Aamir Khan, director/actor/blogger, wins best director debut award

The India Times reports that actor Aamir Khan has won Best Debut Director Award-2007 by the Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation in Chennai for Taare Zameen Par.


Khan proves to be more and more intriguing as time goes by, moving from charismatic leading-man roles in the 90s to choosing more intriguing parts and substantive projects in later years. He produced and starred in Lagaan , nominated for an Oscar in 2002, and he also took on the historical Mangal Pandey and paired opposite the return of 90s iconic actress Kajol in 2006's Fanaa.

He also chose a role in the distinctive and sociopolitically significant Rang De Basanti in 2006, which actually screened at the CCA in Santa Fe (and received a less-than-knowledgeable review in the the New Mex's art paper Pasatiempo which prompted my own response in this contextual piece here.

But Taare Zameen Par marks his debut has a director ( although he stars in it as well), handling the intimate, emotional subject of a young boy struggling with dyslexia and schooling. AK has been getting a lot of accolades for the film, and its also been noted that he hasn't taken center stage on this, giving himself second billing in the credits and entering the film's story nearly half-way through. In an industry -- whether Bolly or Holly -- normally full of egos and hype, AK has clearly put the film and the story first.

Indian cinema gets scant showings here in N.M. (though I'd love to change that) so I may have to wait for a DVD release to see it.

Over the past few years , he's chosen roles with a strong maverick or anti-establishment streak, and im curious to see if theres any of that in the current role as an art teacher and advocate for the student , or if its a very different departure for him.

AK is working on the director's commentary for the DVD as we speak - and is doing so with a large amount of input from his fans via his blog ( Ok, Ill put my media hat on).

His site is breathtakingly simple - one blog, a chat room that he will occasionally join, some archive links, and thats it.

The posts are interesting: He 's personable, down to earth, unpretentious, unloads the minutiae of a heavy work day without seeming whining, and somehow says he manages to go though an average of about 2000 comments a post, and will often pick a few of them to respond to. I think he will at some point need help for the manhours involved in moderation and controlling the flow (theres techniques and tools to do that also) but its touching to see such a hands-on connection removing the distance between star and fan.

I hope he can sustain it, but one gets a sense that he truly relishes the connections, the contact, as an antidote to the craziness that engulfs the film industry, so I would think he 'll make every effort to keep it hands-on.

Its a place where theres really no PR, no spin. On TZP's opening night, his post is almost chillingly spare. With a post title of "Reactions", AK's entry, in full, reads:

All right give it to me.

You can feel the intensity in that dense, sparse request: the hope of a good reaction, the fear of a negative one is so palpable.

some 3,000 comments later, he need not have feared.

I can't think of any other celeb site (nor celebs) that would do something so direct, so engaging. I cant think of too many media outlets of any type that are so effective.

As I say on the new media blog, its all about connections, and what you do with that connectivity.AK and his fan base take it to the smack-on-the-forehead-Duh level: they use it to connect, simply but powerful.

Sofi and Tagore

Sofi's latest fascination is a DVD of various song clips - some from old movies and some produced for TV it appears - of Tagore songs.

I discovered Tagore right before I went to Kolkata, gained a much deeper apprecation for him while there, and really fell in love with robindrasongeet upon my retrun. It will be a lifetime to begin to grasp it all , to learn even how to swim and relish his mystery.

My Hindi comes along slowly, but my Bengali is a little more elusive - could be the difficulty in trying to teach myself both at once. But there is something very intense that happens inside me when I start working with or listening to Bengali, and this DVD I stumbled on, some of the phrasing in it- a turn of note nestled in a melodic architecture that is itself a miracle - omg, too much, too much.

And I'm so pleased Sofi 's responding to it as well.

I look at her, this gori goofy little crazy girl, and i think - what have I done to her, feeding her all this music form a place far away from her, physically. I ponder how this will shape her life, and I'm fascinated by what she'll become - and yet I don't want to know, because when I find out it means she will have grown up and carved her life and Im not ready for that.

