Bollywood meanings

Tonight, 6.10 pm at FunX radio!

2010-03-27T03:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
The multicultural station FunX radio is doing a special on the fast growing entertainment industry in India, at around 6 pm. And i have the honour to be invited for a phone interview during the show!
If you'd like to listen, their website is www.funx.nl (for an online stream)

metal versus bollywood in India

2010-03-15T15:31:00.001-07:00

I recently saw a cool documentary on the globalization of metal music, called Global Metal. A metalhead and anthropology graduate travels all over the world (except for Africa unfortunately) to visit the local metal scene. His conclusion is that, although it is a 'product of globalization', metal is different for everyone, and still a single community. Metal is mixed with local influences, but for everyone it is a revolt against authorities. Be it religious, political, or whatever.
This is the superb conclusion to the documentary, when he visits an Iron Maiden show in Bangalore in 2007. (Shit, I was there at the moment!!!)

Below you can see the part on Mumbai. A few metalheads talk about their love of metal, and how they can't identify with the main culture in India, yes, of course, Bollywood.

But I have to disagree with them. I even felt a little pissed off by these upperclass, highly educated city boys. To them Bollywood is nothing more than the stereotype, dancing around trees, etc. etc.
But I think it would be interesting for them to check their film culture again, and notice that, probably since the same time metal is becoming huge, the films also have started changing.
Perhaps they could identify more with a movie like DevD. Sure, it's commercial, not metal, but definitely sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

Metal and Bollywood? I'd love to see a future in that..

What happened to the little slumdogs?

2010-03-09T12:27:00.000-08:00

Exactly one year after Slumdog Millionaire won 8 oscars, Dutch journalist Wilma van der Maten, based in Delhi, decided to visit the two children that played the small Latika and Salim. The question is: How are they doing now? You would assume 8 oscars and a bunch of millions profit would improve their circumstances. Besides that, Danny Boyle has created a fund that provides money for their education and a bonus for finishing their studies once they reach their 18th birthday.

In this small video she shows how the girl still lives in the slum, with her stepmother. She doesn't go to school. All she dreams of is being a moviestar. Her father doesn't want to move to the flat that was offered, since it is too far away from his sources of income.
The boy does considerably better. He lives in a reasonable flat (with a lot of family), and goes to school now and then. That is, unless one of the plenty journalists offers them some money for an interview. He also dreams of a life as a moviestar, so he can one day afford a house with a swimming pool.
Now, the relation between the little stars (their managers/families) and the director hasn't improved, since the media attention seems to have made them a little greedy.

Can we draw conclusions? Not really. I guess it merely shows that improvement of life in the slums (or of a few of its inhabitants) is an extremely complex issue, and is not done by making a movie in the West. Indians in India hardly watched the movie anyway. So improvement is something we shouldn't expect of Danny Boyle, already enough criticized on his assumed neglect of the actors.

Please enjoy this video if you like. It's mostly in Dutch, but if you speak both Hindi and English, you should be able to get the points.

Bollywood at the olympics!

2010-02-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

enjoy, this is really good

Lecture on Rang de Basanti

2010-02-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

Well well well.. Everyone knows Bollywood these days! But more than that, I think it is increasingly taken more seriously. People seem to become aware that Indian cinema has more to offer than masala.

And lo behold! What do you know...
I have been asked by a group of young alternative thinkers and artists to come and speak on Rang de Basanti on the 13th of feb in an art gallery in Amsterdam. The evening will begin with me talking on how movies might lead to political activism amongst youth, and after that we will watch RdB, which perfectly illustrates the theme ofcourse.

And to make things better than ever, Kriti and I are gonna spin the wheels of steel, and make people dance to the latest Bollywood tracks! How i'm looking forward to that night...

Who knows.. one day we might even make a living off this hobby ;-)

Bollywood cosmopolitanism

2010-01-12T13:16:00.001-08:00

1,5 years of books, libraries, lots of films and great conversations have ended. For now at least. A few months ago i finished my masters dissertation called: Bollywood cosmopolitanism. An exploration of belonging through popular culture. If interested, it is fully downloadable here. (don't mind the Dutch, the dissertation is in English)

Roughly, what i've done is the following. I have studied the recent history of popular Hindi film, for a broad context of what i'm talking about. Especially the changes since the early nineties, when the term Bollywood was 'invented' worldwide, where the movies have become more cosmopolitan. The movies deal often with NRI's struggling with their identity, and Indians fly all over the world to do business.
Then instead of focussing on the changes in movies (tons of people have written about it), I thought it would be interesting to write about the experience of of the viewers of films. I wanted to know if Bollywood helps young viewers in Bangalore to construct a sense of cosmopolitanism. In other words, if it gives them a feeling of belonging to a local and a global community at the same time.

