Globalisation Of Popular Culture: From Hollywood To Bollywood

Abstract

This article examines significant evidence of recent Bollywood influence on the Western movie industry, particularly Hollywood, and explores the implications of such developments in the context of globalisation. Within the ongoing globalisation of entertainment, a process that does not automatically lead to cultural Westernisation and uniformisation, Bollywood has by now become both a symbol of Indian cinema’s circulation all over the world and the embodiment of non-monolithic globalisation. Bollywood is evidently not a homogenising influence that forces non-Indian cultures to embrace its cinematographic or musical norms and practices. Rather, it creates new hybrids. The article offers a framework for explaining the growing cultural and economic changes and movements of such non-hegemonic spreading of popular culture and identifies future agenda for research.