I don't know why, but the comment "Best dance/music video on a train ever" caught my eye on Artsjournal.com. So I watched it.
HOLY CANDYLAND, BATMAN!
If I had no idea about Indian culture and their "Bollywood" and were to see this I would be so confused. As it is, I really only have a vague (very vague) idea about mainstream Indian pop music/art culture. If this is a peek, then I'm sold! Who would have thought that a train which travels through villages and forests in India would carry such magical musical gifts atop of it?? I mean, the front man wearing the Michael Jackson-esque jacket (circa 1984) has a haircut that every boy in my 6th grade class had. The Indian dance troop in traditional cultural outfits, the belly dancer, the synchronized dancing: it is like eye candy with music from the ice cream man's truck. Something familiar enough about the music to get drawn in, but different from the "everyday" sounds in my surroundings.
While watching this video I wonder what cultural boundaries it crosses. What similarities are there, differences between the two cultural giants? Seriously, this is mainstream Indian pop culture with all the synchronized dancing, the token lead female, and token male pop star included in our mainstream pop culture. Instead of sagging pants, there are traditional turbans; the setting is a choo-choo train instead of an alleyway/street corner. The token female is a belly dancer, and that seems totally normal in the Indian light. The colors, the movement, the costumes. The dancing, the singing. (Did I mention the Michael Jackson jacket?) What and how is any of that "cool" or "hip"?
Do they see American culture in the same surreal light as we see while watching this video? I would imagine it's just as silly for them as they look at us.
I just gotta say- I love this.It sounds facetious. But honestly, this video makes me smile and makes me want to eat sugar.
1 comment:
Haha, that's great; I, too, saw this video on ArtsJournal and got a great kick out of it.
I haven't seen much Bollywood, but I have always been very fascinated by their unique convention of having just ONE song/dance number that occurs in the middle of the movie. It is expected.
Can you imagine if that were to occur in Hollywood movies? If Brad and Angelina dropped their guns in the middle of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and just start harmonizing? Hmm, come to think of it, they practically do: what is that aggressive tango of theirs at the midpoint of the movie if not a sexy musical interlude?
I guess it goes to show that films in every genre and every culture have their own forms of the musical interlude: it could be a chase scene (action movie) or a courtship montage (romantic comedy)... or people dancing on top of a train. It seems that whatever language an audience speaks, it always needs some sort of diversionary break in the middle of a long long movie!
P.S. I found a version of the "Chaiyya Chaiyya" video on YouTube with subtitles. The chorus translates to something like, "Walk in the shadow of love and your feet will walk in paradise," or something along those lines.
P.S.
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