Most analysts think that Bollywood is not able to help in catering a new lifestyle for the globalized youngsters in big Indian cities, because most of the typical Bollywood movies show a sort of 'Hindu conservative cosmopolitanism'. This means that on the outside Indians can be 'global', they have all the material luxuries of the Western life, but on the inside, the heart, the values are Indian. So, it is Indian in global clothes. (phir bhi dil hai hindustani!) This is a construction that is not threatening to viewers. Because the Western and Indian values are not really conflicting; in the end it is the Indian pride (Hindu mostly) that matters.

My interviews with youngsters in Bangalore shows that this view is too simple. When talking about movies they see recognize this morale in movies, but they themselves think of it in more complicated terms. Today's youngsters know that movies are just that, constructed images, and not the same as reality. Instead it helps them to think about their lives in new ways. And this is sometimes indeed a matter of conflicting values. They would also like to wear clothes like in the movies, but they understand perfectly that they have to fight with parents over that. And this is not always resolved as in the movies.

Living in the Indian city is a juggling of values (in the villages probably as well). Modern values, traditional values, traditional versions of modern values or modern interpretations of traditional values. Etcetera.
And Bollywood is a buddy to help thinking and laughing about this complex process.

Water (2005), by Deepa Mehta

2010-01-12T03:55:00.000-08:00

In The Netherlands i thank god for Belgian state-run television. They still show good film in its entirety, no commercial breaks, and with full end credits. Whereas here in Holland you have to work your way through diapers and insurances every 20 minutes in order to watch a good film.
Last Sunday, Belgian channel Ketnet/Canvas showed the film Water, the third in Deepa Mehta's elements-series (after the other must-sees Fire (1996) and Earth (1998)).
Water deals with the life of widows in India, who, according to the ancient lawbooks of Manu, have to stay single and 'pure' in order to achieve salvation. This literally means that these women live in extremely poor and dingy ashrams, doing nothing but waiting to die. (at least, that's what the movie shows) It is believed that when they, or their shadow, touches another person, this brings bad luck. Besides that it was common for little girls to be married off to an older man, and then have a life without childhood.
Water beautifully shows the loneliness and isolation these women suffer. Water, the holy element for many a Hindu, the bringer of life, is also the seperation between the poor woman and the rich man who uses them for prositution. And it is the element that can make a beautiful woman drown herself out of despair.
Of course, things have changed. The movie is set against the backdrop of Ghandi coming to rise against the British, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy passing the widow- remarriage act. But if it was up to many a reactionary Hindu in India right now, time is to be turned back to the golden days of Manu, where women were still men's property. Not surprisingly, a group of fundamentalist Hindus have put Deepa Mehta on their 'hitlist'. (although this was mainly because of Fire, which supposedly dealt with lesbianism)
The film left me moved by the great acting of the little girl Chuyia, and her interaction with none other than John Abraham (whom we now know as a six-packed Bollywood star from Goal). But I think the main character was the ashram's moral centre Shakuntala. She was the only one divided in her faith, confused between tradition and modernity. It is her indicisiveness, stubbornness sometimes, which is the best representation of India's society. Choosing for individual freedom can not come without pain, without loss.

Movies in movies

2009-04-06T02:41:00.001-07:00

Here's what i meant in the previous post. A song from the superhit Dil Chahta Hai, where you see a couple imagining themselves onscreen (don't we all do that?), and going through the different Hindi-film styles (50's, 70's, 90's). Through going to the movies together, they realize they are in love. A landmark movie that according to many youth set a trend. A trend towards movies that were more about friendship than about all the love-parents-tradition crap of the 90s bollywood.

King Khan dethroned

2009-04-05T02:56:00.000-07:00

One thing I love about Indian movies, is that they are often, at least partially, about Indian movies as well. Frequently you see people sitting in a cinema watching a movie, in the dialogues they refer to other movies, or the stories even revolve around someone trying to make it in film business. You watch (one of) the following movies and you know what i mean: Om Shanti Om (2007), Mili (1975), Rangeela (1995), Bombay Boys (1998).
I would say it shows that Indian cinema is a very selfaware cinema. India is a cinematic society, movies make up an integral part of the social cement. How we talk, how we walk, what we sing, what we drink. By making all this a theme in the films themselves, this is great fun to watch of course. Because now the films are about the stars, but also about the people watching, thinking and talking about those stars. Very much a cinema of and for the people. (Although some Marxist cynics claim this 'making cinema about cinema and the viewers' is the best way to make people addicted to cinema, and keep them buying.)
But recently this backfired. Yesterday we watched Billu Barber. It's about a small time barber, in a small time village. Then, his fate changes dramatically when the superhero Sahir Khan (played by Shah Rukh Khan) and his team come to the village for shooting a new SFX film in Matrix style. The rumour spreads that Billu used to be Sahir's friend in childhood, and suddenly everyone respects the poor barber. The storyline of the film is simple, and revolves around the question: 'Will Billu and Sahir meet again?'
The interesting parts of the film are about how the village is affected by the luxurious invasion of cinema. Business is going up, people become star crazy, and all try their best to get a glimpse of the hero or even a part in the movie. We see actual villagers playing actual villagers who want to play film villagers. We are supposed to believe the movie is about it's morals, that no matter if you're rich or poor, filmstar or barber, it's friendship that really matters.
But i couldn't help seeing in everything a glorification of the real life star, Shah Rukh Khan. He plays himself, under a slightly different name. People sing actual songs of his actual past movies.
He is shown loving his fans, but also critical of the people (politicians) underestimating his honesty and hard work. Even if he's not there, the movie revolves around him, by showing the effect he has on others. And in the end, the fate of the poor barber is finally changed for the good. Why? Of course, because the star takes care of that.
I couldn't help getting the idea that Shah Rukh Khan wanted a film about himself, showing the person behind the star. He wanted to show that Shah Rukh once was a little boy as well, just like everyone else. The film, produced by Shah Rukh's wife Gauri, is about Shah Rukh Khan about Shah Rukh Khan about Shah Rukh Khan.
But King Khan was someone else, NOT SR, but Irrfan in the role of Billu (whom many will know as the interviewing policeman in Slumdog Millionaire). Irrfan shows that a movie is much more interesting if an actor can actually act. And that it is high time stardom is not something that should be managed. It could, possibly, also be left to the opinion of the audiences, who I'm sure have a voice of their own. (Although the villagers in Billu Barber don't seem to be anything more than dumb, fame-following sheep.)

