Post by jjake61 on Nov 22, 2013 2:09:35 GMT
Hi folks. I am transfering my intro from when I joined the forum on the old forum boards. just messing around to try and get used to the new format:
"My bollywood addiction took 20 years and started in Nairobi in 1988. I had just graduated and was sent to Nairobi Kenya by the YMCA for two years to work for the Kenya YMCA. (The program was similar to the US Peace Corps.) At some point in my two year stay I decided to go see one of the Bollywood movies that was playing at one of the Asian movie theaters. My Kenyan friends had said they were good. I think I went by myself but honestly I can't remember that detail anymore. Gosh how can I describe what this was like? There were no subtitles but they were completely unneccesary. It was obvious who the good guys were, who the bad guys were, who were the love interests, I could totally figure out what the conflict was and from the OTT acting could easily tell what the emotions were. If the actual film didn't make all these things obvious the audience reactions helped alot. They were...raucous. They cheered and hollered for the good guys, the boo'd (well actually hissed) the bad guys, They whistled, applauded, sang cheered and jeered through out the whole movie. (The closest thing to audience participation I had experienced like this back in Minneapolis was Rocky Horror) I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I went back a few more time while I was in Kenya. Maybe I saw 4 or 5 movies total. I left with the general impression that the movies were formulaic and simple, but had a little something for everyone, the randomly placed songs and costume changes I loved (I grew up with a Mom who loved old MGM musicals so the randomly placed songs and dancing and costume changes didn't seem odd to me ) I thought the acting was hilariously OTT. In short Bollywood movies fell lin the "they are so bad they are good" category for me.
When I returned to Minneapolis it took me a couple of years to locate a store in NE Minneapolis that rented Bollywood movies. I decided to have an "India Night" party. I rented a movie, made some samosas and tried my hand at some curry dishes, bought some wine and invited a dozen friends over. The movie I rented was on vhs as there was no dvd's back then. I just asked the shopkeeper to pick one out for me. He tried to give me one with subtitles but I refused it. We had a blast. We drank the wine and filled in the dialogue ourselves. Of course most of our dialogue was quite naughty I ended up having an India Night party 3 0r 4 times a year. They became well known and were looked forward to by my circle of friends. Each time I asked the shopkeeper to pick out an unsubtitled movie that he thought we would like. During this time (Mid90's) My opinion about Bollywood hadn't changed. I loved their over cheesy badness except now I also thought that all the actors had to look alike. I only recently realised that the shopkeeper was only renting me Shah Rukh Khan movies so during this time I came to think the same guy was in every movie So how did I go from a "recreational user" to a full blown "Bollyaddict and pusher"?
Since '97 I have been teaching at one of the High School here in Minneapolis. It is a typical inner city school with a very diverse population. We have lots of Somalian, Hispanic, and Hmong students. We have a very small number of Tibetens and NRI mostly from Guyana, Surinam etc... About 5 years ago I was talking with my 2 hindu students about Bollywood and approached them about starting an afterschool Bollywood Club. I knew that I would have a built in audience with the Somali.Tibetans and Hmong students and felt that the native born americans and hispanic kids would like them if they had an opportunity to be exposed to them. DVD's were out by then with subtitles available on all of them. The first couple of years I relied on my students to bring in the movies. I would say it is this time I began to really appreciate the movies more. Reading the subtitles, following the stories, now I was laughing only at the funny parts, now crying at the sad, I was quizing my students about the names of the actors and actresses. Absorbing more details about culture and language (lots of hindi words are the same in kiswahili!) I still couldn't get very many african american, hispanic and white american kids to stay after for the club and I really wanted them to get a chance to enjoy these movies too. I felt it was another opportunity for these diverse kids to share something enjoyable, safe and fun after school. Here is where the real "bollypushing" begins I decided to show a Bollywood movie during the school day as part of my curriculum (luckily I teach social studies and not math!) I did a unit on Popular culture and showed Main Hoon Na to my 9th graders. Now imagine the grumbling when you tell a bunch of 14 year olds they have to read subtitles. But every year the same thing happens. I set the movie up, tell them the first 20 minutes sets up the premis so be patient! And then when the first song starts (Chale Jaise Hawaien) and the beat changes and the dancing starts there is an audible gasp from my students and they collectively lean forward in their seats. Then just befor the bell rings is the hilarious scene when SRK gets spit on. They are hooked. The next day I will have kids shoving phones and ipods in my face showing me the hindi ringtones and songs they down loaded.
Last year one of my students told me about the theater in Minneapolis that shows South Asian movies. I took my 12 year old and a couple of her friends to see Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. We loved it (this movie was also popular with my Bollywood Club- why did it flop?) Anyway with netflix, internet, eros entertainment, music off Itunes and the theater I am completely hooked and obssessed. I don't do India Night parties any more because I can't stand listening to people who don't really appreciate the movies make fun of them. I some how get offended by it! Seriously If I knew someone my age that was surfing the web reading news and gossip about Hollywood stars I would think they were somehow imature and shallow. But seriously this obsession is ok isn't it?... I mean its "International Cinema"... we're reading subtitles...its intellectual and exotic.... makes us kind of "worldly" don't ya think? "
That was written 2008. Just an FYI the Bollywood club grew and grew then last year naturally ended. Due to constrictions to our curriculum I don't have the flexibility anymore to show a movie or even film clips to promote an after school club. (We have to focus on closing the achievement gap and improving test scores!) Also my 12 year old is now 18 and in college. And my love for masala has lead me to focus most of my attention on South Indian films. So catch ya all in the Beyond Bollywoood section!
