(#8
is Bollywood… because my name is Sheila, Sheila Ki Jawani, and I’m way too sexy
for you… haha.)
I
had zero knowledge and appreciation of Bollywood before coming to Bangladesh,
and even then, it took me a little while to get into it. My American attention span is basically
non-existent and I can barely stand sitting through movies to begin with, but
Bollywood did something to me. I credit
two specific songs:
1)
Sheila Ki Jawani – For any of my friends who have never heard this song,
please, watch the clip below. Then
imagine hearing that song just about every damn day your entire stay in a
foreign country, and at all times during the day: at sunrise blared by a car
outside on the street, on the CD in the van on the way to school, from someone’s
computer in the office, in a student’s room, in the local supermarket, the
little girl singing it while walking down the street…
And
it was just a little bizarre, hearing this song constantly in the conservative
Muslim environment of Bangladesh. The
song is not exactly pure and innocent. I’m
not 100% sure about what the Hindi lyrics say, but I sure do understand the
rest of it! And yet, everyone knew it,
everyone loved it.
2)
Anjaana Anjaani – My personal favorite, both the song and the movie. I don’t remember where I heard it for the
first time, but I quickly fell in love with it.
The movie is about a young man and woman in New York City who want to
commit suicide for different reasons.
The full two and a half hours of film take you through their attempts
and the bond they create to fix things before finally taking their lives. The reviews had nothing good to say, but the
positive message of living your life to its fullest and taking responsibility for
the things you’ve done really resonated with me.
I
still don’t know all the lyrics, but I did learn the chorus. I was humming it under my breath one day and
Bikash picked up on it, and he taught me the lyrics while we walked around
Pokhara, Nepal. And well, you can
certainly still find me humming it – and singing some of it now, too!
The
colors, drama, comedy, songs, dance, acting, everything that is present in
Bollywood is positively entrancing. I am
so happy I got indoctrinated into this all-encompassing genre. I am also happy to see some exposure of it in
American culture (i.e., Bollywood dance numbers are starting to crop up on the
TV show “So You Think You Can Dance”). The
market is massive, and I bet a lot of people could come to appreciate and enjoy
these films and songs, just as I have. It’s
just a shame I can’t find the DVDs over here for a dollar!
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