Bollywood tips

Posted by Sari

The shiny new MA degree has apparently muddled Omppu's brain because in the comments she asked tips for Bollywood movies to rend from her local Indian store. I thought that was too momentous to be buried in the comment section so I decided to make a post about it. Im thinking Tarja can either comment or do the same in her LJ where there are lots more fans of hindi cinema to give additional suggestions.

First suggestion: work from the newer towards older films. The New superhits have better production values and are aimed at more international (not necessarily western, but more international) audiences which makes them easier to get into. When you have some grounding in the mannerisms of hindi cinema the older films will "open up" better. And by older I mean the Bollywood from 1960s to circa 1995. 1950s was the first golden age of Bollywood and something of a special case.

For a better take on popular movies, the best link is to Bollywhat's Rental Guide which has three different "top" lists to help to choose. Zulm is a DVD-forum for Bollyfilms, Filmfare awards are the Oscars of India, and Box office is petty self-explanatory. (Baadshaah, on the other hand might be less so, it means King.)

My favourites are not very original, and as I have been watching a film here, film there I have terrible shameful gaps in my filmography. But here goes, Sari's top ten at this moment:

1. Main Hoon Na: Shahrukh is Major Sharma who is sent back to college to protect the daughter of a general threatened by terrorist group determined to stop the exchange of prisoners between India and Pakistan. Real Masala film with over-the-top comedy, Romance, family drama, action and violence. See Shahrukh avoid spit bullet-time.

2. Dil Chahta Hai: this is more sedate look of three friends and their relationships. It is if not realistic, more real than most of the box-office fantasies. Aamir Khan, the artsy one of the reigning trio of Khans is the lead, but I think the movie is stolen by Akshaye Khanna and Dimple Kapadia who are having a bittersweet may-december romance.

3. Sholay: Sholay is the biggest grossing movie ever in India (adjusted for inflation), a classic, the revenge drama of all time. Bollywood icon bar none Amitabh Bachan plays one of two small-time crooks hired to bring in a notorious outlaw.

4. China Gate: there might be better variations on the theme of defending village from outlaws plot, but I am really partial to this one. It is a pretty straight take from Seven Samurais, and what makes it great is to see so many of the generation usually playing Bride's dad modern films taking the center stage. The coolest part is played by Nasureddin Shah, known in the west mainly as captain Nemo from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and bride's dad in Monsoon Wedding.

5 Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: Karan Johar's first movie has Shahrukh as a widowed father whose daughter plots to get him together with his best friend from college, Kajol. Bollywood romances are usualy triangel dramas: two girls and a guy or two guys and a girl. Karan has the first triangle in the first half of the movie and the second in the second half optimising the tension.

6 Kal Ho Naa Ho: This time Karan is producing but the end result is pretty much same. Awfully pretty family drama. Shahrukh moves in an Indian neighbourhood in Brooklyn and transforms the drab life of Preity Zinta. Kickass bhangra version of Pretty Woman with a rap in b-section. The mind boggles.

7 Dil Se: Mani Ratnam's movies are usually a bit off-center of Bollywood. Dil Se is uneaven, but interesting. Shahrukh plays a radiojournalist travelling somewhere where separationists are blowing up things to interview people about the meaning of India. Of course, he meets a mysterious girl and gets mixed up in all sorts of things. Weird but really great musical numbers, espcially Chayya, Chayya which is performed on the top of a train.

8 Mujse Dosti Karoge: Here I am pretty alone, most people see this as very run-of-the-mill triangle romance. And it is, it is, I can't deny it. But I love it. Rani loves Hritrik, and writes him letters as Kareena Hritrik falls for Kareena But just when he has gotten engaged to Kareena Hritrik realises it is Rani who has written the letters and is the one he loves. What to do?

9 Hey Ram: Partition dramas (movies about the split to India and Pakistan and the surrounding tensions) are one of the main genres of hindi dramas and I thought this was genuinely well made and thoughtful take on the subject. Kamal Hassan is great in the lead, and Sharukh gets to actually play a muslim character in his cameo.

10 Devdas: Sanjay Leela Bansali's movies are the most gorgeous things in the world. The colours are rich, the setting of the scenes are like paintings, but the dialogue is stilted and Devdas especially requires some familiarity both with Indian mythology, especially Ramayana and filmi conventions to make sense. On the plus side it has Madhuri Dixit in one of her best roles as Chandramukhi, and great musical scenes.

