My Bollywood Dream
by Avani Dwivedi
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00To Ma and Papa, for always encouraging my dreams.
00:09My Bollywood Dreams By Avneet Vivedi
00:12Bollywood movies are made of dreams and adventures and I long to discover them all.
00:18On Friday nights, Ma and Baba take us out to find them in the square of a movie screen.
00:24We ride twisting and turning through the lanes and streets and corners of sparkling Mumbai.
00:30Old melodies fill the car and Ma hums along.
00:34Bollywood music is like listening to the first monsoon rain, the rhythm is steady and familiar.
00:41It feels like an old friend.
00:43It fills my heart with khushi with happiness.
00:46We stop at a traffic light and I watch street vendors circle the cars selling roses, berries,
00:52balloons and gajra beautiful flower garlands.
00:55Auto rickshaw scooters and cars crowd together and between them, I see a police uncle directing
01:01the traffic.
01:02He is dressed head to toe in khaki and wears proud stars.
01:05I imagine the police uncle in a Bollywood film and I imagine myself finding him.
01:11I see his long shadow as he jumps from one building to another, flying high high in the
01:17sky.
01:18We start to move across the never-ending Bandravali bridge.
01:22We stop and start.
01:24Horns honk all around us and the monsoon skies above are thick with foggy clouds.
01:30I imagine a choreographed dance sequence, the crowd bursting with energy dancing on
01:35the top of the long line of cars.
01:38And I imagine myself filming it all.
01:41When we arrive at the movie theatre, excitement is everywhere.
01:45Bright Bollywood stars smile and stare back at me.
01:50Baba rubs his hands together and says, Aap maaza aayega.
01:55Now this should be fun.
01:57The pop pop pop of popcorn and the strong spicy smell of samosas fills the air.
02:03We walk into the chilly hall and like always my bhai and I fight for the best seats.
02:09But in the end, we settle beside each other.
02:13I hear gossiping aunties, a laughing police uncle and a pair of giggling twins.
02:19Like the chirping crickets outside my window at night, all of them bust with excitement.
02:24E.W.
02:25The film is starting.
02:30Look!
02:31Here comes the hero and there's the heroine, they're crossing paths and falling hopelessly
02:36in love.
02:37Now it's time for our hero wavy locks giant muscles to outsmart the bad guy and save the
02:43day.
02:44Hooray!
02:45But that's not where the movie ends.
02:48The beat starts.
02:50The hero whips out his sunglasses and the heroine ties her beautiful dupatta together.
02:55Suddenly there is a roaring energy in the room.
02:59Police uncle is popping.
03:01The twins are wiggling.
03:03Ma and Baba are jiggling.
03:06My hands clap clap clap and bhai whistles and whoops.
03:10All our bodies move to the Bollywood tune.
03:13We are a room of different people from different places living this moment together.
03:18Bollywood movies are filled with many dreams and adventures that I haven't had yet.
03:23But one day, with the memories of these Friday nights held close, I know I can create my
03:29own.
03:30Author's note.
03:32Bollywood has always been a part of my life.
03:35I spent my childhood in Mumbai listening to old Bollywood music with my mum and watching
03:41Bollywood flicks with my dad.
03:44When I moved to the US as an adult, Bollywood movies became a bridge between me and my desi
03:50community.
03:51In creating this book, I drew inspiration from evergreen films like Pyaasa, Guru Dutt
03:571957, modern classics like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Aditya Chopra 1995, famous actions
04:05films like Singham, Rohit Shetty 2011 and many many more.
04:10With this story, I also wanted to celebrate women in Bollywood to make our female lead
04:15more than just a beautiful love interest for the hero which is so typical of the industry.
04:21Our protagonist is an aspiring director with a fiercely rich imagination who creates her
04:26own stories and casts her own characters.
04:30My Bollywood dreams is built on the dreams of this girl who sees the world for more than
04:34what it is.
04:35Above all else, my Bollywood dream is a love letter to Mumbai and to Bollywood.
04:42I want to take the reader on a winding journey through the streets of my hometown and introduce
04:47them to the movies I love.
04:50Bollywood stories are a roller coaster of emotions with incredible dance sequences and
04:54exciting action scenes and best of all, the promise of happiness in the end.