Weather in Delhi does two things: rain very very heavily, or, become very very very hot and humid. The best thing about these two circumstances is that they are both ideal weather conditions for one of my favorite activities—going to the movies. Lucky for me, the Bollywood industry is probably the largest film Industry (definitely the most prolific) in the world, and the country’s independent cinema movement is also booming. If I’d wanted too, I could have seen three movies a day for every day of my trip and still not exhausted the supply. Since ostensibly there were other things I had to do, I just saw three films total: One Hindi indie called
That Girl in Yellow Boots, about a young girl who works at a happy endings massage parlor to make enough money to track down her lost father, and two classic Bollywood films,
Mere brother Ke Dulhan and
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the latter a classic stag party adventure for three best friends before one of them gets married. (The same female lead, Katrina Kaif stars in both of these).
I appreciated my first Hindi indie, but my favorite of the three was the archetypal Bollywood flick, “Mere Brother Ke Dulhan” or “My brother’s bride” which my mom thought should be changed to “EYES” because of the amount of screen time dedicated solely to close ups of our main characters looking longingly at each other. During this movie, our main character, Kush, is on a mission to find a bride for his brother, Luv. He finds the perfect woman, Dimple, but after her engagement to his brother, Kush realizes hes totally in love with her! My favorite scene had to be when, as part of the plot twist to get the brother back with his ex so that Kush and Dimple can be together, the whole family takes a break from engagement festivities at a Government Authorized Bhang Shop (Bhang is a juice made from marijuana plants that is mixed into milkshakes) and everyone including the fat old aunties and uncles gets completely blitzed out of their minds and they all perform a big-stoned-happy-family song and dance number. It's not my Dadima's Bollywood anymore, that's for sure! Do not think, however, that this means there was one single kiss on the lips during the entire film, because there was not. Not a single kiss, but eyes, eyes, eyes!
It's true that Bollywood films are cheesy and obvious. BUT. Bollywood has PERFECTED cheese and obviousness to such an extent that the movies are wildly successful in what they aim to achieve: a tangled love story fraught with family drama and some seemingly insurmountable conflict, resolved by an elaborate wedding and all loose ends neatly tied up, with at least 3 or 4 musical numbers to rival any Brittany or Beyonce video. It’s damn hard not to fall in love with them!
BTW is this guy the Indian Jake Gyllenhaal or what?!
Weather in Delhi does two things: rain very very heavily, or, become very very very hot and humid. The best thing about these two circumstances is that they are both ideal weather conditions for one of my favorite activities—going to the movies. Lucky for me, the Bollywood industry is probably the largest film Industry (definitely the most prolific) in the world, and the country’s independent cinema movement is also booming. If I’d wanted too, I could have seen three movies a day for every day of my trip and still not exhausted the supply. Since ostensibly there were other things I had to do, I just saw three films total: One Hindi indie called That Girl in Yellow Boots, about a young girl who works at a happy endings massage parlor to make enough money to track down her lost father, and two classic Bollywood films, Mere brother Ke Dulhan and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the latter a classic stag party adventure for three best friends before one of them gets married. (The same female lead, Katrina Kaif stars in both of these).
I appreciated my first Hindi indie, but my favorite of the three was the archetypal Bollywood flick, “Mere Brother Ke Dulhan” or “My brother’s bride” which my mom thought should be changed to “EYES” because of the amount of screen time dedicated solely to close ups of our main characters looking longingly at each other. During this movie, our main character, Kush, is on a mission to find a bride for his brother, Luv. He finds the perfect woman, Dimple, but after her engagement to his brother, Kush realizes hes totally in love with her! My favorite scene had to be when, as part of the plot twist to get the brother back with his ex so that Kush and Dimple can be together, the whole family takes a break from engagement festivities at a Government Authorized Bhang Shop (Bhang is a juice made from marijuana plants that is mixed into milkshakes) and everyone including the fat old aunties and uncles gets completely blitzed out of their minds and they all perform a big-stoned-happy-family song and dance number. It's not my Dadima's Bollywood anymore, that's for sure! Do not think, however, that this means there was one single kiss on the lips during the entire film, because there was not. Not a single kiss, but eyes, eyes, eyes!
It's true that Bollywood films are cheesy and obvious. BUT. Bollywood has PERFECTED cheese and obviousness to such an extent that the movies are wildly successful in what they aim to achieve: a tangled love story fraught with family drama and some seemingly insurmountable conflict, resolved by an elaborate wedding and all loose ends neatly tied up, with at least 3 or 4 musical numbers to rival any Brittany or Beyonce video. It’s damn hard not to fall in love with them! 
BTW is this guy the Indian Jake Gyllenhaal or what?!
5 comments:
Imran Khan is a total babe.
(By the way: I can't believe you watched three Bollywood films in a day. And I can't believe that's the one you liked best. You're full of surprises, JB.)
TOTAL babe. It wasn't in one day! I saw them over the course of a week and a half... still :)
and she is the indian penelope cruz...
I can see that.
I like it when you name your sources. Love, MOm
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