Bollywood on Parade: Photographs by Jonathan Torgovnik

Bollywood on Parade

Photographs by Jonathan Torgovnik

March/April 2005 Issue

“The first show starts at noon,” says photographer Jonathan Torgovnik, “and they will go until four in the morning.” Torgovnik, who spent five years documenting the role of film in Indian life, describes the touring cinema as a dying business. But for villagers in

remote towns like Pali, an eight-hour drive from Bombay, the annual visit by the film bus is the only way to participate in “India’s common religion.”

The Indian film industry is the world’s largest, producing 800 feature films a year—double Hollywood’s output.

And when it comes to cinema, faith is no obstacle: Hindu and Muslim movie stars are equally adored.

After trundling through a village, hyping films over the bullhorn, the crew parks the bus in a field and erects a tent. At 10 rupees (25 cents) a head,

as many as 1,000 people will crowd in to watch their big-screen heroes. The operators smartly include movies filmed in the local language—in this case Marathi. A Marathi chick flick (above), Torgovnik says, “will draw larger crowds than even the big Bombay hits.”