Sunday, 11 November 2007
Bollywood in Zurich
Watching a bollywood movie can be a very different experience in the cinema hall in Zurich. With "Om Shanti Om' released here on Friday, it was exciting to go out and watch this movie with my mother and kids. News from friends and relatives in India was about the two releases timed with Deepavali and full houses, tickets sold out etc. Well here we had secured the tickets in a matter of minutes over the internet. It was a cold and rainy morning and we huddled into the car and set off..
Parking was bang outside the theatre..!! Just pure luck. As we neared the vicinity of the theatre, we could easily spot the fellow movie goers, zeroing in on the cinema hall from all directions, young students, couples, some big families.. As we entered the hall and found our seats one could notice that the hall was going to be full... really full soon. The noise level was definately higher than any other cinema where you would go to watch and English or German movie. You could hear a vareity of indian languages, Tamil, Gujarati, Malayalam, Bengali... As soon as people settled into their seats, they started looking around to see if friends and aquaintainces were around. Soon a long discussion across many rows began.. oh the weather is getting so cold!! Yes, work is really busy.. Oh yes we did go to India in Summer and had a good time. and so on..
The sense of community and people and interaction and belonging is extremely strong. People dont just watch the movie.. they actually watch it together.. The links in this particular movie to bollywood in general and to other older movies and stars is strong.. The whistling hooting and cheering was rampant.. Right in the middle of the movie there was an unexpected break and the whistling and shouting took me back to college days.
Although the film was really 'no big deal' the kids had a great time, I felt energised and cheered by the enthusiasm and spirit of the crowd.. which made a dull, rainy and boring weekend a memorable one!! All in all, it was great feeling to watch this movie in Zurich!!! Bas chat aur samosa mil gaya hota!!
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5 comments:
long time .... no post on the blog.
good to read this one ..... successful hindi
cinema, you'd have noticed has little to do with drawing the audience closer to reality ..... it is, in fact, quite the opposite ...... usually, it is
the purely escapist fare which elicits the most whistling and cheering .... and yes, if the movie
generates the "feel good" factor, like "chak de" did ..... or get people to laugh out loud, like "dhamaal" did .....you know you've got a hit on your hands .....
the "reel" life, for indian moviegoers, has to take them away from the "real" life ...... in doing so, if logic,
reasoning etc. has to be suspended for a while ...... so be it....
am looking forward to seeing OSO ....
Yes, you are completely right.
But once in a while I see a 'nice' real movie.. ideally alone at home.. with no distractions. And thats a very special kind of enjoyment too..
Can't get myself to watch OSO but am glad you had a great time! :-)
Chaat and samosa! Damn! I am hungry now!
BTW, I went ahead and had the chaat and samosa... ;-)
Eroteme..
To have access to chat and samosa... is one of the most important considerations of life!! U r lucky!
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