Indian Cinema is the world's largest producer of Films!!

Yes it is true. Indian Cinema may not be much popular among other cultures, but it produces over 1000 films every year! The biggest industry in Indian Cinema is Bollywood. But Bollywood alone is not Indian Cinema. There are many regional industries in Indian Cinema. Here in Singapore, most of the Indian Films screened are either from Bollywood or from Tamil Film Industry. Very few movies are screened form other regional industries here.

Indian Films are receiving bigger global attention recently. It is being viewed by other cultures also. The popularity of Indian Films among other cultures around the world increased drastically after Slumdog Millionaire (imdb link) won 8 Oscar Awards and another 100 awards from various organizations and films festivals around the globe. Indian Film Industry prove to the world that it can even produce the best films in this world.


I have some recommendations for my fellow readers who wish to explore Indian Cinema. This is not the ultimate list or the top list, but just recommendations from my own experience. Grab them with English subtitles and enjoy them to the fullest.

1. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 
2. Lagaan (2001)
3. Rang De Basanthi (2006)
4. Hey Ram (2000)
5. Gandhi (1982)
6. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
7. Sholay (1975)
8. Mother India (1957)
9. Roja (1992)
10. Bombay (1995) 
11. A Wednesday (2008) 
12. Veer-Zaara (2004) 

Have a nice journey through Indian Cinema and I wish you will have good time watching Indian Films. Do comment on my post about your views on Indian Films. (P.S. This blog post is intended for non-Indian viewers who doesn't know much about Indian Films. Its purpose is to give them some exposure to Indian Film Industry and Films)

Signing off,
Sarika

Hindu Wedding Customs in India : Interesting indeed!

I have attended countless weddings back in India, I don't even remember how many. Here in Singapore, I don't see people inviting very distant relatives for marriages.. So at the age of 20 a person might not have attended more than a few weddings. That's not the case in India. People invite far distant relatives and friends for marriages. For me, attending every single marriage was a new experience.

I have some observations of my own, about Indian marriages, specifically about South Indian marriages as I am from South India. In the last few years marriages in India had many changes in its rituals and customs. When I was a kid, I remember that most of the marriages were happening in temples or in the bride's home. A now-a-days wedding happens only in Auditoriums of various sizes. The reason is the tremendous increase in number of invitations for every marriage. Sometimes I feel that it is very unnecessary to invite such distant relatives and end up with 5000++ people for a single wedding!! In old days, there were only few people invited for every wedding, mostly less than 100-200 people. The positive side of this is that marriages are mega events for families to meet and get to know about each other.

Another interesting thing is the “Arranged Marriage” system. More than 80% of Indian weddings are arranged by parents. These days, things are changing at least in Metros and Cities, but majority of Indians are living in villages. In the place where I was born, “Love Marriage” was seen as a bad thing. Only recently things have changed a bit. Some people start accepting “Love Marriages”, but only if the boy and girl are from same cast, and family background. Interesting isn't it?? “Dating” is a thing that is not accepted by most of the Indian Societies. 

Do you know that many young people were murdered just because they love someone??? Many movies were made related to this subject. When a Hindu boy love a Muslim girl, the Muslim girl's parents murder the Hindu boy, and in return the Hindu boy's parents murder the Muslim girl's parents or siblings. Don't get excited or exaggerated. I am telling things that happened many times in real life even recently. Even many riots originated because of these kinds of events. When I think about it, I am always frightened. I always pray to the GOD, “Oh GOD, Please, Please ask them to stop these cruelties.. Please make them consider everyone as human beings.. Please let people love each other without any race barriers..” . Well seems like I ended somewhere far from the topic I started! That's all for today, I will continue on Hindu wedding customs in my next posts. 

Signing off, Sarika

Some interesting things that I want to share with you about India

• India is the seventh largest country in the world.
• India has the second largest population in the world.
• India is the largest democracy in the world.
• There are 398 languages and 844 dialects exists in India of which 22 are official languages.
• 80% of Indian population are following "Hindu" religion, 12% follows "Muslim"  religion.
• There are countless number of casts and sub-casts exist among the religions in India. 

Even though Indian culture is so much diverse, Unity in Diversity is the strength of India. Do you know that India and Pakistan were supposed to be one country, if the British people didn't interfere with the political leaders and implement the secret formula of "Divide and Rule" strategy? Because of this India and Pakistan were split and Pakistan became an independent Muslim country. And they keep on rival with India even today. But now India is in a position that Pakistan can never achieve even after 100 years. If Pakistan was part of Republic of India, then it would have been in a great position in the world like India. Now they are blamed for being one among the training centers for most of the terrorists in this world.

Do you know that the two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, Pakistan (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare?
Do you know that the four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by all 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare?
Do you know that the four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese?

Indian Achievments: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail... Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla. The Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham. Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project. 4 out of 10 Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians. Bollywood produces 800 movies per year and 6 Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.
For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in Bangalore. India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan has none (not a single dollar billionaire).

The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is creating wealth. In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father, left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion. In 2007, their combined wealth stood at $94 billion. On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).

What is it that Indians have that Pakistanis don't?
It is the "Development Mindset".
Indians think of Construction of own nation, unlike other nations who are just concerned with destruction of others. India will become an extremely powerful nation in this world soon competing with China. The rest of the nations will come only after these two countries. Pakistan will go further down as the country is degrading in a fast pace. Lets wait and see whats going to happen.

Signing off, Sarika