One night we watched the video till she fell asleep, she's sprawled next to me and I'm tracing lines on her back, her feet, soft lines with my fingernails echoing every tiny melodic winding path of the Tagore songs.

Im teaching her: I know she hears these songs, she gets these somewhere deep in her core, she sings along not knowing a word of Bangla - but she's a tactile child, very sensual in the true meaning of the term: she's very senses-oriented. So to impart to her the timing and the spacious arches of a long heartfelt meend, a beutifully sculpted zamzama, I draw it on her skin, with my nails pitted and scarred from a zealous previous night of heavy sarod practice.

I know - even if she might not - that this is reaching her, helping her to understand and absorb this music, this sound, making some subliminal imprint of Tagore on the skin to carry her through whatever songs in her own life she makes.

350 million Hinglish speakers - and counting

There was an interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor a few years back regarding the rise of the linguistic hybrid known as Hinglish:

It's a bridge between two cultures that has become an island of its own, a distinct hybrid culture for people who aspire to make it rich abroad without sacrificing the sassiness of the mother tongue. And it may soon claim more native speakers worldwide than English.

That last sentence is an intriguing factoid.In order to immerse myself a little deeper into this culture, to better follow these films, read certain music books, etc., I'm teaching myself Hindi and Bengali currently - its a great ride and experience.

The article has generated a good discussion on a BW forum, and the most unusual experience relayed there on this topic is the following:

A friend of mine just came back from Bombay. He went shopping there and spoke in Hindi with all the shopkeepers. Finally while checking out the shop guy told him the total in dollars. So my friend Vijay asked him...how did you know I am from the States? the shop guy said....coz you spoke in Hindi. All the local customers speak English. Only you NRIs speak in Hindi.

Dads, daughters, DDLJ (and answers to "why Bollywood?")

My nine-year-old daughter Sofia is in many ways the culprit responsible for our attachment to Bollywood (Bollycrack , as another fan wryly calls it).

We came to it a few years back through my music work which has a heavy reliance on Indian classical music methodology and improvisational technique (though I've been self-steeped in other aspects of Indian culture for a while as well). Sofi has quite a musical and dance bent and is no stranger to world music, having grown up surrounded by flamenco, Indian classical, bhangra, Arabic and Turkish pop in the car, and listening to her dad play oud and sarod. The extent of her exposure is by now pretty manifest: Sofi may well be the only non-Turkish seven year old girl who can instinctively clap a syncopated 9/8 rhythm in time with Turkish pop diva Candan Ercetin.

So one day on a lark I pop in the Rough Guide to Bollywood CD ( a well-curated guide to the classicfilmi songs) on the car stereo.

"Cool songs, Dad", she chirps.

"Yeah, they're fun... they're from movies".

A pause. The back of my head feels her eyes grow wide, and I grin to myself as I sense her curiosity rising.

"Movies??? " she asks slowly.

"Oh yeah..they usually have a lot of songs, some great dancing..they're called Bollywood movies, cause they come from Bombay in India (well now its Mumbai), but anyway...yeah, movies."

Dancing, singing, movies? she's enthralled.

In a rush she blurts, "can we rent some?"

"Well, Sof, they won't be in English".

"Who cares? I still wanna see 'em. You can tell me what goes on".

"O.K. Sof. I dont know what's around, but let's see".

I wheel the car downtown; our inital stop at Video Library reveals they have at least "Kandukondein Kandukondein" to start with. (They have others, as I learn, but my initial venture was pretty spontaneous).

Sofia and I study the DVD cover, and it seems a safe bet: it has Aishwarya Rai, whom I knew to be one of the dominant actresses at the time (and is often referred to as "one of the most beautiful women in the world"). It has subtitles (so I knew it wasn't some Americanized product) and looked to have some dance numbers. Ok. We're good.

So we watch it, we're swept away, and we've been hooked ever since.

My ever-tolerant wife initially thought we were insane, but was patient; now she's grown to like them a bit as well. Even my son has a few favorites he requests. But it's pretty much a dad-and-daughter hobby.

