India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) - Keith Bain [38]
Those interested in Indian spirituality will uncover a wealth of material. Besides picking up the lighthearted Holy Cow (above), you should find a copy of Kamala Subramaniam’s The Mahabharata (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan), the great epic tale of the war between two clans related by the ties of kinship. The Mahabharata also contains the Bhagavad Gita or “The Celestial Song,” which is often seen as the core of Hindu beliefs. The Ramayana (Penguin) by R. K. Narayan offers a good introduction to the epic of Rama, who is exiled and whose wife, Sita, is abducted by the demon king Ravana. Penguin India also does a compact series that includes The Book of Krishna by Pavan K. Varma, The Book of the Buddha by Arundhathi Subramaniam, and The Book of the Devi by Bulbul Sharma.
For a more academic approach to Indian history, try the somewhat pedantic Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy, by Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal (Routledge); A History of India, by Peter Robb (Palgrave); or A Concise History of India by Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf (Cambridge University Press). And to learn more about the man at the heart of 20th-century India, take a look at The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer (Easton Press).
Finally, if you’re looking for a light read that gives some insight into India today, pick up a copy of Shobhaa Dé’s Superstar India—From Incredible to Unstoppable (Penguin) in which the author discusses her very personal views on the highs and lows of her country’s social, economic, and cultural values.
This is just a start. But be warned—the writing on India is as seductive as the place it describes. Once hooked, you’ll want more.
7 Bollywood & Beyond: India on the Big Screen
by Jerry Pinto & Keith Bain
Mumbai’s Hindi film industry, popularly known as Bollywood, is the biggest producer of films in the world, churning out hundreds of movies annually, all of which feature superkitschy images of buxom, bee-stung-lipped heroines gyrating to high-pitched melodies while strapping studs thrust their groins in time to lip-synched banal-and-breezy lyrics. These are wonderful, predictable melodramas in which the hero is always valiant and virile, the woman always voluptuous and virtuous. The battle between good and evil (a bankable hero and a recognizably nasty villain) must be intense, long-winded, and ultimately unsurprising—audiences do not pay good money to be challenged, but to be entertained.
Before you choose to spend a hot subtropical afternoon watching a Hindi film, know that these films are long, averaging about 3 hours. This is because they are constructed more like Elizabethan plays or old operas. Their audiences do not come for tragedies or for comedies but for full-scale performances that give them everything: the chance to laugh and cry, to bemoan the violence done unto the hero, and the opportunity to cheer as justice is done. These films are also made in defiance of the Aristotelian requirements of unity in time and space, and require from you a willing suspension of disbelief. And though the genre film has just begun—a few historicals such as Devdas (nine different versions) and Parineeta (The Espoused; 2005); some horror films like Kaal (Time; 2005) and Darna Mana Hai (Fear is Forbidden; 2003); some war films, including Lakshya (Goal; 2004) and Mission Kashmir (2000); thrillers, such as Jism (Body; 2003); and even political dramas like the post-9/11 New York (2009)—most Hindi films still work on this principle.
The top-bracket Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan (who is nearing 70), the 40-something Shah Rukh Khan (aka SRK, “King of Bollywood,” and “King Khan”), heartthrob Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and relative newcomer, former model John Abraham, are paid incredible sums by Indian standards,