Critical Blog Post4_Bollywood Festival

On Monday, I attended the Bollywood Film Festival at Riverside. The movie showed was Phaeli featuring a well-known Bollywood actor named Shahrukh Khan (who played Kishen) and his co-star Rani Mukerjei (who played Lachchi). The movie was an Indian ghost love story.

It started out with Lachchi getting ready for her wedding to Kishen. She is a nervous bride as she has never left her mother’s house before. She travels back to her husband’s house, the wedding caravan stops in a small so they could rest and have some food. While they are in the small town, Lachchi goes to freshen up at the watering hole, where a ghost sees her and becomes enchanted by her beauty and is distraught when she has to leave. Lachchi finally reaches her new home only to learn that her husband will be leaving the next morning to go away on business for 5 years for his father. On his way to his destination, Kishen passes through the ghost town again, where the ghost sees him, and learns that he left Lachchi alone for 5 years.

The ghost assumes Kichen’s identity and goes to Kichen’s house. Kichen’s family is surprised by his return, but they are very pleased to have him back. The ghost keeps Kichen’s father happy by using magic to provide him with 5 gold coins every morning. He also uses magic to improve the lives of everyone around him. He, however, is honest with Lachchi from the start about who he really is, and she quickly falls in love with him because of how kind he is to her. They have a good 4 years, until Lachchi gets pregnant, and the real Kichen hears this news. The real Kichen is stunned by this news, and decides to return home to check it out and finds the ghost who looks like him living with his family. The family is shocked and unable to determine who is the real Kichen. As a result, the men in the family take both Kichens to visit the king so that he could tell them who is the real Kichen. While travelling through the desert, they run into a wise man, who settles the issue for them by giving both Kichen three tests. The tests work, and the family finds out that a ghost has been living with them for the last 4 years. When the men return home, Lachchi is distraught by the news that the ghost she has fallen in love with is gone forever. The movie ends with Lachchi telling Kichen that she always knew the true identity of the ghost and that her heart would always be with the ghost. Kichen then tells Lachchi something that only the ghost knew, and it is revealed that the ghost is now living in Kichen’s body because it is the only real way he and Lachchi could ever be together. Lachchi, Kicheh, and their new daughter (Looni Mai) live happily ever after.

The story is meant to be an old-wives type tale. Periodically throughout the movie, two dolls appear (who are the parents of the ghost), and they add commentary to the story. I felt like this brings something unique to the film because it points out some of the inner thoughts and motives of the characters,  offering the audience a different perspective while watching the movie.

As in every Indian movie, there were several song and dance numbers throughout the film, all of them with traditional Indian-styled dancing. The dances were amazing. The movie also exposes the audience to the rich Indian culture. For example, in Indian, it is tradition that the bride lives with her husband’s family after getting married. Additionally, the way the characters dressed, spoke, and behaved all reflected parts of Indian society.

While the movie did contain sexual innuendo, all of the scenes in the movie were more on the conservative side. This also emphasizes an important aspect of Indian culture. A lot of Indian movies, typically do not show very physical scenes between the characters because it is not culturally acceptable. I recall reading an article a few years back about an Indian filmmaker who produced a somewhat racy film, stirring up quite a controversy in India.

I felt like the movie may have lost something in translation. It was sweet, yet some of the dialogue and song lyrics (when translated) were extremely comical, although I am quite sure that they were meant to be poetic. Overall, however, the movie was entertaining and interesting. I enjoyed watching it.

More Bollywood movies will be shown in Riverside all the way up until Halloween. I recommend that if you haven’t seen a Bollywood movie yet, that you do so. The Bollywood movies being shown are all Halloween-themed in honor of – what else – Halloween! Hope you can make it to at least one. Traditional Indian food will be provided at each of the movies. The food is from a restaurant  called Sitar (which I think may be near the strip). The next movie will be on Wednesday, October 19th, so try and make it, and have fun!