Fahim and I watch another Hindi movie "Maine Pyar Kiya". Yeah, I’m starting to see the patterns and joke about it. The man is always rich, the woman sometimes rich, sometimes a poor peasant living in a rural area, usually on a farm, or the father is a mechanic, or some other type of work like that. There’s usually a misunderstanding, usually a rival, always fight scenes involving the hero against a half dozen or a dozen men who he always beats. Most of the time there’s a rain or water scene, sometimes in swim suits, while the girl sings and dances. And there’s a lot of singing and dancing. This movie, there were 11 song and dance numbers. It’s on the dvd sleeve – no, I didn’t count it myself. The songs are always lip synced, and sometimes very very poorly. The dancing in this one involved dance steps that little preteen girls with a few years of jazz lessons behind them could do. I couldn’t, of course, but I have no coordination. Sometimes, the parents of both parties are old friends who haven’t talked to each other in a long time but used to be bosom buddies. And always, the parents are otherwise going to arrange marriages for the two young people.
Arranged marriages are still big in this part of the world.
Yeah, it’s predictable, but you know what? I still enjoy the movie anyway. Yeah, you know exactly how it’s going to end and you can see the plot devices a mile away. Lots of improbabilities – like a guy getting a job in a rural area where no jobs are to be had – and making as much money as his prospective father in law at the same time, or being pumelled by the rival and falling into a fast moving river, only to be pulled down the current and over several steep waterfalls with lots and lots of rocks, only to live with no broken bones or serious injuries. There are no plot holes – there isn’t enough of a story line for that to exist. Seriously, very simple story lines.
But I still like ’em anyway. Go figure.
