Bollywood
Recently (as in, since the beginning of the year) I’ve started watching Bollywood movies, primarily romantic ones where the second half descends into an epic ball of melodramatic angst, no matter how light and chipper the first half may have been. Not that they’ve all or even mostly started light and chipper. This clip from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai kinda sums up most of the Bollywood I’ve watched, I think:
“Look! Cute! Look! Romance! ZOMG! Drama! We cannot be! But we shall be very pretty at it!”
I’m not really fond of most of Hollywood’s romantic movies, romcom or dramatic, but I’ve liked these, even if I’ve been fairly neutral about most of the actual romances. Strangely, a lot have romantic tropes I’m not fond of (Beautiful all along! Dying for the ship! Lying from the day they met! Big Misunderstanding! Fell in love with her kid!) but they’re largely worked in a way that works for me. Or at least, annoys me less. Most of the movies have felt like they’re primarily been the heroines story, even if the narratives have pretty much all defaulted to the guy’s POV. With the exceptions of Fanaa and Parineeta, though (both of which I did like) I don’t think that’s worked against the movies for me, aside from general annoyance at the typical male POV defaulting that shows up everywhere.
I’m also really fond of a lot of the song-and-dance numbers. Most are meant to represent romantic encounters/fantasies, but my enjoyment isn’t so much what’s going on in them as with the visuals and imagery and random scenery changes. They are just so pretty. Strangely, I remember finding them jarring in Asoka? But that may have just been because it was the Bollywood I saw, and that that was a Serious Historical Drama. I should rewatch to see if they mix in better for me now.
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(I really like the visuals and tempo of this one, but am not exactly fond of the “you are mine” stuff):
So far, my viewing has been pretty selective. I’ve seen 11 Bollywood movies total in my life, and only two (Kuch Naa Kaho and My Name Is Khan) were without their being recommended, or my knowing multiple listies liked them. The others I tried out hoping for the best, uhm, didn’t work out as well for me. This is may way of saying “send more recs.” Also, rec me some Telugu films, as Magadheera is the only Tollywood I’ve seen, and I really it. (Uhm…you’ll have to tell me where to get them, too? Netflix has tons of Bollywood, but I don’t think Tollywood ever gets released in the U.S., which makes me sad.) Anyway, there are things that don’t bug me now that might later because the Bollywood approach and format is new to me? But so far, I’m enjoying them.
These are the ones I’ve seen so far:
Eklavya (Good, but not really my thing. I also watched it in January and the rest starting in I think late April, so me memories are a bit murky.)
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Very fun, and I can see why it gets recced as a good entry movie.)
Main Hoon Na (This was entertaining, but I think I should have seen more Bollywood before watching it, as it parodies Bollywood tropes a lot. I thought, though, that it was a bit too shallow with the female characters and romances. Definitely moreso than the others I’ve seen, though.)
Fanaa (I wasn’t sure about this one at first, especially with the twist halfway through, but the pretty kept me going, and the ending basically made it all retroactively awesome.)
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (I spent a lot of time simultaneously enjoying it and being irritated, but I liked the tropes it played with, and thought it was pretty fun.)
Parineeta (I thought this was a fascinating look at cultural expectations on women and it made me majorly crush on Vidya Balan, and I found the male lead and the romantic plotline irredeemable due to some of his actions, and how it seemed most of the problems in their relationship were him always immediately coming to the worst possible conclusions.)
1920 (OMG Bollywood gothic/horror! I loved the first half and the background story, but was mehed by how the second half of the main story went from being all about the heroine to being all about men trying to save her in the second half, though I did like how it approached “saved with the power of love” in the climax.)
Kuch Naa Kaho (I was worried about this because it actually has some of my least favorite romantic comedy tropes, almost from the first scene, but it actually ended up really, really fun, and I liked that it broke type and had the hero stepping back and letting the heroine make the decisions about her life and trying to influence her at the end.)
My Name Is Khan (This is a movie about post 911 racism in America through the eyes of a Muslim man with Aspergers. [Though I would have thought he was autistic if I hadn’t been told it was Aspergers. I’m far from an expert there, though.] Very good, though my depression/legitimate angst threshhold was reached a little over halfway through. I wonder how much of the movie is based on Shah Rukh Khan being detained at a US airport based purely on his name.)
