I watched a hindi movie the other day with some cricket buddies of mine at the cinema--which I never do, and for good reasons--and afterwards, I began pondering culture.

I remember a while back Reuben telling me that his dad thought his sister was more cultured and had stated, "she watches bollywood movies" to substantiate his reasoning. Both Reuben and I thought it was stupid at the time, but now I am starting to reconsider.

I went out to watch the movie, Dostaana (friendship) with them and I must say, I hated most of it. The movie's premise was unoriginal and the execution, primitive. Here's the gist of it: two guys who have good jobs (nurse/photographer) seeking permanent residence permits in the US pretend to be a gay couple to gain it. They both end up staying, temporarily, at a Woman's house and she lets them because she's stupid enough to believe that they're gay. Sound familiar? Then they pretend to be gay by exuding unfettered flamboyance while prancing around like a couple of fags. No, I don't mean homosexuals, but fags who pretend to be gay. I was actually somewhat offended by it since it became apparent that the underlying, homosexual bigotry knew no bounds in this movie--and in the audience.

I'd go on, but it's somewhat excruciating to do so. All the while, my friends were laughing it up like anything. It wasn't funny and this time there is little bias on my part because I understood the dialogue and knew why they'd find it funny. The problem is that slap-stick humour is seldom funny in hollywood movies, so why is it so funny in bollywood? Is it solely the difference in language? I know some jokes are funny in other languages, but believe me, this wasn't funny. It's like laughing it up at "white chicks". Sure, there are those who I refer to as the lowest-common-denominator crowd that would find it funny; however, their counterparts, mainly those with good taste in movies would find it to be trite and stupid. The problem is that Dostaana was considered a hit by movie critics and users, which can only mean one thing. This is a cultural thing.

Bollywood has always been a part of Indian culture and it clearly has its influences. I can almost bet that if my friends saw the exact same sequence in a hollywood movie like, oh, let's say: CHUCK AND LARRY, which is precisely what Dostaana ripped off--rather poorly I might add, that too off of a poor movie--that they would have not found it very funny at all.

Then they thought something was wrong with me because I didn't enjoy it. I was a little annoyed considering I think I have great taste in movies; however, they had every right to think something was off. The fact is, I am not cultured Indianly (yes, I made that up by turning it into an adverb, so fuck off).

The fact is, to appreciate bollywood and the type of Humour that it contains is a cultural thing.

Now, I don't appreciate the implication that being cultured has to refer to your supposed roots, specifically. Just because I don't have much of an indian culture in myself, comparatively speaking, doesn't mean I am not cultured. I give respect when shown it; I am usually very polite (the internet is merely a segway for my belligerence); I am honest and there are plenty of other reasons why I am cultured. Aren't those the things that culture teaches us, specifically? I think it's more important to possess those qualities than to have an unimportant external reference like bollywood to ascertain our culture.

I may not be as cultured as some, but most people are cultured and that's irrespective of ethnic backgrounds.

On that note, I am white-washed as hell and so is reuben (if not more so).

That ends this post.