为什么印度电影一言不合就会跳舞？

Jennifer Hancock, Bollywood movie fan, Humanist

Jennifer Hancock，宝莱坞影迷，人文主义者

First - they don’t all have dance scenes. There are a variety of Indian movies, drama, romance, thriller, masala. On top of that different language cinemas prefer different sorts of movies.

首先 - 它们并不都有舞蹈场景。有各种各样的印度电影、戏剧、爱情片、惊悚片、马萨拉。最重要的是，不同语言的电影院偏爱不同类型的电影。
(译者注：Masala，马萨拉，是调料的统称。宝莱坞电影又被称作马萨拉电影)

The dance numbers that do appear in movies are there for several reasons.

在电影中出现舞蹈有几个原因。

The music is good and it helps pre-sell the movie so people are aware of the music before the movie comes out.

音乐很有好处，有助于电影预售，这样人们就能在电影上映前就了解了其中的音乐。

Who doesn’t like a good song and dance number. Seriously.

谁不喜欢好歌曲和舞蹈呢，说真的。

Depending on what the dance number is - it may be accomplishing several things for the film maker and their story telling simultaneously. For instance, if the song is an “I just realized I’m in love fantasy sequence” The song (which is in the form of a fantasy) will let us know the character is now in love.In addition to telling us about character motivation, these sequences will also give the director an opportunity to pay homage to another movie maker. So the song Zoobie Doobie in 3 Idiots - the fantasy is that she is in a Yash Chopra Wedding coupled with The romance of Saawariya. It’s a beautiful number because of what it tells us about the character, how well it is danced and sung and how well they evoke Yash Chopra and Saawariya without actually duplicating those sequences. 

根据舞蹈的数量，它可以帮助电影制作人想展现多个故事情节。例如,如果这首歌是“我刚意识到我恋爱了”，这首歌(这是一个幻想的形式)会让我们知道电影角色现在恋爱了。除了告诉我们角色的动机，这些情节还将给导演一个机会，向另一个电影制片人致敬。所以《三傻大闹宝莱坞》中的《Zoobie Doobie》这首插曲的情节是，她参加了Yash Chopra的婚礼，与Saawariya浪漫的结合在一起。这是一段优美的舞蹈，因为它告诉我们关于这个角色，它的舞蹈和演唱有多好，以及它们在没有重复这些情节的情况下很好的展现了Yash Chopra和Saawariya。

The dance sequences often echo or invoke other songs and dance sequences to forward plot development. 

舞蹈片段经常呼应或唤起其他歌曲和舞蹈片段，以推动情节发展。

Once you realize that the songs are being used as short cuts for story telling, they make more sense. And once you get used to them, you really start to enjoy them. At this point, I feel a bit cheated if there isn’t a good song and dance number.

一旦你意识到这些歌曲被用作讲述故事的捷径，它们就更有意义了。一旦你习惯了它们，你就会真正开始享受它们。在这一点上，如果没有一个好的歌曲和舞蹈片段，我觉得有点受骗。

Mark Parkinson
@Jennifer Hancock
Could you tell me what Bollywood films don’t have dance scenes in them? It would really like to know.

你能告诉我什么宝莱坞电影里没有舞蹈镜头吗？真的很想知道。

Jennifer Hancock
@Mark Parkinson
It’s a huge list. But Udaan is an example of a drama without a dance sequence. There is a montage if I remember correctly.

这会是一个很长的清单。但是，《Udaan》(2010年印度电影)是一个没有舞蹈情节电影的例子。如果我没记错的话这是部蒙太奇电影。

Jack Betancourt
@Jennifer Hancock
so, to get back to: Why must every Indian movie have a dance scene in it.

因此，问题又回到：为什么每部印度电影都必须有舞蹈场面。

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Vishowjeet K Yaduv, Movie Fanatic
Because Bollywood is Obsessed with peppy dance numbers and Indians want full entertainment for the amount they pay for the Movie.

因为宝莱坞痴迷于活泼的歌舞，而印度人则希望掏钱看的电影能得到充分的娱乐。

There are various reasons for it.

