Most of you know how miserable I was when we first moved to Sri Lanka. After a rough start to the year, I just wanted to stay in America with friends and the familiarity of home. We arrived in Colombo just as their 30-year civil war came to a close. Of course, for a political science nerd like me, it was an ideal time to be here, and Nate came home every night with fascinating stories. But, he came home late every night-- really late. And he was the one coming home with fascinating stories, whereas I was creating makeshift child safety gates with some combination of china cabinets and sleeper sofas or hauling two kids and their car seats in and out of taxis (and on one occasion pushing the taxi in the monsoon rains, but that is another story). So in addition to acclimating myself to the inferno climate and the new culture, our family dynamic was undergoing a huge change. It was a lot all at once for me, a lot to be going through when feeling truly alone. It was a hard time for me.
One night, Nate ran to the local video store to pick up a movie for us to watch. He ended up buying one the store owner recommended, a Bollywood flick. I really believe watching this film was the turning point for me. There was so much to love: the colors, the costumes, the pop culture and the dancing. There were still several nights (usually Mondays) when I would cry and wonder what kind of life we had signed up for, but for the most part I was starting to find things I could love about living in this far away place.
This movie is a Who's Who of Bollywood. An Ocean's 11 perhaps-- everyone who is anyone in Indian cinema is in this movie. If you are into pop culture, you may be interested to know that the older man (Sexy Sam) is Amitabh Bachnan, the most famous man in India (according to Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire), the younger man dancing (Rishi) is his son in real life and happens to be married to the actress Aishwarya Rai (famous to American's thanks to the Bollywood's version of a Jane Austen novel, Bride and Prejudice--check out that movie's dance scene here).
Most importantly however is Shahrukh Khan. He is the first man you saw in the clip above, talking to the woman. He is the most visible celebrity in South Asia. He is on soda commercials, cable tv commercials, and Tag Heuer ads. If a movie was popular in India in the last five years, he was in it. You can't turn on the tv without knowing Shahrukh Khan. Which is why his detention for questioning at Newark Airport this last August caused a huge uproar throughout India. It would be like Brad Pitt being detained for two hours in Delhi because the Indian government was worried he posed a potential terrorist threat. To make matters worse, Khan (a muslim) was in the US to promote his newest film "My Name is Khan"-- which is about racial profiling of Muslims post September 11.
And that ends today's session of "Do you know your Bollywood Stars?"
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Sina, I'm sorry you have had such a hard start to Sri Lanka, but Bollywood does make everything better! I worked at an art cinema when I was in aesthetics school and we had Bollywood night once a month. Very uplifting movies!
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in other Indian films that aren't Bollywood, too. One I like a lot, that was banned in India because it was too political, was "Water." It's awesome! If you can get a copy of it I think you would really like it.
Here is the IMDB info on it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240200/
Be warned, it's a tear jerker.
grown men singing and dancing....i'm not sure i've ever loved anything more! sometimes i feel like we might be catching on to the production number idea but then it never sticks. i wish b/c i love it sooooo much!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the name of the movie the bollywood dance is in. Does it have subtitles? Could it be rented here in the U.S?
ReplyDeleteLove ya
Mom
The sad thing is I've watched a lot of these Bollywood movies on hulu when Jared's on call. They're kind of addicting. Love ya, Marie
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