Globe-trotting through Bollywood!

Globe-trotting through Bollywood!

The role of media & entertainment is huge in our day-to-day life, with Bollywood having the biggest impact. The impact of Bollywood is not just through its plots and larger-than-life stars, but also because of the exotic locations scenes are shot in. Hindi films thus act as a tourism guide for Indians, who like to travel and explore the world. 

Raj Kapoor’s `Sangam` (1964), which was the first movie to be shot abroad, brought about a new trend in the Hindi film industry. A significant portion of the movie was shot in Europe. Till then, people only saw foreign locations on posters and in newspapers. After Sangam, many movies provided audiences a treat for their eyes by showcasing beautiful foreign locations. Audiences now started connecting with foreign locations as much as with the stars.

 

Yash Chopra took picturisation of foreign locales to a different level. Through his movie `Silsila` (1981), an entire generation of Bollywood fans was exposed to Netherlands' Tulip Gardens. Indians sat in awe as they watched their favourite stars Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha amidst the astoundingly beautiful floral landscape.

Over a period of time, not just songs, but large portions of the film itself were shot abroad.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), shot in amazing locales in Europe, become a travel inspiration for Indians. DDLJ, another film from the Yash Raj stable, became a trend setter.  The second half of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s `Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam` (1999) was shot in Hungary. The film however showed it as Italy, but I guess no one was complaining. Hindi films were only reflecting the post-liberalization mood of the country, wanting to fly out of its comfort zone to explore new places, new cuisine and new culture. Audiences lapped up the trend and went to theatres for tourism exploring and not just `star gazing`. 

If Yash Chopra focused on Europe in the '90s, Karan Johar, the `chocolate director`, gave audiences a ringside view of the fascinating United States Of America (USA). He chose the USA to shoot Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, Dostana and My Name is Khan. Audiences got a taste of the amazing New York and other fabulous destinations in the US. Thanks to Karan Johar, Indians now started receiving some interesting tourism education outside of Europe too. 

Movies like Rockstar (Prague), Jab Tak hai Jaan (England), Dil Chahta Hai (Australia), New York (New York and Philadelphia), Bachna Ae Haseeno ( Australia, Italy, Greece and Switzerland), PK (Belgium), Ek Tha tiger ( Cuba, Turkey and Ireland), Players (New Zealand and Russia), Agent Vinod (Morocco), and Shivaay (Bulgaria) expanded audiences' tourism horizons.
 

Bollywood did not just stop at shooting in exotic foreign locales. It went one step further by incorporating travel as a theme. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) is a story about three friends who go on a Spanish holiday. The film-makers collaborated with the Spain Tourim Board and presented an amazing movie, which was shot over 200 destinations in Spain.
Dil Dhadkne Do (2015) was largely shot on a cruise. It brought alive yet another facet of travel. It inspired audiences to look beyond conventional modes of travel.

According to an article on the Internet, India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020 (source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/number-of-indians-travelling-abroad-to-double-by-2020-118010700295_1.html).

It is anybody's guess how many people in the country make their international travel plans after watching a Bollywood blockbuster. But one thing is for sure, Bollywood has brought distant and expensive travel destinations much closer home for just a few hundred rupees.

Image courtesy: Google Images. 

Face The Mirror- Not Just Facebook

Face The Mirror – Not Just Facebook

How excited were we to make our first Facebook account or install Whatsapp in our phones? When I got on to Facebook I had no idea about how it worked. My friends and me were excited about having an account on Facebook and spent a lot of time being online and chatting to each other even if we didn’t have a sensible topic to talk about. The same was with Whatsapp. When I go through my old chats on Facebook, it is surprising that the number of people I chat with now are not even half the number of people I used to talk to then. What bought this change in us? When I look around today, most people from my generation are to some extent tired of pretending to be someone they are not on social media. We really don’t know if it’s a boon or a curse! 

 Our generation is probably the one where all the new technological and social trends started taking over us, and somewhere trying to cope up with it, we all lost ourselves. Needless to say social media has brought us closer and helps us keep in touch with one another, but are we really close to each other?

Nevertheless, slowly I got exposed to Snapchat and Instagram. Snapchat is a medium to talk to your friends through snaps, but it burdened us with the idea to look perfect always. With Instagram taking a shot at our lives, we are all circled with hearts, likes and followers. A person’s identity is being judged by the amount of followers he has on Instagram and the amount of likes he gets on his pictures. If someone is not active on Instagram or Snapchat, he is considered “anti-social”. What an irony!
 

Are those 500 followers on Instagram or 1000 friends on Facebook really our friends? Can we really count on them? If no, then what’s the point of all this? Wasn’t social media supposed to bring us close? But who has the time for real talk? Everyone is busy having earphones, scrolling through the feed and pressing hearts on pictures of people we never met. The only hearts we actually give to people are on Instagram and the only time we see our friends is on Snapchat. Maybe a time will come when people will be given the capability to rank any person on the basis of a star system and judge them on that basis. This has been shown very well in Black Mirror’s- “Nosedive” episode.

Today we are surrounded by applications such as Zomato and Swigg, because no one has the time to cook at home or even sit with their families for a meal. Therefore, such apps are taking over us. When was the last time we actually spoke to our families about ourselves and asked them for solutions? Why would we, when we have Google giving us solutions in a fraction of second! We trust Google more than anything in this world, not even knowing if the information is true.

There is a constant urge to post stories on Snapchat and Instagram, just to show people that our life is equally happening as theirs. But the question is are we really what we show on our social media accounts? Do we really smile like we do in the pictures when we are alone? Only if we were able to share happiness and smiles instead of sharing images, wouldn’t the world be a better place?

I wouldn’t say that my experience with the social media has been bad. It has been really helpful in connecting with old friends or for recreation. But as I reflect on the happenings around us and the state of the youth, it does make me think on how well I am leveraging it. Social media can be both a bane as well as a boon depending on how you leverage it. 

It is important to draw the line when it comes to using social media for merely passing time. Let us not allow technology to pull us away from the wonderful real people who surround us everyday and care for our well being everyday.

It’s time to look within – face the mirror, and come up with some real hard answers.