 |
|
|
|
 |
Baz Luhrmann, the Australian-born director of
the 2001 Oscar-nominated Moulin Rouge,
says he was inspired to make a musical when he watched
a Bollywood film on a trip he took to India with
his wife. The resulting piece of work is infused
with a distinct masala flavor and generously borrows
from Bollywood in the styling of lavish production
numbers. Luhrman, knowing the limited attention
span of Western audiences, kept the film's running
time to a respectable hour and a half.
Some of the director's Bollywood touches are obvious:
the romance, the melodrama, the costumes, the heroine's
jewel-encrusted elephant apartment, the Indian-themed
climactic production number. But consider some of
the subtler elements. Luhrman throws musical styles,
locations and time periods at his canvas like Jackson
Pollack throws paint at his. Characters drop out
of nowhere and break into song. The greasy, mustachioed
villain is a caricature of evil and the star-crossed
lovers stare into each others eyes with gooey longing.
What's most striking about this film's success is
the way Luhrmann has respectfully and lovingly drawn
from the Bollywood tradition and, at the same time,
captured the rapt attention of the Western masses.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
