I have now seen the best movie in the history of cinema. Forget Citizen Kane, this masterpiece blows it out of the water. It's called Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge - which means something to the effect of "The Brave Man Steals Away The Bride." And it's everything I never knew I wanted in a movie.
This movie is one of the most famous Bollywood films every made - it is from the mid-nineties but has been playing at one theater in Mumbai continuously - every day - ever since it was released. We went to the show on Sunday this week, and there were plenty of other people there to enjoy the show with us. It's just THAT good of a movie. Most of these people had clearly seen the movie many many times, as evidenced by the fact that the audience seemed to know what was going to happen next at any given point in the movie, but that didn't change their excitement for the show. In fact, it probably enhanced it. People would whistle and hoot at the screen when something romantic was about to happen - a longing look or a flirtatious kiss on the cheek. It made the movie-going experience that much more interactive :)
The theater that plays the film is one of the oldest in Mumbai. It's a single screen theater (rather than a multiplex), and even has balcony seating. We got the most expensive tickets available at the steep price of 20 rupees. This is about 40 cents in USD - by far the least expensive movie ticket I've ever purchased! We arrived at the theater about 20 minutes before the show, and there was a crowd of about 50 people just hanging around outside the theater. It turns out that movie theaters here don't allow admittance into the cinema early - instead they will open the doors about 10-15 minutes prior to the show. A single ticket counter was open - the tickets were physically similar to raffle tickets, with our assigned seat numbers hand written on the bottom corner. Once the doors opened, everyone started pushing through the crowd to try to get into the theater. Chill, people! We have assigned seats - what's the rush?
My friends and I stood back for a few minutes until the excitement abated, and then made our way inside, through the metal detectors. I was dying for some caffeine, but sadly they didn't have any Diet Coke. Or Coke. Or even Pepsi. I had to settle for Thums Up (sic) - a local Indian cola. There are no giant fountain drinks here, just sodas served in glass bottles. The snacks at the concession stand were similarly foreign. There was popcorn, but it was pre-packaged in small, single-serving clear plastic bags. There were other Indian snacks too - no Raisinets or Peanut M&M's unfortunately. Kevin and I purchased some of our favorite munchies called soya chakri (also called soya murukku). Google them - they're delicious.
Our seats were in the last row of the balcony, but the view was probably better than the view in the first 10 rows of most American theaters. I was surprised to see that most of our fellow moviegoers were groups of males with no females. The theater was populated with probably 80-90% men. I have no clue why this would be - maybe it's just the time of day we went to a movie? Either way, I received the usual uncomfortable stares from the people around me. Sigh - I suppose I'm just getting used to it at this point.
There were no previews or even fun trivia showing on the screen prior to the movie. There was a laser light array that kept repeating itself on the blank screen while we were waiting. I was thankful when the movie started, since the dizzying lasers had been giving me a headache.
Oh, the movie! I know I won't be able to do it justice, so I encourage all of you to figure out how to see this movie at some point in your lives. It has everything - romance, humor, singing, dancing in a red mini dress on a snow-capped alpine mountain, not to mention a male lead with dimples and a cheeky irreverence that is still within the boundaries of social norms. The first part of the movie is set in London and Europe, with the two lead characters experiencing a "meet cute," subsequently hating each other, then falling in love when they are stranded somewhere in Germany and have to figure out how to meet up with their friends again. But oh no - the girl has been promised to another man as part of an arranged marriage! They don't acknowledge their love for each other on the European trip, since they know they have no chance at a future with the girl already being spoken for. When she arrives back home, she confides in her mother that she has fallen in love with someone. Who can blame her - after all, she hasn't even met her betrothed! Her father overhears the entire conversation, and shows his anger by going a full 10 minutes on-screen without blinking once. We're going to India tomorrow - the arranged marriage will happen! Silly romantic notions of love will be forgotten! Duty before love! The movie closes for an intermission with the male lead showing up at the girl's house to profess his love, only to be told by a neighbor that she's left for India to get married. Before he loses heart completely, though, he notices a cow bell from Europe that she's left hanging on the lamppost outside her house as a signal to him. Hooray! "She loves me too!"
