Bollywood in Bangladesh
Most Canadians are familiar with the traditional Bollywood formula: guy wants to marry girl, and something - usually class - is impeding him from doing so. If it's not a class issue, then it's usually the girl's feigned reluctance to give in to the guy, despite her love for him. It's a story repeated in the hundreds of films produced every year in India, Bangladesh's neighbour to the west, north and east, and after our first rehearsal at the television studio this afternoon, it's clear that this particular video makes no attempt to deviate from that norm. Well, aside from having a two-meter tall Nordic looking white guy trying to convince a slightly older Cameroonian female, Solange, to hop into his ox cart and let him carry her into the sunset....
Although I thought I was only going to the studio to meeting my fellow foreign co-star [don't worry, it hasn't gotten to my head already], we ended up rehearsing the lyrics for an hour before moving downstairs into their main studio to learn the choreography. In the beginning Solange and I resembled stiff mannequeins more than we did South Asians born, like many Latin Americans, with an ability to swing their hips and twist their limbs in ways that the rest of us can only hope to emulate. The show's host, producer and choreographer Brownia was a natural actress as well as willing and non-judgmental coach, so after a few runs through the basic movements, the two of us were at least feeling relaxed enough to give it our best shot.
All of a sudden it was close two 9pm- we'd been rehearsing for almost three hours without even noticing it. Not only were we enjoying ourselves as we made our way through the three distinct verses and scenes, but the studio staff watching us try, fail, then try again with a little more success each time were certainly having a good laugh as well.
We've scheduled rehearsals for tomorrow afternoon and Friday evening to try and pull it all together for shooting on Saturday. Judging by today's rehearsal, I'm pretty confident that we might just come out of it looking less like awkward foreigners parachuted into Bangla-Bollywood and more like awkward foreigners with a vague idea of what they're actually doing. At this point, however, I'm thankful we still have a full two days before game time.
As for those of you interested in a copy of the final version, no comment until I see it for myself. But let's just say that if you happen to be living in one of the few select states in the US that receives the channel via satellite, you might have a better chance of getting your hands on one...
Although I thought I was only going to the studio to meeting my fellow foreign co-star [don't worry, it hasn't gotten to my head already], we ended up rehearsing the lyrics for an hour before moving downstairs into their main studio to learn the choreography. In the beginning Solange and I resembled stiff mannequeins more than we did South Asians born, like many Latin Americans, with an ability to swing their hips and twist their limbs in ways that the rest of us can only hope to emulate. The show's host, producer and choreographer Brownia was a natural actress as well as willing and non-judgmental coach, so after a few runs through the basic movements, the two of us were at least feeling relaxed enough to give it our best shot.
All of a sudden it was close two 9pm- we'd been rehearsing for almost three hours without even noticing it. Not only were we enjoying ourselves as we made our way through the three distinct verses and scenes, but the studio staff watching us try, fail, then try again with a little more success each time were certainly having a good laugh as well.
We've scheduled rehearsals for tomorrow afternoon and Friday evening to try and pull it all together for shooting on Saturday. Judging by today's rehearsal, I'm pretty confident that we might just come out of it looking less like awkward foreigners parachuted into Bangla-Bollywood and more like awkward foreigners with a vague idea of what they're actually doing. At this point, however, I'm thankful we still have a full two days before game time.
As for those of you interested in a copy of the final version, no comment until I see it for myself. But let's just say that if you happen to be living in one of the few select states in the US that receives the channel via satellite, you might have a better chance of getting your hands on one...
posted by Per at 11:09 a.m.
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