Many websites and forums reviews later, our collection grows. Sofi sings along, learning to sing in Hindi strictly on phonetics ( I bought a CD set and am teaching myself Hindi a bit more thoroughly). She dances as well. She wore a sari to her school Christmas pageant (see the photo) and has Bollywood and bhangra songs on her iPod.

She may resent me in years to come for not giving her a normal childhood -- but she could have easily not liked them, and that would have been that.

So what is it about these films that captivate? On the surface, people would be apt to dismiss them as trite escapist entertainment. In truth, they run the gamut from serious works of artistic cinema to lighter fare; the range and diversity of quality, subject, intent was something I hadn't expected as we got into these films. And as with Hollywood, not every Bollywood film is a great film; clunkers occur on either side of the pond. But there are some unique characteristics that Bollywood seems to capture and retain that make these films so worthwhile - and by now make Hollywood seem a little flat for me.

1) I love great film. I've long held this idea that film is probably the most advanced artistic medium there is, because only film has the potential to incorporate all the other artistic media within it: visual composition, narrative, drama, acting, literature, music, dance, etc. Film, like a sphere, can encompass it all.

If I ever got a chance to do a film, I'd want it to be that - where all those elements are fully developed, something really intense, detailed, dense, where no element is treated as "secondary" or "supporting" but instead is a fully independent and developed thread for the entire tapestry. I don't get that in much Western cinema, be it hollywood or European art films ( director Peter Greenaway comes close, kind of) - but Bollywood at its best comes closest to that complete gestalt of full cinematic expressive potential.

2) I like the aspects of family. The complex patterns of family respect, relationships, and honor are critical themes in the story lines and are the driving factor of many plot conflicts. That such familial concepts are held in priority - and not discarded - overlays these films and stories with a warmth and resonance one doesn't often find in other films.

3) Its refreshing to see sexual tension masterfully, achingly, erotically depicted with such restraint. I'm no prude and I love the body, but to be melted away by an arch of eyebrow, a graze of hand, adds some subtlety and depth - and I'd much rather have my daughter exposed to this aesthetic than the plethora of talent-free teen-pop vulgar rat-clothed skanks that squat across MTV and the Disney Channel these days. Sheesh.

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Among the family themes that occur in these films is the very strong father-daughter relationship. This also seems to have made quite an impact on little Sofia. A milestone in modern Bollywood is 1995's Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, more often referred to as DDLJ. It was a groundbreaking classic for its time, introducing European locations and featuring Non-Resident Indians as the principal characters.


It was an early inkling of the screen chemistry between leads Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, later brought to fruition in the 1998 blockbuster film Kuch Koch Hota Hai. These two films are still compared and contrasted, loved and discussed to this day.

DDLJ also has the distinction of being the number 1 soundtrack seller in England, and holds the record for the longest running film, having a 10 year continuous run at the Maratha Mandir theater in Mumbai (There were many special events last October on the occasion of the film's 10 year anniversary).

Charles Taylor wrote a superb review and analysis of this film for Salon.com (sit through the online ad if you're not a member -- it's worth it).

The plot summary from Wikipedia is succinct:

The movie, fondly called DDLJ, is a story of two young Indians (Raj and Simran, played by Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol) living in the UK. Simran meets Raj on a graduation trip; after some initial misadventures, they fall in love. When Simran goes home and tells her family, her parents will have nothing to do with a love marriage. Simran's father, played by Amrish Puri, is adamant: she must marry his best friend's son.

Simran's parents take her back to the Punjab, and soon wedding preparations are in full swing. Raj follows Simran to India and vows to wed her -- but only with her family's consent. Eloping would be easy, but winning over her father may be impossible. Raj pretends to be a friend of the groom's family. Later, his real identity is revealed, and a confrontation with Simran's father occurs. However, in the end, Simran's father realizes the unconditional love Raj has for Simran is something special and lets her go with him.

