What do foreigners feel while watching India/Bollywood movies?

外国人看印度/宝莱坞电影有什么感觉?

QUORA网站读者评论：

Chloe Lorenson, lived in North London

Thought just what an average Briton did. Low budget films with a lot of songs, reality defying action, bad acting. SRK was the only face I could have recognized as a Bollywood guy.

The first one my Indian friends made me watch was Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani. The film is so pretty, fresh, and relatable. I loved it so I decided to watch more. Followed Rockstar, Devdas, Awaara, Mera Naam Joker, Punjab 1984, Jatt & Juliet, Chachi 420, My Name Is Khan, Eega, Drishyam, Swades, Chak De India, Kal Ho Na Ho, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Main Hoon Na, Barfi, Mugl-e-Azam, Silsila, Sadma, Hey Ram, Saawariya, 3 Idiots, Badlapur, Mr. India, and so forth. I loved all of them for varied reasons.

想想普通英国人是怎么做的。低成本电影有很多歌曲，挑战现实，演技糟糕。SRK是我唯一认识的宝莱坞演员。

我的印度朋友让我看的第一部电影是叶贾瓦尼海迪瓦尼。这部电影很好看，很清新，很有吸引力。我喜欢它，所以我决定多看一些。接下来我看了摇滚歌星、宝莱坞生死恋、流浪者、小丑、旁遮普1984、 杰特与朱丽叶、 恰其420、我的名字是可汗、功夫小蝇、吾土吾民、加油印度、最爱电影、灵魂奔跑者、宝莱坞之不可能的任务、恋恋大吉岭、莎华丽雅、三傻大闹宝莱坞、印度先生等等。因为各种各样的原因，我对这些电影都很喜欢。

译文来源：三泰虎     http://www.santaihu.com/46702.html      译者：Joyceliu

Man, is Shah Rukh Khan an enigma or what? The kind of charisma and energy he brings on screen is unparalleled. His soulful eyes and that romantic arm gesture. No doubt that he’s the biggest Indian movie star.

Ranbir Kapoor is such an effortless and amazing actor that he gave me goosebumps in a language I didn’t understand. He is literally the most perfect human being. How often do conventionally good looking and charming stars turn out to be effortlessly gifted actors and dreamy dancers? Indians dance like their hips and shoulders aren’t attached to their bodies. I don’t get how moving like that is physically possible. The cinematographers, set designers, costume designers, screenplay writers are especially talented. Lavish sets, landscapes, camera work are impressive. Grandiose and poetic subtext in things as old as the dream sequence of Awaara and solo dance of Mugl-e-Azam inspired awe among us. And Eega, which seemed like an impractical synopsis but turned out to be a very innovative watch.

兄弟，沙鲁克汗是个谜吗?他在银幕上展现的魅力和能量是无与伦比的。他深情的眼睛和浪漫的手臂动作。毫无疑问，他是印度最大的电影明星。

兰比尔·卡普尔是一个不费力气、令人惊叹的演员，他说着我听不懂的语言，却让我兴奋不已。他确实是最完美的人。通常情况下，长相姣好、魅力四射的明星能有几个能毫不费力地成长为天才演员和梦幻般的舞者?

印度人跳起舞来，就好像他们的臀部和肩膀独立于他们的身体一样。我不明白这样的身体运动是怎么做到的。电影摄影师、布景设计师、服装设计师、编剧尤其有才华。奢华的布景、外景地、拍摄令人印象深刻。老电影《阿瓦拉梦》中的宏大堂皇而极富诗意的台词，让我们敬畏。功夫小蝇则原是貌似不切实际的剧情，但结果非常创新。

The acting and background music might still be a tad dramatic for my British sensibilities, but I can still appreciate it to be real and subtle. Indians ARE an expressive and emotional lot, so it’s fair. The emotions that Indian movies touch are on an entirely different tangent. I think they are the best at displaying all the emotions on human spectrum.

And I realized Indian weddings are as big as in their movies. Just with a lot more food. BEST! WEDDINGS! EVER!

The best performances were certainly My Name In Khan’s SRK, Barfi’s Priyanka Chopra, and Ranbir Kapoor’s Rockstar. Hardly do mainstream stars ‘act’ this good. They deserve global recognition. If they were to display such performances in an international project, they would at least one of Oscar, Golden Globe, or BAFTA.

PS : I skipped listing the movies I didn’t like. It won’t be constructive criticism. Moreover, don’t want to offend fans.

对我这个英国人的鉴赏力而言，表演和背景音乐可能仍然有点过于戏剧化，但我仍然觉得这很真实、很微妙。印度人是一个富于表达和情感的族群。印度电影所触碰的情感是完全不同的。我认为他们最擅长表现人类的所有情感。

我发现印度人的婚礼和他们的电影一样盛大。只是食物更多了而已。他们的婚礼是全世界最好的!婚礼!!

最好的表演当然是我的名字是可汗的SRK，巴尔菲的普里扬卡乔普拉，以及兰比尔卡普尔的摇滚明星。主流明星很少能“演”得这么好。他们应该得到全世界的认可。如果他们在国际电影中展示这样的表演功力，他们至少会获得奥斯卡奖、金球奖或英国电影和电视艺术学院奖中的一个。

PS:我没有列出我不喜欢的电影。又不是要开批判会。而且，我也不想得罪球迷。

Zora Vasulinova, knowing myself and the humankind better by comparing Indian culture with mine

Hello, I am a foreigner!

