Bollywood/Hollywood (2002)

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:

Killer Khalsa is a real wrestler, and the website listed when he appears is his official site. When he heard Deepa Mehta was making the movie, he contacted her as he wanted to break into acting.

Quotes:

Mrs. Singh: [Regarding the pro wrestler she is trying to fix Sue up with] He can give you everything you've ever wanted. He even has a BMW.

Movie Connections:

Features Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya... (2001)

Soundtrack:

Chin Chin Chu

Hilarious Bollywood parody

One caveat: if you have never seen a Bollywood movie, you probably won't find this very funny. The point is, director Deepa Mehta has taken just about every Bollywood cliché, exaggerated it, swirled it around and mixed it with a Hollywood love story and created a perfectly funny Bollywood parody that had me in giggles from the weepy deathbed scene at the beginning through most of the movie.

Depth? Don't expect any. This is about as lightweight (and sometimes silly) as comedy can get, with the usual suspension of disbelief necessary for Bollywood movies.

The title doesn't really have anything to do with the plot; it's more of a programmatic statement, as Mehta tries to intertwine Bollywood and Hollywood elements into a musical romantic comedy.

The Bollywood bits are the more successful, as Mehta sems to have the necessary expertise to exploit them for parody and quirky humour; sadly, the weakest point of the movie is when the Bollywood/Hollywood formula shifts too much towards the Hollywood side and tries to incorporate too much of the typical Hollywood 'romantic comedy' storyline. All of a sudden the script seems to take itself too seriously, and the whole thing, which had been very fresh and entertaining up until then, suddenly tastes very stale, and we get the umpteenth reprise of "love in danger through misunderstanding", and whereas the Bollywood melodrama had been masterly turned into brilliant parody, the Hollywood drama just stands as it is and is presented at face value, which is a major disappointment.

However, the 75 minutes of hilarious Bollywood parody will more than compensate for those 15 minutes of Hollywood lameness. So will the excellent Bollywood-inspired (and Hollywood-compatible) music. Just don't expect depth.