The final moments are classic drama, as the train with Raj pulls out of the station and Simran awaits her father's epiphany of acceptance. He finally releases Simran, urging her in a calm but joyous voice, " No one can love you more than him; go, my child... go".

Hours later, I'm tucking Sofia into bed. She's getting cranky, petulant. Suddenly she flings her arms around me and bursts into tears, pleading, "Daddy don't ever let me go like that, don't let me go".

I was moved to tears of my own, and said, "There'll come a time when you'll want me to let you go -- but until then, I won't let you go, I promise..never, until you're ready".

As her heart mended from the reassurances, mine broke a bit, touched deeply by this little one's trust and love.

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Of course, there are lighter, more surprising moments as well.

One of the best six minutes of cinema craft I've ever seen is"Chaiya Chaiya", the first song number from Dil Se, filmed entirely on top of a working, moving train. The song, the acting performances, the editing, cinematography, timing and sheer coordination all meld for a great piece of work. It even has a devoted thread to it on one of the Bollywood forums - a rarity for a specific song).



Sofi is an astute observer, and dancing as much as she does she knows how her body works. So I shouldn't have been entirely surprised when at a particularly chest-heaving moment by the female lead dancer, Sofi very matter -of-factly turns to me and says, " Dad, I like the way her breasts move".

( Huh?? What the...) " Hmmm...... what was that, Sofi?"

"The way she's dancing, Dad... I like the way her breasts move".

" Well... the movement is really coming from the shoulders, Sofi; its not actually her breasts doing the moving."

" Yeah I guess youre right...but it looks cool!"

"Well it is great dancing, Sofi, no doubt...."

"yeahh!"

I'm pleased she's comfortable with her body, and has such awareness and confidence but I'm also glad there's time before her teenage years!

Bollywood...Que??

I started this blog during my tenure as the web editor at the Santa Fe New Mexican, and migrated it to my regular music site when I left there. I think it needs a more separate, more nimble and (perhaps more economically viable) location , so here it is - lets hope its third home is the lucky one.


So what's this all about?

More than just Bollywood, this blog will also look at the country's rapidly shifting cultural and economic changes. India is an overwhelming, rich and varied experience, and as India hurls itself into the 21st century, positioning itself to be a major player in the world economy, the sociocultural impact it is experiencing as a by-product is equally deep and varied. So we'll try to cover it all.

As an online/new media professional, I devote a lot of personal and professional interest in looking at developments in Indian media over at the New Media blog I maintain. Areas in that sphere Ill point to from here and vice versa.


So how does a Bollywood blog come out of New Mexico?? For a quick context, I am a musician of Indian music (of Mexican descent with Lebanese families ties as well) and had the great honor to be chosen to work on an Indian indie art-film in that capacity. You can learn about the music work here (where you can also learn all about the film) or, alternatively, here, which is a little more active.

Would New Mexicans be interested in Bollywood? who knows, but here's some random points to consider:

With the emerging film industry in New Mexico, it could be a good market to tap into. I'd personally love to see a Mumbai - New Mexico film connection develop.

An interesting thread on one of the Bollywood forums I frequent was a discussion on the rising affinity and enthusiasm for Bollywood amongst Hispanics.Despite some surface similarities (use of bright and festive color, emphasis on family, big weddings, spicy food), another interesting lynchpin was discovered: Bollywood = telenovelas + songs!

As I posted there, "both genres have love knots, family conflict, a tendency towards melodrama, gorgeous actors and actresses..." The equation is of course simplistic, but if you love the Spanish-language soaps, you'll relate to Bollywood movies, trust me -- and it belies some interesting cultural affinities that are worth exploring at a deeper level, too.

That's not to say you have to have a Hispanic or Latino background to enjoy these films. Bollywood's scope and unique cinematic voice is much much broader, and what makes these movies special (in my view) I'll explore soon.

But -- as the title implies -- this will cover more than Bollywood. Its a very special time to be watching and falling in love with India with all of its hope, history and heartbreak converging at a breakneck pace in these times.