Short answer:

What do I FEEL while watching Bollywood movies...?

I think mostly I feel what the director wanted me to feel.

But to get to this point I have to be in a certain mood...

Complex answer (not an easy question!):

My view on movie industry

I grew up with my brother who studied a kind of movie science. Since my childhood I was taught to appreciate movies with high moral stories, intellectual movies, movies strictly analysing real world situations or history-based movies (without actually changing the history). The Olymp of cinematography was occupied by documentaries in my world.

大家好，我就是一个外国人!

简单点说:

观看宝莱坞电影的时候，我有什么感觉?

我想大多数电影我都有感受到导演想让我感受到的。

但要做到这一点，我必须有特定的心情……

复杂点说(这可不是个简单的问题!)

我对电影产业的看法

我和哥哥一起长大，他学的是电影科学。从小我就被教育要观赏有立意高尚的电影，有内容的电影，情节严谨的现实电影，或历史题材的电影(不改变史实)。在我的世界里，纪录片就是电影艺术的奥林匹克。

Hatred for Hollywood

I absolutely despised Hollywood production. For me it was mostly ill-emotional food for sentimental brains of stupid people. Yeah, I mean it. I felt very superior to ordinary cinema visitors. (Like Quorans to Yahoo Answers ;))

Becoming adult

Then I turned 20 and got a small job in a dubbing company. My boss made me watch some of the biggest pieces of Hollywood production to educate me in the mainstream culture. Needless to say I had to admit it is not all so stupid as I imagined it. There are pieces for ignorants with no taste, but also great stories which are perfectly managed technically as well.

Later on I stopped being a trouble-less, happy-go-lucky child and met some life difficulties as well. Suddenly even the naive, brain washing Hollywood production came to be handy. I didn't want to analyze dramas anymore, I wanted to relax.

I entered the game of being entertained! Movies were no more exclusively intellectual challenges to me.

我曾鄙视好莱坞

我以前鄙视好莱坞大片。对我来说，它主要是蠢人多愁善感的大脑的病态精神食粮。是的，我是认真的。我觉得自己比一般的电影观众品位导出许多。

成人后

20岁那年，我在一家配音公司找了份小活。我的老板让我看点好莱坞大片了解主流文化。不用说，我不得不承认这并不像我想象中那么愚蠢。有些电影确实是为没有品味的无知之人准备的，但也有一些电影有着很棒的情节，同时也兼顾了技术方面的完美处理。

后来，我不再是一个无忧无虑、逍遥自在的孩子，也遇到了生活上的一些困难。突然之间，就连天真、洗脑的好莱坞电影也派上了用场。我再也不想分析戏剧了，我只想放松一下。

我开始娱乐之路!对我来说，电影已经不再仅仅是脑力上的挑战。

Bollywood

And Bollywood? That's the same game. I am not expecting any intellectual growth when watching it. I know what I will get is an entertainment in Indian style. So I am entertained. I know something about the real life in India, I know Bollywood is a dream land. It is a break from your daily worries.

My first bolly-movie ever was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, I enjoyed that and I was shocked how Hollywood-like it was. I also must say that all the other Indian movies I've seen after that were much less Hollywood-like and much more Bollywwod-like :D.

I quite know the Indian culture so I am able to accept the Indian fun.

宝莱坞

而宝莱坞？就是那种娱乐。我不指望在看宝莱坞电影时能得到心智的成长。我知道我能获得印度风格的愉悦。我得到了愉悦。我了解印度的真实生活，我知道宝莱坞是一个梦想之地。这是可以让你从日常烦恼中解脱出来的机会。

我观看的第一部宝莱坞电影是《潇洒走一回》，我很喜欢这部电影，我很震惊，这部电影太像好莱坞电影了。我还必须说，此后我看过的其他印度电影都不太像好莱坞，更像宝莱坞。

我很了解印度文化，所以我能接受印度式的逗乐。

Two bugs

There are moments when I "hate Bollywood movies" - those are the moments in the script which reminds me of cultural differences which somehow touched me in my real, personal life and caused me pain.  So no problem with the actual movie, but rather conflict of the cultures in my head. (The same happens with Hollywood movies sometimes)

There is one special thing I hate passionately about Bollywood scripts, it drives me crazy and spoils each such movie, and that's how many scenes are stolen from famous movies from all over the world.  And how Indians are astonished by the genius of Bollywood screenwriters/directors.  No, my dear, 40% of the movie was stolen, it is not the genius of Bollywood and the movie is not  'a great piece'   but   'a great theft'.

两个不足

有些时候我“讨厌宝莱坞电影”——剧本中的那些时刻让我想起了文化差异，这些差异不知怎的触动了我个人的现实生活，给我带来了痛苦。所以现实的电影没有问题，是我脑海中的文化引发的冲突。(好莱坞电影有时也是如此）。

宝莱坞的剧本有一件特别的事让我非常讨厌，它让我抓狂，毁了每一部这样的电影，那就是多少都有一些从全球著名电影中偷来的场景。还有宝莱坞编剧/导演们的惊世之才。不，亲们，40%的电影都被剽窃了，这并非宝莱坞的天才，电影不是“伟大的作品”，而是“伟大的盗窃”。