Love from a friend I have yet to meet!

Today I got a parcel in the mail--from India! From a sweet young lady who I have only met via email and the online knitting group Ravelry. We befriended each other over a discussion of crochet and Hindi films! She lives in Chennai, and wondered if I had viewed any Tamil films. Well we got talking--she asked if she could send me anything I have had difficulty finding--well a movie for which I have been dying to see since it's release. Taare Zameena Par--which was Aamir Khan's directorial debut-I had been listening to the music for ages, and hoping it would soon be released her in the US. Well, to make a long and annoying story short-Disney picked up the world wide distribution rights to this movie. I was anxious, knowing how Disney tends to 'homogenize' everything it touches, I was afraid that Disney would make a mess of the distribution. Disney announced it would be released in March of 2009-then they delayed it to September! I read on the Disney website that they were also going to release with the original subtitled film, a DUBBED verison! Sacraledge! As a fan of Hindi Cinema and Bollywood in general, most of us who love the films find no problems dealing with subtitles. I was apalled that Disney had planned to not only delay release but to also dub it. I asked my online friend if she could easily find a copy of TZP, with subtitles (and playable in US)--she said--oh yes! I was in heaven!
Well her parcel arrived today! Not only did she send the movie, and 2 lovely dupatta that I will treasure-as I treasure a necklace sent me by a penpal in India when I was in Junior High school--she also included several treasures I had not expected!!
First off were 2 issues of People magazine--you say People, hah, I can get that here! Bash I say, these are the Indian versions-great filmy gossip and one had a cover interview with Shahrukh Khan!! Then I found a mug with SRK's 'mug' on it!! Well, after just seeing this image and jumping up and down--I did not even remove it from the box while out at the post office. I rushed home, emailed her my great thanks--she asked if I liked the personal touch her fiancee had put together!? I ran, looked at the mug-and lo and behold-SRK is wearing a tshirt that says Bollyenabler! Now I am forever famous, and forever close to the star I love! Hey, now I am beginning to sound like some crazy teenage fan! If you all knew how hard it is to feel this passion for Bollywood here in the USA! You enjoy the news items that say Anupaum Kher has signed to do a Woody Allen film(one I may have to go see, even though I do not find Woody that entertaining!). Thank you once again ms crochetress--your gift will be treasured. Now, to find the perfect thing to send in return-there is no way I can top the kindness sent me from far away

Billu Barber

Another recent Bollywood flick that I had the opportunity tosee in the theater is Billu (it had been originally titled Billu Barber—but protests from the barber’s union caused SRK’s production company to cut out the Barber). This movie stars Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Shahrukh Khan, Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav, Asrani—with guest shots by Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, and Priyanka Chopra. It was directed by Priyadarshah, with the music by Pritam. It was released February 13th, 2009. It is basically the story of a simple village barber, Bilas Rao Pardesi (known as Billu, played by Irrfan Khan) and his family. The village of Budbuda (a fictional village in Uddar Pradesh). Billu is very poor, hardly able to keep the electricity in his home or pay his kids’ school fees. SRK plays the superstar Saahir Khan (a slightly over the top version of SRK himself!)—and when his production company comes to Billu’s village to film, the village is turned upside down. Somehow, the news that Billu and Saahir were childhood friends gets around, and the village begins to feel that Billu can get all sorts of favors from his famous friend for the village. At first, Billu keeps denying that he knew Saahir, but soon the village is so overcome with the idea of one of their own being a friend of Saahir, that Billu goes along for the ride. Well the security around Saahir will not let anyone from the town get near him, and the local school invites Saahir to an anniversary of the school. Saahir is finally worn down by all the requests and goes—when he begins to give a speech to the school kids about his dear childhood friend whom gave him money to head to Mumbai to take up his dream of acting—Billu is finally recognized as the true friend he is. The climactic scene is when Saahir comes to Billu’s very modest house to meet his old friend, Saahir asks why he never got it touch with him when Billu was suffering—Billu, being modest, says that he did not want to seem a friend that desired benefits. This is a funny, snide, and chiding look at the politics behind the film industry in India!! There are many enjoyable moments—when the guesthouse owner flubs his one line in the film over and over—we were nearly rolling in the aisles!! Go; enjoy a good family film that will join my collection soon!! The music is wonderful, the songs are catchy and will stay with you; I especially love Marjaani!