Impact Of Bollywood In Society

                  Impact Of Bollywood In Society

- Nandini Srivastava

A very known theory of modelling in psychology which states that, we learn a lot of things by seeing other people do and it has much greater and longer influence on us rather than when we learn things by reading or even by listening. Bollywood is one such example of this theory.

Earlier bollywood was just a source of entertainment but today it has also become a mode of transmission of information to masses. It is the expression of the known and the unknown. Many untold stories have found their way in our Indian Cinema starting from “Raja Harish Chandra” to “Raazi” and so on. Directors and story writers of the film industry, from very long period are writing scripts which could inspire people and help them to see the world around them with new perception. Movies like “Airlift” and “Neerja” has inspired a lot of people. It depicted that to protect our country and people it is not necessary to be a part of the armed forces. Each and every person has the power to fight against the bad & to protect humanity and maintain peace.  Movies always have been important as to understand present and to predict future, it is important that we are aware about our past and movies allow us to slip back into past like the history of Rajput and sacrifice of Padmavaati is known to the general public from the movie “Padmavaat”.

Movie"Padmavati" protest

Cinema today has also forced us to think beyond our religious learning. “Oh My God” moulded the way we perceived religion and its practices. We have understood that god wishes for our good faith, understanding and reasonable peaceful actions towards the whole mankind and not for materialistic items and hatred with people of other religion. We, through the movie, have realised that it is nothing wrong in questioning the practises because every practise is not for the good and from time to time change is necessary. For e.g.: Hindu religion practised sati in earlier time, and It was considered as something of divine nature but later in 1829, this practise was abolished for the betterment of women and the society as a whole. There has also been many bollywood stories which has questioned our ideologies like the very recent movie “Luka Chuppi” thoughtfully mentioned that it is the choice of two mature adults whether they want to be in a live-in-relationship or not and no other person has a right to obstruct or object their decision. It has made people aware about our fundamental right to privacy which is mentioned under article 21 of the Indian Constitution (Right to Life and Personal liberty). The movie “Dear Zindagi” tried its best to convey that mental illness is not something to be ashamed of.  Through the movie, we also realise that our parents are not perfect, they can also make mistakes but if they as our parents can forgive us then why can’t we.

Bollywood has impacted the way we express ourselves. India has always been a country which believed that expression of emotions should be controlled. For e.g. Boys should not cry and girls should not be the first to express their love but, bollywood has motivated us to express every emotion whether it is  joy, excitement or hate, sadness. It has impacted the lifestyle of every second individual. People want to wear clothes which they see actors wearing, they want to eat what the actors are eating. Many elders believe that the young generation is inclined towards western clothing because of the typical hindi movies but it is to be mentioned that it is through movies only we have learned the true beauty of various traditional wears. Bollywood is the evidence of “Picture says a thousand words”, iconic movie like Hum Saath Saath Hain and Hum Apke Hai Kaun seen by every child promotes cordial relations with family and loved ones.

Bollywood has created a lot many changes in cultures which were unexpected few years back and has promoted the culture and values which could have been long lost if not recreated and told again and again. Bollywood has immensely impacted people and will continue to do so whatever the case be “KYUKI PICTURE ABHIE BAKI HAI MERE DOST”……