Let’s talk about Bollywood

Dear Futema,

Thanks for an interesting and honest - repeat honest - article. While talking to Pakistanis, one usually observes a high degree of pretense with regards to India.

``India ? India ?? - Oh, India``

``Oh, you`re Indian - sorry, did`nt notice``

You are completely, wholly and in good measure besotted with India. But you`ll drown in a lake before ...

I`m reminded of a television interview with Sunil Gavaskar and Imran Khan that I saw many years back - `82 I think. The interviewer asked Imran if there was anything special that Pakistanis felt while playing India. Imran khan NIAZI - repeat NIAZI - said no, nothing special at all !!!!! Sunil was honest. He pointed out that with 4 wars behind us, there was certainly an emotional involvement.

``I am merely saying that the theme of Pakistan as the “enemy” is touted repeatedly in Indian cinema today.Anyone with any sense of nationalistic pride would be insulted if their country is repeatedly accused of heinous crimes in the cinema that they watch. But I wonder if anyone in the Indian film industry really cares.``

My dear Futema, Thanks ! You have confirmed a long standing suspicion of mine. To answer your question - No, no one in India (film industry or any other) gives a damn to Pakistan or Pakistanis. You don`t appear on our radar. Sorry. You don`t like this off course. You may perhaps even not believe it. But its true.

The last scene in Border, with the Indian and Pakistani flags fluttering with ``Tera bhi watan, Mera bhi watan`` in the background, was NOT meant for Pakistani comsumption, which some Pakistanis may be thinking. It was meant to make Indians feel good.

``Admittedly, realism has its merits in cinema. But responsible cinema should not play on the emotions and sentiments of its viewers. Realizing the tensions between the two countries, filmmakers are exploiting the situation to further a message of suspicion and hate. I have even started wondering whether these films are getting political funding to further some politician’s cause...``

I think you should give Indians more credit for intelligence. Also, a film like Border or Pukar comes along once in a while. A newspaper comes home every day.

``No offense intended for Indian movie buffs, but most of the movies don’t cater to a highly intellectual audience.``

None taken ! My relative, who spent many years in the USSR said that to the Russians there are 3 kinds of movies - Good, Bad and Indian !!!

``Dedicated to Veeresh... `` ????

Alas!!! Has the mighty hero fallen ? Let the tiranga fly half-mast at khan-market ... !!!



regards,

AN

I quit watching Indian films in, I think, 1956. The film was A.R. Kardar`s ``Jadoo``, killer songs, but so so copy of the Loves of Carmen. I wowed that I`ll never see an Indian movie again, and I didn`t till... . but I`ll be back to this in a minute.

Now, why did I quit watching Indian, and Pakistani[except Punjabi] movies? No reason. Just as I quit playing cards the same year and quit smoking by looking at a cigarette without any plan and said `this is my last cigarette`.

That movie was my last, that cigarette was my last, and, I never touched cards again. /BUT/ the movies came back in my life in a rather surreptitious way; unavoidable circumstances.

I had an heart attack. I thought it was something of a glamourous thing. Clean, attention inviting, and, endearing one to members of the opposite sex. None of this happened and I learned that if I live six months and put my worldly house affairs in order - pension, insurance, the will - I should consider myself fortunate.

Among other things, the cardiologists had put me on so much anti-anxiety drugs, tranqualizers, and other similar things, that when I came home after a couple or three months, I had more of these than beta blockers and calcium channel antagonists(blockers) --they were still in their infancy at the time.

My family doctor, a sikh from East Africa via England, looked at the prescriptions and shook his head. He wondered what these `Specialists` were doing to me. Then, at length he said,`` Dekho ji, aehnan da k`m te m`t eeh marna aeh na, tussi aehnan noon chhado tey hindi filman dekh`nian shuroou k`r de`o.``[See, their function is to render you an idiotic vegetable. Instead of putting all these chemicals in you why don`t you start watching Indian movies! (Translated liberally.)]

So, I ended up watching Hindi movies. Saw some six to seven hundred of them in a year. {You thought it couldn`t be done!] Did some content and thematic analysis and quit. There is no power in this universe that would get me back to them.

You have mentioned a theme. It started showing up in the late nineteen eighties and early nineties, with a reference to ``trouble at the border``, or the ``smuggling of arms by the enemy`` type themes. They have now evolved into full fledged war movies.

At the proper time and conclusion of analysis, I shall have to write more, as a social scientist, but do you recall an Indian movie that didn`t have a bhajan, reference to a moorty, a god or goddess, a mandir pooja scene, or other inclusion of religious elements, thoughts and references to religious deities, and their chamatkars? Later, the Door Darshan`s Ramayan and Mahabharat, added quite a kick to the presence of religious force in the Indian entertainment world.

The above does not deal with your essay as it richly deserves, but I wondered if anybody noticed what I did! In the long run I feel that religious spirit in the Hindu religion too leads to aggression, despite the protestations of ahansa and non-violence[1], ending in a march towards the battlefield. I have been seeing jehaadis since long.

[1] Aubrey Menon, [``India``, Essay, in Roloff Benny`s work of Photography in India] calls Hinduism as one of the bloodiest and aggressive religions in the world. Just look at the ``Gita``. And history of Ancient and the not-so-ancient India. See ``Mahabharta``. [My next door neighbour thinks that the silk ``suits`` in it were of fantastic designs. She wanted to sew one for herself and asked,``were they making all that silk in Benares or did they have factories in Bombay?``

Pakistani cinema (such as it is) is also guilty of similar themes. The difference, of course, is that few, if any, people writing on this board will be watching contemporary Pakistani movies, while we all get massive amounts of exposure to Indian movies. Indian movies have the style and glitz as they project Pakistn as the Enemy.. so we`ll have halicopter gunbattles and massive war scenes as opposed to an Israeli/Indian agent financing some shady activities.

