To the uninitiated, a Bollywood film can be an assault on the senses. In the span of three hours, a viewer might witness a hero single-handedly defeat twenty henchmen, a rain-soaked ballad in the Swiss Alps, a tearful mother-son separation, and a wedding dance featuring five hundred extras in technicolor lehengas. It is loud, long, and unapologetically melodramatic.
The new wave of Bollywood cinema is asking difficult questions. Article 15 stares down caste violence. Pink redefines consent in the #MeToo era. Masaan confronts the hypocrisy surrounding death and love. Gully Boy translates the raw, angry poetry of Mumbai’s slums to the global stage. masalaseen.com
Why does it resonate? Because in an age of irony and cynicism, Bollywood refuses to be cool. It remains earnestly, painfully, gloriously sincere. When a Bollywood hero looks into the camera and declares, “ Bade bade deshon mein... ” (In big, big countries...), he is not winking at the audience. He means it. Entertainment is what distracts you for an evening. Bollywood is what stays with you for a lifetime. It is the soundtrack to a billion first loves, the tear-streaked pillow of a million breakups, and the background score of every major festival and family gathering. To the uninitiated, a Bollywood film can be