In February 2024, I watched Indian movies in Mumbai, India, and Kathmandu, Nepal (two in Mumbai, one in Kathmandu). I’ll introduce them here.
Indian Films Unfamiliar in Japan
Have you ever watched an Indian film? Most people probably haven’t. I hadn’t either until I actually went to India. However, I knew that India has a thriving film industry, with Mumbai (formerly Bombay) as its center, nicknamed “Bollywood” after Hollywood in the US. I also knew that sudden dance scenes often appear. But I had no idea what kind of films were actually being shown. That’s why I chose Mumbai as my destination for my first trip to India.
To Mumbai, the City of Cinema (Bollywood)
My Indian itinerary was Delhi, Varanasi, and then Mumbai. I had assumed that since India’s film industry is so big, there would be cinemas everywhere, even in the capital, Delhi. However, I couldn’t find any cinemas in the Old Delhi area where I was staying, and even when I searched Google Maps for New Delhi, I couldn’t find any easily accessible cinemas. I also didn’t find any in Varanasi, my next destination. So, I decided to watch films in Mumbai, the “City of Cinema,” my final stop.
Although my accommodation in Mumbai was outside the city center, there was a cinema within walking distance, so I made my Indian film debut right away. I had no prior information about the films being screened, so my strategy was simply to go to the cinema and watch whatever was available soon.
Indian Cinemas and Prices (March 2024)
This information is strictly from a cinema in a corner of Mumbai that I actually visited. This cinema was like an old-fashioned single-screen cinema in Japan, with a ticket booth outside the building. You’d tell them the movie you wanted to watch, get your ticket, and when it was time for the show, an usher would tear your ticket at the entrance, allowing you inside. There was a simple security gate at the entrance.
The cinema grounds were decorated with large signboard paintings of current and upcoming films. Since I had no prior information about the movies, I would look at these paintings and try to imagine, “Hmm, this movie looks like it’s about this…”
I went to the cinema twice in Mumbai, once on a weekday and once on a Saturday, and the prices were different. Weekday tickets were about 250 JPY, and Saturday tickets were about 270 JPY. It seemed there were also higher-grade seats. Weekday afternoons were relatively empty, but in the evenings, many people lined up after work. On Saturdays, the impression was of many families.
Reviews of 3 Films (Spoiler Alert!)
I watched three Indian films in Mumbai and Kathmandu:
- Shaitaan (Horror)
- Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (Sci-Fi Romantic Comedy)
- Madgaon Express (Coming-of-Age Comedy Suspense)
1. Shaitaan
This is a horror film set in modern-day India. A wealthy family (parents, daughter, son) encounters a man at a roadside diner while driving to their rural villa. The high school daughter eats a snack given by the man and begins to act strangely, but she keeps it secret from her family. Upon arriving at their villa, the same man inexplicably visits them. The suspicious parents try to politely dismiss him, but he manipulates their daughter, who is under his mind control, to stay in their home. The daughter, obeying the man, attacks her family, severely injuring her younger brother. She is then made to stand guard while the man sleeps.
The parents, tending to their son upstairs, try various ways to fight back against the man, even attempting to escape through a window, but he sees through all their attempts and retaliates. After their son is further injured, the parents finally agree to give up their daughter in exchange for taking their son to the hospital. The mother drives the son to the hospital, the injured father remains at the villa, and the man and daughter disappear somewhere. The man takes the daughter to a place resembling a Temple of Doom from Indiana Jones, where many other young girls have been gathered and controlled in the same way.
From here, the father’s counterattack begins, with some spoilers revealing his past clever maneuvers. The father had planted a tracking device on the man’s phone. After locating the man, the father calls the police and sets out to rescue his daughter. In the “Temple of Doom,” he is attacked by many controlled girls and almost thrown into flames, but he plays the man’s spell, which he had recorded at the villa, to the girls, stopping their attack. He then throws the man into the flames himself and successfully rescues his daughter. The final scene shows the police reporting their investigation to the family hospitalized, but it’s then revealed that the father has imprisoned the man underground. The film ends on an unsettling note. Is there a sequel? Come to think of it, there were no sudden dance scenes, which are a hallmark of Indian cinema. I watched this film with absolutely no prior information, but it was very interesting.
2. Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya
Since the first movie had no dance scenes, I went to watch this film, thinking it might have dance scenes based on the signboard art. The protagonist is a man who works at an android company in Mumbai. He’s originally from Delhi, and every time he goes home, his family pressures him to get married, which annoys him. On a business trip to an American branch, the man falls in love with a beautiful android living at his boss’s house. This is where the long-awaited sudden dance scene appears! The man receives the android and brings her back to Mumbai to live with him, but then his family again pressures him about marriage. So, the man decides to pretend the android is his fiancée and proceeds with a wedding.
The joyful family welcomes the android and asks her many questions, to which she gives strange answers that the man tries to cover up. There are comedic moments, like when the android suddenly runs out of battery, and a relative who is a doctor declares her dead because she has no pulse, only for her to revive after being charged. However, the android malfunctions and goes berserk, injuring relatives and setting the wedding venue on fire. As she tries to push an elderly grandfather, the man strikes the android with a large sword, rendering her motionless.
The final scene shows a new product presentation introducing a new model of android. The film ends with the android on stage turning towards the man and smiling sweetly. Is there a sequel to this one too?
3. Madgaon Express
Three childhood friends grew up in Mumbai and then moved to different places as adults. The one who remained in Mumbai lives a dull life, while the other two have found success in America and South Africa. During a video call, they decide to reunite in India, and the three of them travel to Goa in South India. At the train station platform, one of them accidentally swaps his bag with someone else’s. The swapped bag contains a handgun, drugs, and a hotel key. When they go to that hotel to retrieve their bag, they discover a large quantity of drugs inside a bed.
Then, gang members who are part of a drug deal arrive and mistake the three friends for their associates. The friends manage to escape through a window, and their frantic flight begins. Along the way, they pick up a beautiful doctor’s assistant as a heroine, who joins them, but they are eventually caught by the gang. They are taken hostage and ordered to infiltrate a rival organization. They disguise themselves as women to sneak in but are discovered and escape again. From there, they are caught in a train by the rival gang, but this turns out to be a trap, and the gang members are arrested by the police. The story ends with the three friends returning to their respective places.
Could I Enjoy Them Without Understanding the Language?
The language was Hindi. I couldn’t understand the spoken content as there were no subtitles, but I could generally follow the storyline just by watching the visuals. Of course, there were times when I couldn’t keep up with the audience around me who were laughing loudly during dialogue-heavy scenes, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Limited to the three films I watched, I believe they probably didn’t have huge budgets. However, the quality felt much higher than one might expect given that. All three films I watched this time were hits and enjoyable. I highly recommend watching Indian films if you ever have the chance to visit India in the future.
