Our library currently has a display of Bollywood Indian films. I have no idea of the plots but the DVD covers are certainly colorful.
Any I should check on? Or see if they have? I don’t need anything deep, just something entertaining.
Hm, I liked Jai Santoshi Maa. Sort of a mildly depressing subject - wife is abused by the family she married into, 3 godesses argue about her and see how much abuse they can heap on her, of course everything works out in the end - but I like the music.
Hollywood, Bollywood is good, light and fluffy with a good soundtrack.
Why not just randomly pick? If nothing else, you can have some interesting music to do housework to.
I love Bollywood movies, but I’ve learned to stay away from the comedies. There is a tendency towards very broad, 1950s style comedy - think Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Villains will have waxed mustaches to twirl, etc.
Ah to me that is part of the charm. But then again I love 30s, 40s and 50s movies.
I saw Guzaarish a few months ago, it was good. It’s also half in English so if you’re not crazy about subtitles, you only have to read them about half the time. From what I read, wherever the movie took place, it’s common to switch back and forth between English and Hindi on the fly like they did in the movie, they weren’t just doing it for the viewer.
I’ve found that with Bollywood, you don’t need to read the subtitles…
I don’t know a single word of the language, but I can still understand the whole plot.
There are clichee rich guys, poor guys, good guys, bad guys, jealous boyfriends, and lavish weddings everywhere.
Oh, and lots of dancing women. But no kissing.
(I endured a couple months where my living arrangements with an Indian meant that I got stuck watching a lot of Bollywood stuff on TV. )
I love Salaam-E-Ishq (Love’s Sweet Salute) - one of my favorites, and one of the few that my SO will watch. Om Shanti Om is an affectionate sendup of bollywood. There’s also Jab We Met (When We Met), which is an adorably sweet romance with great songs. And Veer Zaara which is heart-rending and bittersweet.
Bollywood movies are (mostly) great family flicks - there’s no sex, no kissing, and all the violence is pretty fake. Plus lots of bright colors and dancing and singing. Be aware they are 3 hours, though that is less shocking these days. Lots of long movies come out now - when I was growing up everyone was aghast at a movie that was over 90 minutes long.
If you want something entertaining and funny, check out Chak De!, about a woman’s field hockey team. Yes, there is the requisite inexplicable dance number that comes out of nowhere but, from what I recall, only one, thank goodness. The story is quite good, if predictable, in the sense that you can see just about everything coming a mile away, but there are some laughs and a little tension along the way. I recommend it.
Chak De! was awesome. I really enjoyed it, and I generally don’t watch sports teams.
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll check out the titles mentioned here. I don’t remember titles for sure, but Om Shanti Om sounds familiar.
lavish weddings everywhere I love lavish weddings, no matter the culture.
If you’re a fan of sci fi and they happen to have Robot (aka Endhiran)- I’d suggest checking it out -reasonably big budget SFX (LOTS of CGI) a story you can follow even without subtitles (I saw it at a film festival & they forgot to turn them on) and a wonderful villain!
I wanted to see it, but for some reason, the theater here that was showing it had an extra-high ticket price of $16 for it! I don’t think we should encourage that sort of behavior.
You can’t go wrong with Om Shanti Om. My favorite Shah Rukh Khan movie.
The only problem with Om Shanti Om is it is a send up, a parody, so if you’re not that familiar with Bollywood you may be confused. But it’s hard to tell.
Also if you love lavish weddings I ALWAYS recommend Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (Who am I to you?) - it’s an older movie, but is the bestest wedding movie EVER. Long story short, a man and a woman get an arranged marriage and fall in love in the process of the engagement, during all of the wedding (and baby!) proceedings, the bride’s sister and the groom’s brother fall in love. Utterly sweet.
I also like Dil Chahta Hai - it’s a coming-of-age movie about three young men.
I’ll have to look through my collection at home, but that should gt you started.
I only like the ones that are trying not to be so over the top.
Here are ones I’ve liked-
Three Idiots (though it goes total Bollywood at some point)
Kahaani (I like anything Vidya Balan does usually)
The Dirty Picture (biopic)
Talaash (supernatural thriller)
A Wednesday (political thriller)
Special 26 (caper film)
Gangs of Wasseypur
Ones that made me go WTF…Dabaang (which I call The Bang). I’m so confused, is Dabaang so insane that it goes all the way right back to genius in a way I don’t understand or is just super super bad? And is Makhan (which translates literally to Butters) a real Indian name people actually go by? Because if so, I want to name my next cat Makhan.
Lagaan is one of my favorite movies, period. (Yes, it is a 4 hour movie about cricket. Don’t worry, you’ll like it.)
I checked the library catalog and I will have to go in to double check, as spelling of the titles may be confusing things.
But they do have Chak de! and Om Shanti Om.
If I can’t find some of the others I do know someone else to ask about them. There’s a young man, a high school student, in my karate class, who is Indian. His mother brings him to class as he’s just short of being able to drive himself. She has answered some questions on Indian cooking for me, and may be able to tell me where to find some of the other titles mentioned here.
I don’t mind the over the top ones. I put up with things in Bollywood flicks I would never put up with in American. For one thing, I watch Indian romantic movies. I can;t stand American romcoms. I’m sure it’s because the American ones feel a lot more shallow to me, jumping into bed on the least provocation! 
But to your comment, yes, Makhan is an affectionate nickname for Indians. It’s no different than “honey” here, really.
Two reasons: First butter in India is nothing like butter here. It’s a little sweet, it’s very rich, and it’s heavenly. I miss it sometimes. I could make it, but it’s not the same.
Secondly, our Lord Krishna was a butter thief as a child, so it’s sort of an affectionate call back to him.
Give Veer and Zara a shot. It’s a Bollywood version of Rome and Juliet. Great music. Love story.
I also recommend Baghban. It’s about children (grown ass children) and how they are supposed to treat and respect their parents. Great lecture.
Another one chiming in to recommend Om Shanti Om. It was my first introduction to Bollywood, and I think it was a really good first experience: the songs are ridiculously catchy and delightfully over-the-top, and Shahrukh Khan has a great “loveable goofball” quality. (As Anaamika said, it also is a shoutout to the entire genre and has a lot of cameos from famous actors and personalities, most of which go completely over my head but I can appreciate the spirit of them all the same.)
(For those two videos, turn on (cc) to get the subtitles.)