The Bane of Bollywood © Niall Fleming 2003
What is it with Bollywood movies that means they have to stick a random dance scene in, when you least expect it.
Imagine the Bollywood take on a horror film, the killer gets ready to strike, raises his knife, then just as he starts to bring it down, says, 'Oh f*** this, let's dance!!'
Honestly, it's ridiculous; you can pretty much predict entirely what will happen in any Bollywood movie. Boy meets girl, girl runs away, forced back together by circumstance, have sex, then DANCE SCENE. So obvious this is, that I have no intention of ever actually going to see one of these so-called movies. Movies are meant to surprise you, make you think about what's happening and keep you guessing right up to the last minute. No-one wants to go see a movie and be able to say exactly what's going to happen in the next scene etc.
Take 'The Matrix' by the Wachowski brothers for example, who could have predicted that those who think they exist 'outside the matrix' are in fact still a very vital part of the matrix simulation. As proved by the existence of Agent Smith in Zion near the end of The Matrix: Reloaded.
I guess to some extent one could say the same about Hollywood, being that all the movies they produce have to be financially viable therefore it is safer to stick to a basic formula which has been proven to make a good film, which people will go and see. Which is why I tend to prefer the smaller production companies films, European films for example, they are allowed to be a lot more controversial and try out new ideas, giving possibly a better film, maybe a really bad one. But that's not the point; the point is that they are trying to do something original instead of rehashing the same old plot lines, keeping your interest alive.
Book adaptations are nice too, especially if they are done well, for example 'The Lord of The Rings' trilogy, the third and final of which is released this winter (December 2003). Although small pieces of the finely woven web of story are missed out, all the most important features have been kept, and it is interesting to finally put a face to the characters in the books, and it's reassuring to find out that Peter Jackson the director imagined the characters to look the same way as you had. You couldn't have asked for a better Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen). The Balrog, beneath the bridge of Khazad-dûm, was even better than I had imagined it, the book gives very little description of the creature, just a vague description involving fire.