Bollywood

            Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is an Indian movie that was established in 2001 by Karan Johar as the director while the producer was his father. In English the movie means that at times there is happiness and at times there is sorrow. The main aim of writing this film was to induce nostalgia among the emigrant Indian audience. Bend it like Beckham is a movie that was written by Guljit Bindra and Gurinder Chadha who was also the director in 2002. Bollywood in simple terms refers to a Hindi movie industry in Mumbai which was primarily known as Bombay and thus the name Bollywood. All films from Bollywood productions have similar features.  Rich feature among the characters is a common feature in Bollywood and this is portrayed in the two films.  For instance, the plot of the movie involves the a rich family that has two sons, where one of the son is adopted but according to their father, Raichand, he likes his two sons to live together with him and his wife as a family. Strictness among the parents and rebellion that involves some characters migrating to another country and this is portrayed in the films. For instance, in Kabhi’s movie, Raichand expected them to get married to girls of their choices and start their own families. Fights within the scene are an aspect of Bollywood movies. For instance, Rahul, the adopted son falls in love with Anjali who is a poor girl from India and this displeasure his father to a point that they argue and fight. This therefore forces Rahul to leave from his house to Britain where he settles down. However, his brother who is the real son of Raichand after Rahul left, his father decides to pay him all the attention. The plot of the movie involves a family drama where the strict Indian couple who lives in London restricts their daughter, Jess from playing organized soccer even though she has attained 18 years of age. In the course of playing soccer, Keira notices the excellent skills of Jess and convinces her to join for her semi-pro players (Korte et al 173).

She uses some excuses so as to hide her matches and her secret romantic feelings with her coach, Joe from her family. The aspect of music and dancing are Bollywood features that are portrayed in the two movies. Love is mostly seen in the first scenes but then hatred yields up in the middle and a reunion at the end and mostly a wedding and a group celebration at the last of the scene. For instance in Kabhi’s movie, Rohan has no plans of marrying but his main focus is to bring back his brother and sister in law so that their family can become complete again. At the end there is a wedding celebration (Iyengar et al 41).

            The South Asian culture is highly represented in these Bollywood movies as a lens is interested in the complex and easily overlooked aspects of the identity of the South Asians and their diaspora. These movies have offered a new perception of the South Asian culture and their diaspora communities and have thus contributed towards the transition process of the nation’s culture and the political economy (Ember et al 378). The aspect of family in the movie’s storylines, characters as well as filmmakers helps in identifying the concept identity in the two films. In these two movies, the youngsters must struggle towards finding and creating their identity against the crossroads of the custom and the traditions of their ancestral background and the conflicting norms and their immediate surroundings. This often results to the parents taking it as defiance from their way of doing things (Korte et al 176).   Members of the South Asian are expected to stick together but more than often this does not happen since the minority may undermine agency due to their ambitions. Just as seen in the two movies the families at the start they all want a common thing of sticking together and being united but later the family is broken as the minorities attend to the agency of their ambition and hence breaking off the unity of their families.

 

            The theme of family is one of the main aspects of these two movies. Basically, family is regarded as the foundation of the society as well as of the nation. Families are of great importance to any culture despite their differences and conflicts. In the movie by Gurinder, the relatives who attend all the celebrations in the Bhamra family are always emphasizing on the importance of family unity. While in KKKJ movie, Rohan is insisting on the family unity by encouraging his brother to come back and the father in the end supports him. Food is another theme that is used by the writers of the two movies and the procedures that are undertaken in relation to preparation of food. The availability of food, its preparation and consumption more than often represents a gathering or a celebration. The gathering is mainly by friends, close and distant relatives, the entire families and friends and this is a symbol of union. The occasion of food comes as a result of enjoying time together as well as discussing issues and problems. In both films, food and dishes represent typical ways of distinguishing the cultures in the films. The use of spices, colors and flavors in their dishes portrays the Indian culture. Celebration is another theme that is seen in the two films. This is evidenced by the occurrence of every event that must be marked by a celebration. There are marriage celebrations in the two films and so many other celebrations that occur within the scenes with a lot of food and music and dances. Fathers in both families of the two films are viewed as strict with strict rules that causes their children to rebel against those rules that form the culture of those families. They are against some practices and they think that their decision is the best hence are against the decisions of their children. Lifestyle and living is another theme that is viewed in the two films where there is the manifestation of the cultural heterogeneity.