Hindu Surinams watching Bollywood in Holland

2009-02-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

Just around the corner where I live there is a grocery store run by Hindustani people who came from Surinam to Holland in the 60s and 70s. One corner of this store is transformed to a Bollywood dvd-store. It offers a huge range of films, classics till the latest, and they are offered for the rediculous price of 10 euros for 4. (I wont try to figure out how this is possible, but the photocopied covers say enough.) For me, one of the few white Bollywood freaks, this is great. It saves me a lot of waiting for the download to be finished. But ofcourse, the main market are the ones that watch these films the most, the people from Surinam. Now, I have always wondered, why do people who have not so much of a bonding to India, love these movies so much? The current generation is born in The Netherlands and has hardly a bond with Surinam anymore, and not even close to one with India.
Last week I attended a lecture by Sanderien Verstappen, a Dutch woman who graduated with an anthropological study on the meaning of Bollywood for these Hindustani youth. She explained that the Indianness of these films is not interesting to them at all. The main reason for them watching is the portrayal of the family, which relates to them much more than the nuclear and distant families in Hollywood or an average Dutch soap. The films show children struggling with parental pressure, or family that is always around, which is an actual reality for them. The most beautiful quote was of a girl who had said: 'Why i watch Bollywood? To feel normal!'
A great example of how films can mean different things to different people, but also on how Bollywood appeals to many of these different people at the same time. Unity in diversity, as India likes to describe itself.

Mumbai My Life

2008-11-28T07:40:00.001-08:00

The horrifying terrorist attacks in Mumbai are still going on. Reaching 48 hours now. Many speculations, many stories, many emotions. One of the issues will be how the city is collectively going to process this trauma. This made me think of a movie I saw recently, Mumbai Meri Jaan (Mumbai my life, 2008) by Nishikanth Kamath.
I would say this movie is an Indian version of Crash. It revolves around the lives of different people that come together because of the terrorist attack on the Mumbai train on 11 july 2006. Over 200 people lost their lives then. The movie is original and touching in the sense that it is not so much about the blast itself, but about a few people dealing with its impact. At the same time it is a movie about the way media deals with these happenings. A big newschannel wants to cover the horrors and at the same time get the most viewers.
The movie opens with a speech of Nehru, who adresses the public about the awakening of India. In the context of the images to come the speech gets a different meaning. Maybe 'the nation' is not able to provide security for all. And maybe it is more the people themselves that have to learn how to live together. No one is going to do that for them. Mumbai Meri Jaan shows how the people of this mega-city struggle, but that human contact is possible.
In the light of the terror currently happening, Mumbai Meri Jaan is an important movie and could help the people in talking about their experiences. I wish the city inspiration for finding connections between people, instead of further clashes and divisions.
By the way, the title refers to the classis song Bombay meri Jaan from the movie CID. It already said that living in a big city is difficult, with so many material things and danger around. Apparently it can not be sung and shown enough...

