Booray for Bollywood

Amitabh Bachchan (the Big B), Abishek Bachchan and Ashwayra Rai ("Abiash" ... like "Brangelina" - all related), Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor (not related), Shah Ruh Khan (King Khan), Salman Khan, Aamir Khan (none are related), John Abraham (fan yourself) ... I could go on. Who are these people??? I had no idea before we moved here. This list friends, is Bollywood royalty. You can sleep better now that you have this important piece of cultural information.

Bollywood cinema - what it was: very melodramatic, with cast of thousands dance numbers, sari clad women and bad acting. What it is: somewhat melodramatic cinema, often but not always with cast of thousands dance numbers, seldomly sari clad women anymore and better acting.

I love and miss a big screen. I love sitting down with popcorn in hand, watching the previews and feature with surround sound. While I enjoy the occasional arthouse flick - I usually gravitate towards more escapist fare. There is enough drama, sex and violence in real life - I don't want to see it on the big screen. Which brings us to Bollywood films in Kathmandu.

There are several movie theaters here actually - but only two that resemble what you and I might be used to. They are both owned by the same entertainment group, have a website and are generally pretty darn hip. I have only seen ONE western movie in a movie theater during our near two years here (Bourne Ultimatum - kinetic, but fun). The Kumari Theater and Jai Nepal Theater generally show the latest and greatest Bollywood films. These films come out with astounding rapidity. They show for a week or two and then they are gone. If they have subtitles I have been known to drag my husband, my film buff brother when he visited, and friends to Bollywood movies.

Top Five Characteristics of a Bollywood Movie:

1.) It is very long with an intermission.

2.)There is often a wedding scene.

3.) There will be a rain scene - often with people dancing in it. This makes we foreigners laugh.

4.) The Dance Extravaganzas have little to do with the plot, often arrive in the middle of a dramatic moment and involve multiple costume changes.

5.) You will see the same actors over and over again. Bollywood is prolific and these folks seem to work a lot.

6.) Sorry, I had to add one more. They have something they call an "item number" which is basically some sorry excuse for a scantily clad gal to do a solo dance that, again, has very little to do with the plot. That said, these flicks are generally pretty chaste.

I attribute the fact that I can sit through these (and kinda like'em - shhhhh) to my early adolescence when I watched terrible movie musicals like Grease and Footloose a dozen times each - in the movie theater. I am shameless.

Should you dare to rent a few from Netflix, here is a list.

1) Dhoom 2: impossibly beautiful people, good fx, sort of 007 meets Inspector Cleuseau (sp?).

2) Salaam e Ishq - several love stories interwoven - a lot of song and dance.

3) Eklavya (haven't seen this yet but it was the one India nominated to the Academy this year)

4) Tara Zameen Par - An art teacher "reaches" a little boy others have given up on.

5) Jodhaa Akhbar - Period piece. Indians will argue it isn't historically accurate. Fabulous costumes. Same lead duo as Dhoom 2.

6) Jab We Met - Serious fluff - very popular actors.

7) Guru - Village boy makes good, gets accused of corruption, prevails. Saw this without subtitles by accident, so I think that is what it is about:).

On a final note, Mira Nair is an Indian Director whose films are actually not so Bollywoodish, they generally are for western distribution. The Namesake was lovely (and a good adaptation of the book) and Monsoon Wedding is good as well.

Happy viewing - let me know how it goes.

Cheers, Laurel