So Long Europe, Hello Banaras!

In the 1960's, A film called "Sangam" was made and was one of the most popular films of that time. In fact, it is still remembered and cherished today. One of the reasons for its popularity is-- it was the first Bollywood film to have a been filmed in Europe.

Since then, whenever the actress dreams of dancing with her lover, or when a couple goes on their honeymoon, the scene goes straight to some beautiful location in Europe. In fact, Yash Chopra, master of romantic films, received an award from the government of Switzerland, acknowledging how many scenes he has filmed in their country.

But this type of foreign fascination is dwindling in Bollywood. Last year, the film "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna," which was filmed purely in New York, received mix reviews and was the least popular of the director's films, which in the past have always reeked of American-European obsession. The films that succeeded last year took place in rural India, New Delhi, or Mumbai.

If you take a look at the next big releases for this year, such as "Taare Zameen Par" or even "Aaja Nachle," which is in fact about an Indian returning to her country from America, both take place in India. The best movies and the biggest successes of 2007 were all located in India as well, some in small towns, others in Mumbai or New Delhi, including two films that were filmed primarily in the holy city of Banaras (not including Chak De India-- but that's a different story-- they went abroad for a hockey tournament, not to dream).

Speaking for myself, I definitely won't miss the lead couple running through fields of flowers in Switzerland. Dancing on a rickshaw is much more fun.

A Small Step for Bollywood, a Giant Leap for SRK!

Need more convincing that formula, commercial Bollywood that dominated for the past two decades is seeing its last days? Check out the reviews for Saawariya, and compare them to Om Shanti Om.

Although I've said it before-- Om Shanti Om is a very commercial, over-the-top and big budget film, it does have some merit-- it mocks the very filmdom it reeks of. The whole appeal of the movie is that it pokes fun of the Bollywood Shahrukh Khan (the producer and main actor) and the director Farah Khan hail from. This technique makes the movie fresh. It actually turns out to be a push forward for Bollywood's emerging progressive movement.
Now, I don't want to give the film too much credit-- The concept of mocking Bollywood has been done before, and been done much better. But that's the thing with this industry-- its only cool if the popular kids do it.

Saawariya, the other big- budget big-deal film failed, according to critics and to the box office (compared to OSO). Ok yes, I sometimes do feel that critics are much harder on the director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, because they do accept more from him. His track record is incredible-- all four of his movies have won many awards and gained critical acclaim. His first movie "failed" at the box office, and was not as popular as any of the other movies. Of course, this film, "Khamoshi," is not only my favorite SLB film, but one of my all-time favorites. Great performances, incredible story-- definitely fabulous. Sadly, the Indian public did not accept it, and Bhansali took that to heart.

After that, all his films had lavish sets, costumes and mainstream commercial actors. (I would include Black in this category. Just because there wasn't a lot of color does not mean the sets were not lavish.) And Saawariya fits into this category with ease. Maybe in 2002, this film would have made as much, if not more money than SRK's "Om Shanti Om." But "Saawariya" was a part of Bollywood that was so three years ago-- a young boy sees a young girl, falls in love, one is shy...etc.

Although it's clear that OSO beat Saawariya this week, I think the winner to emerge from this is the producer and actor of OSO, Shahrukh Khan. The reason for this is-- SRK is definitely one of the most popular actors in Bollywood. And, it is completely obvious that he would play the male lead in a film like Saawariya-- those love stories are what he does best. But he was not in Saawariya-- he was in OSO, mocking films like Saawariya, exposing the silliness of the very Bollywood he helped shape and rule. It's obvious SRK has had a great year, and here's hoping he has permanently retired from Bollywood that is both regressive and formulaic.

This Beats "My Super Sweet 16"

Not sure how much Bollywood stars actually mean to Indians, or should I say, the media? Just glance at the amount of coverage the "King Khan" Shahrukh Khan got on his birthday on Nov. 2. It might just be as much attention Britney Spear's crazy antics get in US papers. Here are some of the stories that have been written in honor of Khan's birthday:

Indiafm.com had three main stories for SRK:

1. A to-do list for SRK's birthday, which included watching all his famous movies, reading his biographies, and watching promotions for his latest movie.
   
2. Indiafm also had another story about a fan who shared her birthday with SRK.
3. And an interview with the man himself, where he discussed his big day

Other websites had other angles:

• Sify.com added a feature where readers could post birthday wishes for SRK. There were 174 wishes the star.
  
• The Times of India reported on what Farah Khan, the director of SRK's forthcoming movie, was going to get him (which, what a shocker-- would be an official print of the film).
• Merinews didn't hide it- they just had a whole article dedicated to the star, chronicling his life, as if he made some big accomplishment. I guess for Merinews, that means turning 42.