Similar themes can sometimes be found on PTV as well.. but what strikes me as odious are those shows (usually set in pre-Partition India, and usually from Lahore Center - in my obsevation! I could be wrong!) which show not Indians in a bad light, but Hindus in a bad light. *That * is insidious. I may be anti-Israeli policies, but not against Judaism. We need to distinguish between that.

As a reasonably fair minded Pakistani (well, in my opinion anyway!) I can cringe in embarrassment when watching a program on the `65 war where after proposing to have dinner in the Lahore Gymkhana (true) the Indian High Comman bursts out into typical BWAHAHAHAAAAAA!! laughter (unlikely!). But boy, do I get really peeved when rows of Pakistani soldiers get mowed down by a courageous lone Indian fighting a rearguard action (said soldier usually having to be a Muslim protecting the withdrawal of his good Hindu buddies - funny how, considering that everyone`s so well inegrrated and chummy, Indian movies still have to expressly point out that Hindu-Muslim(and occasionally Anthony) bhai bhai).

In all fairness, though, while the Indian army is often the whipping boy for the Kahmiri Mujahids, when focussing on characters there are often a couple of sympathetic Indian soldiers - most often Sikh (now there`s a surprise!) but sometimes Hindu as well. And I remember one historical drama where they actually had a Jewish good guy (set in good old Ferdinand & Isabella`s Spain).

btw - regarding showing only the Pakistani Army and Jehadis in a bad light, and not the Pakistani populce.. couldn`t the same argument be said (and has been, I think!)about the Hollywood movies showing ONLY the Arab terrorists in a bad light, not Muslims in general?

http://newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/int/socu/a16653-2000feb21.htm

Bollywood Goes Global

Hooray for Bollywood: Billboards in South Africa advertising Indian films (Mark Peters for Newsweek)

America isn`t the only country that knows how to spin and export fantasies. India`s pop culture is huge.

By Carla Power and Sudip Mazumdar

Newsweek International, February 28, 2000

Tom Cruise didn`t even make the list. Marilyn Monroe finished ninth, and Sir Lawrence Olivier was runner-up. In a worldwide BBC Online poll last year on the millennium`s biggest star, the winner was a 57-year-old man born in Allahabad, India. Ambitabh Bachchan—or ``The Big B`` to millions of Indian-film fans—has been a megastar for three decades. His devotees, found everywhere from Rajasthani villages to Australian cities to New Jersey suburbs, are a passionate lot. ``When you are incapable of achieving your dreams—even 1 percent of them—you can achieve them with Bachchan,`` says Mohammed Galal, a 19-year-old Egyptian law student, emerging from a packed Cairo screening of Bachchan`s box-office hit ``To Defend Love.`` When Planet Hollywood opened in Dubai in 1998, investor Sylvester Stallone showed up for the celebrations. Unfortunately for him, so did Bachchan. The crowds mobbed the Indian action hero—and pretty much ignored Rambo.

The West may have the biggest stalls in the world`s media bazaar, but it`s not the only player. Globalization isn`t merely another word for Americanization—and the recent expansion of the Indian entertainment industry proves it. For hundreds of millions of fans around the world, it is Bollywood—India`s film industry—not Hollywood, that spins their screen fantasies. Bollywood, based in Mumbai, has become a global industry. India`s entertainment moguls don`t merely target the billion South Asians, or desis, at home; they make slick movies, songs and TV shows for export. Attracted by a growing Indian middle class and a more welcoming investment environment, foreign companies are flocking to Bollywood, funding films and musicians. The foreign money is already helping India`s pop culture to reach even greater audiences. And it may have a benign side effect—cleaning up an Indian movie business long haunted by links to the underworld.

For Indian and foreign entertainment investors alike, the South Asian diaspora—some 25 million strong, relatively affluent and passionate about keeping their culture alive—is a ready-made audience. The United States and Britain, where large populations of South Asians live, account for about 55 percent of international Bollywood ticket sales. When the love-triangle musical ``Taal,`` starring India`s megastar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, opened last summer in the West, it was a top box-office draw in America for six weeks.

But Bollywood has millions of non-Indian fans in the Mideast, Africa and Southeast Asia, too. Romany Gypsies in Eastern Europe tune in to India`s Sony Entertainment Television, as do Hindi film fans in Fiji and the Philippines. In Israel, the two-year-old box-office hit ``Dil to Pagal Hai`` is playing to packed houses in Tel Aviv as ``Halev Mistagya``—``Crazy Heart``; in Arab countries, fans opt for Hindi movies over Hollywood ones. Bollywood hits, say Egyptian cinema critic Ahmed Kamal with a shrug, ``are now simply part of Arab culture.`` In Tanzania`s capital, open-air theaters screen the latest Indian romances, with interpreters standing in front of screens translating story lines. In Zanzibar, Swahili-speaking schoolgirls skip down the street singing Hindi love songs—despite not speaking a word of Hindi. ``Indian entertainment products have been globally accepted,`` says director-producer Subhash Ghai. ``No other cultural product—except Hollywood`s—has such a sweep. And it`s still growing.``

New Delhi`s economic reforms are accelerating that growth. Last year the government made overseas entertainment earnings tax-free. As a result, media firms have focused on foreign markets more than ever. India`s movie exports jumped from $10 million a decade ago to $100 million last year, and may top $250 million in 2000. That`s peanuts compared with Hollywood`s $6.7 billion in overseas profits last year—but as the market has grown, even multinationals like Sony and Universal have taken a new interest in Indian entertainment. Since New Delhi began to ease rules on foreign investment in 1991, such companies have set up shop in Mumbai, targeting both domestic and international markets. Indian entertainment executive Amit Khanna, riffing on the ``Pax Britannica`` of the British Raj, calls the spread of Indian pop culture a ``Pax Indiana``—an empire of song-and-dance dramas, Indi-pop songs and Hindi television soaps. If early Indian cinema was ``a weapon to drive out the British,`` declares the Bollywood trade title Supercinema, then ``filmmakers of the 21st century have to use it as an instrument to entertain the world.``

Slick salesmen and satellites are helping them do it. On a Mediterranean yacht two years ago, British-based steel billionaire Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, metals industrialist Gokul Binani and movie distributor Kishore Lulla—all South Asians—decided that the overseas Indian market was waiting to be developed. Why not use satellite technology to launch a 24-hour digital Bollywood channel? Lulla`s Eros International already had the rights to 1,000 Indian movies, which it distributes to 100 countries. Last fall, B4U—or Bollywood For You—launched in Britain and the Arab Gulf; last week it launched in the States. The packaging is slick, and anchors speak ``Hinglish,`` or English peppered with Hindi. ``B4U is focusing on being a global player,`` says chief executive officer Ravi Gupta. ``It wants to create a significant platform for Bollywood on the international map.``

B4U faces stiff competition. Subhash Chandra, a former rice trader, formed Zee Television in 1992—the first non-state-run channel to hit it big after India`s economy opened up. Six years after establishing a TV joint venture with Rupert Murdoch, Chandra last year bought out his partner for $300 million. Chandra`s Zee Network is now producing TV shows, movies, music and Internet sites. Aired in 23 million homes domestically, the channel reaches 30 million viewers in 120 other countries, too. Chandra is now working on a $755 million project to get an Indian satellite in orbit by 2002.

Attracted by the growing buying power of India`s middle class and potential foreign sales, foreign capital has poured into the TV industry. Murdoch is back; last month his Star Plus announced aggressive new plans to compete with Zee, including an infusion of native flavor by increasing programs in Hindi and Hinglish. As India`s economy has opened up, xenophobia in the entertainment industry has faded. When Sony set up shop in India in 1991, columnists at Hindu nationalist newspapers warned of the perils of the ``pollution`` of Indian culture by high-tech colonizers. To woo India, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) aired a sumptuous video of the national anthem ``Hail, Mother India,`` featuring a massive Indian flag, scores of dancers in national costumes and starring India`s popular music director A. R. Rahman. ``From the beginning, we wanted to participate in the local culture—and provide Indian artists with a global platform,`` says Sony Music`s marketing director Shridhar Subramaniam.

The seduction worked. Within a year SET broke even; within three, it had garnered 13 percent of viewers and had ratings rivaling Zee TV`s. Sony now has a film-production company, three television channels and a Hindi music company. With its steady diet of films, soaps and game shows, the Hindi-language SET now airs in 126 countries, and last year had a revenue of about $100 million. Sony-Columbia started Hindi film distribution last June. William Pfeiffer, Hong Kong-based managing director of Sony Asia, says the company`s Indian success ``has far exceeded my wildest dreams.`` Last year Sony launched a third Hindi channel, Sony Max, which carries cricket and Hindi hits to a global audience. Both Universal and Warner Bros. set up Mumbai offices last year.

Eventually, the foreigners may modernize the TV business in India. Though Sony charges for Sony Max, it hasn`t started charging subscribers for SET. ``The day India`s cable viewers start paying even a dollar, you`re talking big money,`` observes Kunal Dasgupta, CEO of Sony India. India`s distribution is still a patchwork of local operators and outlaw cable wallahs who deliver pirate service to shantytowns. Once foreign media giants come in, buy up small outfits and set up encryption strategies, says Dasgupta, ``someone`s going to make a pile of money in this market.``

Foreign companies are chasing Indian musicians, too. The country`s pop-music industry moved 300 million units last year, making it the world`s second largest after the United States`. ``People are able to buy things like music,`` says R. V. Shrikhande, of the Indian Music Industry, a Mumbai-based industry group. ``Before, the middle class was small and didn`t have any spare money.`` With an eye on the global market, Sony, EMI and Polygram are grooming stables of Indian singers. Sony bought rights to the soundtrack of blockbuster ``Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai`` (``Something Happens``), starring Shahrukh Khan, India`s answer to Tom Cruise, two years ago. The album has sold 8 million units, unprecedented for film music. In the early `90s, Channel V, owned by Rupert Murdoch`s News Corp., and MTV began showing Indian videos across Asia; over the past decade, Indi-pop, a blend of South Asian folk and funky Western beats, has grown hugely popular. Music-industry profits have jumped about 30 percent a year.

