My name is Paromita Sen and I am abso-tota-lutely addicted to Bollywood. There. I said it. I think Shah Rukh Khan epitomizes romance and I will brook no criticism of his various flaws. He isn’t perfect but then neither are you so go away.
My relationship with Bollywood dates back to the 8th Std when I was home alone for the holidays with a TV for company. Bollywood became my sole companion, it consumed my life and I found my soul mate that year. We are yet to have a falling out. College makes everything so much tougher. Bollywood has upped and gone ahead and I’m desperately trying to catch up with the last 2 years that have just zoomed past. Jordan seemed like a nightmare in that sense… where would I indulge this obsession, this absolute mania that was akin to breathing? Every Friday I log online and read reviews of the latest Hindi film release and feel miserable that I have to wait three months before I get to see these movies. But one beautiful Tuesday evening, as I pottered around the kitchen, Atif Aslam’s dulcet voice singing Bekhuda careened right through the door and knocked me off my feet. Kismat Konnection brought me back to life that day as I realized for the first time that Bollywood airs on Jordanian TV. That was also when my host brother chose to inform me that Khalid Baba, my host father, was a self-confessed fan of old Bollywood movies. He might speak minimal English and have only a basic idea of any TV show on FOX but mention Bollywood and he will excitedly rattle off names of the stalwarts of Indian cinema and their landmark movies. Raj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Zeenat Aman and Amitabh Bachchan are but some of the names he will throw your way.
Bollywood was a conversation starter even in the Badia. The pitchy notes of Mere Naseeb Mein playing in a small village in rural Jordan was not something I thought I would ever bear witness to but Bollywood had brought me home again. They played the song over and over again that night because the grandmother thought it was tragic that I was so far away from home and my mother. It was decided therefore that Bollywood music would be my surrogate mother for the night. Hospitality knows no bounds, does it?
That night, Bollywood and the Badia redeemed my faith in the transcendentality of Bollywood, the universal messages of love, family and community that bridge cultures, worlds and languages and the collective appeal of Shashi Kapoor’s boyish charm, Parveen Babi’s coy looks and Amitabh Bachchan’s righteous anger. A ‘killer’ combination as we would have said back in Bollywood obsessed India. And I just found out that there is a channel on Jordanian TV that airs Bollywood movies all day long. My grades are not happy.
Oh I made a new friend last night. She’s Columbian of Palestinian origin and we live worlds apart. What did we find to talk about, you ask? Her favorite actor is Shah Rukh Khan. Veer Zaara is her go to movie and her ring tone is Haule Haule from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. We had plenty to talk about…
No comments:
Post a Comment