LIFESTYLE
Here are a few reasons why I love the buzz about B-town at its most boastful.
And as the pure entertainment factor of Salman's new movie sets cash registers on fire even amidst the latest faux pas by controversy's favourite child, there's a feel-good vibe in B-town that's hard to miss — 2010's biggest hit has lifted some of the doom and gloom that had set in as some big banner offerings failed to live up to the hype.
And to elaborate on a ringside view — I attended a movie premier recently. And had a few epiphanies I thought I should share. So here are a few reasons why I love the buzz about B-town at its most boastful…
Because it's a family: Up close and personal, the stars are regular people. Certainly, in-groups, core groups do exist, as they do in all professions, but on the whole Bollywood is a closed circle, an insular community, tolerant, even indulgent of its bad boys (or girls) and rather supportive in both extreme calamity and wondrous good luck. At a movie premier they joke, they laugh, they make mischief… to an outsider, they appear one unit, bonded, whole — complete, despite insecurities/career status/other.
…And families share: Not just food, which is passed around with great goodwill, but catcalls and whistles as one among their own delivers a particularly punch-packed line, or a neat dance/action sequence. Whistles — would you believe packets of them, are distributed, and yes, are used, so each climax or proud point in a film gets that much louder and crazier as the halls resound in the cacophony of appreciation and adoration of a close knit group being boisterous and celebratory!
To take the bonding bit further, a recent survey correlated friendships and life — news agencies report that a UK poll tabulated that those surrounded by family and friends are 50 per cent less likely to die early than those without a social life. And for many, as on a car sticker I saw recently: Friends are the family we choose for ourselves!
Sure, Bollywood has a flip side, the one that's paraded more often than not: mean, undercutting, jealous, back biting, but why always underline the negative? In keeping with the 'incredible lightness of being' part of this column, I'd much rather chronicle its merrymaking, festive side. And its generous one for that matter, because Joy of Giving Week is coming up and many stars, as you know, believe in giving back to society. So here's to B-town: love it, hate it, entertainment can't really do without it!
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And don't know about you, but I cheered Kim Clijsters all the way through to her second straight win of the US Open tennis title at Flushing Meadows. The feisty Belgian returned to competitive play after the birth of her daughter and won last year, despite her long maternity leave.
I'm writing this in the light of a recent survey that said that 52 percent of the Indian women polled in it, were criticised for continuing their careers after marriage and later, childbirth. But Kim has shown what heights a career if encouraged and supported, even after motherhood can reach to — cheers to the global poster girl for working moms!
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