Click Here To See The Full Range of Bollywood Costumes
What kind of film has more song and dance than a Disney double feature? Yep, it’s a Bollywood film! Of course, there are quite a few Hindi movies that do not focus on their usual song-and-dance gimmick, but for most of us, that’s the impression we get. A Bollywood costume certainly reminds us of those exotic films.
Bollywood is the film industry based in Mumbai, India. It is the largest producer of films in the world; in 2009 they released 2961 films on celluloid format, of which 1288 were feature films. You could have watched 8 different films a day and still missed out on more than a handful! If you have to ask though, originality is not as common as you might think. Films in India revolve around a few topics, and there are quite a number of apparent cases of plagiarism. If everyone’s doing the same thing, it’s likely you’ll end up with something almost identical even without intention, right?
The Bollywood costume for men and women differs, of course. For men, it’s not particularly complicated, but it is not nearly as much fun as for women’s costumes. For men, the classic Bollywood getup is a long light South Asian tunic, and matching pants. Since the name of the game in Bollywood is color, then the Bollywood leading man needs some simple embellishments on his top, and perhaps a bright shawl draped over his shoulders. A brightly-colored turban also makes a big impact.
For the ladies, choosing from the Bollywood costume options require the question: “How much do you want to show off?” There are basically three types of costumes for women: the traditional, to modern conventional, and the flirty. The traditional costume includes a body veil, a head veil, and all the fancy costume jewelry. This is great for the woman who does not care to show much skin, and also pays the most tribute to the traditional clothing of India.
The modern conventional features simpler cuts and fewer accoutrements, and won’t show off much more than the traditional, but does flatter the figure more. Saturated color and gold accents make this a true Bollywood treat. Variants feature a shorter skirt for showing off lovely legs.
Lastly, there’s the “flirty” style which looks more suited to a harem than in public. It is definitely something for the more confident woman. These costumes are skimpy but still tasteful, heightening sexiness while keeping in character with the Bollywood leading lady (or backup dancer).
In recent years Halloween has started to be a prime showplace for Bollywood costumes and the number of Bollywood Halloween costumes is on the rise as more and more people become interested in this unique and fun outfit and culture.
Click Here To See The Full Range of Bollywood Costumes
Available Bollywood Costume Sizes
To make the most of your Bollywood costume, you will need the right size. Women in particular need the right size for the flirty style – wouldn’t want anything too loose or too tight, now would we? Most of the women’s costumes come in X-Small to Large. The men’s costume comes in one size, Standard, which is between Medium and Large.
These costumes do not include shoes, so make sure to get a pair that fits, and suits the character. Low shoes, slip-ons, and even sandals suit the man, while open-toed shoes and sandals are more common for women.
Additionally, some of the women’s costumes are backless, so you may need a backless bra or adhesive bra patches. Strapless won’t cut it for the more daring costume options.
Polishing up on your song and dance routine by watching a few Bollywood films also helps get you in character. Have fun with these exotic choices!
Bollywood Background Information
Modern Bollywood is a sumptuous confluence of cinematic styles, but what sticks to mind is the fondness for song and dance. This can be traced back to the classic Sanskrit dramas and Parsi theater, which made heavy use of song, dance, and gestures to heighten the spectacle and expressivity of the performers.
There seems to be a bit of difference in how Hollywood and Bollywood “think”. Hollywood does things with a more fantastic style, while striving to hide the constructed nature of the film. Bollywood chooses simpler gimmicks, but ramps up the coordination across scale, and does not seek to hide the constructed nature. Simply put, Bollywood makes no bones about the film being an illusion, but it is an illusion that could very well be part of daily life.
Since the 1990’s, Western influences have entered the Bollywood mindset, causing changes in pacing, lighting, camera angles, and choices of songs and dance moves.
Bollywood Movies and TV Shows
The vast majority of Bollywood films does not make it into the West, and distribution is usually limited to South Asia. The United Kingdom does have a higher consciousness for this industry, perhaps owing to the colonial effects as well as the large number of Indian descendants.
Indian cinema is not just gimmicky razzle-dazzle, as the critically-acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire shows. Bollywood films can be sensitive and thought-provoking too. Still, for most of us, the fun in Bollywood films is in the song and dance routines, which can be brought up to almost silly scales.
Meanwhile, Bollywood has influenced the arts outside of India as well. A number of pop songs carry the beats and sounds common to Indian film music. Some song and dance routines, particularly in theatre, owe their conception to Indian cinematic influences. Lastly, Bollywood helped spread knowledge of certain Hindu ideologies, like reincarnation, karma, and so on. Bollywood truly is a colorful living industry.
Similar Costumes
Feel that you don’t quite like the Bollywood costume or Bollywood Halloween costume options? That’s alright, there are others to choose from.
A similarly exotic style comes from the ancient Middle East, namely Persia. The Disney classic Aladdin is a good starting point for costumes, with a rich and well-loved set of characters. More recently, the adventure film Prince of Persia provides some great inspirations – the warrior-prince, the beautiful princess or ancient times, and the desert stalkers.
Perhaps you prefer something simpler. Why not choose the Ancient Greek mode of dress? Single-color dresses and togas are easy to accessorize, plus there is always the option of ramping it up to play one of the figures from Greek mythologies.
If you’re not up to playing with exotic themes, why not just go back to the classics? Cowboy and cowgirl outfits, characters from films like Shrek and Toy Story – it’s not just about what you’re wearing, but also about how well you wear it!
Ideal Companion Costumes
The ideal companion costumes as voted by our subscribers are the Elvis Costume and the Smurf Costume!
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