Grab A Tree And DANCE!
But first, Bollywood 101:
For those of you that don’t know, one of the biggest rivals to Hollywood cinema in terms of ticket earnings (Aside from video games) is the amazingly voluminous film industry in Bombay, affectionately known as Bollywood. With Kajillions of viewers there and a guerilla style budget and production methodology that crank out films almost faster than you can blink, Bollywood cinema is to India what stage plays were to Elizabethan England. That is, the fastest, most accessible and most popular form of entertainment available to “the masses” and probably the single most powerful pop culture icon of the entire country. Modern Indian life is Bollywood and vice versa, the two are practically inseperable now. Characterized by the almost horrifyingly emotional nature of the Indian people, who are probably THE most emotional people on the face of the Earth, every Bollywood film is an excess in melodrama that most people outside the country would find unbelievable if not for the fact that it probably actually tones down just how insanely emotional it can really get in this country. Come on, did you really expect a people who created a pantheon of demons, and multi-armed deities to be cool and composed?
Bollywood is typified by music, (And in fact, they are often musicals, keeping the flame alive long before Moulin Rouge did, with its high budget tip of the hat to Bollywood right at the end of the picture) and certain quirky conventions, not the least of which (And my most favoritest from a sheer entertainment value perspective) is that people always somehow end up dancing around trees. I think Bollywood has singlehandedly made the humble tree the most valuable part of set design. No tree, no love…
The reason I am giving all this background is so that the more Western-centric viewers without the exposure to Bollywood films (Since Singapore has a Hindi channel, I’ve been browsing them on and off for the last few years) will be a little more at ease during today’s rant which is about
Monsoon Wedding
A fairly UN-typical Bollywood film and winner of its fair share of awards, this film concentrates on the family dynamics as a traditional, Indian arranged wedding takes place. There is music, yes. But not the musical, dialogue seguing into a chorus line of dancers and running around the tree style that is normal. There are complications yes, but none of the arbitrary conflicts enforced by demands of the plot to sustain viewer suspense. There is drama, yes, but then this is an Indian film and an Indian film without hysterics is like any film without actors, music, opening/closing credits or film in the camera.
Working with a considerably higher budget than typical Bollywood fare, this film looks sharp, sounds sharp, and it’s obvious that it took more than two weeks to shoot. The rich colors and shot compositions of the director come alive thanks to the crispness of the film and this is probably what most Bollywood director’s pray for;a chance to let their vision really shine as opposed to being forced to work with budgets that wouldn’t even cover a typical actor’s salary for a Hollywood production. I dunno man, maybe it’s just that old saw of mine about Hollywood being decadent and no longer hungry again…
What really amazed me about this film was how squeamish it made me. The complexity of a family, with its loves and hates and resentments running simultaneously with compassion was all uncomfortably there. Watching the interplay of relatives left me with that same urge I have at real family gatherings to wander outside and smoke a cigarette until it’s all over so as to avoid the feuding, the hypocrisy, the emotional displays or just plain awkwardness of a bunch of people who don’t really know or like each other much, forced to come together and be all palsy-walsy for the sake of “The Kids And Their Day.”
If I didn’t personally know Indians how were prone to these kind of emotional hysterics I would have immediately written off this film as pure soap opera, but then if you do that, you’re basically saying that the entire sub-continent of India is “unrealistic” and fails to convince viewers thanks to their unsubtle performances.
This is a whacky and very true feeling film. Watch it at your peril. Especially if you have a complicated family. It’ll probably leave you feeling uncomfortable…