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COPYRIGHT 2005 Australian Teachers of Media
I can't keep it inside of me any more! All this preaching by the Western media about what I should appreciate from my own popular culture. One Bride and Prejudice (Gurinder Chadha, 2004) comes along aimed at ignorant white audiences, and they lap it up because everything Indian is the flavour of the season.
Dahling Bollywood is so much fun! Love those songs and dances! Your weddings are so musical! India is so exotic! A few academic scholars apart, there was a time when film analysts, the Western media and the Western world in general rejected Bombay cinema as trite. Not because it actually was, but because they could not comprehend it. Over-the-top melodrama, songs, multiple changes of clothes and locations in one song, no kissing or sex, corny dialogue, cheesy moments ... How could this be serious? The films were too long and too ridiculous for Westerners. No one cared to know about any talent from Bombay cinema. The vision of Bimal Roy, the sophistication of Vijay Anand, the sensitivity of Guru Dutt, the grandeur of Nasir Hussain, the deliberate illogic of Manmohan Desai and the genius of Kishore Kumar were alien to the West. No one drooled over the ethereal, timeless beauty of Madhubala or the serenity of Waheeda Rehman. These were--and are--strange names to Western ears. It is unlikely many Western film critics have seen Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957), the first Indian movie to be nominated for an Oscar (Best Foreign Language Film, 1958).
The main principle of capitalism is that anything that makes money is legitimate, and the drawing power of Bombay cinema now suddenly has everyone jumping on the bandwagon. Every Geeta, Gina and Gurinder wants...
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