Prasiddha Gustanto
THE JAKARTA POST
India’s Hindi language film industry, known informally as Bollywood, is the largest center of fi lm production in the world. It releases hundreds of fi lms annually. According to the Box Office India website, the year 2016 alone saw a record 225 Hindi releases, up from 204 in 2015. These movies altogether generate billions of dollars in revenue each year and regularly break fi nancial records.
The recently-released biopic movie Dangal, for instance, has managed to become India’s all-time highest-grossing movie, with US$50.59 million made at its domestic box office in the three weeks since it was released in late December 2016.
Dangal, a biographical sports drama starring Aamir Khan, is a big hit in Indonesia too. It has been houseful for more than a month and is still going strong. The popularity of Bollywood reaches far beyond its Indian borders.
The recently-released biopic movie Dangal, for instance, has managed to become India’s all-time highest-grossing movie, with US$50.59 million made at its domestic box office in the three weeks since it was released in late December 2016.
Dangal, a biographical sports drama starring Aamir Khan, is a big hit in Indonesia too. It has been houseful for more than a month and is still going strong. The popularity of Bollywood reaches far beyond its Indian borders.
“[These qualities] are all common aspects among people in both countries,” Uma Mahesh said.
“So, due to the above common factors, Indonesians like Indian fi lms and television shows.” Poonam Sagar, co-founder of IndoIndians.com, a successful community information website for Indians in Indonesia, viewed the roots of Bollywood’s success in Indonesia as being the accessibility of its narratives and the liveliness of its songs and dances.
“Bollywood movies are bigger than life and they are actually musicals with lots of song, dance and colorful costumes. Most of the Indonesians still crazy for Bollywood movies movies are based on love stories and I think this is very attractive to Indonesian audiences,” Poonam said.
“The movies are generally emotional tearjerkers where the audience feels connected to the characters.”
Indonesians’ love for Bollywood movies has led to events such as Bollywood Voice Indonesia, a singing competition in 2016 that saw hundreds of people from cities like Jakarta, Malang, Banjarmasin, Palembang and Medan competing for the chance to produce an album and win trips to India, Singapore and Malaysia.
Though thousands of Indonesians watch Bollywood movies in movie theaters regularly, they have a common complaint: movie tickets are very expensive, much costlier than Hollywood, Mandarin and Indonesian movies. Due to their addiction, they still watch these movies irrespective of their cost. Its love for Bollywood has also led to many memorable pop-culture moments over the years. In 2011, a viral video of an Indonesian police officer in uniform lipsyncing and dancing to Bollywood songs made waves and turned the man, Norman Kamaru, into a celebrity. In June of 2016, Faniear Nanda Doda, the head of Dembe Jaya sub-district in Gorontalo, banned his subordinates from watching Indian soap opera Uttaran, as it was disrupting their performance at work. He announced the ban with a notice posted above the TV in the subdistrict office. A staff member took a picture of the notice, which, much like the police officer’s singing, went viral online.
Indonesia, quite clearly, has had a deep romance with Bollywood films and Indian television for many decades now. “We idolize Bollywood’s handsome artists. We love the stories, which are grounded in reality, easy to watch, easy to digest, and aren’t too complicated,” said Asih Ardian, a member coordinator at the Bollywood Mania Club Indonesia (BMCI).
“We also obviously love the dances and the songs.”
The BMCI is one of the many Bollywood and Indian cinema fan clubs in Indonesia and happens to be one of the nation’s largest such associations, with 36,000 members throughout Indonesia. While its headquarters is located in Bekasi, it also has branches in Cirebon and in East Java. Other similar groups of varying sizes include the Bollymania Fans Club at Bens Radio 106.2 FM and Komunitas Fans Bollywood Indonesia on Facebook. There are also fan clubs dedicated to specific Bollywood stars, such as Aamir Khan. Many of these organizations regularly hold relation-building and get together events.
The BMCI, for instance, holds movie gatherings at least three times a year, with a viewing of the movie Kaabil coming soon on Jan. 29 at CGVBlitz BCP Bekasi. The BMCI also makes regular appearances on TV, like as audience members for Bollywood-themed talk shows and performances.
“We are sought for as an audience that understands Bollywood. We will be in the audience wearing Indian clothing,” Asih said.
The country’s love affair with Bollywood has not gone unnoticed in India. In December 2016, Giaa Manek, who plays in the long-running popular TV drama Gopi, visited several cities in Indonesia to meet and greet with her local fans, in response to popular demand.
“Everyday I receive soo many DMs [direct messages] asking me when I will be coming to Indonesia,” Manek wrote on her Instagram page on Dec. 13.
Other Indian artists who have visited Indonesia include the stars of shows Jodha Akbar and Mahabharata. Bollywood is clearly here to stay in Indonesia. It’s long-established historical roots in Indonesia’s popular culture allow it to remain fi rmly established. What about those who want to get into Bollywood but don’t know where to begin? Asih Ardian has three recommendations:
“Start off with Dangal. It has an IMDB rating of 9.2. Then watch the comedy-drama 3 Idiots. Also, watch Tare Zameen Par, which stars Aamir Khan on educating children with learning disabilities,” Asih said.
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