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A Bollywood dance routine

Bollywood is more than just elaborate dance routines and epic love stories.

It's a unique tale of success by an industry that hustled its way to the top with energy and creativity.

You, too, can be successful in anything you do if you follow a few simple lessons from Bollywood!

Go Big Or Go Home

A Bollywood dance scene in front of a white palace

When you say "Bollywood", people immediately think of colorful sets, eye-catching song and dance routines, highly dramatic acting, and quirky humor.

It's a bold, in-your-face style that doesn't compromise. Compare that to "safe" but forgettable Hollywood films made to appeal to focus groups.

Flaticon IconThe Lesson

Fortune favors the brave, so be ready to capture people's attention with bold moves! You might just catch on.

Extravagantly dressed celebrities, over the text: 'When Hollywood stars start dressing like Bollywood stars'

Did you know?

Many of Bollywood's conventions were influenced by Parsi theatre, a colonial-era style of stage drama that incorporated dance routines and exaggerated acting (Verve Magazine, 2015).

Do Your Own Thing

A woman dressed in traditional Indian clothes with beautiful jewelry, walking confidently in front of a temple

Bollywood is the most successful film industry in the world, producing over 2000 films per year. And it's totally self-sustaining!

Do you think Hollywood can do better? Think again:

  • Only 873 films were made in North America for commercial audiences in 2019, and that was the highest ever.

  • In India, North American films only account for 10% of box office ticket sales.

Flaticon IconThe Lesson

You don't always need help from established outsiders to make it big. If people love what you do, that's a foundation you can build on.

Robin says to Batman, 'Let's make it big in Hollywood.' Batman slaps Robin and says, 'We don't need Hollywood!'

Quiz

What was the most successful Bollywood film of all time?

Mix It Up

A woman running through piles of different colored powders and dyes, kicking them around

Movies on streaming sites are put into neat little boxes: dramas, comedies, action, etc.

In Bollywood, you'll rarely find a movie that's just one thing. "Masala movies" are a highly entertaining mish-mash that audiences love.

Named after the tradition of mixing different spices into a curry, masala movies throw genres into a blender to produce gangster rom-coms, action melodramas, and even "Curry Westerns" , where cowboys meet musical theatre.

Flaticon IconThe Lesson

Get creative! If you offer people something new, you'll turn heads and get noticed.

A girl impressing a man by saying that she makes historical epic sci-fi rom-com movies

Take Action

A Bollywood dance scene: two women push another, but then start to follow her dance moves

Bollywood proves that you can be wildly successful if you lean into your strengths and appeal to people with your unique flair.

Do you have a business or endeavor you want to get off the ground? Be like Bollywood:

License:

This Byte has been authored by

SB

Steve Birek

Director of Learning Content at Rumie

English

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