Bollywood best!

In India, people take movies very seriously. A rainy afternoon in Varanasi, a group of us piled into several tuk-tuks and went to the local multiplex. Jacqueline was already at the box office when I caught up with her, and a young Indian man was pleading with her not to see Om Shanti Om. "No, no, don’t do it-! It’s boring-! You have to see Aaja Nachle instead-! It will blow your mind-! Please!! It is amazing, it’s the best movie I’ve ever seen-!"

We saw Om Shanti Om anyways, as planned. It’s a brilliantly sentimental, color-saturated musical comedy/romance/ghost story/Bollywood satire/revenge tale that involves karma and reincarnation as plot points, and it’s one of the most popular Bollywood films to come out in decades. It’s entirely in Hindi (except for a few smatterings of English) and though there were no subtitles, it didn’t really matter. We were hooked.



Life in India is difficult, of course, and Bollywood films are pure escapism: beautiful musical numbers, elaborately choreographed dance sequences, over-the-top acting, incredible cinematography and set design. Imagine Pedro Almodovar, Quentin Tarantino & Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborating together on an MGM musical. It’s easy to see how cinema is so interwoven into life here. Dance moves are emulated; movie dialogue and song lyrics are taken to heart and often find their way into everyday conversation.





We ended up seeing Aaja Nachle too, a week later when we were in Jaipur. A paper-thin plot, but it was great anyways: after many years, the protagonist (a successful NYC dance instructor) returns to her small Indian hometown to save her old dance school from the bulldozers. We went to the 7pm showing at the giant mid-century theater that is a bit of a Jaipur landmark. The venue was a crucial part of the interactive experience: the crowd whistled and clapped at the previews; howled and cheered at the heroine; jeered and hissed at the bad guys; clapped and sang along with the musical numbers. As the credits rolled, people spontaneously clapped, waved and danced in the aisles. As the lights started coming up, a large group of laughing, dancing teens were amazed to see the group of white people a few rows behind them. They wanted to know how we liked the movie, and all cheered "Bollywood best!!! Bollywood best!!" when we gave them the thumbs-up.