BOMBAY TO TEXAS: REDISCOVERING
BOLLYWOOD
©
bollywhat.com 2005
I
was born and brought up in Bombay, India. I did my schooling
and graduation there. Bombay is a place where you can run into
actors and actresses anywhere - in restaurants, hotels, even
while shopping. Sometimes while walking or driving home from
school or college I would see a shooting taking place and just
stop and watch it. My college (Sophia College) is a former palace
and has been used in many movies. It was used in Kabhi Khushi
Kabhi Gham (K3G) as the young Rohan's school. So Bollywood was
a part of life for me, one I appreciated and enjoyed but took
for granted. Though I had my schoolgirl crushes on the stars,
I was more interested in Hollywood.
After
marriage, I migrated to the US. I was fascinated by the TV shows,
serials and movies here. I couldn't get enough of them. They
were all I watched. Besides, the Bollywood movies available
were on VCR tapes (DVDs hadn't made their appearance yet), and
the quality of the tapes was terrible. So I was happy, settling
down in a new place and discovering all the wonders of TV land.
Until one day I rented a Hindi movie. I watched it and when
it concluded, I cried for hours. It was then I realized that
I had been subconsciously avoiding Hindi films. Seeing the familiar
people, the landscape, the stars, the streets of Bombay made
me so homesick that I felt ill. That was the end of Bollywood
for a while again. When I visited India I saw movies with my
family, but once back in the US, it was as if Bollywood didn
t exist.
A
few years passed. I had babies to take care of, and didn't watch
many movies at all. I remember in 1995 when I went home, my
mom talked about this new actor . She said his name was Shahrukh
Khan. According to her, he wasn't good looking, but was supposedly
a really good actor (she hadn't seen any of his films either).
I said yeah, yeah and went on diapering my son. I had lost touch
with BW and the new stars didn't interest me much. Six years
passed.
In
2001, some friends of mine were going to watch K3G and invited
me and my husband. We decided to join them, but only because
we hadn't met those friends in a while. I'll never forget what
I felt when I saw it. My first impression was how much BW had
changed for the better. The quality of direction and the story
impressed me. I saw this guy, Rahul and remembered my mom mentioning
the name of that actor. I liked him very much. I found his acting
very natural and pleasing. I liked Rani but didn't like Kajol
so much till the end of the film, when I loved her. I thought
to myself, hmm, I should watch more of this Shahrukh Khan. So
I googled him and found the names of a few more of his movies.
I emailed my brother and asked for recommendations. This way
I got hold of KKHH and DDLJ. Two things happened to me. I saw
DDLJ first and fell totally, completely, irrevocably, unconditionally
in love with SRK and, to a lesser degree, with Kajol. Then I
watched KKHH and hated Rani with a passion. I never wanted to
see any of her movies, ever. How dare she take Rahul away from
Anjali and cause her such agony? Most of all I never wanted
to see SRK and Rani together in anything. I saw K3G again and
gloated when Rani struck out. But more than anything I wanted
to see SRK.
Now
I'm back with BW, and I do occasionally watch a few non-SRK
films. The SRK films, I try to make the first day, first show.
But my chief discovery was that I was very proud of BW. That's
something I had never felt before. I no longer felt a little
ashamed at the song-and-dance routines, popularly known as "running
around trees." And I loved that so many people from so
many different countries and cultures found something to admire
in BW movies and Indian culture. Before, I loved hearing the
songs day in and day out, now I discovered a passion for the
lyrics. Translating them for others to enjoy gives me more joy
- the joy fans get from reading them. As for SRK? Well, if I
start about him I won't stop. :)
-
Palacerani
