all cool boys come on make some noise and say…

most north americans would struggle to understand the importance that film plays in contemporary indian life.  bollywood is omnipresent throughout the world’s most diverse country: bollywood stars grace billboards, splash across newspaper headlines, and own cricket teams.  bollywood itself isn’t merely cinema, but a total business/entertainment experience that inherently includes music videos, ringtones, merchandising as part of the method of expression as opposed to some post-release side effect.  this media is devoured by an imagery (and social activity) hungry public.  while i was in ahmedabad, the public realm debated whether movie theatres should be open 24 hours, in order to sustain the city’s bollywood addiction.

in itself, however, the relationship to film seemed much different for indians than for north americans.  the cinema in india is more of a meeting place, a spot where pre-marriage-aged boys and girls could spend time in relative darkness and anonymity.  the plot is generally not the point - most bollywood movies center on a handful of derivative themes, interrupted only by rich colour dance scenes that bear only a cursory relationship to whatever was going on before and after. india is home to a rich history of filmmakers capable of makin excellent commentary on contemporary indian society, but for the massive majority, pop, colour, sexuality, and music seem to be enough to keep them coming back to the cinema weekend after weekend.  the cinema itself is a sensational experience, filled with talking, ringing cellphones, jeering at the screen, and, of course, singing; pop music is generally disseminated exclusively through current film.  (in that regard, bollywood provides an interesting vision of the future to a north american record industry historically predicated on declining album sales.)

we are so fortunate to live in a society where we can sample the best cinema from around the world.  but for something that isn’t the best, but is definitely lots of fun, check out ‘om shanti om’, ‘dhoom 2′, ‘jannet’, or some of the other hit bollywood flicks from the last few years.  here’s a couple highlights of some of my favourite songs:

the main character in this clip (in the suit with the red collar) is shah rukh khan, the king of bollywood cinema.