A perpetual practice has been found in which the Hollywood Movie directors who create movies based on Indian society and culture always tend to project the corruptible, underdeveloped, dull and poor side of the country. One can easily come up with the reason for this as the general picture the West has always had about India, the country of beggars and snake charmers and people who live in shackles and don’t have even a decent meal daily. The effect is still upon the people that every Hollywood movie on India comes out with a tint of poverty.

This poverty-stricken image is very evident in movies like ‘Gandhi’, ‘The Telegraph’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, which are and totally based on India. It seems that these filmmakers find some inherent drama and thrill in the events that take place in the streets or slums of India rather than those in cities. It is in low, rural areas that they find grabbing conflicts which are worthy to be portrayed.

But, it is agreeable to say that the continued exhibition and the stereotyping of India as a poverty-stricken country for a long time and also through such a widespread medium like cinema is far more than enough to damage the country’s face, while India today is fast developing and has better opportunities for people. Still the outside mass, through this kind of projection, might believe that India is a country of slum and ‘slumdogs’.

But, it is agreeable to say that the continued exhibition and the stereotyping of India as a poverty-stricken country for a long time and also through such a widespread medium like cinema is far more than enough to damage the country’s face, while India today is fast developing and has better opportunities for people. Still the outside mass, through this kind of projection, might believe that India is a country of slum and ‘slumdogs’.

Another reason may also be the continued beliefs of the West being superior and developed while the East and other colonized countries as still crawling in squalid poverty. This can also be connected with terms like the ‘White Man’s Burden’, and portraying India or any other colonized country like Africa and coming up with the idea of any of such countries as superior to West might cost the film makers a big deal. There might also be another reason that projecting the sad part of lives might speak direct to the audience rather than creating some artificial drama.

It is a fact that such movies invite a lot of appreciation and criticism from various quarters, the latter being mainly from the Indian actors, directors and other public figure who mourn such a portrayal of the country for they have seen what the real India is. The long list of such responders include Amitabh Bachchan, Amir Khan who mourn that India is not projected as it is really is, but is always shown in a way that will only deteriorate the concept of India in the minds of the foreigners.

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Tags: India based Hollywood Films,  Hollywood 

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