Yes, there actually was an intermission. I've never been to a movie that had one, actually. I'm not sure if all Bollywood movies have them, but it went along perfectly with the old-school design of the theater and the gritty texture and clarity of the movie that we were watching. After the 15 minute intermission, the movie continued, with the final act taking place in India. The male lead flies out to India to see her and (hopefully) stop the wedding. I'm not sure how he found her in the remote village where she was getting married, or how he managed to put the cow bell around the neck of the exact right cow, but she sees it and knows that he's come for her. They hatch a plan to pretend to be strangers so that he can join in the festivities as a guest at the wedding. He will befriend her family and friends, and won't leave until he has her father's permission to wed. She wants to elope, but no - he wants to do the honorable thing (awwww). He manages to befriend her future husband - I'm still not sure how he pulled this off, since it involved him setting a trap and the groom hanging upside down from a tree with his ankle caught in a rope, then the male lead shooting the rope to release the groom and gain his trust. If that makes sense to anyone, please explain it to me. Anyway, he gains entrance to the wedding as a friend of the groom and proceeds to charm the pants off everyone - except the bride's father. Thankfully Indian weddings take several weeks to happen, so he has time to keep at it and eventually win over everyone. But still - he's been lying to all of them! Once the truth comes out that he actually is in love with the bride and is here to break up the wedding, all hell breaks loose and the groom and groomsmen proceed to beat the crap out of him with pool cues and the butts of the rifles that for some reason they're always carrying around. He fights back, and next there is an amazing fight scene where none of the punches or kicks even come close to making contact with a person, but there is plenty of fake blood and reactive bodily convulsions that make the brawling seem (almost) convincing...
In the end, both families are at the train station to make sure that the offending male lead actually leaves so that the wedding can continue. The bride is there in her wedding dress, pleading with her father to let her leave too and go with her love. The father - still unblinking as he's staring at the departing train - lets go of her hand at the last possible second and allows her to chase after the train and leap onto it after her beloved takes her hand. Huzzah! They have her father's permission! True love conquers all!
If you all can't tell, I'm not the biggest fan of romantic movies. All kidding aside, though, this movie was incredibly entertaining - mostly because of the ridiculous transitions between scenes that took place. There were several 90's style song and dance montages that are just too hilarious for words. First they're swimming in a pool, then on a motorcycle, then they're eating ice cream, then they're throwing a brick through a shop window to steal a dress, then she's dancing in that same dress on top of a mountain and rolling through the snow despite the fact that it's, well, snow. Like I said, you all REALLY have to see this movie. You don't even need subtitles to be amused - I didn't!
I now have discovered my love for Bollywood. I've already asked one of my dates to take me to another movie this week - this time it will be a new release, so I'll get to see how Bollywood has changed in the past 20 years. Believe it or not, I'm actually very excited at the thought of that :)
This movie is one of the most famous Bollywood films every made - it is from the mid-nineties but has been playing at one theater in Mumbai continuously - every day - ever since it was released. We went to the show on Sunday this week, and there were plenty of other people there to enjoy the show with us. It's just THAT good of a movie. Most of these people had clearly seen the movie many many times, as evidenced by the fact that the audience seemed to know what was going to happen next at any given point in the movie, but that didn't change their excitement for the show. In fact, it probably enhanced it. People would whistle and hoot at the screen when something romantic was about to happen - a longing look or a flirtatious kiss on the cheek. It made the movie-going experience that much more interactive :)
The theater that plays the film is one of the oldest in Mumbai. It's a single screen theater (rather than a multiplex), and even has balcony seating. We got the most expensive tickets available at the steep price of 20 rupees. This is about 40 cents in USD - by far the least expensive movie ticket I've ever purchased! We arrived at the theater about 20 minutes before the show, and there was a crowd of about 50 people just hanging around outside the theater. It turns out that movie theaters here don't allow admittance into the cinema early - instead they will open the doors about 10-15 minutes prior to the show. A single ticket counter was open - the tickets were physically similar to raffle tickets, with our assigned seat numbers hand written on the bottom corner. Once the doors opened, everyone started pushing through the crowd to try to get into the theater. Chill, people! We have assigned seats - what's the rush?
My friends and I stood back for a few minutes until the excitement abated, and then made our way inside, through the metal detectors. I was dying for some caffeine, but sadly they didn't have any Diet Coke. Or Coke. Or even Pepsi. I had to settle for Thums Up (sic) - a local Indian cola. There are no giant fountain drinks here, just sodas served in glass bottles. The snacks at the concession stand were similarly foreign. There was popcorn, but it was pre-packaged in small, single-serving clear plastic bags. There were other Indian snacks too - no Raisinets or Peanut M&M's unfortunately. Kevin and I purchased some of our favorite munchies called soya chakri (also called soya murukku). Google them - they're delicious.