It's sad how much coverage a birthday, (not even a birthday party!!) got in the Indian and international press.

Still have hope for 2007!!

I particularly enjoyed Raja Sen's latest column on Rediff. He takes on the view that 2007 has been a repetitive, regressive year for Bollywood after 2006-- which was an amazing year for Bollywood. I agree with Sen's opinion. Although 2007 hasn't had as much of a spark with quality movies actually making money, great films are made-- and are being watched. Here are some of the greats for 2007:

• Honeymoon Travels: This movie is incredibly entertaining, yet still hits on key issues like homosexuality and female identity. The film made money, was successful, and had actual substance.
• Life in a Metro: Incredible performances. Original storyline. In my opinion, revolutionary music. The movie had some of the hottest names, but not hotter than some of its competition like Salaam-E-Ishq, which also was a story about a number of couples and their problems. And surprise! The film with the better star-cast, bigger banner, bigger names-- failed with the lesser known Life in a Metro was a hit. A good story is vital!
  
• Chak De India: No love story, a film about sports, and one tat explored feminism in India-- loved it!
• Dharm:
  

So we haven't seen the best films ever to come out of Bollywood this year. But we have seen the audience paying attention to better films. It's a start!

It's Too Much!!

I don't think there have ever been so many attempts by actors to promote their movies than this fall in Bollywood. Yes, actors in Hollywood go on talk shows to promote their film, but in Bollywood, actors go on singing reality shows, dance competitions, and anything else they can swing.

But these days, the attempts are going far beyond that. Jab We Met, a film that released last week to some good reviews, was hyped up incredibly by the leading actor, Shaahid Kapoor. He went on the local trains to promote the film, spoke to any journalist who would listen, and there are speculations that he asked his ex- girlfriend and co-star Kareena Kapoor to stay quiet about the break-up for a while, and then to break the silence at an important moment. They did finally go their separate ways, and Kareena's new love declared their relationship live at India's Fashion Week, which generated even more buzz than the break-up to start with.

Shahrukh Khan is doing even more for his film, Om Shanti Om, as he is known for. He has 30 A-list stars to dance in one of the songs in his film-- a first in Bollywood, which is being hyped beyond anything on television.

He has gifted the director of the film with a Mercedes-- apparently because he liked the film that much, which of course attracted even more media attention. His six- pack abs, his co-star's age, the director's pregnancy, the seventies feel of the movie-- are really all that Bollywood is buzzing about these days. The movie is releasing next week-- and it's mega promotion is definitely a first in Bollywood, and frankly, I can't wait until the crazyness is over.

Mind on the Money

There has always been a war between critics and the Bollywood industry-- much worse than Hollywood, for sure. Whether it's the director of the new film No Smoking, Anurag Kashyup, who ranted about the critics who did just that-- criticize his movie, or even popular director Farah Khan's cries that critics are just out to ruin her and her film-- critics are not popular at all among many in Bollywood.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of the critics, for the most part. Not because of Khan's criticisms-- critics aren't evil just because they criticize your movie. My problem is more that most Bollywood critics judge movies on whether or not they have commercial appeal-- which is really sad. Of course, Indian movies are "commercial," for the most part, only if they have five songs, lavish costumes, a glamorous star cast, has a love story or has some sort of a romantic angle, and if it appeals to all ages.

Think about all the amazing movies that are not commercial (and far better). The film Dor, which I thought was incredible, only received two out of five stars from Indiafm.com, not because it was a bad film-- the reviewer acknowledged the film's brilliance. It got a bad review because the critic believed that the film would not make any money. He was right, of course-- but if the film was brilliant, it was brilliant. That should be the end of it.

Freedom of the press is vital, and I would rather have these crazy critics (who are right to criticize Khan's film, in my opinion) than none at all. But it would be nice if they started focusing on the film-- not the box office.

Difficult, or just Impossible?

I often comment on how there is a lot of quality films coming out of Bollywood. They're just harder to come by because they don't spend much time in theaters, and are low budget.

I thought it was just harder-- not impossible. Dharm, a film that has garnered incredible reviews and much praise, and was even a contender to be the Oscar nominee for India, is almost impossible to find in America. There aren't any copies at local grocery stores (unless you settle for a copy where you see the audience in the theater getting up for popcorn-- but even those are hard to come by). They are not available for purchase (unless you're ok with giving your credit card number to extremely sketchy websites).

The film has incredible actors, is filmed in HD, went to the Cannes Film Festival-- and is impossible to find. These types of films don't appeal to the masses in India, so are usually buried and make no money at all. Sadly, next week-- Shah Rukh Khan's extremely commercial, over the top- high budget film Om Shanti Om will be hard to avoid.