Beyond Bollywood's glitz, a subtler Indian cinema embraces new stories
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
I come from a place highly influenced by Western Culture, including items “imported” via Myanmar (erstwhile Burma) -- mostly the ones that Uncle Sam donated to the Asian region, especially Vietnam. So, Hindi (the Indian national language) was not standard but was, actually, banned for many years while I was growing up. For perspective, when I first landed in Bombay in 1999, ordinary people wore jeans tailored at the shops in Dharavi, and people flaunted them after they were thoroughly ironed. But we already grew up with Levi’s, both new and used from the United States, and they were affordable. I believe there were even good Japanese ones. Bombay was far developed while my place was relative unknown to many.
Bombay was what taught me Hindi and helped me retrospectively enjoy and understand a lot of Bollywood Movies, once I got to connect with what Bombay was - the locations, the history, etc.
I remember going to the Galaxy Cinema in Bandra, Bombay, and choosing the most cheesy movie with Govinda acting in it. My trick was to sit in the back seat (rear) and enjoy the slapstick comedy, with no rhyme or reason, and smile at the people having fun -- forgetting their daily worries and looking back at mine to remind me that I will not worry about the fact that I will have to ride the train back home to cook dinner on a kerosene-stove.
I stopped watching Bollywood Movies by around 2010, and coincidentally, a few of them were Govinda movies that I took my friends from Silicon Valley and to watch without thinking or reasoning -- after a sumptuous lunch of Indian Dal politely taught to be eaten with bare hands.
The mainstream commercial cinemas have gone downhill and never come back. I hope more good cinemas come along.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpaka_Vimana_(1987_film)