Comments

[Tarja]

Ok, my list is now up on my LJ. There is some repetition to Sari's list, but I also tried to have some variety in my choices including some older and more artsy stuff.

[Omppu]

Hello and thanks a LOT for both lists! I printed them and will be going to the Indian food store to ask for the movies on the lists. Surely they must have at least some of them, for most of them were rather new.

[Manu]

Lagaan was really nice! Thanks for lending it to me. Mitwa was my favorite piece of music and of course there was a lot of cricket at the end. In the case you have been wondering why the bearded guy is called out, he had his leg before wicket (LBW for short.) And 'over' in cricket is a series of six bowls, so that is why the umpires say 'over' once in awhile. I'm of course interested in watching more Bollywood movies in the future, though at some point I may begin to feel they are telling the same love stories all over again.

[Manu]

Bollywood's candidate for this year's Oscar nomination is a film called Paheli (a Hindi word meaning puzzle) http://www.pahelithefilm.com/
However, the early favorite is a South African film Tsotsi, which is about gang violence. It won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival.

[Sari]

Ah, Paheli. I have been really waiting for that. Shahrukh, Rani, Amitabh, Anupam Kher - all the usual suspects. Also Juhi Chawla who is in too few movies nowdays. And it is a genre film too: Fantasy. I think this will go into to buy category.

But then again, I haven't seen Swades or Yuva or... Oh well, at least I have Veer Zaara and few others for a weekend binge :-)

[Tarja]

Sari, I saved my Bolly collection from packing until you've gone through it and picked all the ones you want to borrow... Yes, I know I'm evil ;-).

[Manu]

As I was searching for Bollywood webpages I inevitably discovered those wallpapers they have of Indian actresses. Somehow going through them felt less superficial and more enlightening than if they pictures of, say, Hollywood actresses. So many stars I hadn't heard of before. Without seeing any of their performances my top 3 is:
1. Mallika Sherawat
2. Priyanka Chopra
3. Bipasha Basu
I just hope they can act :)

How about the male talent, Sari and Tarja? So far you have only ranked the movies, what about the actors?

[Manu]

I just wrote the script for a Bollywood remake of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I mean don't they write scripts there overnight. Here's the cast:

The good = The one and only Aishwarya "No kisses, please" Rai
The bad = Mallika "Kis Kis Ki Kismat" Sherawat, who recorded a career high of 17 kisses in a film called Khwahish and added to her naughty image by REFUSING to pose for Playboy
The ugly = The Bombay Censor Board, who in fear of foreign influences always cut French kisses and other interesting scenes from the movies.

Here's the opening musical number:
Sherawat: I kiss
Rai: I blush
Sherawat: I kiss
The Board: You wish

[Omppu]

Perjantaina näin Tampereen Vanhalla kirjastotalolla pidetyssä Intia-illassa bollywood-elokuvan (vain pitäisikö sanoa vakavan draamaelokuvan) The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005), joka kertoi Intian ensimmäisen itsenäisyystaistelun 1857 alkuunsaattaneesta miehestä. Aika osoittautui rajalliseksi koska tilasta piti poistua kahdeksalta, joten harvat laulu- ja tanssikohtaukset hypättiin ylitse vaikka leffan kokonaiskesto oli vain 2,5 tuntia. Se oli harmittavaa. Leffa oli mielestäni hyvä; vaikka Itä-Intian kauppakomppanian ja ylipäänsä valkoisten brittien hallinnon epäoikeudenmukaisuus tuli selkeästi esille, kritisoitiin myös intialaisia perinteitä kuten leskien polttamista, orjakaupan sallimista ja kastilaitosta sekä brittihallinnon mahdollistanutta sisäistä hajaanusta. Kuinka moni suomalainen itsenäistymisestä tai talvisodasta kertovasta elokuvasta nousee ylös "hyvät me, pahat ne" -paatoksesta?

Tämä leffa ei ollut Sarilta ja Tarjalta kesäkuussa saamallani suosituslistalla, mutta ajattelin mainita siitä täällä silti. Projekti etenee.

[jukkahoo]

Ah, tarkoitatko viimeistä mughal-hallitsijaa Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Mohammed Bahadur Shah Zafaria? Ei aivan niitä pätevimpiä jannuja kapinoimaan tahi hallinnoimaan yleensä mitään. Runoilija enemmänkin.