原因是多方面的。

-Indians love music.
-Dance scene makes the audiences glue to the theatres even if the movie has a bad scxt.
-It's a formula used by the filmmakers to make a movie run for a while.
-Iconic steps are created by Bollywood.
-Dance is used to portray feelings of the character (in initial movies).
-Dance scenes are used to attract audience.

-印度人喜欢音乐。
-即使电影的剧本不好，舞场也会让观众对剧情产生共鸣。
-这是电影制作人用来让一部电影停顿片刻的套路。
-宝莱坞创造了标志性的舞步。
-舞蹈被用来表达角色的情感（在早期电影中）。
-舞蹈场面是用来吸引观众的。

My answer might not be Satisfactory but that's how Bollywood works..

我的回答可能不令人满意，但宝莱坞就是这样运作的。。

Bollywood needs dance because Indians crave for masala movies, a complete ala-carte package. All of the entertainment so Bollywood adds more dances and songs to the movies.

宝莱坞需要舞蹈，因为印度人渴望马沙拉(南亚调料名，意思是大杂烩)电影，一个完整的沙拉套餐，包含所有的娱乐，所以宝莱坞在电影中增加了更多的舞蹈和歌曲。

Another reason is that most of the Indian audience don't like to think while watching a movie, so if the filmmakers put a song and a dance number they can relate to the audiences. If the actor is happy there'll be a dance party. If he wants to hook up he goes to the bar and another peppy party number comes in.

另一个原因是，大多数印度观众在看电影时不喜欢思考，所以如果电影制作人放上一首歌和舞蹈，它们就能与观众产生共鸣。如果演员开心，就会有一个舞会；如果他想搭讪，他就去酒吧，然后又一个活泼的派对歌舞加进来了。

Good movies in Bollywood does have songs but they are the demand of the scxt.

宝莱坞的好电影确实有歌曲，但它们是剧本的要求。

Movies like The Lunch Box,Airlift,Neerja,Baby,Pink does not have dance sequences to convey their message to the audiences, because of the scxt..

像《午餐盒》、《撤离科威特》、《劫机惊魂》、《宝贝》、《红粉惊魂》等电影都没有舞蹈情节来向观众传达他们的信息，因为剧本。

I hope my explanation to the question was satisfactory.

我希望我对这个问题的解释令人满意。

Sumit Mullick
@Vishowjeet K Yaduv
Not only they (> 99%) have multiple dance scenes, you can almost set your watch on the length of time one dance stops and before the next song starts. .. the director must be going by a formula on the max attention span of the audience

印度电影(>99%)不仅有多个舞蹈场面，你甚至可以通过你的手表来统计一个舞蹈停止和下一首歌曲开始之间的时间……导演肯定根据观众的最大注意力广度制定了一个公式。

Priyanka
@Vishowjeet K Yaduv
my opinion dance never potrays emotions. not only indians all world will love music and songs. suppose if our hero is depressed they make a peppy dance number crazily dancing on roads who will have this energy to dance when you are depressed.some times it looks odd. heroines exists only for songs in indian movies.

在我看来舞蹈从不掺杂感情。不仅仅是印度人，全世界的人都会喜欢音乐和歌曲。假设我们的英雄情绪低落，他们会在路上安排一支充满活力的舞蹈，当情绪低落时，谁会有这种精力跳舞。有时看起来很奇怪，印度电影中的女主角只为歌曲而存在。

Shaurya Aggarwal
@Vishowjeet K Yaduv
Bollywood is a low-quality film industry. The so-little money India has is being spent on lame romcoms and super-unrealistic action films instead of fighting hunger and pollution that appears to be rampant all over India.