Paper Flowers

2008-11-14T02:06:00.000-08:00

Guru Dutt (1925-1964) is seen as one of the main directors from the golden age of Hindi cinema, the 50's. He was someone with the gift to make movies that were commercial as well as artistic, to use those two container terms. Besides being a director, he loved to play the main roles in is own films as well, in a style that perhaps reminds us of
Perhaps the most famous movie was Pyaasa (The thirsty one, 1957).
Dutt was not the most happy filmmaker though. This is best illustrated with his movie Kagaz Ke Phool (Paper Flowers, 1959).
We see Dutt playing the highly respected film director Suresh who is looking for a leading actress in the upcoming production Devdas (a movie that has been made 9 times in India so far). His marriage is broken, his daughter lives in a hostel. He only lives for the movies. After finding the girl Shanti, the beautiful Waheeda Rehman was his real-life muse as well, they start shooting. But in the meanwhile the two lost souls fall in love with each other. This is the start of a long slide downwards. Because of his love for her, he can't shoot the movie how he wants, and because of the show that must go on, he can't commit his love to her. His other movie is a big flop; he sees a furious audience leaving the cinema halfway.He gets fired by the production house, he loses the court case over the courtesy of his daughter, and Shanti is asked to leave by a third person who tries to save the movie. With 'bollywood hope' we assume that things will be allright, but they don't. Suresh gets more lonely, and Shantis trials of getting back to him fail. In the end we get back to where the movie started, an old man wandering through an empty studio. We now know the old man is Suresh, who wanted to visit 'his world' once more. The next morning he is found dead, sitting in the director's chair.
Kagaz ke phool is a movie about loneliness. We see a movie director wanting to infuse his work with pure passion, the love of a woman. But when passion becomes obsession, it is not unifiable anymore with commercial cinema, where roses are fake. Nothing more than paper flowers.
The movie is also clearly a movie about Guru Dutt himself. His love for Waheeda Rehman, and his actual broken marriage are well-known.
The movie shows his fight between wanting to make the greatest movie ever, and an industry that only allows for a certain amount of passion. Dutt must have seen himself as a dreamer, for whom there is no place in a commercial world. It is because of these thematics that this movie has to be watched even today.
And then there is reality again. Kagaz ke phool was a big flop, and apparently Guru Dutt could not take this. It lead to an even bigger depression than he was already in. Three years later Dutt was found dead in his room, with next to him the remains of pills and alcohol. Few say it was an accident.
His black and white movies are beautifully lit; stark contrasts that create gloomy atmospheres. It is this lighting that might also have reflected his thinking. When asked about the failure of Kagaz Ke Phool and the succes of another he said: "What is there in life, friend? There are only two things - success and failure. There is nothing in between." (wikipedia.org/wiki/guru_dutt)
The following song illustrates everything above. We see the director in a push-and-pull scene with Waheeda Rehman. And to make things more intense, it is sung by Dutt's wife, Geeta Dutt. Can it be more intense?

Bolly-o-Bama

2008-07-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

While the Indian film industry likes to claim that they are ready to go global; other sides of the planet mainly like to find bollywood an interesting cultural phenomenon to make things funnier than they already are. Spice it up Indian style. Here's one of them (again).

Chameli

2008-07-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

Chameli is a movie directed by Sudhir Mishra, and was released in 2003. One of those movies that are considered to be 'off-beat bollywood', a little more on the artistic side. Whatever we call it, it is absolutely worth watching.
Prostitutes have often been portrayed in Hindi films as beautiful but dangerous seductresses of the hero. Vamps. They dance, drink and smoke, like the men do (especially the villains). They come when the hero doesn't know what to do anymore, and tries to forget his miseries in the bar. But ofcourse, most of the time the seduced hero gets back to his senses and hence to a normal woman.
Chameli (Kareena Kapoor) is also a beautiful, smoking and drinking seductress. But her seduction doens't touch Amar (Rahul Bose), the lost soul who lost his wife as well. Not untill they start sharing their lives with each other, and in the meanwhile help eachother get rid of corrupted bad guys. Then, there is another seduction. A transvestite wants Amar as well for his services. I held my breath, expecting another comedy scene where the poor man/woman gets exposed and made fun of. Which is usually the case. But this time the character is a person, with feelings, and a future of love with another person.
After these 'shocks' you get sucked into the lives of the two persons. Just two people in the dark, trying to get a little light with eachother. The end might be expected, but then again, unconventional as well. The tension that builds between the two characters culminates in the scene on Marine Drive, sitting on a wall, when the rain has finally stopped. But tears start flowing. Seperation is near. She learnt to love. He learns to cry. Is the light gonna take over the dark?
The movie is wonderfully slow and small. No big sets, big special effects, huge songs. It plays with conventional themes of bollywood movies, but in a less glamorous way. With that it is one of the typical new movies. It uses the cliche's, song, dance, wealth and corruption, but with a twist. A twist that might tell us that bollywood is ready for movies with less predictable narratives, and possibly less conventional morality. And it is also great to see Kareena Kapoor acting before she reduced her waistline to size 32. Here's one of the first scenes.

Bombay TV

2008-05-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

An interesting website is this one: Bombay TV, by the French communication bureau Grapheine. They provide you with 30 second clips from classic Hindi movies, like Deewaar and Sholay, under which you can put your own subtitles. I have to admit, very funny to do, but also a nice insight in the western attitude towards bollywood. Some people have put their results on YouTube, and it seems that turning the characters in gays is especially popular. And, as one youtuber says, 'stupid subtitles for stupid movies'.

