Would you like to watch a Bollywood film but don’t know where to begin? Then you need to head to the National Media Museum in Bradford for their Bollywood for Beginners season. Over the past few months, the museum has been screening a number of classics from the last five decades – Sholay (1975), Devdas (2002) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960) so far, with a couple more films still to go.
I’ve been on hand to introduce each film. This means I offer some cultural context, present the key personalities and reveal who was romancing who off screen. I also explain why the films contain all that singing and dancing, how love works in the golden oldies, as well as pointing out the features that have made these films the classics that they are today.
The remaining two films reflect contemporary Bollywood. On Sunday 30th September, you can watch Namastey London (2007) starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif. Culture clashes abound when a traditional Indian farmer arrives in London to win the heart of his British Indian wife, after the girl’s father arranges the transcontinental match without her consent. While Jasmeet (or Jazz to her British friends) must choose between her western upbringing and the Indian values of her parents, the Punjabi groom coolly hatches his own plan to win the girl of his dreams. This rustic romantic comedy became a runaway hit upon release.
The final film in the current season is the romantic drama, Love Aaj Kal (2009) on Sunday 28th October. The movie offers Bollywood’s take on post-modern relationships. Jai and Meera break up because neither wants to commit when their lives are pulled in different directions. But Jai is forced to rethink after an old-fashioned romantic recounts his own powerful love story. This contemporary tale stars Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rahul Khanna as well as Rishi Kapoor (from the famous Kapoor clan). Set against the backdrops of Delhi, London and San Francisco, and told in ‘Hinglish’ (a mix of Hindi and English), the film highlights a departure from Bollywood’s iconic motifs and a new-found fascination with global culture.
The National Media Museum is offering Culture Vulture readers the chance to win a pair of tickets for each screening. To be in with a chance to win, please use the comments box below to tell us which film (Namastey London OR Love Aaj Kal) you’d like to win tickets for. And don’t forget to tell us why!
We’ll be choosing and notifying the winner five days before each film screening.
Namastey London (PG), subtitles
Sunday 30 September only, 12.30pm – 3.30pm
Love Aaj Kal (12A), subtitles
Sunday 28 October only, 12.30pm – 3.15pm
Irna Qureshi blogs about being British, Pakistani, Muslim and female in Bradford, against a backdrop of classic Indian films.
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