Editing Hindi cinema (section)

== {{anchor|Genre conventions}}Genres ==
{{See also|Muslim social|Masala film}}
[[File:Achhut Kanya.jpg|thumb|alt=A man and woman smile at each other in an old film|Melodrama and romance are common ingredients in Bollywood films, such as ''[[Achhut Kannya|Achhut Kanya]]'' (1936)]]

Hindi films are primarily musicals, and are expected to have catchy song-and-dance numbers woven into the script. A film's success often depends on the quality of such musical numbers.<ref>Kalita, S. Mitra (2005). ''Suburban Sahibs: Three Immigrant Families And Their Passage from India to America''. [[Rutgers University Press]], p. 134. {{ISBN|0-8135-3318-X}}</ref> A film's music and song and dance portions are usually produced first and these are often released before the film itself, increasing its audience.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dudrah |first1=Rajinder Kumar |title=Bollywood: Sociology Goes To the Movies |date=2006 |publisher=Sage Publishing India |location=New Delhi |isbn=9789352803026 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OM9jDwAAQBAJ&q=Bollywood%3A+Sociology+Goes+To+the+Movies&pg=PP1 |access-date=8 March 2020}}</ref>

Indian audiences expect value for money, and a good film is generally referred to as ''[[paisa]] vasool'', (literally "money's worth").<ref>{{cite news|author=Gangadhar, V.|title=Moving with the times|date=13 April 2007|work=[[The Hindu]]|url=https://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/04/13/stories/2007041300860100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419145349/https://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/04/13/stories/2007041300860100.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 April 2007|access-date=9 December 2009|location=Chennai, India}}</ref> Songs, dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills are combined in a three-hour show (with an intermission). These are called ''[[masala film]]s'', after the Hindi word for a spice mixture. Like ''masalas'', they are a mixture of action, comedy and romance; most have heroes who can fight off villains single-handedly. Bollywood plots have tended to be [[melodramatic]], frequently using formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers, angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, political corruption, kidnapping, villains, [[Hooker with a heart of gold|kind-hearted courtesans]], long-lost relatives and siblings, reversals of fortune and [[serendipity]].

[[Parallel cinema]] films tended to be less popular at the box office. A large Indian diaspora in English-speaking countries and increased [[Western culture|Western]] influence in India have nudged Bollywood films closer to Hollywood.<ref name="Migration">{{cite book |author1=Gupta, Suman |author2=Omoniyi, Tope |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nr2724-bOfMC&pg=PA202 |year=2001|title=The Cultures of Economic Migration: International Perspectives|page=202|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-0-7546-7070-4}}</ref>

According to film critic Lata Khubchandani, "Our earliest films ... had liberal doses of sex and kissing scenes in them. Strangely, it was after Independence the censor board came into being and so did all the strictures."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ia.rediff.com/movies/1999/jun/21hem.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613111621/https://ia.rediff.com/movies/1999/jun/21hem.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 June 2018 |title=Memories of another day |publisher=mid-day.com |first=Lata |last=Khubchandani }}</ref> Although Bollywood plots feature Westernised urbanites dating and dancing in clubs rather than pre-arranged marriages, traditional Indian culture continues to exist outside the industry and is an element of resistance by some to Western influences.<ref name="Migration" /> Bollywood plays a major role, however, in [[fashion in India|Indian fashion]].<ref name="Migration" /> Studies have indicated that some people, unaware that changing fashion in Bollywood films is often influenced by globalisation, consider the clothes worn by Bollywood actors as authentically Indian.<ref name="Migration" />