I have spent much of the weekend watching live coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the U.S.. I have fallen in love with him like I’ve fallen in love with Bollywood! He was adorable and his papal coat of arms reminded me of India’s emblem for no particular reason other than it looks very official. I even think it looks like the Pope’s feeling the bhangra beat in this photo, doesn’t it? I thought he was German, not Punjabi! I watched the coverage on EWTN and got so enthralled I missed my weekend dose of Bollywood. I did however think of my favorite portrayal of Catholicism in a Bollywood movie: Ajay Devgan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999). I love the wisdom of Bollywood and Devgan’s characer gets to the heart of his views on what love is. Here’s one of my favorite Bollywood scenes of all time and shows the beauty of purification through suffering. I think that Pope Benecidt said nearly the same thing while he was here, but Bollywood said it fewer words:
I’ve posted about Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam two other times here before, and The Bolly Blog has a great synopsis of the film here. As an extra bonus, the film has a tight slap to the face that takes place in a church of all places! Talk about sacreligious. Now back to the religious, today’s video: “Dholi taro Dhol Baje” with music by Ismail Darbar. The playback singers are Karsan Sagadia, Kavita Krishnamurthy, and Vinod Rathod. It’s picturised on Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan and is one of the many excellent songs from the movie.
Bollywood Food Club 