Bollywood (Mollywood?) & Hollywood

(shouldn’t it be called “Mollywood” now that Mumbai is no longer Bombay? Ah, well, I don’t mind keeping the initial “b”! :-D)

Last week, courtesy of Cinema Nuovo Olimpia, I went to see “My name is Khan” (original version, subtitles in both English – for the Hindi parts – and Italian). Some sites say the movie is 165minutes (i.e. 2h45min.), but it lasted 2h8min, so I don’t know if it was cut for western audiences or what. I do recommend it to westerners who are wary of Bollywood songs, as it doesn’t have that many (at least in the version that I saw). And it’s a great story.

“My name is Khan, and I’m not a terrorist” is the best line of the whole movie, and mega-star Shah Rukh Khan proved he can be as good as Sean Penn (I am Sam), Leonardo DiCaprio (What’s eating Gilbert Grape) and Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) – sorry haven’t seen Forrest Gump, to which it’s compared. So kudos to his acting, very  jarring for me used to his other selves, although I still have to see him dance (in KANK he was a limping character and let Bachchan Sr and Jr do all the moves, sigh). Seeing him on the “big” screen (bigger than my TV, but not really a huge screen, the Nuovo Olimpia is a small, indy theater…) was… interesting. I didn’t fall in love with him like it happened with a certain very famous sci-fi movie of 1999, which started my obsession for my Muse (had seen him only on TV/video before then), but I enjoyed the bigger view.

Shah Rukh Khan in Roma - photo scanned from Ciak/December issue

I’ve read on my fave Italian movie mag Ciak that Shah Rukh also came to Rome to present it at the Movie Festival – I was in Wales at the time. But then, I never go to the movie festival anyway because either I’m away or don’t bother to cross town as most events are at the Auditorium, which means during rush hour it would take less to get to Florence by fast train (which I have considered for this event, but didn’t do). So Bollywood has come to Italy as well, or at least its major star! 😉

I don’t know if I’d have attended the festival knowing he’d be here. I’d go anywhere in town if I knew Keanu Reeves was coming (the press junket for Constantine was easily accessible near Termini station, thank god), but Shah Rukh… I do like him a lot, but maybe not enough, yet! 😉

drawing by Barb - black pencil, white gouache on yellow paper

Anyway, it seems that any time a celeb I’m interested in is in town, I’m away. Not to mention what happens with my Muse (the aforementioned Keanu Reeves, for new readers of the blog), who is NEVER where I am: if I go to LA, he’s in NY, if I go to NY, he’s in Toronto, if I go to Toronto, he’s in LA and if HE comes to Rome, I’m away, or learn about it too late. I managed to spend one hour in his presence at the aforementioned press junket, but otherwise now way of being anywhere near him. Something tells me I must turn those screenplays I wrote for him into novels and send him a copy… another project for next year! 😉

Posted by Barb on 07/12/2010

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/bollywood-mollywood-hollywood/