宝莱坞是一个劣质电影产业。印度把这么少的钱花在蹩脚的浪漫喜剧和极其不切实际的动作片上，而不是用来抗击似乎在印度各地都很猖獗的饥饿和污染。

Vansh Jain
@Shaurya Aggarwal
No, you are so wrong. Bollywood produces low quality movies, because people watch them. You get what you pay for. Bollywood produces good movies too, but the thing is that you don't pay to watch them( I mean most people). And you are also talking about hunger and poverty , but do you even know how many jobs are created by Bollywood

不，你大错特错。宝莱坞制作劣质电影，是因为有人看，一分钱一分货。宝莱坞也制作好电影，但问题是你不会花钱去看它们(我是说大多数人)。你也在谈论饥饿和贫穷，但你知道宝莱坞创造了多少就业机会吗？

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Swarup Sahoo, Movie Buff

Swarup Sahoo，电影迷

One of the major reasons is the target audience for a particular movie. For example, the more intense movies which have a deeper narrative are meant for more urban audience who can do away with dance sequences and stuff (ex. Life in a Metro, Gangs of Wasseypur etc.).

其中一个主要原因是特定电影的目标观众。例如，拥有更深刻内涵的更激烈的电影是面向更多城市观众的，他们可以摆脱舞蹈情节等内容(如《地铁人生》、《瓦塞浦黑帮》等)。

The more commercial movies have thinner plots which are meant for the entire Indian audience to understand. By entire audience I mean the lowest of lows in the Indian Social structure. Now a guy who pulls a manual rickshaw with the paltry amount of food he gets to eat and even with that people bargain to pay only 20 rupees for an arduous effort he made, isn’t really logically expected to understand why the disabled girl in a big city is struggling with her depression and her passion for painting. At the other end of the spectrum, there might be a rich girl who never cared much about life beyond her bubble; and doesn’t really know what kinds of lives people live in villages and won’t give two fucks about what artsy narrative a story about coal mafia in a village far far away has.

更多的商业电影有更单薄的故事情节，这是为了让所有印度观众便于理解，我说的所有观众是指印度社会结构中最底层的人。现在一个拉人力车的家伙只能吃到微不足道的食物，甚至仅仅为他艰苦努力获得的20卢比报酬与人讨价还价,他在逻辑上无法理解为什么一个大城市的残疾女孩正与她的抑郁症和她对绘画的热情作斗争。在另一个极端，可能有一个白富美从不关心她自己圈子之外的生活，不知道人们在农村过着什么样的生活，也不会在乎一个遥远村庄里的煤炭团伙有什么样的艺术故事。

For him and her and many more people in India, the simple dance and easy stories are the means of entertainment. I guess Indian movie Industry caters to all kinds of audiences. What you are asking about is related to the movies which are meant to please the entire Indian crowd. But there are movies which do not have song and dance and not meant for the masses.

对他和她以及更多的印度人来说，简单的舞蹈和简单的故事是一种娱乐方式。我想印度电影业迎合了各种观众的口味。你问的问题是那些旨在取悦所有印度人的电影。但是有些电影没有歌曲和舞蹈，也不是为大众准备的。

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O.Ravi, lives in India

O.Ravi，住在印度

Yes, every Indian movie has some dance sequences attached with it.

是的，每部印度电影都有一些舞蹈情节。

People complain Why Indian MOVIES should have songs with dance sequences ? And Why can't it be like HOLLYWOOD Ones ? My reply to this is just simple- This works in India.

人们抱怨为什么印度电影里要有舞蹈场面？为什么不能像好莱坞电影那样呢？我的回答很简单——这在印度吃得开。

The formula of adding songs & dances has been prent since the times of MuGhAl e AzAm.

从《MuGhAl e AzAm》电影以来，添加歌舞的套路一直很流行。
(译者注：MuGhAl e AzAm，《莫卧儿大帝》，1960年的印度电影)

Once Salman khan was asked if he would do movies without any songs in it like HOLLYWOOD Ones and his reply was :“Why would I do that ? This thing might work in Hollywood but in India, songs are the essence of the FILM”

有一次，萨尔曼·汗被问到是否会像好莱坞那样拍没有歌舞的电影，他的回答是：“我为什么要那么做？这在好莱坞可能行得通，但在印度，歌舞才是电影的精髓。”

Thus, it can be said that songs along with the dance sequences form an integral part of the Indian movies and who doesn't enjoy them ? Everyone loves those blockbuster songs.

