Om, Shanti, Om

Among our activities, which were going to the beach, barbeque's, doing a Spanish omelet or just doing nothing while drinking beer, we also went to the movies. The film of the moment was Om, Shanti, Om. A 3 hour duration movie with a 5 minute intermediate.

The plot was about a second class actor falling in love with a hot famous Bollywood actress. But the story is not that easy. It gets a bit more complicated, and though you can't understand what they're saying, you can follow all what's going on. So you end up not knowing why has happened what has happened but having a great time.

Being a Bollywood movie, and Bollywood being the biggest film maker in the world, I thought quality would be that compared to Hollywood. However, although this movie is a high budget one and you can see quality scenes, it is obvious the budget is not enough. Some things have to be done with a poor budget. I observed that these poor budget scenes were those with no music on. When music was playing, and actors singing, the quality was of the best, like a good video clip. It is obvious that the importance of Bollywood movies is not the plot, but the music and the dancing, but of course we all knew that. Just a matter of confirming it.

Not only the quality of scenes confirm this fact, but the lack of credibility of the actors may also apply. Actors are not actors because of their good performance, but because they are hot, know how to dance, and know how to sing.

Nevertheless, I'm talking about a top film were it's music is heard all over India. So far, I haven't heard of a foreigner who hasn't liked the film, enjoying it as I did. However, not all the merit must be given to the movie. Watching a movie in India is a whole experience. Unlike Europe or other westernized countries, the audience shouts, whistles, claps, laugh and cries. They live every moment as if they were part of the movie, and so, you join to the festival. Only the Sitges Festival in Barcelona has a similar feeling. Maybe some other festival, but never a movie theater.