Bollywood/Hollywood (2002)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Deepa Mehta

Writer:

Deepa Mehta (writer)

Release Date:

25 October 2002 (Canada)

Genre:

Romance | Comedy | Drama | Musical

Tagline:

Nothing is what it appears to be.

Plot:

The Seth family reside in Canada. While Mr. Seth has passed away, his mom is still alive, living with her daughter-in-law...

Plot Keywords:

India | Canada | Singing | Bollywood | Nudity

Awards:

3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Rahul Khanna	...	Rahul Seth
Lisa Ray	...	Sue (Sunita) Singh
Moushumi Chatterjee	...	Mummy ji
Dina Pathak	...	Grandma ji
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Mr. Singh
Ranjit Chowdhry	...	Rocky
Jessica Paré	...	Kimberly
Rishma Malik	...	Twinky
Jazz Mann	...	Bobby
Arjun Lombardi-Singh	...	Go (Govind)
Leesa Gaspari	...	Lucy
Neelam Mansingh	...	Mrs. Singh
Mike Deol	...	Killer Khalsa (as Killer Khalsa)
Jolly Bader	...	Daddy ji
Ronica Sajnani	...	Ronica

Also Known As:

Bollywood Hollywood (Canada: English title) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sensuality/partial nudity, some crude language and drug references.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Canada | India

Language:

English | Hindi | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Malaysia:U | Netherlands:MG6 | Netherlands:6 | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG | Germany:o.Al. | South Korea:12 | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Iceland:LH

Filming Locations:

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Different Tree Same Wood

Trivia:

Lisa Ray fractured her leg when she went to Canada to shoot this film.

Quotes:

Rocky: Shakalaka Baby!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Extract

a few things people need to know...

For all those who felt the film was not the most fabulous or felt it wasn't a representative of the Bollywood industry etc., then you need to know this:

1) This movie was sold as a spoof of the Indian film industry like 'Not another teen movie' was a parody of 'Chick Flicks' and as the 'Scary Movie' series are for horror films; this film was meant to be exaggerated and outrageous.

2) Also to understand the humour of this film, you need to a know a lot about the Indian film industry and the references to the 'gossip' and films; even the music that is played as a score are insinuations to various Indian films. The transvestite driver, 'Killer Khalsa' sequence are a citation to a lot of stereotypes; Indian movies have transvestites as they are a part of society and as for the 'Killer Khalsa' sequence, the allusion to the food and the absurdity of the matchmaking are ever present in Indian films.

3) The segments of the film where it is obvious that Deepa Mehta's first language is not English are the segments where there are references to Indian sayings or style of speaking and that is true of many N.R.I's.

I am astonished at the people who disliked it; the audience should be aware of the context of this movie because admittedly there are people who appreciate Indian style films (in which case that audience should not have watched this film). Deepa Mehta is renowned for her art films ('Fire' (1996), 'Earth' (1998) and the upcoming 'Water') and this movie was created for a satirical view of the current films, especially the N.R.I. films.

What is commonly seen as a flaw of this movies is actually a part of the sardonic look at Indian films; of course if there are are filming discontinuities, I have not noticed. I give this film a 9 out of 10 due to the technical flaws (for example, 'Kim's' accident and the 'ghost' sequence) and also because of Lisa Ray's stylists' lack of fashion IQ as she was made to look pretty horrid through out this movie.