Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Putting my rupees where my mouth is in 2022

It seems strange to consider the influence a little 2003 comedy called The Guru had on me. 

Daisy von Scherler Meyer's film was forgotten immediately by most people who saw it, even those who liked it, which was not everybody. Me, I adored it, bought it for my own collection, and have watched it about four times in total.

Not to be confused with the Mike Myers bomb The Love Guru, The Guru is about a young Indian man (Jimi Mistry) who comes to New York with the hopes of becoming a star, having loved American movies like Grease from when he was a kid. He ends up falling for a porn actress (Heather Graham) and becoming a fraud guru to rich Upper West Siders.

Doesn't sound like a winner? Oh but this description doesn't begin to quantify this film's sweetness and heart. 

It also features a memorable Bollywood dance number, in which Graham is one of the dancers. It arrives and delivers right near the emotional highpoint of the film. 

This dance number was apparently enough for me to think of myself as a Bollywood fan.

Crazy, right? Maybe it just planted a seed. Because any time I saw a snippet of Bollywood in some other movie -- such as, for example, Gurdiner Chadha's Bride & Prejudice -- I was reminded of my love for Bollywood movies.

The thing is, I don't believe I have actually seen a single proper Bollywood movie from start to finish.

I should clarify that. I'm sure I have seen films that were produced in Bollywood, because all sorts of Indian films fit that description, just as all sorts of American films can be said to originate in Hollywood (even if most of the studio lots are in Burbank or Culver City or somewhere adjacent to Hollywood). 

But Bollywood films the way we think of them? With colorful costumes and singing and dancing and huge quantities of contagious joy?

Not a one, as far as I know.

Well, that's going to change in 2022.

Allow me to introduce you to Audient Bollywood, my 2022 monthly viewing series in which I acquaint myself with the Bollywood greats.

This is by far the least I've known about one of my monthly viewing series going into it. As I type this, I don't know a single title that I am going to watch this year.

My initial prep work will be to cross-reference a number of internet lists of Bollywood classics, to see which titles appear in more than one of them. I assume this will produce a good working list of titles on Letterboxd, from which I can draw depending on my mood or their availability. I have to assume some will be available on streaming services I already subscribe to, and others through rental. But really, at this point I just don't know. It's a wee bit scary but mostly exhilarating. 

I also hope to get a good representation of time periods, as is probably obvious when you're talking about working from a list of classics. Though I don't think I'll be organized enough to go in chronological order or anything like that.

Will all the movies have to involve song and dance and costumes? Not necessarily. In fact, I'm sure my appreciation of what constitutes a consummate Bollywood film will expand as I go along. That's another benefit of not having a working list of movies at the start. It allows me to make the series up as I go, not have a rigid plan from which I must deviate. 

The goal?

Not only just to see 12 Bollywood films, of course. The goal will be to see if I want to become a guy who seeks out Bollywood films for his own random viewing pleasure, even when they are not part of a viewing series.

And if not, well, at least I will have gotten a good taste of what Bollywood is all about.

Speaking of tastes ... this would be a great opportunity for a monthly Indian feast, maybe even one I play a role in cooking as the year goes on. In moving to this house, we've left behind a truly great Indian restaurant, and are doubtful we can find one to fill its shoes here. Maybe that's where our own cooking comes in. Hey, I've always said I want to expand outward from the seven dishes I make.

Anyway, I expect 2022 to be filled with spices and curries, both on screen and off. I hope you will join me as I queue up my first title, which is completely and totally TBD, later this month.

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