Now you’ll can watch Indian films on American channel. The films selected are classics.
Indian films make jump to U.S. TV
By Mark Lowry
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
SUNDANCE CHANNEL
Neera Bajwa stars in the Indian film Bollywood Bound, which will air in July on the Sundance Channel.
It’s appropriate that Turner Classic Movies begins its 12-film, four-week “TCM Salutes Bollywood” series with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
The 1995 film is one of the biggest money-makers of the '90s and marks the performance that made Shahrukh Khan one of the world’s biggest movie stars. He’s box-office gold in India, which, at a production rate of about 1,000 films per year, has the world’s largest film industry.
More important, Dilwale is a perfect introduction to changing ideals in India and its film industry.
In the movie, which translates to The Big-Hearted Will Win the Bride, Khan plays Raj, a bachelor whose prankish personality endears him to Simran (Kajol), an Indian girl living in London with her NRI (nonresident Indian) family. The problem is that 20 years before, her father had already betrothed her to the son of a longtime friend.
Arranged marriages – a longstanding tradition on the Subcontinent – have remained a popular theme of Bollywood romances. But whereas the story usually has revolved around a couple that learns to love each other to keep the family’s honor, this one depicts a sea change, as the father eventually stifles his pride and lets his daughter go after the boy she falls in love with.
Like almost all films coming out of Bollywood, named after the country’s center of film activity, Bombay (now Mumbai), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is filled with extensive song-and-dance numbers.
“The main focus [of Indian filmmaking] is on the song-and-dance numbers, which are more erotic and more MTV-fast-cutting,” says Ismail Merchant, who hosts the TCM series. The story, he points out, is typically secondary.
TCM’s lineup gives a broad overview of the genre, with four films from the past decade, four from the '70s and five from Bollywood’s classic era. If you watch any of this series, don’t miss the last two weeks of films by such masters as Raj Kapoor (1951’s Awaara); Mehboob Khan (1957’s Mother India, the first Indian film nominated for a foreign-language Oscar); Bimal Roy (1953’s Do Bigha Zamin); and Guru Dutt (1957’s Pyaasa).
Merchant (whose real name is Ismail Noormohamed Abdul Rehman) was born in Bombay and began his career in India (his 1960 short film The Creation of Woman received an Oscar nod). He quickly teamed up with director James Ivory, and now Merchant Ivory is one of the most recognized duos in world cinema.
“These films are becoming more and more popular in the West, particularly in the Indian diaspora,” he says. “The musical numbers are being played, sung and danced to in the nightclubs. The young Indian filmmakers living in the West are drawing from Bollywood, particularly in films like [the indie hit] Bend It Like Beckham, where there is very much of an atmosphere of family, arranged marriages, rebellion.”
There have been many indications that Bollywood culture is becoming more popular in the West, witnessed by the recent Heather Graham comedy The Guru and the Bollywood-inspired Moulin Rouge. In July, the Sundance Channel will present a three-film series called “Bollywood Boulevard,” featuring three U.S. television premieres of recent Indian films: M.F. Husain’s Gaja Gamini (8 p.m. July 18), Arjun Sajnani’s Agni Varsha (8 p.m. July 19) and Nisha Puhuja’s Bollywood Bound (8 p.m. July 20).
For TCM’s series, it’s all about the roots of Bollywood and its impact on the new generation of filmmakers.
“It’s a very good selection of films,” says Merchant, who admits that one day he would like to produce a lavish Bollywood-style film.
“But I would do it with a story,” he says.
‘Salute to Bollywood’ schedule
TCM’s “Salute to Bollywood” schedule is as follows. All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted, and all films have English subtitles.
June 5
7 p.m. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
10:30 p.m. Bombay (1995)
1 a.m. Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)
June 12
7 p.m. Rangeela (1995), in Tamil
9:30 p.m. Dil Chahta Hai (2002), in Hindi and Urdu
1 a.m. Sholay (1975)
June 19
7 p.m. Pakeezah (1971) in Urdu
9:30 p.m. Junglee (1961)
Midnight Awaara (1951)
June 26
7 p.m. Mother India (1957)
10 p.m. Do Bigha Zamin (1953)
12:30 a.m. Pyaasa (1957)
TCM Salutes Bollywood
7 p.m. Thursdays, June 5 through June 26
Turner Classic Movies
Mark Lowry, (817) 390-7747 [email protected] Indian films make jump to U.S. TV
thats funny
!!!