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The Star Ledger , Feature >>
Hooray for Bollywood
Indian film stars bring their colorful global tour to New Jersey
Friday, April 14, 2006
BY TAD HENDRICKSON
For the Star-Ledger
WORLD
The golden age of Hollywood was known for movies filled with great music and dance routines. Through the depression and World War II, audiences flocked to film musicals, looking for a feeling of hope and a sense of glamour not found in real life.
This phenomenon resonates today as the people of India -- and much of the rest of the world -- look to Bollywood films, so named for the Indian film industry's original location in Bombay (now Mumbai), for that same sense of escape.
"Heat 2006," at the Continental Airlines Arena on Saturday, recreates some of the films' most popular musical numbers in a live Broadway-style revue with big-production values and a star-studded cast. A limited-run global tour with stops ranging from Dubai to Dallas, the show offers a chance to see Indian A-list film stars perform live.
In Hollywood terms, imagine if Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renée Zellweger toured hockey arenas coast to coast performing scenes from "Chicago."
"The actors love to perform these dances in front of live audiences and get immediate gratification," says show creator/director Abu Malik, who also has 10 films to his credit.
Whether it is a film about a long-suffering mother trying to raise a family, an action hero chasing the bad guys, or lovers engaged in a forbidden romance, Bollywood films -- typically three-hour-plus sagas -- are filled with spectacular music and dance numbers that fans will return to watch again and again.
In a country of 1 billion people with an economy that wasn't always as robust as it is today, Indians submerged themselves in these stories and songs, turning the actors into mythic figures bigger than rock stars. The industry is only too happy to help, turning out nearly twice as many films as Hollywood each year and selling more tickets.
Whereas Gene Kelly or Bing Crosby would dance and sing as well as act, Bollywood emphasizes the idea that the actors must look beautiful and move gracefully on screen. The singing comes from "playback singers," who can become stars in their own right when popular soundtrack songs go into heavy rotation on MTV India and the radio.
"It was exciting at first," recalls Asha Bhosle, 72, one of the genre's greatest playback singers and whose new double-CD, "Love Supreme" came out last month. "But later on, I was observing the heroine more carefully, watching her lip sync and her emotions. Some heroines did a great job, while some did no justice to my song."
A veteran who has sung thousands of songs over her 50-year career, Bhosle typically works with the director and songwriter to get the emotion of the performance perfectly calibrated to the story's character. The singers for "Heat 2006," however, are former contestants from a television show, "Saregamapa," which is the Indian version of "American Idol."
The Bollywood song style, known as filmi, is strongly influenced by Indian music's melodies and instrumentation, but can also draw upon western classical, rock, jazz and funk, with sometimes-kitschy results.
Bollywood has made inroads into American pop culture. Hip-hop producers like Timbaland and DJ Quik have integrated the filmi sound, and there have been crossover projects like "Bollywood/Hollywood" (2002) and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway production, "Bollywood Dreams." There are also underground club nights and numerous CDs that celebrate the music and culture.
Perhaps the rest of the world will catch on in grand fashion.
"As long as we create a theme that is somewhat mainstream, the general public can relate to it," Malik says. "Most Indian films deal with human interaction and family drama, which is quite universal."
Create your own Indian film festival
"Amar Akbar Anthony" (1977)
Action flicks and revenge sagas dominated Hindi-language cinema in the '70s. To the surprise of many, this off-kilter and fun film became a hit. Three brothers -- Amar, Akbar and Anthony -- are separated from their parents by a combination of fate and bad guys conspiring against them. They are raised as Hindu, Muslim and Christian, but are eventually reunited.
"Sholay" (1975)
Some regard this as one of the best action movies in Bollywood or beyond. This is in large part due to one of the greatest villains in all of Indian cinema, Gabbar Singh. Also worth noting is the silent romance between Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri, which is poignant and pitch perfect even though they only speak once in the entire movie.
"Mother India" (1957)
A fabulous socialist drama that follows a peasant woman from youth to old age as she single-handedly raises her two sons. The movie is filled with social commentary and a Freudian framing of relationships and sibling rivalry that rises to near Cain and Abel proportions.
"Pyaasa" (1957)
A classic alienated-artist story. Vijay is a struggling poet ahead of his time who is in love with a girl who marries for money, but a prostitute with a heart of gold loves him. The songs are brilliant and heartbreaking; the cinematography equally gorgeous.
"Lagaan" (2001)
A drought-stricken village in Victorian India struggles to pay the crippling tax levied under British rule. An arrogant captain challenges the villagers to a high-stakes game of cricket. Taxes will triple if the villagers lose; no taxes will be collected if they win. 04/14/06 >> go there
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