因此，可以说，载歌载舞是印度电影不可或缺的一部分，谁不喜欢呢？每个人都喜欢那些轰动一时的歌曲。

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Raakhee V. Menon, sextive movie watcher

Raakhee V. Menon，选择性电影观众

‘Every’ Indian movie doesn’t have a dance scene in it. That’s a HUGE generalization! There are a lot of movies that don’t have anything of the sort. It all depends on the type of movies one chooses to watch :) Of course, if there is nothing substantial in the story line or in terms of acting prowess, then the makers add in some elements like this to draw in the crowds. If the story line is good enough, then there is no need for the stereotypical ‘dancing around the trees’ sequences.

并不是每一部印度电影都有舞蹈场面，这是一个大体的概括！有很多电影都没有这种东西。当然，如果故事情节没有什么实质性的内容，演员也没有什么高超的演技，那么制作方就会添加一些这样的元素来吸引观众。如果故事情节足够好，那么就不需要老套的“绕树跳舞”情节了。

Priyanka
@Raakhee V. Menon
art movies dont have songs and dances. we already generalised judged our movies dividing them as art movies means slowly talking without bgm with birds chirping or staying in house literally gives us all sorts of phobias like claustrophobia. thats why we love energetic movies like ohm shanti ohm.

艺术电影没有歌舞，我们已经广义上归类了我们的电影，把它们划分为艺术电影意味着讲话慢条斯理，没有背景音乐而是莺歌燕语，或者呆在室内带给给我们各种各样的恐怖感，比如幽闭恐惧症。这就是为什么我们喜欢像《ohm shanti ohm》这样充满活力的电影。
(译者注：ohm shanti ohm，译名《再生缘》，2007年印度电影，沙鲁克·汗、迪皮卡·帕度柯妮主演的喜剧悬疑和歌舞类型的电影。)

Chinmay Prajapati
@Raakhee V. Menon
Almost “every” Indian movie has a song/dance scene (well I mean song- some songs don’t have dance scenes where they go romantic or sadness) but songs are always there. Exceptions too rare !!

几乎“每一部”印度电影都有歌曲/舞蹈场景(我是说歌曲——有些歌曲没有浪漫或悲伤的舞蹈场景)，但歌曲总是存在的。例外太少了!!

Raakhee V. Menon
@Chinmay Prajapati
Yeah, and they get classified under ‘art house cinema’

是的，(没有歌舞的电影)它们被归为“艺术电影”。

Chinmay Prajapati
@Raakhee V. Menon
What's art house cinema?

什么是艺术电影？

Raakhee V. Menon
@Raakhee V. Menon
Y’know…serious movies like those made by Satyajit Ray and all that. Art films.

你知道，像萨蒂亚吉特·雷伊制作的严肃电影之类的，称之为艺术电影。
(译者注：Satyajit Ray，萨蒂亚吉特·雷伊，1921年5月2日出生于印度加尔各答，印度电影导演、编剧、制片人、剪辑，毕业于加尔各答大学，曾经获得戛纳电影节、威尼斯电影节、柏林电影节、东京电影节、奥斯卡电影节等大奖。)

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Subodh Singh, lives in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
Its one of the thing I hate most in Bollywood or other Indian movies. Thiss increase length of the movie, most of the time without making any sense e.g. What was need of that "Zoobi Doobi" song in "3 idiots" and that "selfie" song in "Bajrangi Bhaijaan".
Still there are some wonderful movies without any (maybe little) dance scene in it without any meaning, some of they might have a song or two but it goes well along with the story. For example:
SHAHID
CITYLIGHTS
GANGS OF WASSEYPUR
AANKHO DEKHI
MASAAN
DEV'D
UDTA PUNJAB
KHOSLA KA GHOSLA
There are some classics too such as JAANE BHI DO YAARO and PUSHPAK.
All of them are pretty good movies.

