Bollywood thread - favorite films, stars, directors, music directors; discuss new releases

[jfung79]

I think there should be a natural overlap between soap fans and Bollywood. Although Bollywood is a diverse film industry with lots of movies that don't fit the stereotype -- there are actually a lot of thrillers and violent/action movies -- nevertheless a number of Bollywood films feature the soap staples of family, romance, soapy melodrama/twists, emotions galore, multigenerational stories, community, and comedy.

I apologize if there is a thread for this already, but I couldn't find one.

So I'm wondering, who else here is a Bollywood fan? Who/what are your favorites? What have you seen recently?

I am a big fan of director Karan Johar, especially "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham." I think that movie about relationships between family members, with great proudction values, great songs, and emotional highs and lows, would be a good movie as an intro movie for any soap fans out there who have not watched many Bollywood movies before.

Others of my favorite movies that are less soapy include the meaningful "Lage Raho Munnabhai" (kind of about nonivolence) and "New York" (about the domestic US reaction to 9/11). Many many more too -- I'm a huge Bollywood fan.

My favorite actors include Emraan Hashmi, Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, and Akshay Kumar.

I'm thinking we can discuss new releases in this thread too ... I saw "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" recently. It was pretty good. I felt like I was living life in slow motion after I watched the movie because of how much it affected me. Haha, hard to describe what I mean by that. It was legendary director Yash Chopra's last movie before he died, and released soon after he died. I like that even though it had many other elements, Chopra saw it as a love story, as described in the narration at the end.

I am also hoping we can introduce people to the wonderful world of Bollywood through this thread.

[London]

Ooooooooooooo I like this!

Stars: Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu, Sameera Reddy, John Abraham

Movies: Oh man I'd have to find them but off the top of my head i LOVED Aish in "I Have Found It."

[jfung79]

I love "I have Found It" too! It's a Tamil movie. Thank you for reminding me of Tamil movies.

Other Tamil movies I like "Run" and "Dumm Dumm Dumm" starring Madhavan, but I haven't seen as many Tamil movies. I like the songs and the youthful acting from Madhavan in those days.

I like Shahrukh most of the time too (though he is getting too old for some of his roles). I also like Aishwarya. I think there are times when she can be an effective actress and she comes across to me far from the "ice queen" that some in the Indian film media portray her as. John Abraham was in "New York" and did a great job (although the other actor in that, Neil Nitin Mukesh, did even better). John Abraham is too muscular for me though.

I forgot to mention Katrina Kaif is another one of my favorite actresses. Since I don't know much Hindi, the criticism of how she has foreign-accented Hindi (since she didn't grow up in India) is less of a big deal for me. For a fun recent movie, I liked "Mere Brother Ki Dulhan" starring her and Imran Khan.

[frequentsoapfan]

I grew watching Bollywood movies and I've seen a few Indian soap operas. I don't think Bollywood movies are like soap operas. Most of those elements you listed as sosp opera elements are really elements of tragedies and melodramas first and foremost. I haven't watched a good movie this year yet. Though some of my faves in recent years include Dostana, New York, Fashion, Krrish, Race,and Dhoom 2.

[jfung79]

Interesting that you analyze it that way. You don't think soap operas are about relationships in a family, in a community, love, twists, and emotion? Also, soaps have a lot in common with melodrama. Bollywood is on the big screen and has a lot more big budgets, big scenes, big scenery, spectacle, and big emotion to splash around, but I still see overlap with soaps. Still, you've given me food for thought.

The lingering on a character's reaction is another element common to both Bollywood (before the last few years) and traditional soap camerawork.

The intermission in a Bollywood movie is also akin to the soap cliffhanger at the end of an episode. Bollywood movies being long also means that elements are often dragged out with fakeouts and miscommunications, like a soap does.

Glad we both like "New York." "Dostana," I liked, and appreciate the intent, but I felt like it was missing something. Haven't seen the other movies on your favorite list yet. I hated "Krrish" -- underdeveloped characters, dropped threads (what happened to the East Asian guy's little sister?), just an empty "superhero" movie. I generally am underwhelmed by Rakesh Roshan movies (they're either bad or too violent) and this was no exception.

I haven't seen anything so far this year, although people have said good things about 'Special 26."

You don't tend to have the soapier Bollywood movies in your list of favorites, but there are quite a few in my opinion.

