Is Bollywood escapism for the Indian people?
Bachchan: You have to see it in a larger perspective. There are large numbers of people in India below the poverty line, there are large numbers of people who lead a meager existence. They want to find a little escape from the hardships of life, and come and watch something colorful and exciting and musical. Indian cinema provides that. So yes, the content of our television and our cinema is escapist in nature because we are there to provide entertainment. The select group of people who do make realistic cinema, who do make cinema perhaps a little more acceptable to the Western audience, is a very small percentage. CNN: What are the main differences between a Hollywood and a Bollywood actor? Bachchan: Conceptually we are both the same. We are all human beings, we are actors, we are put in different situations and conditions and we act. Perhaps the content of the Indian cinema is a lot more varied and diverse as compared to the ones the Hollywood actors get associated with. They more or
