You Don't Know $hIt About Bollywood!

I have a number of pet peeves. I can't stand untidy eyebrows, conformers, broccoli and people (writers, bloggers) who are ill-versed in Hindi cinema. The last one drives me the most insane. I find it rather insulting to Hindi cinema, when people claim they have immense love for the art and write about it like they are experts. Listen, I don't claim I'm one but to my credit, I've grown up watching Hindi movies, (how do you think I learnt my Hindi?) playing antarkshari, ogling over B4U Music and the likes of it, and owned Filmfare, Stardust and Cineblitz magazines which I till today hold as my most prized possessions. Now if that isn't dedication and love, then I don't know what is.

My problem is simple: if you don't know Bollywood, don't sit and act like you do. You may know Shahid Kapoor now, but I knew Shahid Kapoor when he was an extra in Taal. Did you even know that? No. It irks me that a number of writers come out writing about the industry with limited knowledge of its history and how it was in the eighties and even nineties. Where were you when Hindi cinema was unknown to the world? You were busy watching Hollywood films. But not me! I was still watching Hindi films. Yes it lacked popularity and style, but it rocked. You didn't know Hindi cinema when it was okay to wear pink tutus! You know the new Bollywood. One that is globally recognized and popular. I can almost guarantee you wouldn't have watched a Hindi film back in the late eighties and early nineties, which I believe is when Bollywood was at its best. The films were not glamorous; they were trashy. They didn't house fancy actors with six packs; they had family packs. No fancy songs; in fact the songs were cheesy. But if you loved Hindi cinema, they rocked! So much so that even now you wish some of your favorite stars would go back to being lanky and scrawny ala Salman Khan in his hay days.

I could go on, scream and shout from the roof tops but of course, to all you ill-versed and ill-informed (that is the term I prefer to use) writers, I will say this: Bollywood is not for you to exploit. But enjoy yourself while you're here. What you have now is a different era. What we had is something you missed out on and while it will never happen again, you can bask in the glory of the new Bollywood. You'll never know the REAL Bollywood. And thus, that makes you ill-versed. You missed out!