The dream merchants and the sultans of sound

Talking to the Bollywood experts (pictured with the Oscar winner Resul Pookutty) was exciting and productive. A slew of producers, distributors, financiers, and others shed light on many of my intuitions and informed my models, making them more accurate. Here are some assorted insights shared by some of my interviewees during my stay in Maharashtra for the past 2 weeks:

–          Music and sound: ever-important, yet the new playground: There is no doubt that song and dance is the identity of Bollywood movies. North and South Indian folk music as well as poetry have been a part of our history for a long time; they came together, serendipitously, in Bollywood. This is the identity and it is what sets apart Bollywood movies from the rest. However, only recently have people recognized that good sound can also be good production value. The music industry has now become a huge portion of…