在宝莱坞或其他印度电影中，歌舞是我最讨厌的事情之一。这增加了电影的长度，大部分都没有任何意义，比如电影《三傻大闹宝莱坞》中的歌舞插曲《Zoobi Doobi》和《小萝莉的猴神大叔》中的歌舞插曲《SELFIE》有什么必要？
仍然有一些很棒的电影没有任何(可能很少)毫无意义的舞蹈场面，他们中的一些可能有一两首歌，但它与故事情节很契合。例如:
《SHAHID》
《CITYLIGHTS》
《GANGS OF WASSEYPUR》
《AANKHO DEKHI》
《MASAAN》
《DEV'D》
《UDTA PUNJAB》
《KHOSLA KA GHOSLA》
也有一些经典电影，如《JAANE BHI DO YAARO》和《PUSHPAK》。
它们都是很好的电影。

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Avkrishna Rao, studied at Master of Business Administration in Business Management
It is deeply connected to Indian culture.
It is one of the most powerful entertainment ideas, as it can ncorporate many varieties of national and international variations.
when combined with appropriate music it make tap toes by audience
That is the unique visual effective part of the movie.
BUT ALL THESE ARE VALID IF DONE BY PROPER WAY BY TALENTED CHOREOGRAPHERS

Avkrishna Rao，攻读工商管理硕士学位
它与印度文化有着非常密切的联系。
这是最强大的娱乐理念之一，因为它可以融合许多不同国家的多样性和国际变化。
当与合适的音乐结合时，它会让观众手舞足蹈。
这是电影独特的视觉效果部分。
但如果有才华的编舞以适当的方式完成，所有这些都是有效的

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Pandu Ranga Rao, Knows about Music
Simple Answer.
A Movie is mixture of all art forms like Dancing, Singing and Music etc.
A good song needs a good dance to excite the audience. So there will be a dance scene in it.

Pandu Ranga Rao，了解音乐
答案很简单。
电影是舞蹈、唱歌、音乐等所有艺术形式的混合体。
好的歌曲需要好的舞蹈来激发观众的热情，所以里面会有舞蹈的场面。

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Navin Kabra, CTO of wogma.com

Navin Kabra, wogma.com首席技术官

Seriously, though, consider the following:

严格来讲，要考虑以下几个因素:

- Often, having one or more superhit song+dance numbers in a movie can be enough to ensure box-office success for a movie - irrespective of how good or bad the rest of the movie is.

- 通常情况下，一部电影中有一个或多个热门歌曲+舞蹈，就足以确保票房成功——不管这部电影的其他部分是好是坏。

- Often, a movie might become profitable ever before theatrical release of the movie, purely on the basis of the music sales

- 通常情况下，一部电影可能会在影院上映之前就已经盈利了，这完全是基于音乐销售

- In villages, the audience sometimes scream for an encore at the end of a dance number, and the theatre management will oblige by replaying the song before continuing the rest of the movie.

- 在乡村，观众有时会在一段舞蹈结束后尖叫着要求再放一遍，而剧院管理人员则会在继续电影的其余部分之前重放这首歌。

I think the point to remember is that mainstream Bollywood never really bought into the whole concept of "story flow." Even without the song-and-dance, many Bollywood movies will have interruptions to the "main storyline" in the from of a "comedy sidetrack" which often will have only a tenuous connection to the movie, or a "fight scene" (if you've seen enough Bollywood movies, you'll know what I mean).

我认为需要记住的一点是，主流宝莱坞从未真正接受“故事流”的概念。即使没有歌舞，许多宝莱坞电影也会有“主要故事情节”被“喜剧支线”打断，因为“喜剧支线”通常只会与这部电影有一个微弱的联系，或者被一个“打斗场面”打断(如果你看过足够多的宝莱坞电影，你就会明白我的意思)。

I think it helps to think of a Bollywood movie as a collection of "scenes" (song, dance, fight, comedy, "dialogue") and the story flow is simply an excuse to string together all the scenes into one movie. In a porn movie, too much of a story simply gets in the way; it's something similar with Bollywood movies. People come for the "scenes" not for the story.

我认为宝莱坞电影是“场景”(歌曲、舞蹈、打斗、喜剧、“对话”)的集合，而故事流只是将所有场景串联成一部电影的借口。在色情电影中，太多的故事只会碍事，这与宝莱坞电影类似。人们来这里是为了“场景”，而不是为了故事。

You must see a Bollywood movie in a cheap, rural theatre to appreciate what makes Bollywood movies tick.

