Bollywha? Tollywho? Defining Some Terms

I know I mentioned this in the last post, but just to make it extra clear (and further label myself a Bollywood snob)here are definitions to some terms I’ll be throwing around this blog like nobody’s business.

Bollywood: Hindi language film industry based out of Mumbia (Bombay), India. Largest producer of films in the world. Pretty much the best thing ever.

Not to be confused with Tollywood or other –woods (these would be Indian films produced outside of Mumbai, most often in a language other than Hindi).

Here’s one Bollywood poster and Tollywood poster.

See? Completely different.

Playback singers: have you ever wondered why all Bollywood actresses have the exact same singing voice? Well it’s because it IS the same exact singing voice (75% of the time at least). The songs that form such an integral part of Bollywood films are sung by professional singers and recorded over lip syncing actors. Playback singers are hugely popular and sales from film music, an industry known as Filmi music, are a large part of the Bollywood money making machine. I have some favorites I’ll write about and my reviews will definitely include mention of a film’s quality of music. Until then please enjoy a song by the most prolific singer in Indian Cinema, Lata Mangeshkar. (The beautiful Meena Kumari is a bonus.)

Masala: much like the spice mixture, Masala films combine multiple seemingly disparate genres into one yummy serving. Masala film are melodramatic, romantic, comical, and action packed.

Desi: refers to Indians and Indian culture.

Those are the important ones, more to come later….

Namaste

My adventures in Bollywood began as most adventures do, suddenly and while trying not to hurl. I should explain. It was 2005, I was a sophmore at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest and I was going to spend the next three weeks traveling through northern India. As part of my religion minor coursework I enrolled in a study abroad class called "Religion and Society in Modern India." Two things need to be said here. 1. The course was as bad-ass as it sounds and 2. If you haven't been to India you need to go. I mean it. You should get up, grab a phone, call a travel agent (do these still exist?), and book a trip. You won't regret it. Unless you end up hating it, in which case you've actually learned the most valuable lesson of all: not making life decisions based off the ramblings of strangers on the internet. You're welcome.

I'm in there somewhere.

The day of my journey arrived and I began my 14-hour flight to India. It was in the last hour of the Frankfurt-New Delhi lag that I started to take notice of the in-flight movie. An impossibly beautiful girl is trying to decide between a handsome wealthy businessman and a handsomer wealthy musician. Obviously this heart-wrenching decision can only be made during an Latin-inspired dance number featuring what appeared to be extras from In Living Color's Flygirls. What was I watching? Who were these people? Did beautiful girl choose business guy or music guy? (I wasn't too invested in names at this point.) What was in the in-flight meal? Why was my head spinning, and where is my barf bag? These were the questions I was left with as our plane landed. Since the next three weeks were spent taking in the sounds, sights and smells of India you can imagine how very little I thought about the new cinema genre I had just encountered and instead focused on not dying of food poisoning or getting robbed on the street by monkeys (for the record, monkeys in India ain't no joke.)

Don't be fooled. He will cut you.

While my adventures in Bollywood started on that flight to India, I didn't become a superfan until I return to the States. I discovered my local library's wonderful Hindi-language film collection and what could have been a quaint interest transformed into an obsession. The only downside to being a Hindi film fanatic were the blank stares and prolonged "huuuhhhs" directed my way when I explained I spend my Sundays catching up on the latest Karan Johar films. If only there was a place where I could share why I love these movies; the beautiful cinematography, the synergy between music and storytelling, the performers, and the dancing, oh, the dancing. And so the idea for this blog was born. Here is a place where both Bollywood newbies and and Hindi film veterans can become immersed in the world of Bollywood along with me. As a wise woman once said "ain't no party like a Bollywood party cuz a Bollywood party don't stop." Well said, commentator aishandabhi2003 from bollywoodglitz.com, well said. The Bollywood party will never stop and neither will I.

So, wait....what's the deal with the blog?

The deal is I write reviews on Bollywood films and discuss prominent actors, directors and musicians. You may also be asking, what exactly is Bollywood? And to that I say thank you for making it this far in the post even though you have no idea what I'm talking about. Bollywood is defined in different ways by different people but I'm going old school and limiting it to Hindi language films produced by companies based out of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Bollywood is not synonymous with Indian cinema, it is one example of Indian cinema but by no means the only. Other types of Indian cinema include Tollywood (Bengali), Punjabi, Kollywood (Tamil), among others. I won't stray far from the Bollywood world but if I do travel into other Indian cinema it will be for good reason (A.R. Rahman I'm looking at you.)

I'll try and post film reviews at least once a week with other topics spread throughout the month. If there are topics you are particularly interested in let me know and I'd be happy to oblige. For now, thanks for reading and enjoy this clip from one of the most popular Bollywood films ever, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun!