We live in unusual times.

America is struggling while China and India are thriving.

But in the movie business, it’s the other way around.

Lately, Hollywood is thriving while Bollywood is gasping for breath.

Hard Times for Bollywood
Bollywood is struggling with movie (Yuvraaj) after movie (Chandni Chowk to China) after movie (Billu Barber) after movie (Delhi 6) failing to resonate at the box office.

Indian multiplex owners are wailing about empty halls and have started cutting ticket prices while movie halls in the U.S. (except the ones showing crappy Bollywood movies like Billu Barber or Delhi 6) continue to do brisk business.

The New York Times had an interesting piece yesterday on the good times lately for Hollywood.

Here’s an excerpt from the NYT piece:

While much of the economy is teetering between bust and bailout, the movie industry has been startled by a box-office surge that has little precedent in the modern era. Suddenly it seems as if everyone is going to the movies, with ticket sales this year up 17.5 percent, to $1.7 billion, according to Media by Numbers, a box-office tracking company.

And it is not just because ticket prices are higher. Attendance has also jumped, by nearly 16 percent. If that pace continues through the year, it would amount to the biggest box-office surge in at least two decades.

Can we attribute the audience surge in the U.S. to the economic slowdown alone? In India too, the economy is slowing but of course things are not as grim as in the U.S. and secondly things have always been grim there for a significant chunk of the population

Perhaps, Indian movie fans are getting sick of the garbage repeatedly shovelled at them.

Could it be that the Indian audience is finally waking up and yelling to Bollywood – Enough is Enough.