Fluorescent Dreams Wax Cylinders - Race

12:21 - Race

Last night, I saw my first Bollywood film. It won't be my last.

Race is set among the very wealthy Indians of South Africa. Ranvir Singh runs "Stallions", a ranch that buys, breeds, races, and sells race horses. His brother, Rajiv Singh, is a ne'er-do-well drunkard, but Ranvir loves him.

Starting with that point, the film races (no pun!) through every testosterone-laden genre: from a Bourne Identity-style thriller to horse racing to competition for a model's hand to Dumb and Dumber to Spy versus Spy. (Okay, Spy versus Spy versus Spy.) The plot twisted more times than computer cables hidden behind a work desk.

Like every Bollywood film, it has four or five music videos as part of the movie. These ranged from an American hoe-down to an Arabic dance dirge on an industrial-style stage. Great, danceable music.

The language of the film was definitely Hindustanenglish: a language made of equal parts Urdu and English, tossed in a blender. Key words in Urdu sentences were in English; most dialog had some English sentences. (The cinema that I saw the film had very proper English subtitles. For example, when one character said the Hindustani phrase, "That's complete bullshit!", the subtitles read, "I disagree!")

Some things surprised me;

1. The film had, and needed, an intermission. This action film lasted more than three hours.
2. The film technically kept the Indian cinema convention of no kissing each others' lips. The film had two (PG-rated) nude scenes, had dry humping, had nibbling and kissing along the back and neck, and had (through clothing) breast-fondling -- but no kissing each others' lips.

Some foreign films are "deep, meaningful experiences". Race was not. It is a turn-off-your-brain, mass-entertainment testosterone-popcorn film with an attractive cast and high production values. I recommend it!

(I saw the film at the Naz 8 in Fremont. It will remain there for at least a week.)

Take care, all!