Do You Know Who I Am

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was briefly held (for two hours or so) at Newark International Airport by the Department of Homeland Security. It seems Khan's name matched a name on some terrorist watch list, but after ascertaining Shah Rukh Khan's identity - with the help of the Indian government - he was promptly released

Of course Shah Rukh Khan was upset by his mistreatment, especially given the fact that he is an oft visitor to the United States. And the entire country of India is upset, as well, as if the nation's character was impugned in the process. Naturally, the Indian press is having a field day with countless articles and editorials blasting the United States for what is perceived to be a racist and bigoted slight.

It's hard not to notice an air of arrogance by Shah Rukh Khan and his supporters. It's the type of attitude celebrities are known to take whenever they don't get their way.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!" This is a common refrain used by celebrities the world over, and Shah Rukh Khan is no exception.

Personally, I think Shah Rukh Khan was more upset that he was not recognized by immigration officers as the legitimate superstar that he is.

In defense of the immigration officers, they did their duty safeguarding American security: they discovered a problem, investigated it, found out there was nothing there, and promptly released the Indian actor. Khan was held for two hours. He wasn't thrown in some hole, renditioned to Cuba, and tortured by the CIA. But according the India press, he might as well have.

I hope this incident doesn't become an ugly diplomatic row between India and the United States, simply for the reason that it's a petty issue.

Presenting Sanjay Gere...

Canadians have such a great sense of humor. Below is a sketch from a Canadian television show mocking Bollywood.



Simply priceless...

Movie Review: Namastey London

I don’t watch many Bollywood movies for one, very obvious, reason—there mostly bad; worse than Hollywood, in fact. But I did manage to watch Namastey London over the weekend to fulfill my annual quota, and it was a bad choice. The film, in all honesty, is a piece of crap.

Namastey London is the type of jingoistic tripe Bollywood regularly churns out that reminds the world (and many Indians, in fact) that India suffers from some sort of post-colonial inferiority complex. It’s a film replete with scenes and dialogues insulting the West (in this case, India’s colonial masters, the British). A lot of fists in the air, slap on the backs sort of shtick one expects from a mediocre film like this and the cheap patriotism it portrays.

The story is the typical diaspora story. An Indian (Punjabi) family living in England: with a traditional father and a submissive mother and their out-of-control, westernized daughter. They don’t like the fact that she’s Western or that she’s involved with an Englishman (an evil, patronizing gora!), even though she has lived in England all her life. What do her parents expect to be, a traditional Punjabi girl?

Anyway, make a long story short. Parents decide daughter needs a strong Punjabi husband, and trick her into going to India in order to fix her marriage. Parents find the boy, like him, and arrange the marriage. Daughter resists until the end, while secretly planning to marry the Englishman, who, by the way, is wealthier than Queen Elizabeth II. Daughter finds that Punjabi husband is not some rube from the hinterlands of Punjab, but a modern, English-speaking man. Suffice it to say, she leaves her gora fiancé at the altar and goes back to India with Punjabi husband to live happily ever after. This is Bollywood’s ending, and it’s so typical. There are dozen films before Namastey London that do a much better job.

One wonder why Indians immigrate to other countries, which give them opportunities India could not, and then denigrate that country because of incompatible cultural issues—dating, religious, etc. The list is virtually endless.

Anyway, avoid this film. Katrina Kaif cannot act or speak a lick of Hindi. Mercifully, the only positive thing I can say about Namastey London is the fact that it was only two hours long.

Sequel To Abhimaan On The Way?

This is a bad idea:

The buzz has been around for long. Amitabh Bachchan has been toying with the idea of a sequel to Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Abhimaan.

Now it is learnt that Pawan Kumar Jain will be making Abhimaan 2 with the Bachchan clan. The sequel reportedly will have Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan playing parents to Abhishek Bachchan. Aishwarya Bachchan will be the bahu.

Bollywood has definitely become Hollywood when it, too, starts pirating its successes and transforming them into mediocre sequels. I know I should give the sequel the benefit of the doubt, but the history of sequels is quite clear: they rarely meet, let alone exceed, expectations.

There was suppose to be a sequel to Sholay—arguably, the best Indian movie ever made—but, thankfully, it never made it off the ground. Let’s hope Abhimann 2 meets the same fate.

Kazakhstan: Who The Hell Is Shah Rukh Khan?

It seems Mithun Chakraborty's Disco Dancer, originally released in 1982, is still rocking Kazakhstan, as are other Indian classics.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, aaja, aaja, the song from Mithun Chakraborty's 1982 blockbuster Disco Dancer is a favourite with Marina Maximova and many others from her country, Kazakhstan. But current heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan is unknown there.

Marina, editor-in-chief of Almaty TV, cannot understand Hindi but loves Mithun's films as well as those of Bollywood legend Raj Kapoor.

"The films are so sensitively made, so beautiful," Maximova said in Russian, which was translated by her colleague Irina Kunanbayeva.

"Indian films are very popular in our country. We have film clubs where the films are shown," Maximova told IANS here.

That Shah Rukh Khan is relatively unknown in Kazakhstan (and probably true for other former Soviet states, including Russia) is quite telling. Some will say Kazakhs lack the sophistication necessary to watch the style of cinema actors like Shah Rukh Khan inhabits. Other people, including me, say that Bollywood has degraded creatively while becoming technically superior.

I've given up watching Bollywood films on a regular basis somewhere during the early 1990s when Bollywood took a turn for the worse with a slate of unwatchable, overly saccharine, song-filled, marriage-oriented films. Since then I have been watching Bollywood films on-and-off, and only on the recommendation by friends and family.

I grew up watching Bollywood films with my parents, who use to rent two or three movies a week from the local Indian store. Most were current releases, but my father would often rent films he saw in his youth. Raj Kapoor was a standard-bearer, and Amitabh Bachchan films of the 1970s and 1980s-before he foolishly entered politics-made me a fan for life. Like the Kazakhs, it is these films that I remember and often pine for.

Loins Of Punjab Presents

Here's the official trailer for Loins of Punjab Presents. It looks like a hoot.



Official film web site here.

Funny Movie Trailer And Zee Commercials

A funny scene from the movie Goa to Bombay:



If the driver looks familiar, he's also in this very funny Zee Cinema commercial:



And if you like this Zee Cinema commercial, here's another:



Enjoy!

Mithun Chakraborty Is Back

Indian actor Mithun Chakraborty is enjoying a renaissance, of sorts, in both Bengali and Hindi cinema. He flamed out in the early 90s with flop after flop, but is now getting rave reviews, mostly for supporting roles, from villains to father-figures. But this line from The Hindustan Times did irritate me somewhat:

He was hailed as the poor man's Amitabh Bachchan in the 1980s.

Poor in what sense? That he was cheaper? Considering he was signing movies left and right, and for princely sums, it seems strange to say Mithun was a poor man’s Amitabh.