A little India
Jan. 27th, 2009 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randy_byersI know I've been writing about almost nothing but movies lately, but that's the way it goes sometimes. On Sunday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
holyoutlaw and I had a most excellent adventure going to see the Bollywood film Chandni Chowk to China (2009) at the Totem Lake Cinema in Kirkland. Previously we had thought it was only showing at Southcenter, but this week the Stranger listed Totem Lake as well, so we went for that, since it was three miles closer. It was still a 25 minute drive to the outer burbs, and when we got there, I thought we'd been misled. The marquee sign was blank and battered looking, and from a distance the building looked abandoned. As we got closer, however, we saw some movie posters and a few people hanging around. Sure enough, the theater was showing three Bollywood movies, and we were the only non-Indian people there. The concessions stand offered popcorn and some kind of Indian pastry thingy. I was very curious about who was running the theater and what the deal was, because there were probably only ten of us there for Chandni Chowk in China, and I didn't see many other people for the other movies. Maybe this is a non-profit community theater? That might explain why it wasn't listed in the Seattle Times.
Anyway, Chandni Chowk to China has gotten a bit wider publicity in the US than the usual Bollywood film, I think because it's a kung fu film that they probably figured might appeal to people like, well, me andholyoutlaw. It was a lot of fun. It's the story of a nebbishy vegetable chopper in Chandni Chowk -- a market neighborhood in Delhi -- who is mistaken by poor villagers from China as the reincarnation of their legendary hero. He misunderstands what they want from him when they take him back to China to battle the evil, exploitative super-villain, Hojo, who is played by the legendary star of many Shaw Bros. kung fu movies, Gordon Liu. Our hero, Sidhu, also gets confused by the twin daughters (played by the same actress) of an Indian mother and Chinese father, one of whom works for Hojo, and one of whom is looking for her lost father and sister. Much chaos, comedy, melodrama, tragedy, romance, music, dance, slapstick, and kung fu ensues, somewhat in the vein of Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow's excellent Kung Fu Hustle (2004). It was a blast, and it was fun to see it with a six-year-old kid sitting behind us laughing at all the silly parts and getting in-jokes that we didn't get. Good family fun, eh?
I think that was the first Bollywood movie I've ever seen, and it lived up to everything I've heard about how every movie has a little bit of everything and every genre in it. I was inspired to dig out a DVD that's been sitting on my stack for five years of another Bollywood movie, Dil Se (1998). That one is much more serious, although it also blends together comedy, melodrama, tragedy, romance, music, and dance. No kung fu, but a fair few explosions. It's a story of love and terrorism, with a completely awesome -- and explosive -- ending. The music is great too, especially the first song, "Chaiyya Chaiyya" [YouTube clip], which I recognized from elsehwere, probably from Spike Lee's Inside Man, where it apparently runs over the credits. Crappy, nonanamorphic DVD, though. Oh well.
Update: Speaking of India-China crossovers, my sister who taught ESL in China the past couple of years is doing the same in India this year. And yesterday's Frank & Ernest comicstrip had a lovely spoonerism: "It doesn't get any better than this ... tai chi with chai tea!" (Although granted, "chai tea" is a bit redundant.)
holyoutlaw and I had a most excellent adventure going to see the Bollywood film Chandni Chowk to China (2009) at the Totem Lake Cinema in Kirkland. Previously we had thought it was only showing at Southcenter, but this week the Stranger listed Totem Lake as well, so we went for that, since it was three miles closer. It was still a 25 minute drive to the outer burbs, and when we got there, I thought we'd been misled. The marquee sign was blank and battered looking, and from a distance the building looked abandoned. As we got closer, however, we saw some movie posters and a few people hanging around. Sure enough, the theater was showing three Bollywood movies, and we were the only non-Indian people there. The concessions stand offered popcorn and some kind of Indian pastry thingy. I was very curious about who was running the theater and what the deal was, because there were probably only ten of us there for Chandni Chowk in China, and I didn't see many other people for the other movies. Maybe this is a non-profit community theater? That might explain why it wasn't listed in the Seattle Times.Anyway, Chandni Chowk to China has gotten a bit wider publicity in the US than the usual Bollywood film, I think because it's a kung fu film that they probably figured might appeal to people like, well, me and
holyoutlaw. It was a lot of fun. It's the story of a nebbishy vegetable chopper in Chandni Chowk -- a market neighborhood in Delhi -- who is mistaken by poor villagers from China as the reincarnation of their legendary hero. He misunderstands what they want from him when they take him back to China to battle the evil, exploitative super-villain, Hojo, who is played by the legendary star of many Shaw Bros. kung fu movies, Gordon Liu. Our hero, Sidhu, also gets confused by the twin daughters (played by the same actress) of an Indian mother and Chinese father, one of whom works for Hojo, and one of whom is looking for her lost father and sister. Much chaos, comedy, melodrama, tragedy, romance, music, dance, slapstick, and kung fu ensues, somewhat in the vein of Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow's excellent Kung Fu Hustle (2004). It was a blast, and it was fun to see it with a six-year-old kid sitting behind us laughing at all the silly parts and getting in-jokes that we didn't get. Good family fun, eh?I think that was the first Bollywood movie I've ever seen, and it lived up to everything I've heard about how every movie has a little bit of everything and every genre in it. I was inspired to dig out a DVD that's been sitting on my stack for five years of another Bollywood movie, Dil Se (1998). That one is much more serious, although it also blends together comedy, melodrama, tragedy, romance, music, and dance. No kung fu, but a fair few explosions. It's a story of love and terrorism, with a completely awesome -- and explosive -- ending. The music is great too, especially the first song, "Chaiyya Chaiyya" [YouTube clip], which I recognized from elsehwere, probably from Spike Lee's Inside Man, where it apparently runs over the credits. Crappy, nonanamorphic DVD, though. Oh well.
Update: Speaking of India-China crossovers, my sister who taught ESL in China the past couple of years is doing the same in India this year. And yesterday's Frank & Ernest comicstrip had a lovely spoonerism: "It doesn't get any better than this ... tai chi with chai tea!" (Although granted, "chai tea" is a bit redundant.)
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Date: 2009-01-27 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 08:49 pm (UTC)Also, I looked around on Yelp! and other places, and found the theater's website. It's apparently a commercial theater, just not very well run.
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Date: 2009-01-27 09:02 pm (UTC)I've taken a look at their website now, and I see that some of the movies say "With English Subtitle" and some don't. Caveat emptor!
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Date: 2009-01-27 10:43 pm (UTC)Also: Got yer email. Am weighing my time availability over the next month. Will get back to you by the end of this week (i hope).
Oh, and speaking of movies! Hot tip for all my cinema friends. I just got the new GI calendar and it looks like we're bringing Portland's H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival up to Seattle for a week at the end of march. Opening night gala on 3/21. If you're interested at all in going, i can probably even get you a pass.
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Date: 2009-01-27 11:35 pm (UTC)And don't worry about the project I e-mailed you about. It was something that was now or never, and he got most of the rest of it done last weekend and plans to polish it off this coming weekend.
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Date: 2009-01-30 11:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-31 12:08 am (UTC)