Abroad, concerts by movie and music stars keep fans` passions alive. Indian stars appear on stages in New Jersey, California—even Florida and Chicago. Some 11,000 turned out to see megastar Khan, known for his devilish charm and dynamic acting, when he performed at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1998. Many of the fans were Asian, but they brought non-Asian friends—a nascent crossover audience. ``The fans are crazy about him, even if they don`t understand the movies,`` says Nadia Hudda, manager of a video store in Chicago`s Little India. ``Especially the ladies.``

Sex appeal is one way to sell movies to non-Indian audiences. In some developing countries, though, it`s the non-American quality of Indian movies that draws audiences. Indian movies` dreamily suggestive dance numbers (Indian censors don`t allow sex) go over well in many conservative societies. Given the choice between a Steve Martin divorce comedy and a musical about the virtues of God and family, Arabs, Africans and Southeast Asians often choose the latter. Ads for last year`s overseas hit ``Hum Saath Saath Hain`` (``We Stand United``) bore the treacly tag line: ``The family that prays and eats together stays together.`` ``Indian movies are feel-good, all-happy-in-the-end, tender love stories with lots of songs and dances,`` says Khanna, chief of Mumbai`s Plus Channel, which produces TV programs, movies and music. ``That`s what attracts non-Indian audiences across the world.`` In the Middle East, anti-Americanism works in Bollywood`s favor. ``Our prejudices against American movies have grown,`` says Egyptian political columnist Assem Kamel. ``The politics of the U.S. government has affected the popularity of American movies among Arab audiences.``

That doesn`t stop Americans from watching Bollywood flicks, too. In the past three years, three major Indian film-distribution companies have opened U.S. offices. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs chill out at Fremont`s newly opened Naz8 Cinema—North America`s first multiplex devoted to Bollywood movies, where the concession stand sells samosas and naan along with popcorn and Coke. Even in south Florida, Bollywood films show in 16 film theaters in seven cities. Says Ft. Lauderdale housewife Sameera Biswas: ``We go to the movies to keep our culture alive.``

That culture is changing along with its audiences. Bollywood has begun tailoring movies for Westernized fans. Mumbai producers have long shot fantasy sequences in exotic locales like Switzerland and Scotland—in dream scenes filmed through Vaseline-coated lenses. Today plots are actually set in London and New York, or feature encounters between overseas Indians and natives. In the 1995 megahit ``Dilwale Dulahniya Le Jayenge`` (``Braveheart Will Win the Bride``), produced by Yash Chopra, who pioneered Bollywood`s move into foreign markets, an Indian boy living in England comes to India and wins the girl who is being forced into an arranged marriage by her father. (Chopra`s current project, ``Mohabbatein,`` or ``Loves,`` starring idol Shahrukh Khan, is also a love story, but the producer isn`t revealing the plot.) Chopra has featured Britain so prominently that in 1998 the British Tourism Authority gave him an award.

The modern world is racing in. The Internet, with scores of sites retelling Bollywood gossip, is already a great promoter of India`s pop culture. On desiclub.com, a million visitors a month swap news of parties, clubs and Bollywood tidbits; chaitime.com, a Philadelphia-based South Asian culture site, offers its 750,000 monthly visitors everything from a Web soap called ``Young and Desi`` to discussions of how many times Aishwarya Rai changes her hairstyle in ``Taal.`` The site`s been so successful that it recently landed a $25 million infusion of venture capital and is planning to open offices in Mumbai and London this spring.

Foreigners may be stampeding India to package and sell a global Indian culture. The question remains, however, as to whether they`ll change the structure of the business—or just the films themselves. In the long run, with all the global interest, will Bollywood be swamped by Hollywood and its alluring big bucks? India`s entertainment executives predict that the foreign money may clean up the film industry`s dirty practices. Until last year, when New Delhi declared the entertainment industry a legitimate business, Bollywood had been dominated by shady underworld bosses, who financed films and took huge cuts. Banks shied away. Producers and actors were regularly threatened by gangsters; many had police escorts for protection. Last month producer Rakesh Roshan was shot and wounded outside his Mumbai office after refusing to give the overseas distribution rights to a gulf-based gangster. Foreign companies like Sony and Universal will not only demand transparency in accounting; they will provide a financing alternative to the mafia. ``Once the big players come in in a big way, the whole entertainment industry is going to change,`` says TV mogul Khanna. ``The days of the shady moneybags will be over.``

Mumbai directors admit that they are adjusting their traditional, romantic themes slightly to new foreign audiences and changing tastes of overseas Indian audiences; but they insist that the soul of Indian pop culture will remain unchanged, despite all the money and foreign interest. Bollywood already sells around 6 billion tickets a year—with about 15 percent sold overseas. And the profits just keep going up. Why would Hollywood want to change that? The foreign money will keep pouring in, the great Indian directors will keep churning out close to 800 films a year, and the actors will keep singing and dancing. If you missed last year`s Mumbai blockbusters, never fear: you can plan on catching another rollicking Bollywood musical, coming soon to a screen near you.

With Anna Kuchment in New York, Gameela Ismail in Cairo, Ginanne Brownell in London, Robina Riccitiello in Silicon Valley, Catharine Skipp in Miami and Kate N. Grossman in Chicago

This silliness of Pakistanis watching Indian movies has to stop..... I am doing my part: my two kids have never seen an Indian film and never will ... over my dead body. My wife went to see Pukar (without my permission) with a friend (ex-friend) and left before intermission because of the disgusting jingoistic sloganeering by the infidel crowd. She told me about this misadventure and is still begging for my my forgiveness ( may the Lord forgive her). I would banish her to the zenana for ever and after, if it weren`t for the fact that she is younger, prettier and makes more money than me !

