That Bollywood Preview Show
Before I left for New York, I had a spare weekend to film and edit a short film and enter a film festival by the name of Tongues on Fire, and this years breif was 'Bollywood and beyond' to be interperated in whatever manner possible. At the festival I didn't see any Tinto Brass inpsired renditions of Bollywood.
I toyed with the notion of diffusion and affirmation of culture. Bollywood, to an extent, mediates the image of the Non-Resident-Indian, we are often emulated and mocked at the same time. With this short, the main character Munda Lafunga is a Non Resident Indian imitating a Resident Indian who is emulating a Non Resident Indian... confused?
'That Bollywood Preview Show' was the name of my short (15 min) film. It's a behind-the-scenes-type with a bit of rove-reporting concocted into a satire-of-the-fact that non-of-this-is-real genre of film. The concept is like this... 'That Bolywood Preview Show' is a fictitious TV show on some Indian cable channel which goes behind the scenes of Bollywood films with exclusive access giving the audience interviews with the stars. This week 'TBPS', with it's lovable rogue of a host, Munda Lafunga is on location in London with crew of the film 'Dilwale Mujhe Kuch Kuch Pyaar Hogeya Hain Tumse Sanam: a Love Story'. (This translates roughly as 'Courageous heartful one I have a little little fallen in Love with you beloved: a Love Story').
The film (within the film) is a love triangle in which there are two guys and one gal. Raj (Sunil Suryavanshi)* is the son of a high flying Indian businessman, Pooja (Sexina Kapoor)* is the daughter of another high flying Indian businessman and Rahul (Bobby Bhola)*. Both the parents of Raj and Pooja want their children to marry, so they can forge a strong business alliance but Pooja is free spirited and has no interest. One day Pooja is cruising along enjoying her freedom and her car breaks down, out of nowhere she is ambushed by thugs who want their wicked ways with her... Also, out of nowhere, Rahul the knight in shining armour (local garage mechanic) comes to her rescue. Inevitably she falls in love with him and makes excuses to see him, but he doesn't feel the same way.
One day, Raj follows Pooja to see where she goes to and this is the moment when Rahul sees his true calling manifest in his feelings for Raj. A love triangle indeed.
These actors are interviewed, each represents a certain aspect of the Bollywood film industry...
Sunil Suryavanshi: his name means Dynasty, he represents nepotism
Sexina Kapoor: she represents the sleaze of the casting couch
Bobby Bhola: his name means Bobby Naive, the hopefuls that flock to Film City every day
Bhaiya Bhai* [producer]: he represents the underworld involvement, converting black money to white. *Bhai, 'Brothers', or bigger brothers are the gangsterism or mafioso of India.
Chintoo Mahachor [director]: represents wholesale piracy "my film is an exploration of the nexus where the storylines of Something about Mary, Sholay and Star-Wars meet".
The Actor who was playing Chintoo pulled out at the last minute, so in true Bollywood fashion I killed him off and dedicated the film to him.
There were also rushes of Munda Lafunga interviewing members of the public about their views on Bollywood. It's amazing how many people (when faced with a camera) will pretend to know about something they really don't just to appear broad-minded or intelligent. My finest hour was when a group of American (who else?) student girls asked if Munda Lafunga was famous, to which he retorted "in my country I am". To the delight of the groupies he was happy to pose for pictures with them, while his hand was stuck in a pillar box (don't ask). Now some American girls somewhere beleive they have had photographs with an Indian TV personality when really he was just some guy from West London!
On return from New York I arrived to the news that my film will be screened as part of short films for Tongues on Fire and will be shown at the ICA [Institute of Contemporary Arts]. That night, is another blog entirely...
I toyed with the notion of diffusion and affirmation of culture. Bollywood, to an extent, mediates the image of the Non-Resident-Indian, we are often emulated and mocked at the same time. With this short, the main character Munda Lafunga is a Non Resident Indian imitating a Resident Indian who is emulating a Non Resident Indian... confused?
'That Bollywood Preview Show' was the name of my short (15 min) film. It's a behind-the-scenes-type with a bit of rove-reporting concocted into a satire-of-the-fact that non-of-this-is-real genre of film. The concept is like this... 'That Bolywood Preview Show' is a fictitious TV show on some Indian cable channel which goes behind the scenes of Bollywood films with exclusive access giving the audience interviews with the stars. This week 'TBPS', with it's lovable rogue of a host, Munda Lafunga is on location in London with crew of the film 'Dilwale Mujhe Kuch Kuch Pyaar Hogeya Hain Tumse Sanam: a Love Story'. (This translates roughly as 'Courageous heartful one I have a little little fallen in Love with you beloved: a Love Story').The film (within the film) is a love triangle in which there are two guys and one gal. Raj (Sunil Suryavanshi)* is the son of a high flying Indian businessman, Pooja (Sexina Kapoor)* is the daughter of another high flying Indian businessman and Rahul (Bobby Bhola)*. Both the parents of Raj and Pooja want their children to marry, so they can forge a strong business alliance but Pooja is free spirited and has no interest. One day Pooja is cruising along enjoying her freedom and her car breaks down, out of nowhere she is ambushed by thugs who want their wicked ways with her... Also, out of nowhere, Rahul the knight in shining armour (local garage mechanic) comes to her rescue. Inevitably she falls in love with him and makes excuses to see him, but he doesn't feel the same way.
One day, Raj follows Pooja to see where she goes to and this is the moment when Rahul sees his true calling manifest in his feelings for Raj. A love triangle indeed.
These actors are interviewed, each represents a certain aspect of the Bollywood film industry...
Sunil Suryavanshi: his name means Dynasty, he represents nepotism
Sexina Kapoor: she represents the sleaze of the casting couch
Bobby Bhola: his name means Bobby Naive, the hopefuls that flock to Film City every day
Bhaiya Bhai* [producer]: he represents the underworld involvement, converting black money to white. *Bhai, 'Brothers', or bigger brothers are the gangsterism or mafioso of India.
Chintoo Mahachor [director]: represents wholesale piracy "my film is an exploration of the nexus where the storylines of Something about Mary, Sholay and Star-Wars meet".
The Actor who was playing Chintoo pulled out at the last minute, so in true Bollywood fashion I killed him off and dedicated the film to him.
There were also rushes of Munda Lafunga interviewing members of the public about their views on Bollywood. It's amazing how many people (when faced with a camera) will pretend to know about something they really don't just to appear broad-minded or intelligent. My finest hour was when a group of American (who else?) student girls asked if Munda Lafunga was famous, to which he retorted "in my country I am". To the delight of the groupies he was happy to pose for pictures with them, while his hand was stuck in a pillar box (don't ask). Now some American girls somewhere beleive they have had photographs with an Indian TV personality when really he was just some guy from West London!
On return from New York I arrived to the news that my film will be screened as part of short films for Tongues on Fire and will be shown at the ICA [Institute of Contemporary Arts]. That night, is another blog entirely...
posted by Mandeep Singh Jutla at 12:43 am
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