Have I mentioned yet how cable TV coming to India was the defining event of my nineties? Seems like I should have. I mean, this was the event that taught me that our film industry straight-up ditto copied stuff because no one expected Jill and Joe Average to be aware of the Western source material.
It also taught me that you can get away with anything if the person you’re talking to has no frame of reference to tell that you’re faffing. All you really need to do to is sound convincing enough. And, man alive, did Bollywood ever pull off the conviction bit or what?
If you hadn’t heard his entire discography on MTV already, how could you not believe Anu Malik’s puppy dog eyes when he told you that his songs were original? Now, I would actually be okay about this shoddy plagiarism business if Bollywood’s who-gives-a-fuck-ness didn’t spill over to the little things. Little things like characters shown smoking without inhaling, or less outrageous stuff like hacking into a computer using Windows Media Player.
Which brings me to 1998’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a little blockbuster that was, legit, the coolest movie that Bollywood had come out with till that time. I, however, will forever remember it as the last of the movies that was deemed cool by the general public, despite showing actors air guitar on screen with an actual guitar in hand.
I’m not saying that no one knew what musicians were supposed to look like on stage before MTV happened, but, evidently, no one who talked about movies did. Now, this Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji starrer is also the film that launched the career of one Mr Karan Johar. I’ve reviewed many a KJo flick in my time and have a very special place in my heart for each and every one of them. None more so than this first one, though.
LESSON #29
Be it global warming, or just reuniting two lovers, dump on your kids the problems you can’t take care of yourselves.
Excerpted with permission from 42 Lessons I Learnt From Bollywood: The Vigil Idiot’s Guide to the 1990s, HarperCollins India.
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It also taught me that you can get away with anything if the person you’re talking to has no frame of reference to tell that you’re faffing. All you really need to do to is sound convincing enough. And, man alive, did Bollywood ever pull off the conviction bit or what?
If you hadn’t heard his entire discography on MTV already, how could you not believe Anu Malik’s puppy dog eyes when he told you that his songs were original? Now, I would actually be okay about this shoddy plagiarism business if Bollywood’s who-gives-a-fuck-ness didn’t spill over to the little things. Little things like characters shown smoking without inhaling, or less outrageous stuff like hacking into a computer using Windows Media Player.
Which brings me to 1998’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a little blockbuster that was, legit, the coolest movie that Bollywood had come out with till that time. I, however, will forever remember it as the last of the movies that was deemed cool by the general public, despite showing actors air guitar on screen with an actual guitar in hand.
I’m not saying that no one knew what musicians were supposed to look like on stage before MTV happened, but, evidently, no one who talked about movies did. Now, this Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji starrer is also the film that launched the career of one Mr Karan Johar. I’ve reviewed many a KJo flick in my time and have a very special place in my heart for each and every one of them. None more so than this first one, though.
LESSON #29
Be it global warming, or just reuniting two lovers, dump on your kids the problems you can’t take care of yourselves.
Excerpted with permission from 42 Lessons I Learnt From Bollywood: The Vigil Idiot’s Guide to the 1990s, HarperCollins India.