Why aren't there more Bollywood Karaoke places in the United States? Am I just missing it, or am I right? I would think that these places would be all the rage in the diasporic community. It could be a great meeting point between members of different communities, actually, since it seems like every time I turn around, I realize that there's another fan of Bollywood talking to me who comes from an altogether unexpected place. Remember Rustam? Well, this past weekend, I had a Chinese man from Shanghai who'd been in the states for about 15 years tell me that he loved desi movies. That his daughter is dating an Indian guy in college. That the dances, the songs, the music are amazing. Bollywood could connect the disparate warring populations in one big extravagent Superstar Spectacular... just have the biggest stars come together and work through some of the popular favorites. Indians, Pakistanis, Russians... we'll all get together and have a great time.
Seriously, though, at least on the karaoke front, kids and adults alike know the songs inside and out, but it's more likely that you'll see a blown out version of the song and dance routine of the latest movie in the middle of a wedding reception than you would in a karaoke bar. Hell, if one of the computer whiz kids felt like it, I'm sure that he could hotwire the Playstation dance pad games and turn it into a singing and dancing game that would sweep the nation in a mega-craze - Bollywood Blowout, the video game! Imagine the potential in arcades across the country, where the latest moves of Sharukh and pals are turned into dancesteps and singing on electronic pads by the youth of today...
I think that this may just be the next big thing... but in the interest of Creative Commons, I'm sharing it with you. Go out there. Make something happen.
Jan 11, 2006
Bollywood Blowout!
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8 comments:
good to see some posts! i say bring it on dude, start a true bollywood revolution!
lol. Funny thing is, I don't know anything about Bollywood that dates past mid-late 70s Amitabh. :)
apart from the diaspora market, you could quietly invade via the too-cool-for-school alt arty types short hair, dangly earrings, layers of clothing) as a poat multicultural...er..thingummy...
dude, i haven't seen anything before 2002...both need eddicating..
just think, _devdas_ nights, italian weddings with bollywood numbers before speeches, bollywoodised haka ;-)
True that. But I'm interested in doing something for the peeps, you know?
Otherwise, using bolly-kitsch diplomacy to bring more of the world together...
Devdas night. *cringe* But which of the 3 versions? How about Bollyland... I can see big character suits of Gabbar Singh and other greats...
LOL, Bollyland, excellent! imagine a mughal inspired castle of Amitabh, meeting a huge SRK character suit, and I dunno, some sort of ride...
Oh, the peeps is fine, you could jsut garner a bigger market than you think, and of course bollywood cultural imperialism resulting in scenes at italian weddings as a desireable *end-point*
Devdas 3 purely on the fact that it's so well known..a take on the Bollywood night. Why, were you thinking of bringing actual refinement and culture into this? ;-)
Yeah, what was I thinking. We can't actually have an Epcot Center at *our* Bollyland. I don't know. If you can't have a modern world attraction, find a way to build something gargantuan that people will come from the world over to gawk at. That's the American way, at least - so if India is emulatin' then that's the way to go.
Call it the Raj Mahal - Love of the Raj - and allow all the Anglophiles that linger in the (m)otherland to turn this puppy into a lovefest of the Brits, as interpreted by dancers and singers who are stuck in a Groundhog's Day of sorts with the dial set on "bad eighties dance moves."
Which reminds me - what's with the dance moves, anyway? Why can't they move away from Thriller-era steps? After all - the quality of the print and cinematography seem to have jumped leaps and bounds. Why not borrow a page from something a bit more modern? Or is it too complicated?
And then watching current artists in the U.S. integrate desi tunes, and some orientalist visions of the "east" into their sound and videos, it's like staring at an Escher painting too long - which hand is drawing the other?
Raj Mahal? Ouch...
Bollywood is as much about the spectacle as anything else, after all..
I don't know...*some* of the dance moves have entered the 21st century. Seeing as the number of Bollymovies I've seen can be counted on..well, maybe two hands...
so the cultural version...what, now I have to *think*...
yeah, the subtle infiltration of tabla and sitar into things is interesting but so distinctly orientalist. i was watching some schmaltzy Disney-esque thing on Africa the other day and you know how it is with the perpetual sound of drums and harmonic singing in Africa? well, they not only had African drums but tabla coming through, loud and clear.
subtle is one thing - but I've seen some pretty crazy stuff in the past few years. It's just funny to watch parodies of Bollywood on American videos and films when Bollywood feels like a parody all on its own!
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