a Bit of Bolly

Last night I attended the opening of the Bollywood film "Ra.One," starring Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, two big names in India. That's the poster there on the right, and it's definitely not what you would expect from Bollywood. To be honest, I'm reminded of the cover art for classic PC games like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. That said, "Ra.One" is definitely not like other Bollywood movies.

To date it is the most expensive film out of the Mumbai-based industry, as well as the most widely screened. It's one of a few new superhero-type movies, a genre borrowed from Hollywood and given an Indian twist. You can see clear influences not just from Hollywood, but from Hong Kong as well, with choreographed fight scenes involving superhuman feats of grace and agility.

But how was the film itself? I'd say that I liked it. I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone, as the genre conventions of Bollywood are quite different from their Hollywood counterpart, especially in this newly developed genre and style. For instance, if I were to compare this film to Hollywood, I would say that visually it's "Tron: Legacy," "Fantastic Four," and "Iron Man," but it has the narrative conventions of a kid's action film such as "Spy Kids." Granted, I watched the entire film in Hindi without subtitles, so the only humour I got were the visual gags, usually to do with getting hit in the balls or air humping. Mature stuff, y'know?
The storyline was really simple, though, so I didn't have much trouble following along. I went with a friend from Delhi (and a huuuge SRK fan), so she explained a few of the cultural references that were made. For instance, the names of the main protagonist and the antagonist are puns, with the name Ra.One (the villain) pronounced Ravan (a Hindu antagonistic figure in legend) and G.One (the hero) pronounced Jeevan (Hindi for "life"). Savvy?

So with a feel much akin to Hollywood superhero movies and a visual style mixed with Hong Kong cinema, the sole thing that makes this film stand out is what makes the heart of Bollywood cinema: song and dance numbers. Despite being an action film, "Ra.One" had two dance numbers in the film itself and another in the credits, and a few more songs as well. These were my absolute favourite moments, I think, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't search down part of the soundtrack.

It has some very modern moments, again something I didn't expect from a Bollywood film. One of the songs is even in the newly popular dubstep style, with lots of wubwubwub instead of unstunstunst (among my friends, that is a perfectly valid way of communicating musical style).

What's really funny, though, is that not all the songs are by Indians: two are sung by Akon. Yes, Akon. In Hindi as well as in English (though he still finds time to throw in a "shawty" or two). I'm not too sure how often an American music star teams up with an Indian production, but based on what I think is a pretty solid assumption I think we can chalk this up as another of "Ra.One"s firsts. And no, I'm not counting that Pussycat Doll remake of "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire."

I think I've written more than enough, so I'll leave you with two videos. Up first is one of the trailers for the film, which I chose because of the variety of action shots and cinematographic techniques it shows. Second is one of the songs by Akon and the official music video, which is comprised of various shots from the film where SRK lip syncs Akons lyrics. It's quite the sight!



all photos by Eros International Ltd. and Red Chillies Entertainment from the film Ra.One (2011)