osprey_archer | Bollywood!

Bollywood movies! I've become hooked these last few weeks. I love them: I love the characters and the musical numbers and the explosive sense of fun and joyful lack of proportion and the fact that there are hundreds upon hundreds of them so I will never, never run out!

I am not so in love with the fact that the short ones are two and a half hours long, and the long ones - don't let's even talk about the long ones. But without the length they couldn't have the epic musical numbers and all the fun secondary characters, so I've made my peace with it.

Some reviews!

Dostana is so much fun. The story concerns Kunal and Sameer, who through peculiar plot contrivances end up posing as a gay couple in order to get rooms in the apartment of their dreams...only to realize that they'll be sharing it with the amazing and beautiful Neha, with whom they fall in love. Hilarity ensues! Accompanied by amazing song-and-dance numbers, fun plot twists, and some wince-worthy gay stereotypes which mar the movie's perfection.

There is really no better argument for seeing this movie than this song, which encapsulates everything wonderful about Dostana:

The chemistry between all three leads! The awesomeness of Neha! - "Why yes," her dancing says, "I am the hottest girl in the world."

Or this song!

Neha again: "Also I am amazingly competent at my job, and the sweetest and most genuine person too!" The two guys are delightful too, and each of their romances with Neha - beautiful. They work so well together; they are so proud of each other; they have so much fun together. Beautiful.

Dil Se is petrifying. The protagonist, Amar, is a creepy stalker dude, except the filmmakers haven't noticed and think he's a dashing romantic hero. Now, I suppose there can be a certain charm in persistence...but there's persistence, and then there's chasing across all India a girl you met for ten seconds in a train station.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

And then he realizes she's a terrorist and feels all betrayed. As if it was in any way her fault that he had become obsessed with her on such a slight acquaintance!

On the other hand, the song & dance number are amazing. If only Amar and Meghna's relationship was as affectionate and mutual in the story as in the songs, Dil Se might be a good movie.

Dil Bole Hadippa! another Bollywood girls' sports movie, like Chak De! India, except this time with cricket and cross-dressing! It's not quite as super as Chak De!, but it does have a nice romance between the heroine, Veera, and Rohan-her-coach. (Okay, when I put it that way it sounds questionable. But Rohan doesn't realize that Veera is also his player Veer when he's romancing her, so it isn't.)

Veera needs Rohan's wider experience to show her that she is provincial and conceited: she has what it takes to be the world-class batsman she believes she is, but she isn't quite there yet, and she won't be until she stops cutting her teammates in line and mocking them when they make mistakes. (Veera walks a fine line between exuberantly self-confident and obnoxiously conceited. She falls on the right side in the end, but it's touch-and-go for a while.) And Rohan needs Veera to show him how to cut loose, have fun, and get in touch with the Real India.

(Getting in touch with India seems to be a theme in a lot of Bollywood movies. Dil Se touches on it too.)

The other beautiful thing about their relationship is Rohan's absolute respect for Veera's skill as a sportsman. Veera is tripped by an opposing player during their final match (this is after Rohan has realized that Veera and Veer are the same person),and Rohan races to her to help. She's broken her arm, but insists that she can and must keep playing. And Rohan agrees: "You are a world-class batsman," he says. She's known it all along, but it's still wonderful to hear it.