要欣赏宝莱坞电影的魅力，你必须在廉价的乡村影院里看宝莱坞电影。

Tushar Khairnar
@Navin Kabra
Most of what Navin says is correct but I think after the Multiplex have started most of the bollywood revenue comes from metro and satellite cities and movies are specially made for "metro" kind of audience and it is collection of "scenes". I think It's just how bollywood movies have evolved into unique species.

你说的大部分都是对的，但我认为在多厅影城出现之后，宝莱坞的大部分收入来自大都汇和卫星城，电影是专门为大都汇观众制作的，是“场景”的集合。我认为这就是宝莱坞电影如何演变成另类的原因。

Robin Samuel
@Tushar Khairnar
Also music sales in an important part of revenue to the film industry.

此外，音乐销售收入也是电影行业收入的重要组成部分。

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Meeta Kabra, Grown up with Bollywood, and now day job includes reviewing Bollywood releases of the week.

Meeta Kabra，看宝莱坞电影长大的，现在的日常工作包括回顾每周的宝莱坞电影。

Yet it can be further dissected, as some of the answers above point out.

然而正如上面的一些答案所指出的那样，它还可以进一步剖析。

1.Culture and Tradition: Drama/Nautanki/Jatra and even dance performances like laavaniwas an intrinsic part of entertainment even in the interiors. This population, the non-urban population, still forms a huge part of a mainstream movie's audience and they look forward to having a good time with the song and dance sequences.

1.文化与传统：戏剧/瑙坦基/贾特拉，甚至像laavanii这样的舞蹈表演都是娱乐的固有部分，即使在室内也是如此。这部分人——也就是非城市人口——仍然是主流电影观众的很大一部分，他们期待着在歌曲和舞蹈中度过美好时光。

2.Business: A huge chunk of revenues for a film is said to come from music album sales. This is an amazing revelation considering how deep-rooted piracy is.

2.商业:据说一部电影的一大块收入来自音乐专辑的销售。考虑到盗版的根深蒂固，这是一个了不起的启示。

3.A mode of expression: In the earlier days of cinema in India, song and dance was used to express emotions that prose+acting couldn't. From national integration to lust and of course, romance were conveyed using beautiful lyrics set to soul-stirring melodies.

3.一种表达方式：在印度早期的电影中，人们用歌曲和舞蹈来表达情感，这是台词+表演所不能表达的。从民族融合到欲望，当然还有浪漫，都是用动人心弦的旋律配上优美的歌词来传达的。

4.Escapism: A lot of the audience wants an escape from their lives when they go to a cinema hall instead of see someone else's reality. Song and dance sequences make a good means to reach that end.

4.逃避现实：很多观众去电影院时都想逃离自己的生活，而不是去看别人的现实生活。歌曲和舞蹈是达到这个目的的好方法。

5.Yet somewhere rooted in reality: A lot of Indian festivals and wedding processes have singing and dancing as an inclusive part of the rituals. It's not just the newer forms of wedding eve, sangeet (song and dance) parties or Ganpati festival (Celebration of the elephant god's birthday). Weddings in earlier days, would have women of the village get together and sing from 15-20 days before the day. Navratra is a 9-day dance festival of western state, Gujarat. Each state and many sub-divisions of a state has its own local form of folk dance.

5.然而有根植于现实的地方：许多印度节日和婚礼过程中都有唱歌和跳舞，这是仪式的一部分。它不仅仅是新的形式的婚礼前夕，sangeet(唱歌和跳舞)派对或Ganpati节(庆祝象神的生日)。在早期的婚礼上，会让村里的女人在婚礼前15-20天聚在一起唱歌。Navratra是印度西部古吉拉特邦的一个为期9天的舞蹈节。每个邦和一个邦的许多地方都有自己的本地形式的民间舞蹈。

That's just how the ball rolls. While we do see a hint of change from songs becoming non-lip-sync, it is still a huge business risk not to have songs even in the most serious films.

