Bollywood. The capital of the movie world. No, no, not Hollywood; Bollywood. A place where more than 800 movies are produced in a year. That’s more than Hollywood releases in a year. Bollywood movies and their stars are famous all over the world. People go crazy just to get a glimpse of Bollywood stars in real life. Actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit have huge fan followings all over the world. Some of these actors are featured in Madame Tussauds’ wax museum. Plus, these actors have such a huge fan following that, on many occasions, their shows are sold out on their first days, especially with audiences abroad.
Between the songs, the dances, the love affairs and the violent action, the long masala plotlines provide affordable entertainment for all! Outside in the markets in India, you’ll hear the latest movie songs blaring from cell phones, from radios in the shop and from the sound systems in cars. At night, you’ll hear the energetic Bollywood songs blasting from the speakers as the bride and groom celebrate their wedding.
This whole idea of Bollywood is mystical, and there are just no words to describe the craze for it.
If you ask me what my favorite song is, I’ll say “Ishq Sona Hai Ishq Chandi Hai” from "Biwi No. 1." But once upon a time, I was too embarrassed to admit this. Every time someone asked me, I’d maybe say “Single Ladies” or “DJ Got Us Fallin in Love” or whatever the most popular song at that time was.
But nothing could beat those iconic Hindi lyrics. (Sorry boys, the bar has been set extremely high when it comes to expectations about romance.) Every day after school, I looked forward to sitting myself down in front of the television, watching Shah Rukh Khan on screen all day, with his outstretched arms singing “Tujhe Dekha Toh” or “Chaiyya Chaiyya” or even “Suraj Hua Maddham,” sending chills down my body.
Bollywood isn’t just a small piece of Indian culture. It’s one of the most significant facets of my identity, and it’s one of the biggest ways I connect with the Indian culture. It’s how I learned to be Indian and OK with who I am. Bollywood has taught us girls to be confident with the way we look. Take Kajol’s "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" as an example. Her confidence in her unibrow and in her appearance is something all Indian girls must admire. Bollywood, whether it’s the songs or the films, is something where inspiration could be drawn from and where I could laugh, dream the unthinkable and even escape reality.
I’m not saying that in order to be Indian we need to live life exactly how Bollywood portrays it. We certainly don’t suddenly go singing in the mountains of Switzerland when we fall in love with someone, just like Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol did in "DDLJ;" we certainly don’t get together with family and break out into synchronized dancing and singing at any given function — something you might see in "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" or "Hum Saath Saath Hain." We do, however, learn the importance of family. We learn to respect our parents, our brothers, our sisters, our grandparents, our teachers, our significant others ... the list goes on and on.
Each song that I’ve listened to has helped me truly understand my two different identities — an American identity and an Indian identity. It has taught me to appreciate being Indian. And of course, it gives me an excuse to dream big, especially when it comes to romance (all thanks to King Khan himself), and to believe that sometimes it’s acceptable to suddenly break out singing and dancing to any occasion, whether it’s happy or sad.
