Thursday, February 23, 2006

Meanwhile, Back in Bollywood...

I decided, after being challenged by a reader to do so, to find some older Bollywood films to watch. I decided on Kabhi Kabhie (1976), a love story, and Sholay (1975), an action-type flick, both of which predate my existance. Unbeknowst to me, the Sean Connery of India himself, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan was in both movies. [Which, is exactly why I didn't pick two Yash Raj films. I was hoping to see some new faces...]

At any rate, I'm beginning to believe that brown skin fell out of fashion in Bollywood somewhere between the late 70's and the present. [I mean seriously, I need to watch a few more films but it looks like even the bad guys are avoiding sunshine these days. Heck, Mr. Bachchan himself looks lighter than he once did but maybe they only film during winter....]

Both films suffer from a bad case of the '70s, which simply means that the production quality (mostly sound) and fashion sense are remarkably indicative of the time period. Kabhi Kabhie was pretty decent and I really liked Sholay. I plan to post proper reviews later on but until then I must beg the question, Does Amitabh Bachchan appear better as an old man or young one? Either way, he's aging far better than Marlon Brando ever did.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Marlon Brando actually allowed himself to age without *help*. :-)

Anonymous said...

At any rate, I'm beginning to believe that brown skin fell out of fashion in Bollywood somewhere between the late 70's and the present.

As much as that was and to some extent is true, in that fair skin + no talent = lead actress in Bollywood being a norm, of late there have been actors/actresses who are not exactly setting paleness records(Bipasha Basu, Konkona Sen, etc).

However I must also say that in the US I have encountered a view(and I am not insinuating you hold this view) that if you aren't sufficiently brown or of a darker hue you don't qualify as Indian looking. There are light skinned people in India too who are indigenous to the populace, especially from the northern parts who are really fair - Kashmiris, Punjabis to name a few.

jd

t-HYPE said...

True jd.
"Black" people in the US suffer this same issue. Many folks who consider themselves black are actually very lightskinned (ie. Halle Berry). People really shouldn't generalize. But I suppose it's just too easy to point out people who are less white/caucasian looking and label them as more "authentic." I myself, being brownskinned, am probably bordering on hyper-conscious about this issue as it obviously holds personal interest for me.

Anonymous said...

"maybe they only film during winter...."

Made me laugh. :)

Rachel
Nova Scotia
http://greatestjournal.com/users/lavender_ocean

Anonymous said...

Nice blog. I wonder how you end up making these connection between pople that look so much alike. This was a great post...Did not think of Adrian Brody and Kunal as looking similar until I saw their pictures side by side....

Kamla

t-HYPE said...

Thanks Kamla!
I was just about to file broad, overarching, abstract associations under "bad habits"!