Watched My Name is Khan yesterday (well actually ereyesterday now since I wrote this for yesterday's post, or actually some parts the day before that as well.) My Name is Khan, anyway (the "Kh" is aspirated, "from the epiglottis!") Actually, bought a copy (!) that was fortuitously in the Family Crisis Center thrift store (been hitting DVD places lately looking for the cinematic oeuvre of Park Chan Wook, whom I've known about but only recently discovered) (but finding Bollywood films is also nice, you know?). It stars Shah Rukh Khan as Revzin Khan, an Indian Muslim with Asperger's Syndrome who moves to the United States, finds a wife for himself, and (to make a long story short) is mistaken for a terrorist in the wake of 9/11, going on this big long road trip to try to meet the president. Not my most favoritest Bollywood film, but one of my favorite of SRK's.
Yesterday, had this information been in that post, I would have used it to somehow segue into this stuff, and then tied it thematically with a bow at the end. Right now though there's neither segue nor bow needed, but here's the punchline:
Our new roommate is from India. Thought he was probably French African when I met him yesterday, but learned this morning (*two days ago and *yesterday morning, sorry)(**three days ago and **ereyesterday morning, sorry again) that he's actually Indian? And it was just a few days ago that I was fantasizing about meeting one of those and instantly pelting them with questions about various Hindi grammar things and certain words in the names of certain Bollywood films, and who their favorite actor is and what the worst movie they've ever seen is and everything, and specifics about the differences between Hindi and Urdu, and just the night before last wondering, how do Indians feel about Mother Theresa?, I should ask a few, but... I haven't done those things. The meeting, it didn't fall into how it went in my head, you know? Meeting someone and it being clear they're Indian, Hindi-speaking Indian, with a knowledge of modern Bollywood films... Now it's been a couple of days and it feels like it would be a shoehorn or something.
I've heard him listening to Bollywood movies, but from the song style and audio quality they sound like classics, Raj Kapoor-era 20th-Century stuff, and I don't know what's up with that, why he never plays anything I recognize. Thus there's probably a lot to learn from him, lots in common, but man next to that... the earliest Bollywood movie I've ever seen is from the year 2000. (Still technically the 20th century, but like I said, it's a decade on its own, so...)
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