The Hindi Film Industry, fondly called Bollywood (the name I hate) has had a tough time so far this year. And there seems to be no respite nearby. With even films with a huge star cast (Salaam -e-Ishq, Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom, Tara Rum Pum, etc) bombing and big production houses like Yash Raj Films delivering flops after flops, the future looks a bit tense. This is especially after having a blast in 2006. 2006 is considered to be a superb year for the Hindi film industry in the recent years.

One of the important reasons for this situation is perhaps the Industry's relentless pursuit to match Hollywood films. The industry has been trying to ape Hollywood so much that almost all the films are shot either in the West or in Singapore, Australia, etc. There is no India or Indian village shown in many of the films. The story lines are happily copied from Hollywood and done here with only slightest of changes. Hindi movies today show only sex, illicit relationships and skin. With even creative directors like Varma registering duds (Nishabd), 2007 has been a disaster for the industry which represents the whole of India. This pitiable situation has encouraged even people like Himesh Reshamiyya to give a try only to further degrade the status of the industry.

Of course, there have been some films which were never expected to become hit but were given warm welcome like Metro, Bheja Fry. However this is not enough. With piracy becoming rampant everyday, there is no other way for Bollywood to escape this brunt but to make good films with themes that appeal even to common man.

There is another reason to worry with South films getting released India-wide. It was Sivaji (Tamil) which ripped apart the Indian film industry records just a few weeks ago and now many others are in pipeline. Among the other high profile releases this year, it is Prince Mahesh Babu's Athidi(Telugu) which is being released by UTV ( which bought the rights for a whopping 23 crore). Of course, much bigger threat is from Hollywood films (both straight and dubbed versions) which are collecting huge amounts than most of the Hindi films.

Though it is often argued that Hindi films are and represent only a part of Indian cinema, it still has got the widest reach and biggest market when compared to all other regional film industries. But it cannot rest on this and go on generate crap which come out in DVDs in just one or two months after the release of the film. The Telugu and Tamil film industries are the other two biggies (where stakes are many times higher than Hindi films), while Malayalam and Kannada film industries have their own big markets. With even Bhojpuri films getting much attention nation-wide, Hindi film industry has to do something to resuscitate its brand value.

It can do but when?