bollywood as cultural citizenship

2008-05-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time. Basically because I have been watching loads of movies and endulged myself in theory, theory and.. theory. I felt lost in bollywoods. That what i thought was 'just Indian cinema' turned out to be a culture in itself. Slowly I'm creeping out and trying to see things from a distance again. What was it I wanted to find out about this huge world? And what is it now?
Things are still not as clear as a research design should be, but there is something emerging on the horizon. Cultural citizenship is it's name. Thanks to the work of Joke Hermes, which I had 'accidently' picked up a long time before dreaming of Indian moviestars, my thoughts on popular culture are getting direction. Cultural citizenship in her view basically stands for the 'positive' powers of popular culture. There is always a lot of attention for the possibly negative side of movies (and glossy magazines, internet, etc.); they would be putting the wrong values in the heads of our kids, and maybe even the grown-ups!
But, since some time now we realize that these kids (and even the grown-ups) are actively processing and interpreting those movies. This means that everyone 'reads' different values and different messages. This is a very complex proces, especially if we take into account that a lot of things might be happening unconsciously and subtly.
However, it might also mean that the products of popular culture could have a 'positive' aspect. Not in the sense that they can form kids into 'good citizens', but in the sense that they can help in shaping our identities and our sense of who we are and which groups we belong to. It is very thinkable that popular culture is playing this role more and more, in these postmodern days where no-one knows exactly who he or she is anymore. Am I Dutch? A little Indian maybe after such a long time? Or just Mark?
In this light, Bollywood has complex stories to tell. Some movies might show a very strong patriotism, like Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, or the more recent Rang de Basanti. But does the watcher identify with this message? Or does it stimulate them to have more complex opinions?
Questions I have to ask the watchers themselves. And if you are one, please let me know what you think. For example about the clip below. Does watching this make one nationalistic?
Btw, from now on, expect some more contributions from my side. How about a weekly movie-review to start with?

Watching Indian movies a religious experience?

2008-02-17T06:28:00.000-08:00

For a lot of westerners, watching a Hindi-film is confusing. Why is there suddenly a song that has nothing to do with the story? And why are they in Switzerland? Weren't they in Singapore before, or was it Mumbai? Although most of the stories in a general Bollywood movie aren't that complicated as, let's say a Memento or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the factors of songs and sudden jumps in time and the motivations of the character, can make it a difficult task to stay tuned. It started dawning on me, that watching a Bollywood movie, might be a fundamentally different kind of watching, than watching a movie from Europe or the Hollywood studios. Ashish Nandy says that for Indians the act of watching movies is like 'darshan', which stands for the way Hindus look at images of their gods. By gazing at a picture of for example Shiva, it is believed to get in touch with a divine reality. Now, with moviestars, it could work the same way. Staring at the images of stars with great powers, one could get 'in touch' with some of that power. That's why filmmakers give their stars often almost divine powers, by being able to fix world problems, or being an extremely 'good' person. And also, by giving the story a metaphysical twist (sudden intervention of a god after prayer, or extremely coincidental meetings between persons), the divine reality of the images on screen is enhanced. Watching a movie can become a little bit of a religious experience. It is not for nothing, that some decades ago, people would actually perform prayers in cinemahalls, when actors playing Gods appeared on screen. And it is not for nothing, that when the hugely famous South-Indian actor 'MGR' died, a temple was built for him in Chennai. This gives a lot of new food for thought. Especially regarding the ever returning question: Is Indian film high or low culture?
Here's a nice clip of people worshipping MGR at his temple.

The movies to us... (By Kriti Toshniwal)

2008-01-08T03:29:00.000-08:00

This post is written by my dearest Kriti Toshniwal, who tells me which movies to watch. And then we watch them together... She will post now and then on Indian movies from her perspective as an Indian viewer. Enjoy!

The movies to us…

The movies to us were always a source of entertainment. By us I refer to friends, family, the general public, and myself included; basically all of us anonymous film watchers in India who technically belong to the category of film science illiterates, and have always watched movies for the sole purpose of recreation rather than as insights to an existent culture. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the reactions Mark gets on disclosing his thesis topic to us are those of bewilderment. It can be understood that one is an avid film watcher and watches every single movie first day, first show, but studying movies in the sense of writing a research paper on them is a different ball game altogether. In fact, it is considered to be more of a ball game than a serious matter.

It isn’t that we Indians are narrow-minded in our view of the world, though I don’t completely put that beyond us, or beyond anyone for that matter. It’s just that popular film analysis for most of us extends up to the star rating by the critics declaring a movie as watchable or unwatchable, and the selection of the top five films every new year’s. Studying films from technical, cultural, historical or commercial perspectives however, is something relatively new to us in India. It’s only recently that we were exposed to the idea that Bollywood with its extensive reach both within and outside India, is such a major revenue generator that the rest of the world is also interested and hooked on!

But, discounting for the fact that I have never really had much film education, I am clearly opposed to the critical stance most foreigners and some overtly (and sometimes ostentatiously) intellectual Indians take on Bollywood and Indian films. The success of any endeavor cannot be measured in isolation from its targeted recipients. In that sense, how justifiable is it to form an opinion on an Indian film from an American/European perspective? No, this isn’t a question directed towards film academicians (if they can be called that), but more to the general people; the counterparts abroad, of the us here in India.

