Dr. Nandini Kuehn, Ph.D
October 11, 2015

Why is the term “Bollywood” such an iconic one?  Why does this genre dominate India, where more commercial films are made than anywhere else in the world?  In this session, we will look at clips from Bollywood movies, old and new, and understand what makes these films tick, especially the good ones. In spite of fantastic themes, much melodrama, and relentless songs and dances, this form of film has persisted for decades in India and two years ago, was the subject of a MoMA session on the “golden age” of Bollywood.   In addition, we will touch on “parallel cinema” – also very popular and superficially like Bollywood with interesting deeper insight.

Nandini Kuehn is a native of India and remembers well seeing classic Bollywood movies in her youth.  Over time, she was intrigued enough to try to understand, as an audience member, why these films are popular across the world and how to approach them to perhaps enjoy them or at least understand their popularity better.  Nandini lives in New Mexico and tries to keep up with films from India (as well as around the world) as much as she can.

Supported by Sandia National Labs and Haverland Carter Lifestyle Group