Bollywood Nights

(Alice) Our tour facilitator, Sanjay, escorted us to a large movie palace called the Raj Mandir for a showing of the Bollywood blockbuster “Blue”. The theatre has very luxe lighting and décor, and moviegoers hung around the vast lobby until just before the show, chatting with friends and snapping cell phone portraits in front of elaborate floral displays. Family groups were abundant.

Sanjay hooked us up with the best “Diamond” seats in the house, in a center balcony which gave the full effect of the wave-like lighting and swirled ceiling relief work framing a very large screen. The “Ruby” and “Emerald” seating areas cost about $2 US for a ticket, and our top-of-the-line seating was about $4. A cute square box of fresh popcorn was 50 cents. The large auditorium was at near capacity, with a palpably festive atmosphere. Indians rarely miss a chance to chat up strange foreigners and each other.

The show began with coming attractions, all emphasizing the Bollywood penchant for action, comedy, quick cuts and hot-looking young actors. The main attraction starred a number of well-known players, including a former Miss India as the love interest of the toughest guy. An inexplicable cameo appearance by Kylie Minogue in one of the dance numbers emphasized the global aspiratons of Indian film.

“Blue” was both formulaic and yet unusual for Bollywood, in that much of the action footage was shot underwater, first with the macho heroes beating up a great white shark, and later inflicting mayhem on the human bad guys. There were land-based chase scenes on Ducati motorcycles, and of course lots of music and dance and gyrating women in skimpy clothes. The film was shot mainly in the Bahamas and Thailand, and as is the case in the US, the main characters were all fabulously rich and cool and beautiful. And the Bahamas now have a railroad line surrounded with non-Bahamas vegetation, just because it was oh so excellent for a motorcycle chase scene to end with our hero landing his Ducati on top of a moving train.

While plot development is secondary to evoking exhilarating music-video emotion, “Blue” had a convoluted story for which Sanjay’s explanations were quite helpful. It was about retrieving long-lost treasure in a shipwreck, and solving a few romantic and money issues along the way. It was interesting that all the characters spoke random lines in English before switching back to Hindi. Sanjay says this was not the case ten years ago, but has been typical in the last few years as a ploy for wider global distribution of Bollywood product. And yes, it would have been possible to enjoy the film and follow the “plot” without additional translated context.

Another aspect of Indian films is, while they have become quite blatantly sexy in recent years, onscreen kisses or nudity are still not allowed. And yet Bollywood directors have become extraordinarily skilled in concocting highly erotic sequences with wet clothes, writhing postures and selective editing that are almost more highly sexual by virtue of the creativity required to just barely circumvent what is forbidden.

With all the emotion expended on exploding cars and dance-floor throwdowns, an intermission is required. More time to chat up your neighbors, order samosas at the refreshment stand or take pictures of American visitors.

Back when I taught cultural anthropology to undergrads, some were amazed to hear that India has by far the world’s largest film industry. Thousands of films a year are cranked out for distribution; many are low-budget and cranked out in a few weeks, but they have a huge and enthusiastic audience. Bollywood has become more sophisticated in recent years, and with the global success of “Slumdog Millionaire”, there is greater general awareness that India is the world’s biggest producer of mass fantasy. Bollywood fashion and music have become more international. Soundtracks have gone from Indian pop to bhangra to full-on hiphop. And yet there is a distinct escapist style of hyper-fantasy and exhuberance that remains pure Bollywood.