Out & About October 2017

OA feature

Bollywood is the nickname for India’s Hindi movie industry which is based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), and is an amalgamation of Hollywood and Bombay. The Bollywood film industry is a long one stemming back to the 1910s. By the 1930s more than 200 films per year were being produced. Today Bollywood forms 43 per cent of the film industry but is also one of the biggest film industries in the world, employing more people than any other. In 2016 it produced 225 Hindi films. Bollywood films are famous for being colourful, dramatic and interspersed with elaborate dance routines set in glamorous places. Bollywood dancing is a culmination of traditional Indian dance (kathak, bharatanatyam), folk dance (Rajasthani, Punjabi) and Western dance moves. It is characterised by elaborate hand mudras (gestures) such as the lotus flower, where all the fingers are curled towards the palm like a fan, and energetic movements. Bollywood dance is popular with both males and females across the world and is often performed as a group rather than as solo dances. What’s it all about...?

A popular branch of Bollywood dancing is Bhangra which derives from folk dances of the Punjab. It was originally a celebratory folk dance welcoming the advent of spring but has since become integrated into Western and Asian pop, house and hip hop music. Bhangra music is always upbeat and is drum-led, primarily a North Indian drum known as a dhol, which is very loud and is played with cane sticks. Bhangra fuses Western pop music, Hindi film music and folk music from the Punjabi region. In modern Bhangra traditional instruments are fused with Western instruments such as electric guitars. One of the most iconic Bhangra tracks in the West is Mundian To Bach Ke by Panjabi MC. Bhangra dance itself is characterised by a lifting and dropping of the shoulders while dancing, hopping and jumping, at speed. Add to this swords and sticks and you have yourself a traditional Punjabi dance party. Bhangra is high energy and not for the faint-hearted, but you can’t help but smile while doing it.

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