Click to view“Look! Cute! Look! Romance! ZOMG! Drama! We cannot be! But we shall be very pretty at it!”
I’m not really fond of most of Hollywood’s romantic movies, romcom or dramatic, but I’ve liked these, even if I’ve been fairly neutral about most of the actual romances. Strangely, a lot have romantic tropes I’m not fond of (Beautiful all along! Dying for the ship! Lying from the day they met! Big Misunderstanding! Fell in love with her kid!) but they’re largely worked in a way that works for me. Or at least, annoys me less. Most of the movies have felt like they’re primarily been the heroines story, even if the narratives have pretty much all defaulted to the guy’s POV. With the exceptions of Fanaa and Parineeta, though (both of which I did like) I don’t think that’s worked against the movies for me, aside from general annoyance at the typical male POV defaulting that shows up everywhere.
I’m also really fond of a lot of the song-and-dance numbers. Most are meant to represent romantic encounters/fantasies, but my enjoyment isn’t so much what’s going on in them as with the visuals and imagery and random scenery changes. They are just so pretty. Strangely, I remember finding them jarring in Asoka? But that may have just been because it was the Bollywood I saw, and that that was a Serious Historical Drama. I should rewatch to see if they mix in better for me now.
object width="480" height="385">
(I really like the visuals and tempo of this one, but am not exactly fond of the “you are mine” stuff):
So far, my viewing has been pretty selective. I’ve seen 11 Bollywood movies total in my life, and only two (Kuch Naa Kaho and My Name Is Khan) were without their being recommended, or my knowing multiple listies liked them. The others I tried out hoping for the best, uhm, didn’t work out as well for me. This is may way of saying “send more recs.” Also, rec me some Telugu films, as Magadheera is the only Tollywood I’ve seen, and I really it. (Uhm…you’ll have to tell me where to get them, too? Netflix has tons of Bollywood, but I don’t think Tollywood ever gets released in the U.S., which makes me sad.) Anyway, there are things that don’t bug me now that might later because the Bollywood approach and format is new to me? But so far, I’m enjoying them.
These are the ones I’ve seen so far:
Eklavya (Good, but not really my thing. I also watched it in January and the rest starting in I think late April, so me memories are a bit murky.)
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Very fun, and I can see why it gets recced as a good entry movie.)
Main Hoon Na (This was entertaining, but I think I should have seen more Bollywood before watching it, as it parodies Bollywood tropes a lot. I thought, though, that it was a bit too shallow with the female characters and romances. Definitely moreso than the others I’ve seen, though.)
Fanaa (I wasn’t sure about this one at first, especially with the twist halfway through, but the pretty kept me going, and the ending basically made it all retroactively awesome.)
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (I spent a lot of time simultaneously enjoying it and being irritated, but I liked the tropes it played with, and thought it was pretty fun.)
Parineeta (I thought this was a fascinating look at cultural expectations on women and it made me majorly crush on Vidya Balan, and I found the male lead and the romantic plotline irredeemable due to some of his actions, and how it seemed most of the problems in their relationship were him always immediately coming to the worst possible conclusions.)
1920 (OMG Bollywood gothic/horror! I loved the first half and the background story, but was mehed by how the second half of the main story went from being all about the heroine to being all about men trying to save her in the second half, though I did like how it approached “saved with the power of love” in the climax.)
Kuch Naa Kaho (I was worried about this because it actually has some of my least favorite romantic comedy tropes, almost from the first scene, but it actually ended up really, really fun, and I liked that it broke type and had the hero stepping back and letting the heroine make the decisions about her life and trying to influence her at the end.)
My Name Is Khan (This is a movie about post 911 racism in America through the eyes of a Muslim man with Aspergers. [Though I would have thought he was autistic if I hadn’t been told it was Aspergers. I’m far from an expert there, though.] Very good, though my depression/legitimate angst threshhold was reached a little over halfway through. I wonder how much of the movie is based on Shah Rukh Khan being detained at a US airport based purely on his name.)