How then would I propose rating a film as good or bad? The answer depends on the way one looks at it. Take for example, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun; an extremely popular movie which came out in 1994. It was a big hit for several reasons, the star cast particularly Madhuri Dixit, the story line based on family values and sentiments, the intense emotional drama (which is not unusual J), and 14 songs (almost all of them where hits and reasons for the movie to be successful). My take on this movie, now with my urban sentimentalities, greater exposure and eccentric maturity (with a hint of sarcasm) would probably be different than back in those days as a child when I must have watched the film close to a dozen times. At the risk of causing some damage to my reputation, I admit that given a chance I could still sit through it again. And so I guess is also the case with quite a few people I know. Considering the fact then, that the film succeeded and is still succeeding in keeping its target audience happy, I think it can be called a reasonably good film; one successfully fulfilling its purpose. Its fate might take a different turn if one were to probably discuss its originality (which was practically zero as the story was a direct lift of an earlier film Nadiya ke Paar), practicality in reference with reality, or its cultural impact, but that sure didn’t keep the movie goers out of the theatres.

The point I’m trying to make here is that we Indians at large are sticklers for happy endings. We love the drama, the song and dance, the intense emotions. Movies are like a canvas of our dreams, where anything can happen; where we consider it acceptable and we enjoy that anything can happen. In other words, our movies are the way they are also because of the way we are, and not on account of some inherent lack of talent among our film makers. We’re faced with harsh realities every day of our lives. Spare us at least the big screen!

But that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate serious cinema. In fact, Indian films are sadly always reduced to the flashy song and dance dramas by those who are inadequately informed. The beauty of Indian films, are that they encompass all genres. Afterall, we have also had out of the box films like Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Fire, Monsoon Wedding, Kaun, Shatranj ke Khiladi… (and the list can keep going on). Just today I was watching a film Johnny Gaddar, a thriller which didn’t have any of the classic songs and dances that Bollywood is famous for.

Also, Indian films so to say, should probably not only be confined to Bollywood. Apart from mainstream movies, there are a number of art films and some regional cinema which deserve acclaim as well. I might have used Bollywood and Indian films interchangeably here, as is quite frequently done. But I’d like to also mention parallel worlds outside of Bollywood, but very much products of India that are often overlooked.

We have art here, and talent, not forgetting the big bucks. And these are not just movies, they’re also our culture. I begin to understand now why someone would want to study them, and appreciate the effort. What lies beneath flashy sequences might be much deeper. So all those Bollywood critics, both Indian and Non-Indian, how about dropping the skepticism and taking another look?

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994), one of the biggest successes of the 90's. This movie is often seen as the typical 90's movie, where it is all about romance and family. Watch the title-song:

Tears for change in Taare Zameen Par

2007-12-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

This years tearjerker award definitely goes to Taare Zameen Par. And let's send this years best blockbuster movie award to the same movie (if these awards exist, that is). Taare Zameen Par (stars on the ground) is produced, directed and acted by Aamir Khan, the big star of Lagaan.
This is the first movie I saw in India that actually made the tears roll down my cheek. And looking around me in little shame, I saw I wasn't the only man wiping his face with a hanky. Okay, everything is done to make the tears come down. Music swells at the right moment, people cry constantly, the drama is huge, the kids are extremely cute. But all that is no problem since the theme is so well chosen and played out.
The movie is about Ishaan, a boy with extreme problems in school and therefore at home as well. He is constantly scolded for all his lack of concentration and intelligence. We find out slowly that he is suffering from dyslexia, and big daydreaming and fantasizing. He prefers making drawings and watching puddles of water reflecting the sun, like stars on the ground. Aamir Khan plays the sensitive and clini-clown like art teacher who is finally able to get through to the more and more depressed and almost suicidal boy. He uses alternative teaching methods liberating the kids creativity, which helps him to understand maths as well. The main inspiration for the teacher is to give children the freedom to fantasize and be creative, instead of devouring bulks of knowledge.
The movie is a complaint to the Indian school system or rather career-minded society, where the focus is on being the best and becoming an engineer or IT-specialist. It is a tribute to daydreaming, using fantasy and being moderate. But it is also strong demand for respecting and taking care of the children who can't cope with today's demands. Children with mental handicaps, or just a little less intelligence. They too are like 'stars on the ground'.
Okay, a little cheesy maybe, a little over the top (sometimes they make dyslexia look like having HIV...). And maybe not so original to a western mind. But very important in a world where having to compete gets more pressing every day. Maybe movies need to be a little over-the-top optimistic and emotional to have the power to change us hardheaded people. What's realism anyway? Here's a trailer:

Long live the Youth!

2007-12-06T23:54:00.000-08:00

Not long ago, with a lot of noise, the return of The Queen of Bollywood was announced. The 40-year old mother, Madhuri Dixit, would perform the leading role in a new film Aaja Nachle (Come Dance). The Queen of Bollywood is also the Queen of Dance, so the title was promising.
The movie turned out to be some kind of a flop. Bad reviews in papers and on weblogs and few visitors. This is Madhuri at her most successful, in the movie Tezaab (1988).