Ei kun siis tietenkin (kuten kirjoitatkin, d'oh!) Mangal Pandey! Kiehtova tapaus, jossa lienee ollut syytä melko lailla jokaisessa. Rani Mukherjee! Ilmeisesti kyseessä on kuitenkin viime aikojen isoimpia ja eeppisimpiä bollywood-tuotoksia? Oliko elokuvan päähenkilö sitten marttyyri vai juoppo? Vaiko kuten sopii olettaa, siltä väliltä?

Koko Sepoy-kapinasta riittäisi varmasti mielenkiintoista matskua isommankin budjetin leffaan (vaikka tätä en olekaan nähnyt, ei että yleensäkään näitä bolliksia tulee tuijoteltua, mutta aina välillä sentään), ehkä ihan jopa (sanotaanko) brittiläis-intialaisena yhteistyönä? Reipasta menoa!

[Omppu]

Ei ollut juoppo, marttyyri ehkä (tai joo, olihan se). Tämä oli kai aika ison budjetin leffa, imbdistä luin että tätä tehtiin neljä vuotta mm. siksi, että päähenkilön piti kasvattaa tukkaa ja viiksiä (eli ne komeat mursuviikset olivat sitten ihan aidot...). Rani Mukherjee oli käsittääkseni se orjatar joka torilla myytiin ilotaloon ja jonka pelastamisesta valkoisten asiakkaiden käsistä kirposi loppuun jotain romantiikan tapaista - mutta se oli niitä mitä hypättiin ajanpuutteen vuoksi yli (ihan tyhmää, halusin nähdä ne musikaalikohtauksetkin) kun ilmeisesti oli tärkeämpää katsoa historiallista draamaa. Tai jotain.

Tässä leffassa itse sepoy-kapina tapahtui siinä loppuselitysten aikana. Itse elokuva kuvasi tapahtumia, jotka johtivat siihen. Paljon ihmissuhdejuttuja lienee toki dramatisoitu mutta ilmeisesti historiallisten tapahtumien suhteen leffa oli tarkka.

[Sari]

Oho, siellähän ollaan ajoissa, eikös Mangal Panday tullut ulos vasta kesällä?

Ranihan on nyt joka toisessa ellei lähes jokaisessa A-luokan leffassa tätänykyä kun Aishista on tullut liian kansainvälinen tähti tehdäkseen enää kuutta hindileffaa vuodessa. Mangal Pandey on kuuluisa siitä että se oli Aamir Khanin paluu valkokankaalle Lagaanin jälkeen ja että se on ollut jos nyt ei floppi niin ei kyllä se superhittikään jota siitä odotettiin noilla tekijöillä. ja hih, Aamir, intialaisen elokuvan metodinäyttelijä käyttää neljä vuotta tukan kasvattamiseen...

Ja mikä idea on katsoa Bollyleffaa ja leikata siitä laulut ja tanssit? Varsinkin kun tässä on vielä A.R. Rahmanin musiikki.

[Omppu]

No katsos kun kyseessä oli Tamyn kehitysapuporukan järjestämä Intia-ilta Vanhalla kirjastotalolla ja aikaa oli varattu kello 17-20, ja he esittelivät alussa dioja Rajashtanista ja kertoivat Tamyn avustamasta projektista siellä. Vasta ennen kuutta alettiin virittää leffaa esityskuntoon, ja sitten piti hyppiä pari "turhempaa" kohtausta yli koska loppua ei voinut jättää pois. DVD-laite myöskin jämähti ja jonkin aikaa katselimme leffaa kuva kuvalta, jonka jälkeen hyppäsimme yli pari tavallistakin kohtausta. Leffan nähnyt henkilö selosti kyllä, mitä niissä tapahtui (en muun muassa nähnyt Heera-orjattaren pelastamista valkoisten asiakkaiden käsistä). Tilasta piti poistua kahdeksalta, oletan että vahtimestarin työaika loppui tai jotain.

Tilaisuuden pääpaino ei siis ollut leffaharrastuksella (syy, jonka vuoksi minä sinne menin) vaan Intialla ja kehitysavulla. Tarjosivat kyllä aivan maittavaa riisimössöä ja linssimuhennosta.

[Kittu Mama Solraan]

Kamal is a true legend of Indian cinema. Take a look at my dedicated post towards this legend : http://kittu-mama-solraan.blogspot.com/2006/09/kamal-legend.html