Bollywood

The first night in Jaipur we got tickets to see Kismat Konnection at the Raj Mandir. The Raj Mandir is the "most famous" movie theater in Indian and only second in popularity. The movie was going to be all in Hindi so we went mostly for the experience. Several Indian people from HHE had been talking about Bollywood films so we thought should see what they were all about. There were several levels of seats that varied from the 60-100 Rs. We ended up getting the mid range ticket because the box was sold out. We arrived at about 6 to get settled before the 6:30pm showtime. We all got our popcorn and drinks and headed up to where our section was only to find that the door was locked. We talked with some people who were all waiting in the lobby and they said that the other movie was still going on. Apparently the other movie finishes about 6:15 and then 1500 people pile out, and then in again before the 6:30 showtime. Indeed this is what happened; the film actually started before everyone had found their seat. The initial pictures where a couple previews as well as a short patriotic video about Rajahstan ( I wonder if this shows every time), and then some public service announcements about health and hygiene. (I forgot to mention that all theaters in India are government owned).

The film was just what we all expected. An intelligent, handsome, budding college graduate enters the real world and has absolutely no luck. He meets beautiful girl by accident and then continues to run into her in various places. He realizes that she is good luck for him and he pursues her. They then go through the usually he can't have her because she is engaged, then he does something stupid and loses her, and then gets her back...yes this took over 3 hrs! The movie was quite cheesy but that is what we all liked the most. We would laugh at how people would break out into song and dance randomly and at the corny scenes while everyone else would laugh at the appropriate cues. One thing that was interesting to me was that there was quite a bit of English used in the script. Enough so that it helped me figure out what was going on. I don't know if this was because there was not the correct Hindi word or phrase to convey what they were trying to saw or because it was just common for Indian people (Bollywood stars) to do that.