Om Shanti Om

Well, Reader, there's been a miracle!! A sarian miracle!! ("Oh, Lord, there she goes again, the saree business is back..." I can hear you reader!!! Be careful!! I know you're already feeling lonely and all, I know I can't afford to lose you, but be careful!! I'll throw you out!!)

So yeah, there's been a sarian miracle tonight, which might lead to great progress as far as my saree-wearing career is concerned: I might not have to have blue-green armpits anymore from today on! Indeed, I have finally decided to attack the sewing on the arms, and there was some kind of trick (I guess it's for Indian women who intend to wear only one saree in their lifetime, they keep some space in case they'd gain weight...) and you can make it one size bigger just by un-sewing the thing!! I don't quite know if I'm making myself clear, right now, but I'm extatic, because now I can actually breathe!! and my arms don't look like sausages anymore!! The blood can circulate to my hands again!! Which means I'll be able to write autographs when I'm a Bollywood star!! (That's about two months from now, reader, just so you know... you can prepare the wedding presents already. I hear Shahrukh likes his china blue. So blue china, please. And we also don't have a TV. The full wedding-list will be published soon anyway...)

I take the opportunity offered by this (incredible!!!!) saree event to tell you about my latest Bollywood discovery and the ensuing reflexions. Yeah, Reader, I do think once in a while, and no, it doesn't hurt too much, thanks for asking. I just watched Om Shanti Om, the latest Shahrukh Khan movie, and I was kind of disappointed in it... I mean, it was cool, of course, really funny, and Shahrukh does make me happy, I feel like smiling everytime I see him. But still. I think there's been a big problem with Bollywood lately, which has been caused by two paradoxical events: They have become more and more successful and they worry more and more about not being successful.

Look at Karan Johar. He made real Bollywood blockbusters, which blockbusted all over the world, and not only because of "non resident indians," but because other people, from other cultures (like me!! Hi! I'm Claire, by the way. And I do have a brackets problem). Really good movies, intelligent, moving and great. And he said "Bollywood movies need to improve their quality in order to conquer the world." I said: Gooooo team Johar. But then he shot Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, and I figured what he meant by "improve their quality" was "make a pale imitation of bad american movies" -not "get proper subtitles"-, and what he meant by "conquer the world" was "sell a lot" -not "spread Indian culture all over the planet"-. I'm not saying Bollywood movies should not sell a lot, I know they can't stay "underground" forever, and one day everyone is going to know that my crush on India is owing to corny-cheesy-curried movies. But still. What's the point of exporting Bollywood if it's not Bollywood anymore?

Exactly the same problem goes with Om Shanti Om. The dialogues are not better, the costumes are not prettier (see that photograph on the left?), but you can see that more money's been put into the movie. That's not what I call better quality. When you compare it with Farah Khan's previous movie 'Main Hoon Na', you can see that this one is very self-congratulatory (is that a word? I don't know, but you see what I mean anyway). You can see that even though the movie really is cool and makes you feel good, it was not meant to be a good movie, it was meant to seduce, and sell a lot. But it makes you feel a little like the filmmaker thinks you're an idiot. Some scenes are really funny, as I said, I liked the movie as a whole, and would recomend it, because it's original and funky, but I just felt like saying what was wrong with it.

Anyway. My goal is not to deter you from watching Bollywood movies, please don't get me wrong, it's still one of those little things that make me happy as a person. I could watch Bollywood movies forever. But I think they need to make a choice, now, and I'd appreciate it if they chose to stay who they are now, or who they were in 2000. I think that's the only way for them to achieve real success, and really manage to sell a lot. Pretending to be Spielberg won't help, and they are not good enough in this area to succeed.

Well, I'll go to bed now, Sorry if you did not enjoy this post for lack of knowing what I was talking about. I'm in my Indian phase again tonight. If you did not know what I was talking about, though, go ahead, google the names, a whole new world is awaiting!! Hmmmmm chicken palake.... ^_^