Champ

Songs, which probably started as a ting of cultural flavour to Indian cinema, have become the driving force of Bollywood economics.

To make it simpler for non-Bollywood readers:

In west you have two sharply divided industries music and film.

In India there is a huge overlap. Both industries have co-existed and flourished riding on each others popularity. That is why India could never had a totally independent music industry. But it does not mean that India doesn’t have a strong music industry. It does. But it is just that it took a different rout to success.

So instead of making an audio album, and pumping of heaps of money in tis video and promotion, producers clubbed songs with films and tapped both markets at one go.

Probably culture of music videos’ started way before in India than anywhere else. The only difference was that instead of featuring the singer or a model in the video, Indian avtaar’s had top Bollywood stars dancing in them.

There are scores of movies in Indian cinema, which purely rode on its music to success.

And the idea of clubing two forms made huge business sense for the Bollywood producers. If the music of a film is good, producer’s can recover the entire cost of the film production just by selling music rights to audio companies.

Plus, songs smoothly integrates in the marketing plan of Bollywood films.

Producers normally launch the music a few months before the release of the movie. If the music is successful, there is a ready made hype for their film. Tapping the mood of the market, music videos will follow on the TV screens and once the hype reaches its pinnacle, film hits the theatre.

Many Indian producers/directors have mastered this craft. And their swelling bank balances prove that it is a hit formula.