A lot of researchers on Indian film have noticed a change in the movies of the last decade or so. Starting with movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the main protagonists of the movies were not mature and wise people anymore, but instead youngsters in college, mainly facing the 'problems' of romance. This could have something to do with a growing interest of big international brands trying to market their products through the movies. Good funding for the filmmakers, good marketing for Coca Cola and Reebok.
Is this the reason nobody wants to watch the dancing queen, who should actually be at home taking care of their children? See her dance and judge for yourself.

Om Shanti Om: Bollywood in the mirror

2007-11-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

I've been in India for about 10 days now, and visited two movies so far. (Might have to increase the frequency a little ;-0) The first one was Jab We Met, your typical lovestory with beautiful mountainscenery, a catchy panjabi-style song and a very happy ending. The empty cinemahall indicated this would probably not become a superduperhit, as the posters sometimes announce. The one that is currently running to become at least a superhit, is called Om Shanti Om, starring today's legend Shah Rukh Khan. (When he appears on the screen, half of the audience start screeming and whistling in adoration.) The story in short is the following. In the 1970's, Om Prakash (SRK) wants to become a famous moviestar. Partly because of the lifestyle that comes with being rich, but also because he's in love with the filmstar Shanti. Some romance arises between the two, but unfortunately, Shanti is married to and pregnant of the succesfull but sly director Mukesh. When Shanti gets in the way of Mukesh's success, he decides to burn her alive in a filmstudio. Om fails to save her, and dies half an hour later when he gets hit by a car that is taking the pregnant wife of filmstar Kapoor. Om's soul however, reincarnates in the baby that is born. This baby turns out to become the biggest superstar ever, Om Kapoor. Slowly, Om starts realizing in flashbacks and through his fobia of fire, that he used to be Om Prakash before. Besides that, one girl who auditions for the role of the heroine, Sandy, appears to look exactly like Shanti. He decides to take revenge on Mukesh, who just so happens to want to make a movie with Om as the leading star. You'll have to see for yourself if Om gets his revenge or not... Ok... He gets it. But not without the help of Shantis ghost, who still lives in that burned studio.
The joy and the meaning of this movie is however not that much in the story. Mainly, it is because the film is a movie about movies. It is a tribute to Bollywood in the shape of a big wink. The first half being shot in the style of the seventies, gives us a look on how film used to be back in the days. By overacting even more than SRK usually does, fun is made with the way they danced and pants with huge flairs.
When Om fantasizes about a speech he gives at the Film Fare Awards, he expresses his passion for film. In short, no matter what the problems in life are, movies provide us always with happy endings. Director Ms. Farah Khan seems to be saying that movies are like the ghost of Shanti, who suddenly come and give you some help when things get bad.
Then in the second part of the film we indulge ourselves in todays Bollywood, with an abundance of female beauty, latest gadgets, high technology and the lifestyle of the more-than-extreme rich. The funny and sort of cute Om of the first half, is now a cool and not 6- but 12 packed superstar. During scenes in the filmstudios, we cannot but see the words Maybelline and Nokia every minute. Even the dialogues are paid for it seems when Om tells how much he likes his Nokia-bluetooth headset, so he can talk to more people at the same time. Then as a sort of grand finale, during the very catchy song Om Shanti Om, an array of big stars from the past and today are appearing for some steps in the dance. The applaud they get from the bystanders onscreen, are hard to seperate from the noise in the cinema offscreen.
As a viewer, one gets a small overview of the changes in the form of the films themselves but also of the happenings on the set. A little hint is given of corruption happening in the production, with the character Mukesh. The movie takes us a bit behind the screens, on the set, and makes us think about what movies could be about.
Unfortunately, the wink to films of the seventies in the first part, disappears for an abundant appraisal of the almost divine Shah Rukh Khan, a good friend of director Farah Khan. If the second part of the film is also an ode to the movies like the first part, then we see that todays Bollywood is about SRK, and nothing else. But for all the Dutch (or other) readers who want a good introduction to what Bollywood is all about: Go put on your pink sunglasses, watch this and sing OM SHANTI OOOOM!

On the word 'Bollywood'

