You may be trying to figure out how to learn Hindi in different and fun ways. Homework and practice are good and helpful, but maybe you want a change of pace. Fortunately for all of us, there is Bollywood! Watching a Bollywood movie is an adventurous exercise in learning Hindi.
Bollywood refers to the Hindi film industry that is centered in Mumbai. The word is a mixture of “Bombay”, as Mumbai was called until 1995, and, of course, “Hollywood”. The term was first used in the 1970s, when film production in India was so prolific that it even exceeded that of the United States.
Bollywood should not be confused with Tollywood, another term used to describe part of the Indian film industry. Tollywood is based in Tollygunge, an area of Kolkata, and produces films in Bengali. More generally, Bollywood should not be confused with the Indian film industry as a whole as there are other places and languages in India where movies are made.
Although Bollywood movies occasionally use some poetic terms in English and Urdu, it is a cinema in Hindi. Many Bollywood movies are available on DVD and can be obtained through Netflix or Blockbuster. So almost anyone looking for an original way to learn Hindi has this resource readily available. Does your community have a large Indian or Pakistani population? An annual film festival? Or a university with a foreign film program? If so, you may be able to find Bollywood movies on the big screen, at least once in a while.
Bollywood movies are usually musicals. Whether a movie is successful at the box office or not may depend on the audience’s reception of the music and dance numbers. It is typical for a Bollywood movie to use plot devices such as convenient coincidences, the reunification of separated relatives, helpless lovers with disapproving parents, love triangles, derring-do, and extreme changes in fortune. There are heroes and villains. There is action, romance, comedy, farce, and melodrama. In fact, Bollywood movies are a mixture of so many elements that they are sometimes referred to as “masalas”, the term used to describe the mixture of spices that is such an important element in Indian cuisine. Of course, it takes time for all those musical numbers, plot twists, and complicated interpersonal relationships to develop. A Bollywood movie is generally three hours long and has an intermission.
As time goes by, Bollywood movies incorporate more western elements in their plots. For example, instead of depicting young adults entering into arranged marriages, some films show young single men dating and enjoying the nightlife.
Watching Bollywood movies is fun. In one way or another, they should be accessible to most people in the United States. It’s a great way to quickly hear spoken dialogue, hear the rhythm of spoken Hindi, learn about Indian culture and fashion, and have an entertaining evening all at the same time. And watching movies, watching TV, and listening to the radio are effective ways to learn any language. So, use Hindi movies as a resource while making your plan on how to learn Hindi.
