Breaking Into Bollywood

October 18, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

OK, so I’m stretching the ”newcomers to Scotland” line a tad. Or maybe you could see Bollywood as a relative newcomer to these shores. Can’t say I remember many Hindi-language movies gracing cinema screens near me when I was growing up. Now a globe-straddling cinematic colossus, Bollywood has well and truly made its mark in our little corner of the world. Hell, they’re even using it to sell Irn Bru.

Weighing in with a budget of just over £17m, Anthony D’Souza’s Blue is small compared to its Hollywood counterparts. Yet it’s one of the most expensive Bollywood flics to date and confirms the ever-growing reach and power of India’s most high-profile cultural export.

A Blue movie
A Blue movie
Not that it’s all been plain sailing for Blue’s creators. Despite the presence of stars such as Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, the film was released to distinctly mixed reviews, reputedly struggled to find distributors and was in serious danger of going straight to DVD. And the less said about Kylie Minogue’s debut contribution in “Chiggy Wiggy”, the better (here it is - decide for yourself!). 

Happily, initial wobbles were overcome and, in Scotland, the film has prime-time slots until Thursday at the main Cineworld complexes in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

For want of anything better to do and having never seen a Bollywood film, I went along to Saturday night’s screening at Cineworld Renfrew Street – and what a revelation! This has to rank as one of the most uplifting and enlivening cinematic discoveries I’ve made this year! No, seriously…

A brief plot synopsis: Sagar and Samir Singh (played by Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan) are brothers living continents apart. Sagar works for fishing and shipping magnate Aarav Malhotra (Kumar) in the Bahamas while little bro is a bike racer in Bangkok. A bit too cocky for his own good, Sam accepts a dodgy assignment from the shady Gulshan (Rahul Dev). He fails the assignment, losing a precious package and landing himself with a $50m debt he must repay if he wants to stay alive. 

After high-tailing to his brother’s home in the Bahamas, Sam proceeds to large it with Sagar and Aarav on the beach and in the local nightspots. Always on his mind is Nikki (Katrina Kaif), the beautiful love interest he left behind when he fled Bangkok. Unfortunately for Sam, Gulshan soon catches up him and a desperate race to avoid death ensues – one that culminates in the brothers and Aarav risking life and limb to find a teasure trove imprisoned in a sunken ship.  

OK, so Blue is plagued by clunky, redundant plotting; credibility isn’t just stretched, it’s snapped over and over again.

Blue: the cast
Blue: the cast
But there’s this silly, infectiously unabashed joie de vivre about the film that I couldn’t resist - I was sucked right in. Sam’s on the run from a ruthless crimelord but, hey, he’s also in an elite Bahamas nightclub and Kylie’s buying drinks at the bar - so why not live for the moment and get her up to dance with all the other gorgeous guys and gals? Bloody good life philosophy, I say. Aarav – what a character! Starts out as a smug, self-serving twat with too many burnt pockets. But, thanks to a series of twists and revelations, he shows it’s possible to be filthy rich, morally upright, just a bit sleazy and happily married to a beautiful, strong woman - all at the same time! Credibility be damned when things are this fun. And there are some great action sequences. Sam’s roadchase on a Bangkok highway is impressive given the film’s budget - lots of flying metal and spectacular explosions, with only passing evidence of CGI.

go on - bite him
go on - bite him
Have to say I was a bit unsettled by some of the scenes involving animals. The producers dutifully proclaim during the opening credits that all animals were treated with care and concern in the presence of veterinary surgeons – but some of those sharks, stingrays and sea turtles looked pretty distressed (wouldn’t you be if some camera-seeking Bollywood actor was trying to ride you?)   

That minor quibble aside, I left the cinema in fits of laughter and feeling refreshed and renewed. Roll on my next Bollywood fix. Hell, even “Chiggy Wiggy” is growing on me…

Filed Under: Film, New to Scotland
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