 

This is seen as there is the mixture of a different lifestyles that is of the Indian lifestyle and the British lifestyle in KKKJ movie and the mixture of the London and German lifestyle in the Bend it like Beckham. A good Indian according to Bollywood is one who can speak Hindu language with a familiar accent and a skin color that is similar to that of the Hindu’s.  These features can be evaluated rom one person to another as not all Indians have these characters and the measure of these characters is different.

            Orientalism and Stereotypes succeed on broad view superseding specificities about a specific race, nation and a culture. According to Simpson’s film, Apu is only given a simple identity of being an Indian but in the show there is no evidence of him being given a definite heritage. Orientalism is a form of mythologizing process and the uniformity of any culture is a process of orientalism (Said 70). The less truth the Occident knows on the orient, the easier the process of protecting the myth of India. In the episode where the title states that Much Apu about Nothing offers the viewers an indication of Apu’s home life rather than developing this character into showing the character of India. However, the film uses so much cliché stereotypes of this culture where during his graduation he is awarded with a cobra that is seen emerging from a basket. The ideology the Indian society being homogeneous with minimal regional variation is reinforced by visualizations and the declaration that he is from India. The hegemonic control power of the dominant voice, speaks on behalf of those who are voiceless and those who have no chance to self-define themselves. Just as the orientalism major on the generalization of the racial and cultural topic so does the image of the orient is made ready for the public to consume. For instance, Apu assumes a stereotype trait that makes him to be Indian in the Western eye. While his Hindu religion and practices become a symbol of his ethnicity. His overemphasized accent is another indicator of the Indian identity.

This was fashioned by a white actor who happened to develop the voice from the racist performance of the party film. Apu emerges from a pattern of cultural reduction that contradicts the heritage of India. Apu is not created so as to serve the South Asian self-identification but rather reinforce the way the western actor learns how to identify himself in relation to the ‘other’ perceived character.  The practice of Orientalism in the process of creating the other reinforces the Occident’s personal construction. This has therefore helped in defining the West and hence orientalism is built on the practice of defining through difference.

            Simpson’s film therefore uses orientalism where it comes into play once we encounter with the Apu character and walks away with only less understanding of the realistic culture of the South Asians. However, a greater conviction that Apu is not Western is seen and as he comes to stand as a metonym specifically for the Indian orient, all his unfavorable characteristics are projected on his culture and back at the Occident as an oppositional to its distinction values. In as much as Apu states that he is an Indian American, he solidifies his ideology that even though he technically is an American he can never truly be part of the Occident. Hence the orient status of Apu will forever remain to be in the other category in the United States versus them which is the binary of orientalism.

            According to Peter Seller’s comical representation of an Indian immigrant, Apu’s last name is an example of mock Indian character whose name is fake and does not sound like Indian. This is because the name has eight syllables that make the name longer and confusing than any other Indian name.  The aggressive Indian stereotype in the performances of the Indian- Canadian comic of Russell Peters is witnessed and these jokes heavily focus on the Indian immigrants as abnormal.

For instance, Peter states that his father is a typical immigrant from India because of his highly pretentious accent which Peter imitates and is in conflict with it and regards it to be a normal American accent (Davé et al 19). He therefore stresses that the Indians are socially backward due to their homophobic attitudes. The Indian accent therefore offers how racial performance of and by the South Asians in American television as well as in film acts is an expression of privilege and variation with regard to racial identity. The progression of the Indian accent such as in the brown face and the brown-voice presentation is not direct but rather teleological as portrayed by the repetition of ethnic stereotypes and also the recurrence of the Indian verbal accents in dissimilar appearances in the films (Davé et al 20). Descriptions of the South Asians and South Asians Americans vary in the British narratives as are seen in the orientalist images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

            Davé, Shilpa. Indian Accents: Brown Voice and Racial Performance in American Television and Film. , 2013. Internet resource.

            Ember, Melvin, Carol R. Ember, and Ian A. Skoggard. Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. New York: Springer, 2005. Print.

            Iyengar, Niranjan, and Ayesha Monani. The Making of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Mumbai: Dharma Productions [in association with] India Book House, 2001. Print.

            Korte, Barbara, and Claudia Sternberg. Bidding for the Mainstream?: Black and Asian British Film Since the 1990s. Amsterdam [u.a.: Rodopi, 2004. Print.

            Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1995. Print.