Last night, I had a great America meets India evening with Papa John’s and a Bollywood film.
The Papa John’s pizzas were exactly like home (simple and pretty bland, which was much welcomed) with a few having an Indian twist (i.e. Chicken Tikka pizza). I had my first salad in India, which was a welcome change from the oily curries and starchy breads and rices. The prices were comparable to home, and consequently, our group of eight Americans were the only ones there. Next door, the McDonald’s—with lower prices—was packed.
As good as Papa John’s was, the Bollywood movie—Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl—was the highlight of the evening. It was an experience for a number of reasons:
1) You have to order your tickets ahead of time. The tickets are not general admission, but assigned seats. We ordered the Rs. 50 ($1) tickets online earlier in the afternoon and chose our seats. Even though the seats were assigned, all the seats were the same price.
2) The theatre is the coldest place I’ve been to in India. It might have just been this theatre, but the temperature had to be 60 degrees.
3) The audience included all ages and genders. Indians are passionate about their Bollywood films, and this film was no exception. Our 8:30 film had families with young children, groups of teenage guys, twenty-something women, young couples, old couples, 12 Americans, and everyone in between.
4) The movie did not have previews, but instead had the Indian National Anthem. Like a sporting event in the United States, everyone stood up at the start of the movie to pay respect to India.
5) The movie itself, like everything in this country, was completely over the top. The plot was pretty silly and easy to understand even though it was in HIndi. The famous Bollywood singing and dancing was present throughout the film.
6) The sound system was so loud. I felt like I was at a concert with the sound system and music blaring. The 5 year old girl next to me was completely unphased.
7) Even though the film was only about 2 hours, there was a 10 minute intermission. At the half way point, in the middle of a song and dance routine, the lights of the theatre slowly came on. I thought there was going to be a light show to accompany the dancing, but it was only intermission.
8) The audience was surprisingly calm. I was expecting lots of cheering or audience participation, but it was the same as home.
The Indian peers I’m working with said this movie was pretty bad. A new film, which everyone is talking about, is being released next week. It’ll be interesting to compare the two films.
