Bollywood Production Costs & Financing
Hindi Cinema production financed by Mumbai Underworld
Bollywood budgets are usually modest by Hollywood standards. Sets, costumes, special effects, and cinematography were not as much of world-class until the mid-to-late 1990s. However as Western films and television get wider distribution in India itself, there is increasing pressure for Bollywood films to attain the same production levels.
Bollywood film financing is growing recently but was at one time very limited.
Hollywood & Western Film budgets far exceed Bollywood productions
Sequences shot overseas have proved a real box office draw, so Mumbai film crews are increasingly filming in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, continental Europe and elsewhere. Nowadays, Indian producers are drawing in more and more funding for big-budget films shot within India as well, such as Lagaan, Devdas and Mangal Pandey.
Private individuals & gangsters fund bollywood films
Mumbai underworld involved in Hindi Cinema productions
Financial support for Bollywood films often comes from private distributors and a few large studios. Indian banks and financial institutions were prohibited from lending money to movie studios. As finances are not coordinated, some funding also comes from unlawful sources, such as the Mumbai underworld. The Mumbai underworld has been known to be involved in the production of several films, and is notorious for their patronization of several prominent film personalities; On occasion, they have known to use money and muscle power to get their way in cinematic deals.
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke bollywood film backed by mob investors
In January, 2000, Mumbai mafia hit men shot Rakesh Roshan, film director and father of star Hrithik Roshan; It had been reported that he had rebuffed mob attempts to meddle with his film distribution. In 2001, the Central Bureau of Investigation detained all prints of the movie Chori Chori Chupke Chupke after the movie was found to be funded by members of the Mumbai underworld.
