My colleague and good friend, Bala, sent me a mail about the Indian Film
Festival in Stuttgart which was going to happen from 18th-20th July. I was
delighted and excited at the same time. I immediately glanced at the programme
and was happy to see many good and regional films that were going to be
screened in this festival. They were going to be presented with sub-titles of
course! It was going to be an interesting thing to watch the German people's
reaction to Indian films as there is a enormous difference between the two
countries, cultures and cinema.
My colleague booked tickets for 2 movies, which particularly caught my interest. One was called Amma and Appa and the other was Citylights. I had heard a lot about the Hindi movie Citylights from my mom and other friends in India and I was happy to catch it here, rather than seeing it on a laptop from an unknown source. With my dear hubby ready to babysit our little boy, I set off with great happiness to watch these two movies back to back. As I approached the movie hall, loud Hindi music caught my attention and I smiled to myself on hearing it. As I reached the hall, I could see a German girl dance to the evergreen Bollywood number 'Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya' from the movie Mughal-e-Azam. She had learnt the lyrics and was doing a great job with the lip syncing. I felt it was a great effort on her part. We then went inside the movie hall to see the movie Amma and Appa. It was quite surprising to see many Germans coming to the IFF and a very few Indians.
It is a story of an Indian boy and a German girl who fall in love and decide to get married and then how his parents (staunch and orthodox Tamilians) receive it and how the German parents come to India and experience everything that is completely new to them. Each set of parents have their initial hiccups and shocks and fears, but gradually they accept each other as they are and give their blessings to the couple. This is a real life story and all the cast had come to the movie. There was an interactive session after the movie and they all were very happy to see the response and answered the questions very happily.
Check out this link to know more about the movie
http://www.ammaandappa.com/#!homeeng/c14zq
We then moved to the next hall for the Citylights movie. It is about a family who come to Mumbai from Rajasthan in search of a better life. But they get lost in the city's so-called glamorous life and the man gets entangled into a web of deceit and vice. He loses his life in the struggle to lead a better life, but he leaves a good fortune for his wife and daughter and they go back to their own village from where they had come from. This movie moved me a lot. There are 1000's of people coming like this to get a better life, but then some struggle, some succeed with good or bad ways of earning money. Everybody dreams of a better life, of better food and clothing and a better lifestyle, but not all are able to achieve it. Mumbai is one such city that embraces you with all her glam-sham and love and cripples you and makes you dependent on her, on what she gives you. One who comes to Mumbai, hardly goes back. He manages to survive somehow and get absorbed in this mega-city.
An evening well spent, I thought to myself. I got nostalgic and home-sick and wanted to go back to India at that very moment. But I came back to my senses, got into a jam packed train at 12.45 am in the night and walked back home at about 1 am alone still thinking about the Citylights movie.
My colleague booked tickets for 2 movies, which particularly caught my interest. One was called Amma and Appa and the other was Citylights. I had heard a lot about the Hindi movie Citylights from my mom and other friends in India and I was happy to catch it here, rather than seeing it on a laptop from an unknown source. With my dear hubby ready to babysit our little boy, I set off with great happiness to watch these two movies back to back. As I approached the movie hall, loud Hindi music caught my attention and I smiled to myself on hearing it. As I reached the hall, I could see a German girl dance to the evergreen Bollywood number 'Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya' from the movie Mughal-e-Azam. She had learnt the lyrics and was doing a great job with the lip syncing. I felt it was a great effort on her part. We then went inside the movie hall to see the movie Amma and Appa. It was quite surprising to see many Germans coming to the IFF and a very few Indians.
It is a story of an Indian boy and a German girl who fall in love and decide to get married and then how his parents (staunch and orthodox Tamilians) receive it and how the German parents come to India and experience everything that is completely new to them. Each set of parents have their initial hiccups and shocks and fears, but gradually they accept each other as they are and give their blessings to the couple. This is a real life story and all the cast had come to the movie. There was an interactive session after the movie and they all were very happy to see the response and answered the questions very happily.
Check out this link to know more about the movie
http://www.ammaandappa.com/#!homeeng/c14zq
We then moved to the next hall for the Citylights movie. It is about a family who come to Mumbai from Rajasthan in search of a better life. But they get lost in the city's so-called glamorous life and the man gets entangled into a web of deceit and vice. He loses his life in the struggle to lead a better life, but he leaves a good fortune for his wife and daughter and they go back to their own village from where they had come from. This movie moved me a lot. There are 1000's of people coming like this to get a better life, but then some struggle, some succeed with good or bad ways of earning money. Everybody dreams of a better life, of better food and clothing and a better lifestyle, but not all are able to achieve it. Mumbai is one such city that embraces you with all her glam-sham and love and cripples you and makes you dependent on her, on what she gives you. One who comes to Mumbai, hardly goes back. He manages to survive somehow and get absorbed in this mega-city.
An evening well spent, I thought to myself. I got nostalgic and home-sick and wanted to go back to India at that very moment. But I came back to my senses, got into a jam packed train at 12.45 am in the night and walked back home at about 1 am alone still thinking about the Citylights movie.
I can imagine the joy you must have had watching Indian movie in a foreign land :)
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