Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Bajrangi Bhaijaan — a good starting place for trying Bollywood movies


A mute 6-year-old girl from a Pakistani village gets accidentally separated from her mother on their return from a trip to India. Stranded in India, she meets Pawan - an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman - who tries to discover the girl's parents. The obstacles are seemingly insurmountable, beginning with the fact that they are a long way from Pakistan and so no one would ever guess she isn't Indian. However, Pawan is what the girl's parents, unable to get into India to search for her, have prayed for — a "god-sent man" who will protect their daughter. Pawan is simple, innocent, and determined to do the right thing. And therein hangs the tale, including a heckuva road trip.

This was a complete and wonderful surprise. Told with a light touch, this is a heart-warming story that really captivated me. I was especially intrigued by the main puzzle. How does a young child who can't write or talk communicate enough clues to show where she belongs? And, if they can manage to get her back to Pakistan, how do they find her home in a remote mountain village? Each step of the way we were invested in these questions.

We chose it because it was supposed to be Salman Khan's best film and we'd been underwhelmed by his "James Bond" turn in Ek Tha Tiger. In that film he reminded me of a wooden Sylvester Stallone. In this one, he was truly engaging as the honest and direct man who wants to do the task God has given him in helping this child. It could have been a preachy, schmaltzy story but it avoided that route, in part because the whole thing is leavened by solid humor and also the story is more complex than you might expect. My favorite storyline is of a Pakistani freelance reporter who can't get no respect.

In many ways this struck me as a perfect starting point for those who want to try a Bollywood film. Many of the things we have learned from watching a lot of Bollywood movies are touched on briefly here in a way that is easy for newcomers to understand.
  • Good song and dance numbers. (Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor dancing like chickens is a memory I will treasure.) 
  • Arranged marriage
  • Caste
  • Common contrasts and conflicts between India's many religions
  • Pakistan and India's high level of hostility toward each other
  • Unrealistic parental expectations
  • India's surprising police approach to interrogations (at least as shown in Indian movies)
  • The dark fate of orphans/lost children in India

However, as I mentioned, this is all done with a light touch because they are simply elements of the big story about reuniting a little girl with her family.

It made me happy when I watched it. And again the next day when I was thinking about it.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Scott and I discussed this on Episode 201 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.
Hannah and Rose discussed it on An American's Guide to Bollywood.

2 comments:

  1. The partition of India, Pakistan, was not a good event. On one hand, where India was getting independence, that too after the slavery of 200 years, there were fragments of the same India which had been in existence for centuries as a monolithic country for centuries. It was going on in the form of jute, after watching this movie, you will understand what exactly that person was because of which India Pakistan was partitioned !!! :- Partition of India

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  2. To be clear to anyone reading the above comment - "after watching this movie, you will understand what exactly that person was because of which India Pakistan was partitioned !!!" - they are directing you to watch the linked to film. NOT Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

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