Bollywood. Kind of.

T-Minus 2 days - As a part of our trip, we will visit a movie studio in Chennai.  in order to prepare ourselves, we had to give a report on the Indian film industry so we don't look like idiots when we get there.  Personally, I had heard of Bollywood as a type of Indian made movie.  What I didn't know was the volume of movies they make per year as well as the daily viewership.  It is estimated that 15 Million Indians view movies per day.  With a population roughly four times that of the United States, you would expect more viewership, but in the U.S. we view roughly 3.5 million movies per day (in theaters). 

In preparation for our trip, I was researching and I ran across Delhi Belly. In the description it said banned in New Delhi. I had to see what all the fuss was about. I watched the movie over a couple days. It was not your typical Bollywood movie. The lavish song and dance was missing, but the music was a critical part of the movie. It was completely effective in setting the mood or foreshadowing an upcoming scene. It really was a great movie!  It was set in India and the spoke English for nearly the whole movie. There was a few minutes where they were speaking "Hindlish" which is kind of a mixture of Hindu and English. During this part of the movie, I could really only make out every tenth word or so. Even without the language for those few minutes, I still could follow what was going on based on body language etc.

I am really looking forward to the Indian movie studio visit. Although I may not recognize an Indian moviestar if I see one, I am sure they will stand out from the crowd. It will also be exciting to see the process of making Indian movies. Until then...