Day 2: Bollywood & Beyond
India is a diverse country full of colors, ethnicity and variety in attire
and cuisine. Hindi cinema also represents the same. Bollywood too
is full of colorful people who want to explore cultures and represent
them.
Trailer
Bengali culture. (Bong Connection)
The Bengali influence was very
popular till the sixties when
Bollywood would be inspired by
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
classics such as Devdas or
Parineeta . Since then, remakes of
these films have somewhat tried
recreating the magic.
Bullett Raja, 2013
Sonakshi performing Bengali folk dance called Jhumur.
A pregnant woman's search for her
missing husband takes her from
London to Kolkata, but everyone
she questions denies having ever
met her husband. Kahaani explores
themes of feminism and
motherhood in male-dominated
Indian society.
2012
Parineeta (Married Woman)
2005
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D
E
V
D
A
S
2002
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Bollywood movies have inspired a whole line of jewellery:
Punjab
A comic caper about Happy Singh, a Punjabi villager who goes through a series of
misadventures and eventually becomes the Kinng of the Australian underworld.
2008
Jab We Met (2007)
Punjabi music which has today captivated a huge number of fans beyond Punjab,
especially abroad, is creating a great influence in Bollywood films. Almost every
other film from Bollywood is found carrying a Punjabi number or lyrics in dialogues.
Gujarat
Ethnic Gujarati culture with its rich traditions
and colourful festivals and rituals would
naturally lend to a Bollywood backdrop, but
Hindi cinema rarely tapped the idea till the
advent of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The dance
form of Garba has been widely used in films.
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, 1999
2013
Ram- leela rehashed the standard Romeo- Juliet
story in a plush Gujarati set- up. Director Sanjay
Leela Bhansali not only brought alive Gujarati
culture through his characters, costumes, set
design, music and dances, he also gave us a slice
of life by portraying animosity that warring clans
in the state keep harboring for centuries.
Ranveer Singh
Tattad tattad (Ramji ki chaal)
Lucknow
The nawaabi culture with its classical music and poetry, the rich Urdu language,
dance tradition and historic relevance was the backbone of the Muslim social
genre in the past. With Indianness on the wane in Hindi films, Lucknow's
position as a cinematic muse declined.
Umrao Jaan, 1981 & 2006
Bollywood’s Worldwide Appeal
Shah Rukh Khan. His name literally
translates into 'Face of the King'.
The Tom Cruise of India.
Aishwarya Rai (Ash) is one of Bollywood's preeminent leading ladies. This Indian darling
burst upon the world stage when her striking
beauty, poise and commanding intelligence
won her the Miss World crown in 1994. This
former architecture major soon became one of
India's most famous models, landing a
prestigious Pepsi-Cola campaign and appearing
in Vogue Magazine.
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham
Chennai Express
Jab Tak Hai Jaan
Bollywood’s reflects the culture or the culture is reflected in Bollywood? New
and refreshing films with a different twist….
Life in a Metro (2007)
The Dirty Picture
2011
Trailer
A story about a romantic journey of a culturally
opposite couple - Krish Malhotra and Ananya
Swaminathan. They meet at the IIMAhmedabad College and during the program
they fall in love. Complications arise after they
graduate and they decide to get married.
Krish and Ananya belong to two different
states of India. Krish, a North Indian Punjabi
boy from Delhi, and Ananya, a Tamilian
Brahmin from Chennai.
They take a conscious decision; they won't get married until their parents agree.
Everything goes downhill when the parents meet. There is a cultural clash and the
parents oppose the wedding. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the
couple faces a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but much
harder to convince.
Queen (Rani)
2014
Trailer
The film’s story is about a naive middleclass girl
in Delhi, who decides to go on her honeymoon
to Paris and Amsterdam alone, after her fiancé
walks out of the marriage two days before
wedding.
The Lunchbox
2013
A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously
efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a
young housewife to an older man in the dusk
of his life as they build a fantasy world
together through notes in the lunchbox.
Barfi! [2012]
Set in the 1970s in a pretty corner of India,
Barfi! is the story of three young people who
learn that love can neither be defined nor
contained by society's norms of normal and
abnormal.
3 Idiots is based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel 5 Point Someone and is a comedy
about three engineering students whose friendship stands the test of time.
Two friends are searching for their long lost companion. They revisit their
college days and recall the memories of their friend who inspired them to think
differently, even as the rest of the world called them "idiots".