Review of Bombay (1995) by James M — 23 Mar 2010

I watched Bombay today, and although it has been recommended to me multiple times as a prototype for Bollywood films, I still couldn't really get into it. My areas of concern are basically the same with all Bollywood films; while I feel that the compositional direction is oftentimes very creative and the cinematography in general is usually absorbing, the terrible sound editing and lack of realism from a narrative standpoint (besides the songs, mind you) just makes me lose focus throughout most of the film.

Rosie Thomas writes an interesting article in defense of Indian cinema in which she claims that most cinephiles don't appreciate Bollywood just because we've become so accustomed to the paradigm of Western cinema and art culture. She argues that India is one of only three countries in the world where their domestic cinema is more watched than Hollywood. I agree with the notion that Indians simply don't enjoy Western cinema more than the misnomer that they don't understand it / don't know how to make it. She even claims that Western culture chooses to ignore Indian cinema even as an art-form entirely, but rather as viewing it as hopelessly naive. That notion of art being subjective is interesting to me, as it makes me wonder if art has to mean or say something, or even invoke some sort of affection.