Monday, October 18, 2010

Robot/Enthiran/எந்திரன்



I saw my first Indian movie on Saturday! It's the most popular movie here, like, ever. Everybody here has seen it. It even ranked 12th in the U.S. on opening weekend! It wasn't necessarily a quality film, but it was an experience for sure. The people get really into it and clap and make noise for almost everything that happens.  It randomly cut to music videos that didn't seem to have anything to do with the plot. I think my favorite was one filmed at Machu Picchu, with llamas roaming around in the background.
Machu Picchu
Even though the film was in Tamil, it was fairly easy to understand.  It lasted over 3 hours and included an intermission! To get a snack, you had to wait in line at this machine, then enter what you wanted. IIt was too much hassle for me even though I hadn't had dinner! Everybody was pushing because there was no room. But there was air conditioning and popcorn, which is apparently a new thing! 

Here's the trailer, for your viewing entertainment.

The day we went was also the Saraswati Puja, which is a celebration honoring the goddess Saraswati, so the roads were even busier than usual. 
People clean their living and work places and bless everything they use.  Almost every car was decorated! You also make chickpeas and sweet rice. We celebrated it at my internship on Friday. I don't really know all the customs but it's fun to have celebrations! And of course, nothing is complete in India without a nice healthy round of fireworks - even funerals!


I also wanted to give you the link to my blog that I'm required to write. I've only written once so far and in the future it will be a lot of repeat, but if you're really interested and have nothing better to do with your time, you could read other peoples' blogs on the program. Some people put up pictures too. We're only required to do 2 during the semester, so there won't be that many.

p.s. I got sunburned for the first time here - I don't even think I got burned this summer! Just thought I would share.

3 comments:

  1. Elizabeth!!
    THANK YOU FOR THE POSTCARD!! I love it :) It made my day. This movie sounds preettty awesome. Why don't we clap? It sounds like a theater performance or something. Also, we need more music video breaks in every movie.
    I miss you!
    Sorry you're sunburned. I am impressed that you lasted so long!
    -Ariana

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  2. Ariana thanks for commenting! It makes me feel like people actually read this, even though it's not very good writing...
    I'm glad you got my postcard! None got lost in the mail! Which is amazing, because the post office is kinda sketchy.

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  3. That's absolutely crazy how different an experience it is to see a movie there! An intermission? I think that would be too dangerous here, because people would just leave if they didn't like the movie!

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