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I discovered Bollywood movies when I saw Lagaan, a movie that almost got an Oscar for Best Foreign Film — and almost started an international incident when it didn’t. That movie was probably the gateway Bollywood movie for many westerners like me. I have never been to India and I don’t pretend to know much about the many cultures there — but I dearly love the spectacle, color and music of Indian movies.
And watching a movie is a fine Friday night activity. So I offer a few, many of which you might find on YouTube.
From Lagaan...this number shows the art of Bollywood. It is absolutely gorgeous.
The story is set in the mid 19th Century. In the story, a cruel English officer makes a bet with the people of a small town — beat his team in a game of cricket (which they don’t know how to play) and he’ll forgive their taxes. Fail, and he will triple the tax. The villagers don’t have the wherewithal to pay any tax for there has been no rain. In this number, they hope the drought is about to end:
Everything I know about cricket (which isn’t much) I learned from Lagaan. The cricket match at the end of the film will have your heart in your throat — promise!
How about a romantic comedy? Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (My Brother’s Bride) is about two brothers, one working in London, the other beginning a career in Bollywood, back in India. The brother in London breaks up with his longtime girlfriend because she has had it with his tardiness and what she perceives as a lack of respect for her on his part. Heartbroken and drunk, he calls his brother in India and says he thinks it is time to get married and wants his brother to find a traditional Indian bride for him. This opening number has the brother in India heading home to their parents’ to begin the search — and every woman he sees along the way he imagines as a bride for his brother. There are a lot of jokes in this number that relate to other Indian films — in fact the whole movie is rich in visual puns. A lot of the jokes are over my head — but I don’t care. This movie makes me laugh, every time. Oh...the bride he finds is anything but traditional. To say she is high spirited would be a great understatement.
One last one for you...Bhool Bhulaiyaa, a dramedy set in an old palace in Jaipur. (The palace is real and I believe operates as a high end hotel these days!) The heir to the palace, descended from kings, brings his new bride home with him. And she falls under the spell of a ghost story. We are never really clear on whether the ghost is real or just in her mind — but the legend of the palace is that the ghost of a Bengali dancer, Manjulika, whose lover was cruelly beheaded by the king, haunts the place. This number shows the new wife in a state of madness — and how she imagines Manjulika’s long-ago life, her lover, and his murder. Her new husband, his psychiatrist friend, and the man she mistakes for the 19th century lover look on helplessly. (Fair warning: the imagined end of this is a bloody shock.) The classic Bengali dance in this is fascinating to me because in it, I fancy I can see some of the roots of modern Bollywood dancing.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa is currently on Netflix.
The weekend begins now! Please come in, be comfortable and share your day, your weekend plans, your menus! This is an open thread.