Seriously, I think there is something absurd, profane, treasonous, fetid and disgusting about Pakistanis watching Bollywood trash..... Can`t you guys think of something better to do ? How about Oragami or paper-mache.....

Can someone please state how to remove the indo- (shall I say Hindu-) phobia complex from Pakistani minds. Rather than making good movies in your countery and taking care of your own polulation, you are always bent on making sure that ``hindu`` india is truly secular, even in its movies. What shall we be doing in the movies and dramas to make you Pakistanis happy? Should it give 50% time to muslims and remaining 50% time to hindus?

Your own history books and your own movies never even acknowledge the non-muslim heritage. I remember one of your movies where a single rambo style warrior destroys a ``hindu`` conspiracy.

On the other hand, there are dozens of Indian movies, both old and new that have hero/heroins praying at dargahs irrespective of their religions (don`t believe me, check AB`s kuli and many other movies?)

These movies are not made for Pakistani consumption. They are officialy banned in your country. Pakistani viewers of these movies watch pirated copies and no revenue is returned to the maker of the movie. Majority of Pakistanis on this board and in your government say India is enemy. Than why do you expect Indian movies to say that Pakistan is friend?

These movies have never shown any religion in bad taste. Rather than having a politically correct but sterile cinema, I would any time opt for hollywood brand. If you do not like it, you should be making your own politically correct movies.

I have watched Hindi movies voluntarily/ involuntarily as long as I can remember. Never made a list, can one list relatives in order of preference? But, I`d be really grateful when future movies stop using these easy Pavlov`ian formulas on the audience.

`maa`n mujhe bahut bhookh lagi hai` (hero gladdening loving mom/wife`s heart by displaying cheerful domesticity after an honest day`s work or after returning from studies abroad)

`tu haath mooh dho le mein khaanaa lagati/lagwati hoon` (tender loving care from widowed and graying mom/bejewelled and silked mom)

`gaajar ka halwa jo apni haathon se banaaya hai (tender loving care from either longlost elder sister or shy female admirer either trying to get through to thickheaded dolt of a hero)

`aaj khaana bahut swadisht bana hai`(ditto)

`mein yeh ehsaan zindagi bhar nahi bhooloonga` (father or brother of hopeful but starving family)

`haath peele karne hain` (father or brother weighed down with worldly cares)

`Baba/Bhaiya!`, patter patter patter, `heh heh heh sharma gayi pagli`(worldly cares being discussed in front of bashful subject)

`mein aapke paun pakdta hoon`, `mein aapke haath jodta hoon` (it didnot work out too well after all)

`meri maang ka sindoor` (one beleagured middle-aged woman to world at large)

`kahaa`n se mooh kala kar ke aayi ho`(suspicious middle-aged woman to hapless and innocent heroine)

`is din ko dekhne se pehle mein mar kyon nahi gayi` (yet another beleagured middle-aged woman overcome with the sins of her offspring)

`meri kokh se janmaa` its never `meri kokh se janmi` ever notice?(beleagured though explicit woman to embarrassed listeners and audience)

`maine aaj tak tum se kuch nahin mangaa` (reminding the Almighty of his long overdue obligations)

`teri ankho`n mein aansoo?`(precursor to a heroic and self-sacrificing speech or hopelessly poignant situation to follow)

`aaj mein bahut khoosh hoon` (ill-fated hero or heroine putting a brave face on impending poignant tragedy, get out the tissues)

`teri yeh himmat` (hero showing villian his place)

`kutte-kameene` (ditto)

`kaan khol ke sun lo` (apparently ears have flaps)

`teri tange`n tod duunga` (script writer on budget)

`aap bade dilchasp aadmi dikhaayi dete hain` (canny vamp/polished villian won over by smarty-pants hero)

`dar`assal baat yeh hai` (one cultured guy to another)

`aakhir kyoon?`( have to bring in intellectual content sometime and also to remind audience that they have misspent another 3 hours of their remaining mortal life)

Sadhana

Excerpt from Sunil Shetty Interview on his favorite films: Today`s Rediff.com

Border: Another favourite. Not because of the action, but the feel, the love for motherland. Border for me is a part of history. I knew I would be appreciated for any character in the film. The film is about real heroes, and not make-believe. People know that it has happened. The regiment of 60-70 people had withstood two-and-a-half thousand people. It goes to show their strength and courage, and only when you are with them you realise their worth and value and what they undergo.

Sadna: you forgot, `mein tumharay bacchay ki maan bannay wali hoon`! (I am about to bring to this world a poor b#####d who will be shunned by the samaaj unless you marry me and make an honest woman out of me)

Bollywood is NOT representative of Indian films. There are very good movies made in regional languages that never see the light of day outside India, except in film festivals. Directors such as Girish Karnad and Adoor Gopalakrishnan make movies that are shown to acclaim but since they are not in Hindustani, they don`t seem to have an audience in Pakistan.

I just saw a movie called `Pathram` (The Newspaper) in Malayalam. The 3-hour long movie does not have a single song or dance sequence. It deals with the corruption of the police by powerful interests and how two crusading newspapers battle the corruption. While some scenes are definitely melodramatic and there is a love angle between a couple of players, the movie rates as better than the junk churned out by Bollywood. Just as I had chosen to watch PTV dramas (with a cousin from Delhi translating from Urdu for me), perhaps you should reach across language barriers by getting a Bengali or a Malayalee translate these movies while you watch them. You will find these movies deal more realistically with the social situation. Movies such as Border, Pukar, etc., are the Bollywood equivalent of Rambo movies with about as much content and realism. In fact, most regional language movies do not deal with Indo-Pak wars but about local situations. You can write off 90% of the regional movies too but that still leaves you with some very good non-formulaic films.