事情就是这样发展的。虽然我们确实看到歌曲变成口型不同步的迹象，但即使是在最严肃的电影中，没有歌曲仍然是一个巨大的商业风险。

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Shibin George , forgotten diamonds aplenty in the haystack

Shibin George ,被遗忘在草堆里的钻石

If the movie's plot has quality content, sure it can work without the eye-catching song routines.

如果这部电影的情节有高质量的内容，当然它可以不靠这些吸引眼球的歌舞节目而获得成功。

But if the movie either has mediocre plot/content/quality, or is borderline, the producers might insist on adding a few song and dance routines or lately, 'item-numbers' to bring in more audience and make the movie a commercial success.

但如果电影的情节/内容/质量平平，或者非主流，制片方可能会坚持添加一些歌曲和舞蹈节目，或者流行的“舞娘”，以吸引更多观众，让电影获得商业上的成功。
(译者注：item numbers，宝莱坞专用术语，指专门负责在电影歌舞部分的舞者。多数的情况下，Item Numbers 指的是Item Girls，这些衣着挑逗、舞姿诱人、表情暧昧的姑娘，用来吸引观众的眼球，激起电影观众的情绪和科尔蒙。)

There are a few obvious advantages in including song-and-dance routines and/or item numbers:

这样做有几个明显的优势，包括歌舞节目和/或舞娘:

1.Free advertising
Catchy songs and item numbers will be played countless times on television even a month before the movie is to be released. If the song or item number catches on, the movies will definitely see a surging demand even before it is released (with little marketing cost).

1.免费广告
甚至在电影上映前的一个月，朗朗上口的歌曲和舞蹈就会在电视上被无数次播放。如果这首歌曲或舞蹈走红，电影在上映前就会吊足胃口（营销成本很低）。

2.Music
Even movies without item numbers can have songs when they're not really needed. But this is also a RoI scenario.
The audience doesn't mind good music to add value to their movie experience (case in point - A R Rahman movies). And the music sales also promote revenue for the movie.

2.音乐
即使是没有舞蹈的电影也可以在不需要的时候添加歌曲，但这也是一个投资收益率(return on investment, ROI)问题。
观众并不介意好的音乐为他们的电影体验增加价值(例如A R Rahman 的电影)。音乐销售也增加了电影的收入。

3.Running time
I'm going out on a limb here, but majority of the Indian market believes it receives more value for money if the movie is longer.

3.播放时间
我这么说有点冒险，但大多数印度观众认为如果电影时间长一些就会显得物超所值。

4.Item Numbers
Why do we have items numbers even when they assault our logical sense, break the story line, denigrate women, degrade 'Indian culture' and whatever else?
There is a simple answer - Return on Investment.
Item numbers can cost crores to make, but it almost always provides good RoI in terms of free marketing and consequently footfalls (and ads on tv release).

4.舞女
为什么我们还要有很多舞女，即使它们颠倒了我们的逻辑意识，打破了故事主线，诋毁女性，贬低“印度文化”等等?
答案很简单——投资回报率。
歌舞的制作成本可能高达数千万美元，但从免费营销和随之产生的资金流入(以及在电视上发布的广告)来看，它几乎总是能够提供良好的投资回报率。

5.Hypocrisy
India has a patriarchal society. The men control money and are the major market for movies. Hence we have item-numbers directed at them. At the same time, people who obxt, obxt only in meager voices. In most cases, they don't really mind watching the item numbers themselves and will even pay to watch. At the very least, they will not protest very loudly - if a popular song assaults their sensibilities or if it spoils the mood of an otherwise good movie.

5.虚伪
印度是一个父权社会，男人控制着金钱，是电影的主要市场。因此，我们有针对他们的舞女。与此同时，那些反对的人，只是以微弱的声音反对。在大多数情况下，他们并不介意自己看舞女，甚至愿意花钱看。至少，他们不会大声抗议——如果一首流行歌曲侵犯了他们的情感，或者破坏了一部好电影的气氛。

So there you have it. The 'secret' behind our masala song and dance routines and lately, item-numbers. 

你应该明白了，我们大杂烩歌舞节目以及流行的舞女背后的“秘密”。