Mumbai Film Schools Draws Students from US and Europe

An obvious reason for Indian schools drawing foreign students is that they are cheaper than those in countries like the US and the UK. But they have also begun to get an edge as many students also hope that a stint here, and eventually in Bollywood, will spice up their CV.

Indian cinema is visually different from Hollywood
If you closely look at the movies – Indian vs Hollywood, you’ll notice some important differences. Indian cinema is visually diametrically different from Hollywood. For example, if close-ups in the West highlight a person’s beauty, Bollywood uses them to focus on emotions that take a story forward.

So students at Mumbai film schools learn to appreciate such differences and also learn how to mix up styles, and return with first-hand experience of working in the world’s biggest film industry.

Hollywood doesn’t have Spot Boys
Bollywood filmmakers cannot imagine making a movie without them, but westerners wish even they could have access to more helping hands while making movies. Foreign film students also wish that they could take back the culture of spot boys back to Hollywood. Back home, they have to carry the entire equipment all by themselves which is quite a strain.

But then this is because things are comparatively cheaper in India, and it doesn’t cost a lot to hire more helping hands, compared to what it may cost in the US.

European cinema do not Emote enough
There could be some difference of opinion here, but some European students feel that actors in European cinema do not emote enough (I’m sure most in India would argue that Indian actors at times go overboard with their emotions).

A newbie foreign actors first exposure to Bollywood was only a few months ago when, during a vacation in Singapore, the 24-year-old model-turned-actor met an Indian film producer. “He spoke with such passion and so highly of Indian cinema that when I returned to my room, I had to look it up online,” she recounts in heavily accented English.

What she saw on YouTube were clips of several films, mostly Shah Rukh Khan’s, and the glitz, colour and dramatic cinematic expression were inspiring enough for her to enrol in a two-year programme at a premier Mumbai film school, book a ticket to India and postpone her return to Spain indefinitely.

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