group 8-14 the most because they feel what is
being displayed is real and try to live in the world of imagination. Moreover it is
adversely affecting the students due to growth in the Indian cinema and most of the
things shown are not at all constructive and is mere wastage of time and money.
Continuous attachment to Indian cinema is like an addiction which can be found
among students. Moreover due to the surge in bold Indian movies the teenagers are
distracted the most.

"By silence I conceal my imperfections and come to know others."

The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, including the cinematic culture
of Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala