Hindi Cinema (popularly referred to as Bollywood) completed its 107th year on May 3 and every year produces more than 200 films; from shooting in villages and farms to exotic foreign locations and prestigious research centers, from painting the background on curtains to now extensively using VFX and CGI, cinema has indeed come a long way.

I know there is a growing outrage against Bollywood and films because of all the tragedies that have come into light or all the controversies that arouse after the sudden and sad demise of Sushant Singh Rajput

(21st January 1986- 14 June 2020) and hence many people won’t be ready or willing to read or hear something good about bollywood but there is no denying to the fact that the entertainment industry generates a lot of revenue to boost the economy and provides unemployment to a large no. of people on daily basis. Since there are always pros and cons of everything so I don’t think one can put an blind-eye to the aforesaid fact. 

There used to be a time when Bollywood movies and stars were only recognized by the Indians. Yes,of course some stars like Raj Kapoor,Dilip Kumar,Manoj Kumar were well recognized in their respective era’s but as of today the current generation actors are not just being recognized and followed by foreigners but also their films have been earning well in the overseas market and additionally their statues are being made in prominent museums, they are shooting in countries where Hindi movies hardly release and in places which are even sometimes unrecognizable for the audience despite them being famous places which eventually boosted tourism in large numbers.

The roots of Bollywood were extended after films like DDLJ(1995),Hum Aapke Hai Kaun(1994), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai(1998)started doing well and after the movie characters in the film were shown to be NRIs (especially in DDLJ)which compelled the foreign audience to take interest in watching Hindi cinema this formulae just boosted the industry with a lot of love and appreciation from foreigners and also helped in making ample foreign exchange reserves. Though today many filmmakers are accused of copying ideas from regional cinema and sometimes are made fun or trolled for the boring movies they make there’s no exaggeration to the fact that Hindi Cinema still rules the heart of many people in this world.

In this article, I won’t be talking about how much Bollywood films have earned or are earning in the overseas market because that is a job being accurately done by various entertainment portals. Instead, I will be throwing light on the facts which showcase the love, recognition, and honors which have been achieved by Bollywood and the benchmarks it has set around the globe.

1.GERMANY:

Germany is considered the second largest market in Europe for Bollywood films. The Berlin Film Festival held annually is a strong evidence of this fact which has screened ample number of Bollywood films since its inception its love and affection for Bollywood films was noticed when on 18th February 2018 Germany’s Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra while giving their performance started playing the tunes of the title track of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai(1998).A similar craze for Bollywood films was noticed way back in 2010 when Shahrukh Khan’s My Name Is Khan was released on February 12 of the same year.  The online tickets for this film were sold out in mere five seconds.No wonder the film was praised both by critics and audience unanimously and even celebrated author Paulo Coelho on the 7th anniversary of the release of the film tweeted about SRKs performance in the film saying that SRK deserved an Academy Award for his performance in the film if Hollywood fraternity was not biased.

2.ISRAEL:

Though Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani(2013)starring Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor was the last Bollywood film released in Israel after Devdas(2002)starring Aishwarya Rai and SRK there is no denying the fact that Bollywood films are quite popular in this country. Slowly and steadily the beauty of this country is catching the eye of filmmakers and now it seems in the coming years we will get to see the exotic locations of Israel on the big screens Jacqueline Fernandez and the late Sushant Singh Rajput starrer Netflix film Drive (2019) was shot in Tel Aviv-the second most populous city in Israel and if reports are to be believed the upcoming superhero drama Brahmastra starring Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor has also some scenes of the film shot in Israel.

3.POLAND:

Poland is becoming increasingly popular with India’s film and advertising industries. Salman Khan’s 2014 action drama Kick was extensively shot in country’s capital Warsaw and did financially well also Bangistan the 2015 comedy drama starring Jacqueline Fernandez, Riteish Deshmukh and Pulkit Samrat in lead roles was shot in Krakow a southern Poland City. Surprisingly not many Indian films have been shot there, but it seems that in the future years it will turn out to be the favorite location of filmmakers after Switzerland. Several Indian advertisement films (such as Yardley deodorant, Delishus biscuits, among others) have also been shot in Poland. The craze for Bollywood films among Polish people was such that once a well known polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza invented a new marketing technique by offering a Bollywood DVD film every Saturday at a concessional price to its readers along with the copy of the newspaper which resulted in the sale of the newspaper going up by 50,000 copies.

4.DUBAI:

UAE has always been an admirer of Bollywood films and the exuberant locations of Dubai have always been an eye candy for Indian filmmakers.  Some of the films shot here are Happy New Year (2014), Bang Bang(2014), Welcome(2007), Welcome Back(2015), Race(2008)to name a few. Some of the Bollywood celebrities also hold luxurious properties in Dubai which include SRK, Abhishek, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sohail Khan, Shilpa Shetty Kundra to name a few. If this isn’t enough in Dubai is situated a theme park dedicated entirely to the world of Bollywood The park is split into zones, with rides based on Bollywood’s biggest hits. It has 30 live shows across six stages and there are six restaurants covering the breadth of Indian cuisine.

5.EGYPT:

Bollywood is also admired in the Land of the Pharaohs and Egyptians have been showering their love for Indian movies since the 80s. There was a time when the craze for Bollywood films had no limits that the government imposed restrictions on foreign films in order to boost the local industry. 

However, television still showed Indian movies and Amitabh Bachchan still remains the most popular star. Egyptians even protested to bring Indian films back to theatres, and local satellite channels took advantage of the situation. They replaced some of the Turkish dramas with Indian ones. Finally, 25 years after they were first banned, Bollywood movies made a grand comeback to theatres. The popularity of Amitabh Bachchan in Egypt was such that even SRK once stated in an interview that ”Every Indian is Amitabh Bachchan in Egypt” adding further he recalled an incident from the sets of K3G while shooting for the song ‘Suraj Hua Maddham’ in Egypt the Egyptians around there called him and also  Kajol as Amitabh Bachchan despite him reiterating that Amitabh Bachchan is a part of the film but not there in this song. Films such as Singh Is King(2008), Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham(2001), Maine Dil Tujhko Diya(2002) have been shot in Egypt.

But but but the question arises as to whether Indians really love watching Bollywood or Hindi films or they only love watching

Here are some more honorable mentions about which you may not be aware of:

1. FAN(2016)starring Shah Rukh Khan helmed by Manish Sharma and presented by YRF  was the first Bollywood film to be shot in Madame Tussauds,London. The scene where Gaurav Chandana (SRK) destroys his favorite star Aryan Khanna’s(also played by SRK)statue and escapes after the securities call for police action. 

2. SWADES(2004)another SRK starrer which was helmed by Ashutosh Gowariker was the first film to be shot inside the NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) research center at the Launch Pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rainfall monitoring satellite known as the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) in the film is an actual NASA mission and was launched in 2014.

3. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge(1995) is undoubtedly one of the most successful films in the history of Indian Cinema and its dialogues are so iconic that even former US President Barack Obama while giving a speech in 2015 on Republic Day cited its popular dialogue in broken Hindi with clarification that: “Last celebration here we celebrated festival of lights in Mumbai. We danced with some children. Unfortunately, we were not able to schedule any dancing in this visit. Senoritabade desho mein… you know what I mean,” Obama said with a smile.

4. In July 2013, Three Chinese intruders crossed the Sino-India Border and after they were interrogated and asked about the reason of taking this step they replied that they love SRK and Hrithik Roshan’s films and it was their charm which forced them to take this step. Hence this incidence proves that” Love knows no boundaries”.

P.S. I am not at all in favour of such illegal practices and this was just a piece of news I came to know about earlier and this suited with the point.

Summarising all the above I can say that we hope Bollywood keeps on making its country proud with more of such accolades and awards.