2007-11-01T05:11:00.001-07:00

By this time, I must have read the word bollywood 2,45 million times. As a Dutch guy, who first heard of it about 7 years ago, I thought the meaning was pretty simple. Bollywood movies are the movies from India. The ones with complex love stories, dance and happy endings. And that's what most of us Dutch probably think it means. Hollywood with a Bombay touch.
Having read the word a little more, I have noticed the word is a multiplicity of meanings. And a word with its own power.As said, popularly used, it means movies from India. In more academic studies, it is more often referred to as the popular cinema from Bombay, which means it is spoken in Hindi with a touch of English and Urdu. Besides that there is a lot of regional cinema, from the different states of the country (Like Tollywood, from Telugu-speaking Andhra Pradesh). And, besides that, there is a small stream of alternative cinema, also referred to as realist cinema. Some people say that realist cinema is the real and good cinema, which means the popular stuff is mere entertainment. Others I've come across see in this an elitist point of view that underestimates the power of popular culture. 'Aight!
I haven't made my choice yet, but in a few months, I should be able to provide you with some arguments on this issue :-)
Last week I read an article that made me write this post. Madhava Prasad says that the word bollywood (www.india-seminar.com/2003/525/525%20madhava%20prasad.htm) is only recently used, in India as well as outside. Before that people spoke of Hindi cinema or Indian popular cinema. The change in name also reflects a change in society, according to Prasad. It is a society where a new class in society has come to be of more importance, namely the Non Residential Indians (NRI's). These are the Indians in the diaspora, the ones that work and live abroad, approximately already about 11 million people. A huge market for the indian film, since a perfect way to stay in touch with the motherland is through films! As a result, a lot of movies have new heroes these days, for example in the shape of Shah Rukh Khan as a Nasa-technologist who feels homesick for the simple village life back home in the movie SWADES. The popularity of the word bollywood, reflects the popularity of an Indian identity that is English speaking and globally oriented. Not to forget, an identity that makes a lot of money as well. The word bollywood is shaped by changes in the country, and is shaping the Indian film culture as we know it around the globe.
But I have noticed that the popular cinema culture in India is much richer than just this. Indian cinema is as complex and as diverse as the people of the country where it originated. A lot to study :-)

Change of plan

2007-11-01T05:00:00.001-07:00

So that's how doing research can be a difficult process. Change number 1 concerns the question: what do I actually want to know? After a meeting with my professors yesterday, the plan of the thesis got changed a bit. Starting off with the Multinational Corporations seemed to be too specific to start with. Now, my question is a bit broader, and will be more focussed on the process of meaning-making in the films as well as with the audience, instead of the more economic-political context. The objective and questions have become the following:

To gain more knowledge about the way popular culture, specifically Indian film, constitutes meaning in the life world of Indian youth. This knowledge could be a basis for critique of current film policies, or give ideas for educational practices.

Research question: How do Indian youth incorporate values that are being promoted by current Hindi movies?

Which values are being promoted by current Hindi movies?
How do Indian youth incorporate these values?

We also changed my extremely strict, (dutch?) time planning. Now my plan is to finish in August, and not in March. It would be a waste of quality (and fun!) to rush through this. Good research takes time and flexibility. More changes will come soon, most probably.

Research question

2007-10-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Today, my research design got approved. It will consist of two parts. I will answer the first question with literature research, and the second one with interviewing young movie-watchers! How I look forward to sitting in a tea or coffee bar with a recorder and talk about movies, with the sound of honking autos, and the smell of incense or.. something else..
Here's the idea:

Objective
To gain more knowledge about the way international markets are involved in the creation of the youth’s life world through popular culture. This knowledge could be a basis for critique of current policies, or give ideas for educational practices.

Research question
In what way do multinational corporations influence the contents that Indian youth withdraw from current Hindi films?

In what way are multinational corporations involved in producing the contents of the current Hindi film?
How do Indian youth incorporate these contents?

I'll keep you posted on the proceedings.

Why Indian film?

2007-10-04T02:33:00.001-07:00

Watching the Bollywood (or Hindi, Bombay) movies, as an escape from the heat during my previous trips to India, I saw that something big was happening. During the three hours of romance, action, song and dance, the audience clapped, sang along and cried with the actors. They were living in another world.
But also by walking in the street, one notices the importance of film for the daily life of many Indians. Huge billboards everywhere advertise either a movie or a shampoo by using the cool faces and beautiful bodies of filmstars. Filmsongs surround you everywhere, coming from shops, autorikshaws, houses and hotels. And when talking to kids in the street, one of the best ways of making contact is having a conversation on the movies. 'Who is your favorite hero?'
Then if you read the newspaper, cinema will be there in many pages. Actors turned politicians are discussed for their behaviour, or the impact of certain movies is monitored.
Bollywood cinema is, maybe even more then Hollywood, interwoven with almost every aspect of the Indian daily life. This means that the way people are making sense of their lives must have a relationship with the complex world of cinema as well. For example by thinking about what they want with their future. Big political and economic changes of the real world are being told and constructed in movies, and like that made available to the people.
The power of the movies might be much bigger than just 'moving' people to tears. It might also be moving people to new opinions or attitudes. This is where my research comes in.
To start coming to a question, it seems that the movies contain a huge paradox. On the one hand freedom and new behaviour is expressed in the films, like individual sexual choice for women. On the other hand these new freedoms go carefully hand in hand with the laws of tradition. A free woman will in the end most often succumb to the rules of family life and/or religion, wearing a red saree instead of jeans. The harmony is being restored. What does this mean for the way people think about things like freedom and tradition?

Last August I met some of the best researchers of India on these topics. Their research centre in Bangalore, The Centre for Study of Culture and Society, should be the best place for me to try and answer my questions. With plenty of cinemas and videostores around the corner :-)