Some soapy Bollywood movies that are among my favorites (not including my less soapy favorites in this list) include:

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

Kal Ho Naa Ho

Saathiya

Mohabbatein

Mughal-e-Azam

Kyun! Ho Gaya Na

Dosti (2005)

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan

Barsaat (2005)

Waqt (2005)

[frequentsoapfan]

Melodramas were around long before soap operas.Pretty sure that's where soaps got some of their elements from. I watch all my Bollywood movies on dvd so I can't even remember the last one I watched that included an intermission. I find Bollywood movies more comparable to plays.

[jfung79]

I edited my post after you posted to flesh it out some more. Aww, I think you're missing out a bit with not getting the experience of the anticipation during intermission. Even in the theater, sometimes they will speed through the intermission of the Bollywood movie in the US, but I like it when some theaters in the US do take the time to have the intermission during the Bollywood movie.

Soaps are comparable to plays too ... To me Bollywood has more in common with epics like the Lord of the Rings movies than plays though. Bollywood takes the subject matter of soap opera and gives it the epic treatment of Lord of the Rings. Bollywood is meant to be watched on the big screen in a way that soap and a play wouldn't be, and leaves a strong lingering impact (as Amitabh Bachchan once said, a smile on your face and a dried tear down your cheek).

Bollywood's use of songs is also very different from a stage or movie musical in the US, if that's what you meant by comparing Bollywood to plays. Bollywood songs are not confined claustrophobically to a setting and a set like songs in US musicals are. The songs are obviously not a commonality with soaps either though.

Edit to add:

More theme/elements common between Bollywood and soaps -- scheming vixens, patriarchs and matriarchs, mob involvement, medical emergencies/hospital scenes, amnesia, weddings, triangles, family disapproval of boyfriends/girlfriends, lots of characters being orphans or adopted, escapism, servant/butler side characters in mansions

And one more movie I want to add to my favorites list with soapy elements - "Dil Jo Bhi Kahey"

And I want to clarify when I used the word "epic" - Bollywood movies do feel epic, but they also have a lot of youthful energy, fun, and comedy. People won't know what I mean until they've watched a few!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I totally missed this thread.

I think Bollywood films do so many great things with a significantly lower budget than most big Hollywood films. The cinematography, editing, and post-production in Bollywood films often far surpasses that of any big budget Hollywood blockbuster I've seen. They're often very "visual" films, which is fine with me, as the writing is often not that spectacular, IMO.

I've seen many Bollywood films, typically when I'm in London (Bollywood films and Bollywood movie theaters are SO accessible there due to the large South Asian diaspora).

Even though I don't understand or speak Hindi or Urdu - or Hindustani as many refer to the language in most Bollywood films, I particularly have a great appreciation for the music - specifically Bollywood music from the 70's through the 90's. I got to see many 70's-90's films through an India family that were our next door neighbours when I was growing up, I remember them telling me how until last decade or so, it was so hard to find any of these films outside of India, they used to purchase really grainy/bad quality VHS tapes that ethnic India specialty stores sold and imported from India.

The commercial actress I remember being really impressed with was a woman by the name of Madhuri Dixit. Apparently, her peak years were in the late 80's and 90's. I've never seen a better female Bollywood dancer and someone who was so great at playing a complex, yet totally relatable heroine. Her rival, Sridevi, was a wonderful actress too. Kajol is also a stellar heroine-type actress.

In terms of acting ability, I think Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan are the best ones I've seen in Bollywood films over the past 10-15 years.

One person whose fame I will never understand is Katrina Kaif - what an awful actress who can't even speak Hindi fluently and her uncertainty with the language shows, IMO. She's very stiff to me. Also, I will never understand why Aishwarya emerged as some global face of Bollywood, other than for her looks, she's never been that skilled of an actress and many of her films weren't even that successful. I did like her in Devdas (though Sharukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit were the better actors in that clearly) and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam though, and both were apparently directed by the same director.

As for the men, I really find most of the leading men very generic, which is funny, as most of the Bollywood films are centered around the male characters. Amitabh Bachan is obviously a legend, but most of the time, I find myself only drawn to women in Bollywood films. I do think Salman Khan has a lot of charisma though, and Sharukh Khan though talented, is a bit over-hyped for me.

I know Bollywood is most known for their dance numbers, but I think a ballad is my favourite Bollywood song of all time. It's from a 1994 film called 1942 Love Story, the song is Ek Ladki Ko Dekha. The melody and vocal interpretation is just beautiful to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiv6CqNN1ak