Welcome to Bollywood

Lately I've seen a lot of India in movies and film. This is best reflected by the movie Slumdog Millionaire and the 81st Academy Awards. The movie had 10 nominations and won 8 Oscars. I loved the movie and think everyone should see it. It's more violent than I expected it to be but overall it tells an inspirational and engaging story about a young man from the slums, Jamal (Dev Patel) who is on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I'm going to leave it at that because I read too many reviews of the movie before I saw it which slightly ruined the movie for me. Regardless it was great and you should rent/buy it!

In addition to Slumdog Millionaire, other mainstream movies have appeared in Hollywood with an infusion of Bollywood. For those who don't know, Bollywood refers to the film industry of India which actually puts out more movies than Hollywood. A few good western films with Indian infusion are:
picture from: impawards.com

Bend It Like Beckham- Movie about a daughter from a traditional Indian family in England who rebels by joining a women's soccer team. Director: Gurinder Chadha, Starring: Parminder Nagra (ER), Keira Knightley(The Duchess), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors).

Bride and Prejudice - Bollywood take on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Stays fairly true to the story except for the spontaneous dancing and singing. Director: Gurinder Chadha, Starring: Aishwarya Rai (The Pink Panther 2, Mistress of Spices) and Martin Henderson (The Ring).

If those movies strike your fancy or if you like Slumdog Millionaire, definitely check out The Namesake directed by Mira Nair and starring Kal Penn. If you want more authentic bollywood, check out Om Shanti Om, Salaam-e-Ishq and Jab We Met. They are comedies and can appeal to everyone.

While everyone will be exploring bollywood, I'll will be making the crucial decision: Should I buy Slumdog Millionaire on DVD or Blu-Ray?