ShaunSeb’s review published on Letterboxd:
Want to say a big big thank you to @nitii for recommending this to me. Please check out her very eloquent and detailed review. However, today was that much more magical from me finding it in your review, rather than you telling me in person, so thank you.
First things first, I’m like 99% sure my old chemistry tutor is Yash Chopra. They legit look the exact same. Like I’m not tryna make fun of his passing, but like… Shoutout to Mr. Shah!
Alr now with the serious stuff.
Other than the cheap-feeling intro and the inclusion of Lilly Singh, I can’t find anything wrong with this documentary.
Recently, I’ve been going through some of my father’s recommendations of Indian movies that are more concise, mature, and effective. (I.e: The Lunchbox, The World of Apu, etc.) I ask my father a lot about the actual audience of “Bollywood” films, because I’ve gone to the dark-side of movie viewing and buy $40 criterion-collection discs to prove that I’m more of a film-viewer rather than a movie-goer. All of that, however, has been massively supplemental. The audience of most Hindi films are usually working-class people who need that escape. I’ve always been led to believe that that was it. That THAT was the reason most of these movies sucked to me so bad.
I guess what I’m trying to say is I’ve wanted this inkling of self-awareness, poetry, or vision from India, and I feel like I’ve gotten the whole squid pasta in return from this documentary. I’ve been waiting for this shift of opinion of my home-country for so long. In a much for poetic sense: A transition from Bollywood to the Hindi-Film Industry.
I’d never really realized the close-knit community that was Bollywood celebrities. There’s a lot of nepotism, but usually everyone’s just happy to help. I’m really happy Adi got to have a full-on interview; it was actually magical. The parts with Uday were mature and personally motivating to never be trapped inside of the “box” I make for myself. I never felt that true "Indian Judgmental-ness™" where they analyze the failure of something and never really give it the stars it deserves; it has every good attitude towards flops and I really appreciate that.
So, yeah, this documentary is edited and shot beautifully, but, more importantly, It’s everything I wanted to know about where I came from and how much one of the two pillars of Indian Entertainment means to the population. A lot of (which I only learned the meaning of yesterday) NRIs, like me, feel a disconnect from the motherland that they’ve become too white to stand for where they come from. I feel like this documentary really changed the way I look at myself as an Indian American man and the way I look at the media India puts out.
My family really only gets so much time to “go back” to India. COVID put a massive dent in that, we missed: the passing of one of my grandparents, a wedding, and a baby being born. All of these things, sort of create a feeling of being “trapped” in America. But every now and then, that big “mega-hit” movie will be there to give them that escape and give them that satisfaction with fellow-Indians that, “ok I’m back.” I find that so so beautiful, and I’m ashamed I didn’t watch this before.
I was honestly sad when this ended because this is basically the coolest, most coziest crash course video I’ve ever seen. I wanted more history of movies, more lessons learned to adapt, more mega-hit films to come out, and new eras of technology and innovation,
but then I realized: I’m living it.
(10/10)
