People are often surprised by how much Bollywood I have watched especially in such a short time. I only started watching them in the summer of 2010 and in fact have never seen Slumdog Millionaire (came out in 2008), the one Indian movie that did very well in US theaters and even won 8 Oscars.
So I decided to count up how many Bollywood films I have seen. First of all, from the Netflix, 74 via instant watch and 46 via the mail. Then you have to add in the 2 I have seen in theaters (Anjaana Anjaani and Action Replayy) and the 4 I own (Chalte Chalte, Asambhav, Drona, and Bhoothnath) and that comes to a total of 126, not counting the new one I just got today from Netflix called Dabangg. Wow! I have seen a lot. Though that pales in comparison to how many that have been made in the lifetime of Bollywood, so I’ve got some catching up to do.
So what drew me to Bollywood films in the first place? Well, I have enjoyed foreign films and television series for a number of years, mostly from countries like Great Britain (the Office, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Coupling, the Man who sued God, etc.), France (Brotherhood of the Wolf), Japan (Bleach, Gintama, Initial D, La Corda d’Oro, etc.), Thailand (Ongbak, the Bodyguard, the Protector, etc.), China (Exiled, Triad Election, the Drummer, etc.), and Korea (Soo). So it was inevitable that I would check out a film or two from India since I seemed to be on an ‘international film watching tour’ of the Eastern world in 2010.
My first movie was Pyaar Impossible. I stumbled upon this one by happenstance. The previous film I had watched (via instant watch) was a Hollywood crime thriller called Rampage. The film was a dark and scary look into a man who had finally had enough with how bad life had treated him that he decided to go on a killing rampage through a small town armed to the teeth with semi-automatic weapons and a home-made bulletproof vest. Wow that was depressing. I thought it was a good, hard look at how far some can fall, but after watching it, I really felt the need for a good, cheerful movie. So that began my quest to peruse Netflix instant watch listings.
I started with the foreign section as I needed a non-American movie. So as I scrolled through the highlighted sections Netflix gives you like Suggestions for You, Dramas, New Arrivals, etc., I saw a mix of horror and drama films that didn’t real appeal to my mood at the time and decided I was looking for something new and that's when curiosity showed me the way. As I got about mid-way down through the suggestions on the main foreign section, a category on the right-hand side of the foreign section where it breaks the main category into sub-sections like Action, Classics, Comedy, etc., caught my attention. It was Bollywood. At the time I did not realize I was entering a world of film that was far different than I could ever imagine.
Pyaar impossible was the first film in the section of Bollywood at the time and had a simple premise that has been done before a million times over: geek pursues beauty. With it being a romantic comedy in which the hero will naturally face all kinds of obstacles with humorous turnouts and eventually get the girl, it was down my alley. So I went for it. About four and half minutes into the film, I was caught off-guard when it shifted from the main character narrating to suddenly a musical number. It was not simply music in the background, but rather it was used to give background on the hero and heroine by having them along with the minor characters singing and dancing in various scenes, which goes on for roughly four minutes (about the length of a music video). To be honest, I’m not a fan musicals and would normally have been turned away at that point, but something was different. The mix of the singing in Hindi, the alluring beauty of the heroine dancing (Priyanka Chopra), and the energetic and uplifting beats of the music took me straight to cloud nine. The shift to musical dance numbers happened several times throughout the film and as I quickly found out after watching more and more Bollywood films, is the iconic marker of them.
After watching a few more films, I founded myself really enjoying them even though many of them range from 2 ½ hours to 3 hours and sometimes longer. It quickly became quite a treat for me as I not only enjoyed the stories, the musical numbers with the mix of dancing and singing in Hindi, but also learning bits and pieces about Indian culture, something I knew very little of. I soon realized that with a lot of Bollywood films you will see the Indian culture (such as daily traditions, marriage customs, clothing, etc.) at the heart of what makes the stories come alive and draw the viewer in. Naturally, my curiosity brought me to Bollywood and my enjoyment of the dance musicals, the uplifting and motivating story telling added to my curiosity and interest in Indian culture, has kept me tuned in.
So, these days I will enjoy at least a couple Bollywood movies a week with a mix of them coming from Hulu and Netflix. In addition, I will often buy a few songs (or the soundtrack) from the movies off ITunes, so usually when I’m jamming away at work or home its to Bollywood musical numbers. Some would call it an addiction, while others would call it weird (especially a guy enjoying musical numbers), but I call it being open to what the world has to offer and exploring it while having a good time.
That’s it for this blog. But as an added treat, I’ve listed below links to some of my favorite Bollywood musical numbers so check them out.
Alisha - Pyaar Impossible film
Sadka Kiya - I Hate Luv Storys film
Pump it up - Chance Pe Dance film
Bachna Ae Haseeno - Bachna Ae Haseeno film
Jogi Mahi - Bachna Ae Haseeno film
Desi Girl - Dostana film
All Izz Well - 3 Idiots film
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