Most modern movies adhere to a designated runtime sweet spot of between 90 and 120 minutes. Hollywood, the defacto movie factory of the world, seems intent on churning out cookie-cutter products that are just long enough to tell a basic story but still get multiple screening times in theaters. It's a valid business strategy to hopefully recoup their investment but unfortunately sacrifices artistic vision on the altar of ROI.
There are exceptions, such as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings epics. But even these were mercilessly pruned by the studio. To get Jackson's full vision, fans still had to wait for various "director's cut" releases.
It wasn't always this way. Gone With the Wind ran for 3 hours, 58 minutes. Lawrence of Arabia was 3 hours, 36 minutes. Cleopatra broke the 4-hour barrier by 8 minutes. But in recent years, how many times have various directors bemoaned the project they submitted was not the same product distributed by the studio? Unless it's a really simple tale, a director just can't get all the back story and character development done in a 100-minute window.
You know who doesn't give a damn about bean counter imposed runtimes? Bollywood.
These guys don't let a clock get in the way of a good tale. For example, Lagaan, set in the 1890s, is your classic David vs Goliath plot with a love story thrown in for good measure. Woven into the drama and pageantry of its 3 hours and 45-minute runtime, is a backdrop of baseball's international cousin, cricket. By the movie's end, I was now able to wear my Australian Cricket team shirt and speak somewhat intelligently about the sport.
Did I mention the singing? It seems everything coming out of Bollywood has the characters break out in song and dance at seemingly random times. It was like a cross between Ben Hur and West Side Story. So, epic adventure for me and epic musical numbers for Andrea.
Andrea's favorite Bollywood tale is Jodhaa Akbar. Set during the 1500s, the Mughal Emperor who wed a princess in an arranged marriage must now win her heart. There are Beauty and the Beast overtones, complete, of course, with musical numbers. One of the most fascinating to me was "Khwaja Mere Khwaja", a musical prayer extolled by Sufi practitioners. It's incredibly chill and uplifting both tonally and visually with the dervish dance.
A.R.Rehman - "Khwaja Mere Khwaja"
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