I keep meeting non-Indians who are fairly interested in Hindi films. Two years ago I was already pleasantly surprised when I watched Lagaan at an outdoors screening in Montreal. We were surrounded by Quebecers, not just the regular desi bunch. They stayed till the end and actually enjoyed it. I put that down to empathy based on a theme common to the audience and the film: evil British colonisers!
The other day I met this French guy who bought the DVD of Devdas after he saw it; he hopes Aishwarya Rai is going to be his wife. Another French guy loved it too, and listens to the songs on his own all the time. When I went with my Quebecer friend to watch it the first time, I was worried she would find it overdramatic, but she was crying halfway through it and was totally into it. Recently I showed Main Hoon Na to a German friend of mine and she found it fun!
Beyond the more international releases mentioned above, it's so quirky to realise that some Russians remember Disco Dancer! Many know Raj Kapoor, of course. Two Romanian friends can't stop laughing at Hindi cinema though, and really believe it's just about dancing around trees.
My take on it is, if this is cultural globalisation, I'm all for it. We give some, we take some. Some recent films to start with: Yuva, Dil Se, Dil Chahta Hai, Virasat and for romantic hearts... Saathiya and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and, unavoidably, the classics by Raj Kapoor and Satyajit Ray...Oh, and Sholay!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment