another reason to love Roger Ebert
He has a fine sense of humor, as demonstrated by this gem from his Chandni Chowk to China review: "She [Deepika Padukone] is breathtaking, which of course is standard in Bollywood, where all the actresses are either breathtaking or playing mothers."
If I understand him right, Ebert gets a good zing in about this film being more intelligent than the average Adam Sandler movie (or at least more intelligent than the average Adam Sandler fan) but is otherwise unimpressed with CC2C. He proposes that Hindi film fans will probably wonder "why this movie, of all movies, was chosen as Hollywood's first foray into commercial Indian cinema." Without having seen it - or any plans to, unless it happens to pop up here, and I go to any Indian movie I can if it happens to pop up in my area, if just to show support - I propose CC2C might have been a candidate for North American experimentation because physical expression - stunts, slapstick - translates more easily than words, and most of us have seen some sort of story about an unlikely guy being tapped as a hero or someone getting transplanted into a culture they don't understand (and possibly both at the same time).
I hate to argue, but isn't he wrong about this being the first Bollywood movie to get a North American release from a major studio - what about Saawariya, which was so majorly released that it played in one of the megaplexes in my little city of 100,000 in the middle of the soybeans?
And when we say "North American," do we just mean the US and Canada? I have thought long and hard about the potential success of Indian films in Central and South America, and I have concluded that it's a gigantic untapped market. Just think of it: emphasis on traditional family-oriented values, joy in music and bright colors and spangly costumes in entertianment programming (e.g. the many Spanish-language variety shows), an appreciation for melodrama (telenovelas!)....
If I understand him right, Ebert gets a good zing in about this film being more intelligent than the average Adam Sandler movie (or at least more intelligent than the average Adam Sandler fan) but is otherwise unimpressed with CC2C. He proposes that Hindi film fans will probably wonder "why this movie, of all movies, was chosen as Hollywood's first foray into commercial Indian cinema." Without having seen it - or any plans to, unless it happens to pop up here, and I go to any Indian movie I can if it happens to pop up in my area, if just to show support - I propose CC2C might have been a candidate for North American experimentation because physical expression - stunts, slapstick - translates more easily than words, and most of us have seen some sort of story about an unlikely guy being tapped as a hero or someone getting transplanted into a culture they don't understand (and possibly both at the same time).
I hate to argue, but isn't he wrong about this being the first Bollywood movie to get a North American release from a major studio - what about Saawariya, which was so majorly released that it played in one of the megaplexes in my little city of 100,000 in the middle of the soybeans?
And when we say "North American," do we just mean the US and Canada? I have thought long and hard about the potential success of Indian films in Central and South America, and I have concluded that it's a gigantic untapped market. Just think of it: emphasis on traditional family-oriented values, joy in music and bright colors and spangly costumes in entertianment programming (e.g. the many Spanish-language variety shows), an appreciation for melodrama (telenovelas!)....
Comments
fittingly, my word for verification is dinglem. should've been dingleberry.
I happen to enjoy Adam Sandler-style comedy (although not Adam Sandler, himself), so I have high hopes for CC2C. :)
It seems like Bollywood crops into American consciousness every 30 years or so - I was looking through old newspaper articles and it looks like there was a another period of fascination with Bollywood back in the 1970s - around the time of that Merchant-Ivory/Helen movie...
We'll see if this actually sticks...
Amrita - No self-flagellation!
I love the synergy of verification word with content.
FG - Bombay Talkie is a horrible movie - if that what was promoted, no wonder it didn't stick. And it's not very Bolly, either, I'd say, though I don't enjoy exerting effort on definition-squabbling, so never mind. :)
Anyway, money talks and western studios are getting harder pressed to ignore the $$$ generated by Bollywood films as well as the fact that the Indian market (or SE Asian market) still strongly prefers Bolly flavor to standard Hollywood fare.
Joyce
Ahem. I have been known to enjoy some Adam Sandler films.
But I tend to enjoy movies like this (and Adam Sandler movies), so it's probably just me.