Slipping An Indianism In Someones Drink

Hola,
Well yesterday was an interesting experience. for the first time in PST (program specific training) we had a group session and it turned from a fun-intended session into what can only be described as animal-kingdom overload.

anyways, the point of this blog is to explain things that should never be done lol. ill take two examples and we'll see what happens at the end. The topic under discussion is movies ... so lets choose two movies. One from the English genre and one from the Hindi genre. Now to be totally fair in this aspect i have chosen two movies that are considered classics in the two cinemas == The Godfather (Francis Ford Copolla) and Sholay (Ramesh Sippy). But before i go ahead id like to tell you'll why i chose these two movies and what I am going to do with them.

Today in class someone said that they would have liked to have Shah Rukh Kahn (forgive the spelling i dont care much for this clown) and Aishwarya Rai in Jame's Camerons "Titanic" so this got me a bit disturbed for the mere fact that Titanic is long to begin with and adding these two to the movies makes it even more longer and unbearable. However, this got me thinking on how to rectify this problem and make sure the concerned parties understand the dire ramifications it would have on each industry.

The Godfather
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When Mario Puzzi wrote this book he was under the influence of italian immigrants to the US and how they faced a tough time before the instillment of the mob and organized crime popularly know as Il Mafioso(The Mafia). Now the roles in this movie are so intricate and need to be played with sheer splendour that putting a man like Marlon Brando or Al Pacino in there makes total sense. The acting is superb, moreover the actors have Italian heritage (well not all of them but that discussion is not for now) and the ambience of the movie isnt ruined by dancing, song singing and other related Bollywood drama. The movie sells for what its worth: good acting, great storyline, impecable family values and its an italian mobster movie.

Sholay
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Enter Bollywood and the concept of friendship. Its amazing how many people in India can recite the dialogues and sing the songs from this movie. it truly is a great movie that describes how friends can overcome any adversity to finally win in the end. Amitabh Bachan and Darmendra do a splendid job in both running around trees and acting. Moreover, they are able to get away with silly action sequences and other such thrilling and nail biting instances. The movie leaves you feeling all happy inside and gives you that need to hug your friend and say 'Ive got the best mate in the world lets go have a beer on me'.

Hybrid Time
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Now what would happen if for some reason we had the movies main actors switch the movies they were in. Can you imagine the look on Copolla's face if he ever directed Amitabh? or the amount of seriousness that would have destroyed Sholay if Pacino got angry in a scene? i sure can. so instead of saying anymore to shock the fans of either movie im only going to say this.

DONT SUPERIMPOSE INDIAN ACTORS ON HOLLYWOOD MOVIES AND VICE VERSA. AND IF YOU WATCH A MOVIE MADE IN INDIA THAT IS A HOLLYWOOD RIP-OFF AND VICE VERSA DONT GIVE IT PRAISE BECAUSE IT'S NOT THE MORALLY CORRECT THING TO DO.


When Sarkar came out i actually took the time to watch it and realized that they can never capture that aspect of the Godfather and why? well the more important question is why not? we have the same family values, we share a rich culture and yet we havent made anything as solid and so concrete to show the rest of the world and say here is our underworld and how it operates is how a man should take care of his family and make sure no one fucks with him.

When that question is answered and fully resolved I believe that Indian Cinema will no longer be called Bollywood and we will have people that go to watch a movie in theatres because they want to see the acting and not to see silly item numbers.

Cheers and Best Wishes
MEL