However, there are some very good movies that have been made in the mainstream Bollywood cinema recently. Movies that are original artistically, that have coherence, that are believable, well acted, and are not plaigarised.

Most of your points are silly.

1. Why is filming a fantasy scene in Switzerland or wherever “bad”?

2. One can argue that Bollywood and other commercial Indian movies only reflect an attitude towards color that is already there in Indian society. The Indian attitude towards “fair color” predates the movies. Perhaps the movies reinforce that attitude but if I were a movie maker sinking millions (of rupees) into making a movie, then you can be sure I’d also try to make sure that my hero/heroine was “acceptable” and there whether you like it or not, color matters. If you are going to blame anyone, blame Indian society.

By the way, such attitudes are not unique to Bollywood. Let’s take a look at the set of Hollywood actor/actresses. Very representative of the “average” American, are they?

1. Bollywood movies generally tend to address issues that concern middle-class Indians. Yes, they haven’t looked at issues like untouchability (though there was a pre-independence movie Achyut Kanya with a very fair-skinned Devika Rani playing the role of an untouchable girl) and so many others. But given that it mostly addresses the middle-class, it has made movies addressing their concerns. Why do you think so many Indians and many others around the world watch them if it did not address issues which concerned them in some way? Out of sheer boredom? (Yes, I know there’s a theory to that effect. But in that case, why have Hollywood movies not been more successful in India?) You might want to take a look at Madhu Kishwar’s analysis of these movies and why they appeal to so many, not just in India, here:

http://www.indiatogether.org/manushi/issue139/idea.htm

From the conclusion of the article:

“Bollywood is much more complex and a far greater agent for positive social change than is commonly acknowledged by those who claim to represent the high culture of India. Reviews of Hindi cinema in avant-guard (sic) intellectual journals like the Economic and Political Weekly accuse our filmmakers of spreading religious obscurantism, Hindu fundamentalism, anti-women attitudes, animosity towards minorities. They are attacked as conservative defenders of an anachronistic status quo. I myself belonged to this category in some measure, as several of my early film reviews testify.

The new Brahmins of India are embarrassed by the worldview of Bollywood as well as aggressive in their disapproval of its value system. Is it not a case of a repeat of the hostility of the Brahminical orthodoxy towards the popular upsurge of bhakti in the medieval period – with just this one difference: the new Brahmins of today are not rooted in Sanskrit learning. They are the products of elite English medium schools and colleges. Consequently, their manners and tastes resemble those of their intellectual tutors in the West.”

I’ve seen good movies as well, that are quite original, for the most part. I LOVED Munna Bhai MBBS. It was quite original, but a little long. Still, it was a very original and hilarious film. I wish that the compressed the action into a 120 minutes (not 180 minutes).

But the bulk of Indian movies have a lot of bad attributes: 1. The ‘fantasy’ scenes are filmed in exotic locations like Switzerland, UK, or USA.
2. These movies deify light-skin color in India. Many of the actors are bi-racial (mixed with whites, but not blacks or East Asians). Also, and this is a common theme amongst us all over here, why are they all light-skinned? I demand black-skinned/brown-skinned Indians. The Kansan farmers can have their wheat-complexion. Give a chocoholic like me the swarthy and sweet. 3. These movis do NOT push the societal envelope, from my perspective, on hard/gritty topics. Topics such as: Linguistic differences, female subjugation, religious difference, over-population, or even Islamic alienation within India.

On the other hand, I’d love to see the following: 1. Use Indian films as a vehicle to develop our good culture. 2. Push the societal envelope and challenge society. 3. Inspire the local Indian population to do something GREAT – like aspire for a good education and change the world. 4. Inspire good values/ethics.

Some really good recent Indian-themed movies I could remember

Taare Zameen Par (abt dyslexia and the kind of pressures parents, esp indian, put on their children…..easily one of the best movies i have watched in a long time. directed by aamir khan…..watch the linked song) Gulal (abt the rajputana movement..director is anurag kashyap, very original writer & director – see DevD, No Smoking…….the lyrics of the linked song are really funny) Welcome to Sajjanpur (Shyam Benegal) A Wednesday (terrorism in india…….naseerudin shah, anupam kher) Rang De Basanti (youth in india, patriotism, politics…….one of my favorite movies of recent time) Lage Raho Munnabhai (gandhi…..a very funny and thought-provoking film) Matrubhoomi (female infanticide and its impact) Khosla ka Ghosla (funny look at land grabbing) and of course Lagaan & Swades

and these are all just the hindi films……..

Monsoon wedding and Slum dog among the best indian themed movies???!! Yeesh! Below par songs, stilted westernized acting, and stereotyped to the wazoo.

Slumdog, in particular had way too many WTF moments to be considered a good movie. For example, remember the part where the hero is deeply traumatized by a rioter dressed as Rama, and in the scene this actually turns out to be a kid in a costume similar to a fancy dress competition. How ludicrous was that!

And it was’nt even original – it had the same concept as the Spinal tap scene in where the lowered Stonehenge replicas that turned out to be 18 Ft and turned out to be 18 inches, only the farce was intentional in Spinal Tap’s case

Sure most Bollywood movies are crap. But most western movies with Indian themes are crap. It is simply Sturgeon’s law in practice. And there are a few good bollywood movies. And even more good Tamil ones.

I’ll take this to heart when I go to watch “Transformers 2,” the sequel to the movie based on the 1980s cartoon series based on the comic book based on the toy-line.

The innovative ways in which Michael bay manages to blow stuff up and put Megan Fox into ridiculously impractical but mighty hot outfits will surely boggle the mind. Won’t encourage any self-loathing among girls who don’t look like swimsuit models either.