I heard that Bhutan made its first movie called `The Cup`. It is about a bunch of novice monks who spend their time watching the World Cup soccer matches instead of studying Buddhist teachings. Has received some good reviews and I am wondering where I can get a copy of it.

I agree with the author that Bollywood (Hindi/Urdu) movies are quite ``hulka pulka``. I quite like the old B&W movies for the themes and the songs. In the past decade or two, a lot of Hindi movies are remakes or direct lifts from either Tamil / Telugu movies or from Hollywood. This goes for the songs too.

While Hindi movies have improved technically over the years, their story content is quite shallow (except for a few honourable exceptions).

Whenever people speak of Indian cinema, they tend to focus on Hindi or Bollywood cinema, ignoring movies made in other Indian languages. Hindi movies make up less than 50% of the 700 plus movies made every year in India.

While there are good and bad movies in every language, my personal experience after watching movies in Hindi, Tamil and other languages is as follows:

- Hindi movies concentrate more on national issues (such as terrorism, enemy nations etc) compared to regional ones.

- Hindi movie settings very rarely step out of the mythical Rampur or Ramgarh (if it is a village theme) or Bombay (if it is an urban story), if it is an Indian setting. These days of course, phoren settings are becoming popular.

- Hindi movie characters are very bland or uniform and ignore the rich diversity of India. While being politically correct to the extent of including minority characters, it ends up caricaturing people outside of the Hindi belt, notably South Indians who are all Madrasis saying Aiyo in every sentence.

Japanese are also Bitten by the BOLLYWOOD BUG.

Hindi films make pretty picture in Japan

By Nikhat Kazmi

TOKYO: Cinema Pathos, a multiplex in glitzy Ginza. Even as the curtains go down on Stanley Kubrick`s Eyes Wide Shut, the screen lights up with guess what? Gharwali Baharwali - David Dhawan`s twisted tale on bigamy with apna Anil Kapoor two timing with Raveena and Rambha to the tune of Ek taraf hai gharwali, ek taraf baharwali. This time however, it`s an Indian twist with Japanese sub titles.

The billboards in Shinjuku, a downtown area famous for its topless bars and all night soirees. Jostling for space amid Jackie Chan`s Who am I and Clint Eastwood`s True Crime are two familiar faces: Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan staring out of the larger-than-life poster of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.

Yamagata, a picturesque hill resort famous for its documentary film festival. Rubbing shoulders with the posters of serious shorts like Belfast Maine, Crazy English and Divorce Iranian Style are colourful cut-outs of Aishwarya Rai in Taal and Rajnikant in Arunachalam.

The music section in Mitsukoshi, the flashy department store in Ginza. Toprunners in the audio section, along with Eric Clapton, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin are Thillana Thillana, the chartbuster from the Tamil film Muthu and A.R. Rahman`s audio track in Dil Se.

Prime time on NHK, Japan`s national television broadcast: an interview with Rajnikant in desi-English-dubbed-in-Japanese, along with a behind-the-scenes of Tamil cinema.

Yes, Japan seems to be caught in a tidal wave of Indian`s mainstream masala and is hip-juggling to Humma Humma, Thillana Thillana and Chaiyya Chaiyya. After the unprecedented success of Muthu, the Rajnikant starrer which had a record run of 200 days in Tokyo and Osaka, Indian cinema seems to have found a brand new market for its colourful kitsch. Almost 300 films are scheduled for a release in the sundry cities of Japan in the coming months. Interestingly, most of these are unadulterated entertainers like Sholay, Deewar, Bombay, Biwi No. 1, Padaiyappa, Jeans, Ejaman, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and several other Govinda, David Dhawan blockbusters.

What is the secret of their success? According to Iwamoto Kenji, a film scholar in Waseda University, ``Indian films are super Hollywood musicals which have the power of transporting the viewer into strange new wonderlands.`` For Masayaki Suo, director, ``The release of Muthu has unravelled a whole new world of entertainment for Japan. There is a certain type of power in Indian films which cannot be found in Japanese cinema.`` Suo, who visited India recently with his film Shall We Dance, is still raving about his tryst with stars like Govinda, Shilpa Shetty, Manisha Koirala. According to him, Indian films strike an instant rapport with the Japanese because of their ``intense familyism`` and their concentration on ``social issues`` which are fast losing ground in Japanese cinema.

And showcasing the Japanese love for Indian cinema is the National Film Corporation which has included a section of Indian films in its archives of almost 20,000 titles. According to Hisashi Okajima, curator films, other than Japan and the U.S., the most exciting national cinema can only be found in India. ``When we talk of films, we generally refer to Hollywood. But actually, the films coming out of India are more energetic and vibrant, apart from their excellent artistic quality. We are always wondering how Indian films can be so energetic,`` he adds.

For Takuji Suzuki, avant garde film-maker, Indian films are an oriental answer to Spielberg. ``When I watch Indian films, I can laugh, I can cry, I can sing, I can dance and can even do some shadow boxing,`` he confesses. In short, a complete experience in an incomplete world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/sept99/movies15.htm

Hindi Films Make Cinema a Social Center

Syed Raza, 19, of Herndon, waits in line at Loehmann`s Plaza to see ``Baadshah`` – ``King`` in English – starring Shahrukh Khan.

(By Michael Williamson – The Washington Post)

By Philip P. Pan

Washington Post Staff Writer

The last time a movie starring Shahrukh Khan opened at Loehmann`s Plaza, the line for tickets stretched across the Falls Church strip mall, hundreds of fans couldn`t get seats and audiences packed the theater for weeks. So, just to be safe, Monika Khatri and her husband arrived early on a recent Saturday for the newest film featuring India`s number one star.

The problem was that everyone else did, too. Sikh men wearing turbans waited in line behind Sri Lankan teenagers in Nike caps. Indian mothers in saris tried to control restless children as adolescent Afghan girls traded gossip by the box office. And behind them, Indian folk music floated out of cars searching the jammed lot for parking spaces.

``These movies bring you closer to home, because we are all so far away,`` said Khatri, 49, a Fairfax Station computer analyst from New Delhi, explaining why the $8-a-ticket, three-hour Hindi films are worth the trouble. ``They`re good entertainment, and they help you keep in touch with the culture.``

Theaters that once showed movies in Spanish, Chinese and Greek disappeared from the Washington area long ago. But two local cinemas that play Hindi films seven nights a week are thriving -- and have become lively gathering places for the region`s growing community of immigrants from South Asia.

The success of Loehmann`s Twin Cinemas and Laurel Town Center Theaters -- and theaters like them in more than 30 other U.S. cities -- can be traced to remarkably devoted fans who see the Indian film world as a kitschy alternative to Hollywood. Affectionately nicknamed Bollywood, the Bombay movie industry churns out as many as 800 films a year, most of them lavish musicals featuring attractive stars and far-fetched plots.

Consider ``Baadshah,`` the new comedy-action film in which the leading man plays a singing, dancing, sharpshooting private eye who manages to save a government minister from assassination.

Or watch ``Taal,`` which has been playing to large crowds for weeks. It begins as a classic star-crossed romance involving a billionaire`s son and a young woman from a rural village -- but then the woman becomes an international rock star.

Indian love stories featuring traditional folk songs re-mixed with Western rhythms and elaborately choreographed dance sequences do particularly well in the United States. On the weekend it opened, ``Taal`` earned more per screen than any Hollywood film and ranked 20th on Variety`s box office list. And that`s without subtitles.

Invariably set in exotic locales full of glamorous characters in beautiful costumes, Bollywood movies are popular in India because they offer escapist fantasies for a vast, rural underclass. But in the United States, the films play to a completely different audience -- well-educated professionals who already have ``escaped.``

``Here, it`s nostalgia, a link to home,`` said Karan Capoor, 31, a management consultant who lives in Arlington. ``Whether we ever go back to India is immaterial. In a certain way, particularly for those of us who grew up in India, it`s part of who we are.``

Capoor said it`s easier for the educated to enjoy a Bollywood film here than in India. ``There`s a bit of a snob factor,`` he said. ``To be honest, if I was living in Calcutta, I wouldn`t be caught dead going to `Baadshah.` ``

More people from India and Pakistan settled in the Washington area this decade than from anywhere else in Asia, and community leaders say South Asians have emerged as one of the largest ethnic groups in the region, their numbers approaching 100,000.

But immigrants from India and Pakistan aren`t the only ones lining up at Loehmann`s and Laurel. Visit on a Friday night, and you`ll find cliques of their teenage children, who were born and raised in the United States and embrace India`s pop culture as fervently as they do America`s.

The crowds are also full of immigrants from other parts of the world, including Afghanistan, Iran, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean, people who grew up watching Hindi films though they may not speak the language.

``It`s so much fun,`` said moviegoer Asha Farah, 33, of Vienna, a Somali nurse who came here nine years ago after growing up in Saudi Arabia. ``When we were little, we would stay up all night and watch Indian movies, so it reminds you of when you were young.``

Some immigrants take their U.S.-born children to the movies to reinforce cultural values. The films often emphasize respect for elders and the benefits of arranged marriages. And there are almost no sex scenes: In ``Taal,`` when two characters shared a bottle of Coke, it amounted to heavy petting.

``The movies have a tremendous influence on my kids,`` said Rekha Uppal, 33, a mother of two in Potomac. ``We like it because it keeps them in touch with the culture. They learn the language, and they have fun.``

The theaters are also among the few public places where the South Asian community comes together. Moviegoers often make a social event of an outing and count on bumping into friends. Loehmann`s has shown free presentations of international cricket matches and often helps raise money for community causes. Laurel serves samosas and tea with the popcorn and Milk Duds.

``It`s a very homey atmosphere,`` said Hamza Javed, 21, of Centreville, a Pakistani tech worker who immigrated four years ago. ``It`s the only fun I have. After 90 or 100 hours of work, it`s a relief to relax and see all the same people.``

Hindi films first began playing in the Washington area in the late 1960s in an auditorium at Catholic University. Back then, the audience was composed almost entirely of students, the first wave of Indian immigrants to the United States after Congress relaxed immigration laws in 1965.

As the community grew, the movies moved to Silver Spring, then Arlington and then to the Takoma Theater near the District line. Radio station WHFS (99.1 FM) even started playing Indian music.

