Do you smell what’s cooking? Spicy delicious food and Bollywood films are the factors which Indians are obsessed about. They just love these two elements which are completely connected to their culture. Spices are the thing that makes Indian food delicious, actually a mixture of various kind of spices are used in almost every Indian cuisine. The word masala is the Indian version of English’s spice. From the perspective of the films in India, the term masala goes with the genre. Indian people loves various genres in their films as well, like their food, they just can’t stick with only one. There have to be Music, Dance, Romance, Action, Comedy, Melodrama and plenty other genres. We used to know that as mixed genre films but the critic’s community of the film industry found a new name for that kind which is Masala Film. The Major Characteristics of Masala Film
What really masala film means is full on entertainment 
movies, where has to be a bit of everything. Indian audience digs on films which have plenty of star actors, full of glamour and sex appeal, half a dozen songs including dance sequence, eye catching sets and locations, high profile melodrama, trend setting costumes and rib tickling comedy all together. Movies like - Om Shanti Om, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Jab We Met, Namstey London, DHOOM are the evidence of the fact because these are the biggest blockbusters of Bollywood. People want to see films with all of these characteristics and with a happy ending for sure. Bollywood audience love to walk out from the theater with a smile in their faces. A new term is also added to the public demand is Item Numbers. Skin showing dance sequence with high tempo disco tracks are a must have in every masala films now days… These are the characteristics that influenced major quantity of the real time masala films.
The Difference of Masala Films from the Narrative Conventions of Hollywood
Film makers from Hollywood are the best in the business what so ever. They are capable of making movies realistic than the real. From technicians to the director, all are top notch, but its all about perspective. It’s the point of view of the Hollywood & Masala Films audience. Bollywood audience never can digest films like – Saving Private Ryan, A Beautiful Mind or Schindler’s List, They even won’t complain if the story goes unrealistic but there has to have
the aroma of masala. Hollywood films very often change their plot in the middle of the film, either it’s going to be Musical, Horror, Action, Romance, Sci-Fi, Adventure or it can be mixed genres with two or three genres together. But Bollywood goes way beyond in the case of genre mixing. They try to put every single spice in the cooker as the audience wants. The most noticeable difference from Hollywood is the songs and dancing sequences. Hollywood also has musical films but in Masala films sudden change of attire and music in the air with hundred dancers all around scenes is a must to score in the box office. I’ve figured culture is the main difference of Masala Films from narrative conventions of Hollywood.
The Significance of Songs in the Masala Film
Speaking of songs in the masala films, they even don’t bother to mix the musical genres in a single film to make it more packed as well. There will be Romantic, Sad, Disco, Soft Rock, Item Number and a title soundtrack for the promotion of a single film. This song signifies the mood and emotional condition of the characters, it describes the story, and it usually expresses love, anger, happiness, sadness, passion and all the situational aspects in a film. Songs and music are the identifier of Bollywood films. Even the very first Indian sound film had five songs in the year of 1931 and the people of India can’t imagine films without music since then. Not to forget the business of music industries. Producers sometime cover more than half of their investment by selling the music of their films to the stores and in the internet, so why say no to music? It’s the only thing that makes them unique from Hollywood. India always produces classy music directors from R.D Burman to A.R Rahman who carried the Indian music to the international circuits. I think entertain the audience is the main significance of songs in the masala film.
There are much more characteristics and significance than I have described. I like Masala Films, I like the songs even more. It doesn’t matter weather its logical or not, as long as it feels and sounds good...