"My bollywood addiction took 20 years and started in Nairobi in 1988. I had just graduated and was sent to Nairobi Kenya by the YMCA for two years to work for the Kenya YMCA. (The program was similar to the US Peace Corps.) At some point in my two year stay I decided to go see one of the Bollywood movies that was playing at one of the Asian movie theaters. My Kenyan friends had said they were good. I think I went by myself but honestly I can't remember that detail anymore. Gosh how can I describe what this was like? There were no subtitles but they were completely unneccesary. It was obvious who the good guys were, who the bad guys were, who were the love interests, I could totally figure out what the conflict was and from the OTT acting could easily tell what the emotions were. If the actual film didn't make all these things obvious the audience reactions helped alot. They were...raucous. They cheered and hollered for the good guys, the boo'd (well actually hissed) the bad guys, They whistled, applauded, sang cheered and jeered through out the whole movie. (The closest thing to audience participation I had experienced like this back in Minneapolis was Rocky Horror) I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I went back a few more time while I was in Kenya. Maybe I saw 4 or 5 movies total. I left with the general impression that the movies were formulaic and simple, but had a little something for everyone, the randomly placed songs and costume changes I loved (I grew up with a Mom who loved old MGM musicals so the randomly placed songs and dancing and costume changes didn't seem odd to me ) I thought the acting was hilariously OTT. In short Bollywood movies fell lin the "they are so bad they are good" category for me.
When I returned to Minneapolis it took me a couple of years to locate a store in NE Minneapolis that rented Bollywood movies. I decided to have an "India Night" party. I rented a movie, made some samosas and tried my hand at some curry dishes, bought some wine and invited a dozen friends over. The movie I rented was on vhs as there was no dvd's back then. I just asked the shopkeeper to pick one out for me. He tried to give me one with subtitles but I refused it. We had a blast. We drank the wine and filled in the dialogue ourselves. Of course most of our dialogue was quite naughty I ended up having an India Night party 3 0r 4 times a year. They became well known and were looked forward to by my circle of friends. Each time I asked the shopkeeper to pick out an unsubtitled movie that he thought we would like. During this time (Mid90's) My opinion about Bollywood hadn't changed. I loved their over cheesy badness except now I also thought that all the actors had to look alike. I only recently realised that the shopkeeper was only renting me Shah Rukh Khan movies so during this time I came to think the same guy was in every movie So how did I go from a "recreational user" to a full blown "Bollyaddict and pusher"?
Since '97 I have been teaching at one of the High School here in Minneapolis. It is a typical inner city school with a very diverse population. We have lots of Somalian, Hispanic, and Hmong students. We have a very small number of Tibetens and NRI mostly from Guyana, Surinam etc... About 5 years ago I was talking with my 2 hindu students about Bollywood and approached them about starting an afterschool Bollywood Club. I knew that I would have a built in audience with the Somali.Tibetans and Hmong students and felt that the native born americans and hispanic kids would like them if they had an opportunity to be exposed to them. DVD's were out by then with subtitles available on all of them. The first couple of years I relied on my students to bring in the movies. I would say it is this time I began to really appreciate the movies more. Reading the subtitles, following the stories, now I was laughing only at the funny parts, now crying at the sad, I was quizing my students about the names of the actors and actresses. Absorbing more details about culture and language (lots of hindi words are the same in kiswahili!) I still couldn't get very many african american, hispanic and white american kids to stay after for the club and I really wanted them to get a chance to enjoy these movies too. I felt it was another opportunity for these diverse kids to share something enjoyable, safe and fun after school. Here is where the real "bollypushing" begins I decided to show a Bollywood movie during the school day as part of my curriculum (luckily I teach social studies and not math!) I did a unit on Popular culture and showed Main Hoon Na to my 9th graders. Now imagine the grumbling when you tell a bunch of 14 year olds they have to read subtitles. But every year the same thing happens. I set the movie up, tell them the first 20 minutes sets up the premis so be patient! And then when the first song starts (Chale Jaise Hawaien) and the beat changes and the dancing starts there is an audible gasp from my students and they collectively lean forward in their seats. Then just befor the bell rings is the hilarious scene when SRK gets spit on. They are hooked. The next day I will have kids shoving phones and ipods in my face showing me the hindi ringtones and songs they down loaded.
Last year one of my students told me about the theater in Minneapolis that shows South Asian movies. I took my 12 year old and a couple of her friends to see Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. We loved it (this movie was also popular with my Bollywood Club- why did it flop?) Anyway with netflix, internet, eros entertainment, music off Itunes and the theater I am completely hooked and obssessed. I don't do India Night parties any more because I can't stand listening to people who don't really appreciate the movies make fun of them. I some how get offended by it! Seriously If I knew someone my age that was surfing the web reading news and gossip about Hollywood stars I would think they were somehow imature and shallow. But seriously this obsession is ok isn't it?... I mean its "International Cinema"... we're reading subtitles...its intellectual and exotic.... makes us kind of "worldly" don't ya think? "
That was written 2008. Just an FYI the Bollywood club grew and grew then last year naturally ended. Due to constrictions to our curriculum I don't have the flexibility anymore to show a movie or even film clips to promote an after school club. (We have to focus on closing the achievement gap and improving test scores!) Also my 12 year old is now 18 and in college. And my love for masala has lead me to focus most of my attention on South Indian films. So catch ya all in the Beyond Bollywoood section!
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