Hey fellow adventurers! I would like to continue talking more about Indian media. This time: movies. Bollywood. Bollywood releases more than 1,000 films each year so obviously I felt compelled to write about it. Bollywood is the colloquial term that most people use to describe any Hindi movie coming out of India. However, Bollywood (the film producer) makes up less than half of the movies produced in India. If you’re interested in learning more about Bollywood, check out its Wiki page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood
A lot of Indian movies like to stick to a specific formula. You’ll find the occasional outlier but for the most part, this is what you can expect from an Indian film:
- Movies will be a minimum of three hours long (in the U.S. it’s generally 90 minutes-2 hours long).
- There will be a minimum of 4-5 dance numbers in the film. If it was made by Hollywood, it would be classified as a musical.
- The stories are centered around families and can sometimes feel like soap operas.
- They have the same old love formula: Boy meets girl. The girl’s parents reject the boy. And then after a lot of turmoil, they finally give in to the boy and the couple lives happily ever after.
- You might know the plot already because the movie was probably inspired by another story.
In this post, I wanted to talk about a couple of popular Indian films and one that is less famous but I love.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Rotten Tomato describes Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Brave Heart Will Take the Bride) was a huge hit in India, and won all the major Filmfare Awards. It was also the film that catapulted Shahrukh Khan to Bollywood superstardom, and it was the first of several successful pairings of Khan and Kajol. Khan plays Raj, a likeably goofy rich Indian boy, brought up in London, who’s had everything handed to him in life. Kajol is Simran, a proper Indian girl who also lives in London. Her stern father (Amrish Puri) has arranged for her to go to back to his sorely missed homeland in Punjab to marry the son of an old friend. Simran persuades the old man to let her go off on a month-long trip to Europe with her girlfriends before she weds. On the trip, Simran meets Raj, and naturally they don’t get along at first. He humiliates her with his pranks, and she refuses to loosen up. Then they get stranded together, get drunk together, sing and dance together, and begin to develop feelings for each other. They return to London, each hoping the other will express his/her love. They part, and when Simran’s father overhears her telling her mother (Farida Jalal) about Raj, he gets angry and demands that they leave for India immediately. But Raj follows them there, determined to win over Simran’s father and take Simran as his bride. He ingratiates himself with the dimwitted groom, Kuljit (Parmeet Sethi), and enters the household as his friend. Things get even more complicated when Kuljit’s family mistakenly believes that Raj is interested in the groom’s sister, and they begin to plan a double wedding. The film was the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra, and the hit soundtrack was composed by the writing team Jatin-Lalit.” The movie was the highest grossing movie of 1995 and is still one of the most successful Indian films of all times. It won 10 Filmfare Awards, the most for a single film at that time, and won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The soundtrack album was one of the most popular of the 1990s. It’s on the list of “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.” It is still screening at the Maratha Mandir theater in Mumbai, making it the longest-running film in the history of Indian Cinema.
http://1001films.wikia.com/wiki/The_List
I can understand why people love this film. It was fun, charming and engrossing. The film lasts over three hours but because it was paced so well, it didn’t feel that long. Even my mother, who gets bored with movies about an hour in, said that it didn’t feel like the film was three hours long. I love the chemistry between Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol) and can honestly say that I was at the edge of my seat for the entire film. I loved all the actors in this film. And as for the actor who plays Simran’s dad (Amrish Puri), I have to give him props especially. I didn’t know a human’s eyes could go as wide as his did. I was seriously worried for a bit that they were going to fall out of his head. I’m definitely going to look for more movies like this one. Especially one with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.
3 Idiots
Rotten Tomato describes 3 Idiots: “Two friends embark on a quest for a lost buddy. On this journey, they encounter a long-forgotten bet, a wedding they must crash, and a funeral that goes, ridiculously out of control. As they make their way through the perilous landscape, another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend — the impressible free-thinker Rancho, who is in unique way, touched and changed their lives. It’s a story of their hostel days that swings between Rancho’s romance with the spirited Pia, and his clash with an oppressive mentor, Viru Sahastrabudhhe. And then one day, suddenly, Rancho vanished. Who was he? Where did he come from? Why did he leave? The friend who influenced and inspired them to think creatively and independently, even as the conformist world called them “three idiots.” Where is the original idiot now? Finally, in misty mountains of unparalleled beauty, the friends find the key to the secret.” Before being overtaken by Chennai Express in 2013, 3 Idiots was the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time. A Mexican remake of the movie came out this year, titled 3 Idiotas.
This is officially my and my husband’s favorite movie! I didn’t have a favorite movie until I saw this. It was funny, sad, serious, ridiculous and so much more all rolled into one movie! I love it when TV shows can elicit an array of emotions from its audience but when films try, it just feels rushed due to the time constraint. This movie did it perfectly! I love the actors and dance numbers! I can’t get “All is Well” out of my head. Basically, I highly recommend anyone see this movie!
Water
Rotten Tomato describes Water: “The film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.” This film is the third and final installment of the Elements series. The Element Trilogy films all deal with controversial issues. The first film Fire deals with arranged marriage and homosexuality. The second film Earth deals with religious strife during the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan. The third and most successful film Water deals with suicide, misogyny and the mistreatment of widows in rural India. For a few years it looked like the director Deepa Mehta might not be able to make this film. Partially brought on by outcry at one of her previous movies, Fire, 2,000 protestors stormed where the set was supposed to take place, burned down the film set and threw the remnants into the Ganges. It was difficult for Deepa to get permits that would allow her to film the movie. She also kept receiving death threats from people stating that they would kill her if she didn’t stop filming this movie. Deepa talks about that and more in this article: http://www.tiff.net/the-review/deepa-mehta-journey-in-film/
I was first introduced to this movie when I was taking a film class in college. It’s not easy to watch but it’s honest and brave. The characters are well written and the actors that play them, amazing. I’m honestly in awe of Deepa Mehta who fought so hard to make this film a reality. I highly doubt with thousands of protestors and multiple death threats, that I would have continued working on this film. That takes a lot of bravery. The film is amazing though! And although Sati (the custom where a widow commits suicide after the death of her husband) is illegal, many women still get shunned by their communities and abandoned by their family because of superstitions. National Geographic talks about it here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/global-images-of-widows-india-bosnia-uganda-discrimination-exile/.
If there were any Indian films that you think deserve mention, please comment below. I would love to hear about them! Until our next adventure!
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