``The market wasn`t big enough for weeknights, just weekends,`` recalled Punita Bhatt, an English professor at the University of the District of Columbia and one of those early Indian students at Catholic. ``An entire generation of Indians remember Takoma as the equivalent of a community center. . . . It was nice, but it didn`t last long.``

In 1981, the theater closed, done in by videotapes and cable. Other local theaters that featured foreign-language films -- Spanish movies at the Ontario in Adams-Morgan and the Colony on Georgia Avenue, and Chinese movies at the American Theater in L`Enfant Plaza -- disappeared, too.

But a decade later, the Hindi theaters returned. Vijay Narula, 35, the president of a local tech firm who runs the two theaters now, said he often rents them out for screenings of Afghani, Senegalese or Iranian films, as well as movies in Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and other Indian languages.

In part, the comeback of Hindi cinema can be attributed to its younger fans, many of whom have paid up to $100 to watch their favorite stars perform at the Patriot Center this Saturday in one of a series of Indian concerts held every year. These teens are devotees of Salman Khan as much as Leonardo diCaprio, and their embrace of Bollywood provides a window into the acculturation of a generation.

Sachin Gupta, 17, of Mitchellville, said he avoided Indian culture for years, in part because he wanted to fit in. But this summer, he met other young Indian Americans at a few parties.

``My dad used to try to explain the movies to me, but I always thought it was dumb,`` he said. ``Now, I`m learning about it and getting all into it.`` He can`t speak Hindi but gets his friends to translate.

Inevitably, the second generation has a different take on Indian culture. It embraces the music and dance but struggles at times with the values. Teenage boys and girls sometimes meet at the theaters secretly, to avoid the anti-dating disapproval of more traditional parents.

Anuj Mehta, 26, a software engineer, and Raakhi Chohda, 25, a personnel manager, often went on dates to Loehmann`s before they got engaged.

``But we never went on weekends,`` Chohda said. ``Our parents didn`t mind, but we didn`t want their friends to gossip about us.``

Fatwa against Hindi film actress Shabana Azmi



Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Film actress Shabana Azmi has earned the wrath of the mullahs in Hyderabad because she tonsured her head for her role in the controversial film, Water.

Five city-based Islamic seminaries have termed the action ``as a violation of Islamic doctrine and abominably inadmissible.`` They want Azmi to renew her faith.

The fatwas [religious edicts] these institutions issued declare that Muslim film stars performing acts of polytheism on screen should also renew their faith. One termed it as an ``atheistic act and a mortal sin`` while the others defined it as ``transgression.``

It was a Hyderabad-based journalist, Syed Fazil Hussain Parvez, who sought edicts on these issues in the wake of the controversy raging on in the Muslim community over Azmi tonsuring her head. The issue was hotly debated in the local Urdu press.

``I posed two questions to the religious institutions after the Urdu press was flooded with queries and protests about Shabana Azmi`s outrageous act. I sought a fatwa on whether actors from Muslim families or having Muslim names are committing sacrilege by performing the rites of other religious groups on the screen,`` Parvez told rediff.com.

``I also cited the instance of Shabana Azmi, who not only performs puja on screen but also got her head tonsured for portraying a character in Water. I wanted to know whether her act is permissible in Islam or whether she is liable for excommunication,`` he said.

Another query he posed to the religious scholars was whether Muslim film stars, who offer namaz and go for Haj or Umra in real life but commit polytheistic acts on the screen ``under professional compulsions`` should be condoned for their sacrilegious acts, which constitute ``unforgivable sins.``

The queries were sent to Al Mahada-Aali-ul-Islami, Darul-Uloom Sabil-ul-Islam, Darul-Uloom Rahmania, Darul-Uloom Hyderabad and Hyderabad`s oldest Islamic university, Jamia-e-Nizamia.

The institutions responded promptly. Darul Uloom Rahmania`s Mufti Ghiyasuddin issued the edit on February 24, followed by Al Mahada`s Mufti Khaled Saifullah Rahmani on February 25, Darul-Uloom Sabil-ul-Islam`s Mufti Mustafa Miftahi and Jamia-e-Nizamia`s Mufti Ibrahim Khaleel-ul-Hashemi on February 26, and Darul Uloom Hyderabad`s Mufti Mohammed Jamaluddin Qassimi on February 27.

According to the edict from Darul Uloom Rahmania, offering worship to the deities would be tantamount to paganism or infidelity. If a Muslim woman tonsures her head, it would be a violation of the Shariat and Islamic doctrines.

Jamia-e-Nizamia, which is one of the oldest Islamic universities in India, has termed all acts of polytheism as ``atheism``.

Al Mahada said that terming such acts of polytheism as professional compulsion was an excuse which was worse than the sin itself. If a Muslim, even while knowing that due to these acts a Muslim loses his faith, goes ahead with it then he is committing infidelity. Hence, all film stars who call themselves Muslims must renew their faith.

The Darul Uloom Sabil-ul-Islam declared that it was unlawful for Muslims to act in films. If a Muslim, while sticking to his religious faith, still acts in a film, it would amount to transgression.

The tried and tested formula for watching Bollywood movies (or for that matter most Hollywood movies) is to park your brain somewhere first. They`re much more enjoyable that way.

And hey, if the WWF can make it big around the world, why shouldn`t other fantasy based entertainment do the same?

Reply #: 18 mohajir

``Fatwa against Hindi film actress Shabana Azmi``

The difference between Shabani Azmi (and other actors) and these religious scholars is that the former treat fantasy as fantasy and reality as reality while the latter treat fantasy as reality and reality as fantasy.