Monday, March 14, 2011

It's stuck...

Today's stuck-in-my-head song:


Go ahead -- listen to it a few times. I dare you to not have it stuck in your head for the next five days...

By the way, if you pay attention to this video, you'll see Irrfan Khan in the crowd now and then -- he was the police inspector in Slumdog Millionaire, the father in The Namesake (did anyone see The Namesake except me? So-so movie, much better book... which is generally the way book/movie combos go...), and probably a few other American movies. (I'm also sure I recognize the guy who's singing, but I don't know from where...)

Rick thinks I'm completely bizarre for liking Bollywood. And to be honest, I've only ever seen a smattering of Bollywood movies, so I'm not exactly a connoisseur. But the movies I've seen generally tend to subtitle the parts where people are talking, and then when the singing and dancing starts -- no subtitles. Since I don't understand the language, this always makes me wonder if the singing and dancing actually has anything whatsoever to do with the storyline, or if it's just a random intermission. Adding to the confusion is the fact that half of the time, the subtitled dialogue takes place in normal, mundane locations where people would generally be talking -- a living room, a coffee shop, a market, etc. But the singing and dancing is usually a huge production number in a more exotic location. So two people are standing in a kitchen talking to each other, and then suddenly there are 50 people on top of a cliff overlooking an ocean and everyone is singing and dancing. At this point, my mind always goes, "I have NO idea what's going on..." And you know what? I LOVE IT.

I am, after all, the strange girl who sat in a hotel room in Rome several years ago and watched an entire Arabic soap opera on TV, despite Rick's pleas that I change the channel... I watched an entire episode of "Trading Spaces" in German... I watched an episode of the Simpsons in Italian... and, with the exception of various words and phrases in the Trading Spaces episode (good old high school German to the rescue), I understood very little of what was said. (Of course, I've probably seen every episode of the Simpsons two or three times, so that was easy to figure out... :)) And yet I'm completely fascinated by the sounds of unfamiliar languages, so I'll sit and listen long after most people would give up... it's as if I'm certain that eventually my brain will automatically figure out those strings of nonsensical syllables and everything will make sense. So far that hasn't happened --but it doesn't stop me from loving Bollywood... 

Especially since everyone in a Bollywood musical number seems to be having so much fun... everyone wears an interesting outfit... everything is lively and colorful... and the wind is always blowing JUST right so everyone's hair looks great. Basically, this is the way I think life SHOULD be -- lots of color, plenty of costume changes, random singing and dancing for no apparent reason, and hair that just automatically falls into place. Sure, we do plenty of talking in living rooms and coffee shops in our jeans and t-shirts, but do we ever sing and dance on top of a cliff with swirling swatches of colorful fabric? Do we ever tell reality to hold on for four or five minutes while we work on our spontaneous choreography?? (And will my hair EVER look good for more than five minutes???) Sigh... alas, I think not.... 

And besides -- my mind tends to work in a colorful, random way that doesn't always make sense anyway. Even though 97 percent of what's in my head is in English... (2 percent is in German... and 1 percent is "other"...) So I may not always understand what's going on, but I say bring on the singing and dancing -- life should be more than monotonous black and white, don't you think?? Ja völlig... ;)

6 comments:

LL Cool Joe said...

Ok now that song is stuck in my head too! I think it could do down quite well at the right disco!

Lisa said...

It IS ridiculously catchy, isn't it? :)

Anonymous said...

FYI - Irffan Khan was the main character in the movie. He was childhood friends with the Bollywood star in the video, yet no one in his town believed him. He had gone to the shoot of the song and movie (within the movie) to try to speak with his friend. The town had wanted to bring the Bollywood actor to their town to raise money and garner attention, and shunned Khan when he could not corroborate his claim of friendship with the star. cliched, but not a bad flick.

Lisa said...

Ah, okay... cool. Thanks. :) Yeah, that explains why the video looks like they're FILMING a video. (You don't happen to know who the other guy is, do you? He looks so familiar to me, but I can't figure out where I would've seen him... oh well...)

Anonymous said...

He is Shahrukh Khan, arguably the most famous and popular Bollywood actor right now...he often pops up even in American news and pop culture. (And yes, there are other actors who are not part of the Khan Clan...)

Lisa said...

Yeah, I just looked him up on IMDB, and he's been in about four thousand movies. So it's possible I've just seen him in something random I can't remember...

And I find it sort of amusing that one of his recent movies is called "My Name is Khan." :) Hey, I just thought of another -- Aamir Khan... he was in Earth -- great movie, but extremely sad. Okay, those are the only Khans I am aware of... (in movies... :))