In Reply to: Re: "Loveless Hollywood" posted by MG on December 22, 2007 at 15:43:16:
I heard on the radio the other day, that many Bollywood actors show forth some real nice environment activism, by using cars with highly reduced emissions, whether it's Cameron Diaz or Michel Pfeiffer or Arnold Schwarzenegger...
other than that, I am a bit disappointed in the moral "leads" of supposed "stars"...it takes only a few looks at the boulevard-press, to see, that many stars live pretty much their self-centered, luxury-centered life.It's the same with a lot of western musicians: their self indulgence makes it hard to listen to their "love songs".Since their private life pretty much ridicules, what they're singing about(that's why I stopped listening to the Bible verses in song of TF long time ago...although J. Spencer is talented, no doubt, I hate his screwy morals)
The last one I pretty much believed his emotions & love songs is/was Brian Adams, about twelve years back.
Therefore I don't expect even from the play-writers/scriptwriters anymore the deepest stories...either Shakespear & others get copied...& it' playing in different/older times, where also in the western world you had arragend marriages, obedience to parents & "higher" authorities, which brought in the necessary tension & suspension & special chemistry or you have it set in some fantasy world...outer space & what not & that's often far removed from reality, with hardly any relevance to my life or that of others ...
India is different there...many of the customs are really pretty eastern (even near eastern) & that makes it more fascinating for me.In some ways I find the contents more "scriptural" than the western counterparts.In western Tele-novels it's common since ages to show sex...deep kissing, complete nakedness of man & woman...there are really hardly no limits of showing all the "deviances"...likewise cheating on your mate is also very common content of the nowadays makes.Every now and then you have a movie, which shows the sad repercussions it has on the kids those enstranged couples have in common.But the moral line is often: shit happens...so what...love comes & goes...
Can you imagine, we have (had) a female "Christian" politician (in Germany), who in all sincerity suggested to have marriages limited automatically to 7 years with some option for more years.I thought the lady went nuts...but of course there were "loosers" who cheered the whole thing...
Anyway, even in India you have lots of B-rated/classified movies or should I rather say C-rated ones...pretty cheap productions in every way...In enlarging my DVD- Bollywood-film-collection, I very often resort to the film-critiques of the following-website :
I have seen many of the ones rated with four stars & must say, I found hardly anything much better in western movies, rather most lack in real emotions.True, what the critique says on that website, Indians make really horrible suspense & thriller movies, even their action films look quite amateurish compared to Hollywood, but I don't care anyway for such genre.I've watched too many war & crime movies in my life...one day it's a thing of the past...thank God...(pardon me )
So Bollywood is superior IMO in what they call the triangle-stories & that in so many varieties, that I wouldn't agree on your verdict, that if you have seen one, you have seen them all.
Yesterday I watched one & although I predicted part of the outcome & development, I was wrong in my expectations: the couple divorced, which is also not so common in the "scenery" of Indian movies...before that I saw one about an 60 year old being "seduced" by a 18 year old girl & the whole psychodrama was amazing, the way they depicted the heartache it caused on his loved ones, but also how he got trapped in it & how he drew the line & decided against his feelings & yet had to live with the terrible consequences for his own emotional life...also how he was counselled by his brother in law, last not least, the female heroine is such an eyecatch, what India seems to have by the dozens in the industry...(about the relevance of the movie monsoon-wedding for TF-survivors I had already talked about before..)
Anyway, I am an "fan" of Indian movies (or 3rd world movies in general) & one nice byproduct of it is: I feel often good afterwards & save money, because those movies are often much cheaper than their western counterparts...at least bought via ebay etc.
Yes, I remember those old days riding on overland buses & having to fight the noise of those TV-sets airing all kinds of movies...often three on a tour ...one time due to a shortcircuit
there was no more movie-time (relief...; ) )