american cinema - Minimum or Maximum Movie Running Time Limits?

Although there seems to be a a good length defined for Hollywood movies, Bollywood produced 2.30 hours length movies. There are a number of reasons for that:

1)Bollywood movies are long because they do have singing and dancing, but it also gives the masses a chance to get out of the heat of India and into some air conditioning. The singing/dancing added to the story simply makes the movie a more rounded entertainment experience for the average movie goer.

Movie tickets in India are cheaper than in the U.S. Yet the population is poorer, so they want good value...paisa vasool(make the most of the money)...for their money.

2) While Bollywood films have singing and dancing, classifying them as "musicals" isn't totally correct. Hollywood musicals have the actors breaking into song in the middle of a scene. In Bollywood, the song sequences are generally stand alone, meaning a lot of times, they are nearly like music videos (and they are marketed like this to help promote the movies). Sometimes, the songs are used to push the storyline along with various scenes of the actors doing something. In this way, it actually shortens the film by pushing the plot along without excessive dialog. Bollywood movie soundtracks can be as important to the marketing of the film as the movie themselves.

3) Another difference is that religion can play an important role in Bollywood movies. While not every one features something about religion, it is important to note that religion is an important aspect of Indian culture, so you will find more religious tones or ideas in Bollywood films than you will in Hollywood. So it goes without saying that nudity or overt sexual scenes are not prevalent in Bollywood films. Beautiful women in swimsuits? Sometimes. Steamy sex scenes (sometimes not even kissing) are a no-no. Many times, it depends upon the actor's feelings as to whether he/she will kiss in a movie. Some will, some won't. These are real facts in Bollywood movies.

However we are seeing changes:

Take a filmmaker like Karan Johar, who makes decidedly old fashioned Bollywood movies albeit in new clothes. Karan's last movie My Name is Khan clocked in at 145 minutes. Now take an upstart filmmaker like the brilliant Dibaker Bannerji. His last movie Love Sex aur Dhoka had a running time of just over 100 minutes. Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal? 122 minutes. Ayan Mukerji's Wake Up Sid? 138 minutes.

At the end I would like to add a picture to describe although Indian films are cheaper to produce, cheaper to promote or lengthy in time it is the business which has forced hollywood production house to come to India.