Bollywood has evolved with Me

I am bought up in a generation that is changing. I had this perception during my school days that i would get out of india as soon as i do a Engineering, get my parents to stay with me and build my own cocoon somewhere in the US. Eveything about the US was fascinating. Clean roads, swanky cars, come once a while to india and spend big when here. In my mind, India just seemed to be this place which is destined to be the same, it cannot change, just get out of here.

But something has changed in me, in india, and in BOllywood. First of all the word Bollywood itself looks a mundane reflection of what India is... We aspire to be like the West. We have no identity of our own. Life in School in Chennai was all about having a good time, just getting ready to do Engineering and get out. Part executed, I am now in College in Mumbai though. That is a real change from being in suburban-Iyer-Chennai.

Life here is totally different. People are different than they were in school. College Life is more dikhawa than anything i know. Hey i have changed. Dressing styles are different, I even talk differently in just 3 months of college. What is the net result. Mumbai has changed me in 3 months. I look at it how. Mumbai has taught me to be more independant. I am this person completely dependant on friends for fun and time. Its changed, Here i am with no friends as if a frog out of his well. I realise that this is preparation for the US. Life there is expected to be like this. Yes its going fine.

Then as time moves, i start making friends. Its now pyaara Mumbai. Life is totally different. Filled with movies every other day, bunking classes for them, booing teachers, and running for the trains. It is really the best. Then Bollywood turns it around for me..... a bang called Rang De Basanti is released. I wouldnt know if this movie impacted people any which way that it did to me, But it seriously changed the whole perception of me. I think more so that Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra intended to do this to us. Maybe i was impacted most. I identify with the movie so much. Bhagat singh and Azad made me respect myself, as an Indian. I really gave up this craze for even going to the US right in the few days after the movie (though i didnt plan to kill the defence minister for anything). The movie showed NDTV as a messenger for journalism, and i compeltely am of the belief that Media in India has to evolve as well to play the role of the watch dog. A R Rahman became an obsession. Though i was a fan even till before RDB, in the few days later, i have all his compositions( even he may not have it all). i always believe we need a jhatka to wake up. and RDP was just that.

In the next few months, another masterpiece made me fall for all that is India. Lage Raho Munnabhai. This made me fall for Bollywood, i really started seeing every thing out of bollywood after this masterpiece.. Gandhiji became fashionable. It had individual brilliance written all over it. How could a movie impact national conscience. It certainly tried to. Even Sanjay Dutt became akin to a gandhian and even his past misadventures were pardoned by the public at large.

Cut to the present, Bollywood still has its escapades from reality like a Bachna ae Haseeno, i drooled over the movie and even became a Ranbir Kapoor Fan. Movies like Aamir and A Wednesday have made me think about the terrorists and the problems plagued by it in india. Like in A Wednesday, i believe that as an individual, its our responsibility to be aware of our surroundings and react to it rather than not react at all and have a chalta hai attitude. I have pledged to do my bit as far as i can.

Watching Aamir, i had this strange feeling. I didnt quite completely agree to the movie. In the movie when Rajeev Khandelwal is sashaying through the muslim bylanes of Mumbai, all on lookers seemed to be staring at the protagonist. I was wondering if they all knew that he was beeing used to plant the bomb. If it was the case, was the director showing an entire community being party to the bomb plans. If it is true, then we need to seriously have a look at ourselves and they at themselves. I believe that the muslim community as a whole isnt party to this all and its just misguided individuals who press a button and decide the fate of millions as Nasseruddin Shah put it.

What has bollywood done? It has changed itself in the world opinion.. HOW? It relooked at itself, said I am proud of the song and dance routine. I am proud of its length of 3 hour movies. I am proud of cricket... I am proud of portraying us just as we are.. "happy".

Thats my learning out of it all, Its all about you , how you percieve yourself and your surroundings. Working with infosys has given me an environment around me which i am proud of. World class workplaces, Enough money to survive here well and shop within limits. Why go our of the country... India is such a glorious place to stay. And I am proud of having taken the decision not to move out of here for now. Now with going out of the country to persue an MBA, i have promised myslef that i l return here to my nest as soon as i am done with my education