Our seats were in the last row of the balcony, but the view was probably better than the view in the first 10 rows of most American theaters. I was surprised to see that most of our fellow moviegoers were groups of males with no females. The theater was populated with probably 80-90% men. I have no clue why this would be - maybe it's just the time of day we went to a movie? Either way, I received the usual uncomfortable stares from the people around me. Sigh - I suppose I'm just getting used to it at this point.
There were no previews or even fun trivia showing on the screen prior to the movie. There was a laser light array that kept repeating itself on the blank screen while we were waiting. I was thankful when the movie started, since the dizzying lasers had been giving me a headache.
Oh, the movie! I know I won't be able to do it justice, so I encourage all of you to figure out how to see this movie at some point in your lives. It has everything - romance, humor, singing, dancing in a red mini dress on a snow-capped alpine mountain, not to mention a male lead with dimples and a cheeky irreverence that is still within the boundaries of social norms. The first part of the movie is set in London and Europe, with the two lead characters experiencing a "meet cute," subsequently hating each other, then falling in love when they are stranded somewhere in Germany and have to figure out how to meet up with their friends again. But oh no - the girl has been promised to another man as part of an arranged marriage! They don't acknowledge their love for each other on the European trip, since they know they have no chance at a future with the girl already being spoken for. When she arrives back home, she confides in her mother that she has fallen in love with someone. Who can blame her - after all, she hasn't even met her betrothed! Her father overhears the entire conversation, and shows his anger by going a full 10 minutes on-screen without blinking once. We're going to India tomorrow - the arranged marriage will happen! Silly romantic notions of love will be forgotten! Duty before love! The movie closes for an intermission with the male lead showing up at the girl's house to profess his love, only to be told by a neighbor that she's left for India to get married. Before he loses heart completely, though, he notices a cow bell from Europe that she's left hanging on the lamppost outside her house as a signal to him. Hooray! "She loves me too!"
Yes, there actually was an intermission. I've never been to a movie that had one, actually. I'm not sure if all Bollywood movies have them, but it went along perfectly with the old-school design of the theater and the gritty texture and clarity of the movie that we were watching. After the 15 minute intermission, the movie continued, with the final act taking place in India. The male lead flies out to India to see her and (hopefully) stop the wedding. I'm not sure how he found her in the remote village where she was getting married, or how he managed to put the cow bell around the neck of the exact right cow, but she sees it and knows that he's come for her. They hatch a plan to pretend to be strangers so that he can join in the festivities as a guest at the wedding. He will befriend her family and friends, and won't leave until he has her father's permission to wed. She wants to elope, but no - he wants to do the honorable thing (awwww). He manages to befriend her future husband - I'm still not sure how he pulled this off, since it involved him setting a trap and the groom hanging upside down from a tree with his ankle caught in a rope, then the male lead shooting the rope to release the groom and gain his trust. If that makes sense to anyone, please explain it to me. Anyway, he gains entrance to the wedding as a friend of the groom and proceeds to charm the pants off everyone - except the bride's father. Thankfully Indian weddings take several weeks to happen, so he has time to keep at it and eventually win over everyone. But still - he's been lying to all of them! Once the truth comes out that he actually is in love with the bride and is here to break up the wedding, all hell breaks loose and the groom and groomsmen proceed to beat the crap out of him with pool cues and the butts of the rifles that for some reason they're always carrying around. He fights back, and next there is an amazing fight scene where none of the punches or kicks even come close to making contact with a person, but there is plenty of fake blood and reactive bodily convulsions that make the brawling seem (almost) convincing...
In the end, both families are at the train station to make sure that the offending male lead actually leaves so that the wedding can continue. The bride is there in her wedding dress, pleading with her father to let her leave too and go with her love. The father - still unblinking as he's staring at the departing train - lets go of her hand at the last possible second and allows her to chase after the train and leap onto it after her beloved takes her hand. Huzzah! They have her father's permission! True love conquers all!
If you all can't tell, I'm not the biggest fan of romantic movies. All kidding aside, though, this movie was incredibly entertaining - mostly because of the ridiculous transitions between scenes that took place. There were several 90's style song and dance montages that are just too hilarious for words. First they're swimming in a pool, then on a motorcycle, then they're eating ice cream, then they're throwing a brick through a shop window to steal a dress, then she's dancing in that same dress on top of a mountain and rolling through the snow despite the fact that it's, well, snow. Like I said, you all REALLY have to see this movie. You don't even need subtitles to be amused - I didn't!
I now have discovered my love for Bollywood. I've already asked one of my dates to take me to another movie this week - this time it will be a new release, so I'll get to see how Bollywood has changed in the past 20 years. Believe it or not, I'm actually very excited at the thought of that :)
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