With the two presumptive Presidential candidates in place John McCain of Republican Party and Barack Obama of Democratic Party, the Americans of White, Black and of all shades have become colour blind. Yet, guess what? Black has become beautiful, politically speaking, here in America, what with Barack Obama being projected as the sure winner in the November 2008 Presidential election. The triumph of Black is indeed epoch-making. It triumphed despite the deadly combination of White power and Woman power challenging the Black power of Barack Obama. The worry of most pro-Hillary Clinton brigade who lost the preliminaries to Obama is about the fate that would befall not America but the White House. How could you call the President's residence White House with a Black President living in it? That's a million dollar question to most White Americans too.
As a visitor to this land of opportunities, which it still continues to be, I simply lazed my days as if in happy hibernation watching the fight between the two Democratic aspirants for Presidential nomination on TV and newspapers-one a woman and a White; another a man and a Black.
Actually, Obama is half-Black or is it half - White? His late mother is White. Father, a Nigerian (Africa) Black, a Muslim. But Obama is in a sense born - again Christian following his mother's faith. And a good church-going Christian at that.
Once this man Vs woman, Black Vs White battle was over with Hillary reluctantly conceding defeat after prolonging the agony for anybody's comfort, I was wondering what other interest I should follow to keep myself lazy, not busy. I hit upon the cinema, Sex and the City. The best news is not that the film is good or bad or sexy, that it grossed over 55 million dollars in the very first week of its release. It is about four New York women of age past 50 indulging in sexual escapades and also falling in love with their husbands once again at the end, like the born-again Christians we hear about. Of course, the most famous born-again Christian, as you all know, is George W. Bush, the war-monger President of America, who has also become a butt of many jokes.
The film Sex and the City has become a subject of hush-hush drawing room conversation as it shows love-making in a couple of scenes in the raw (which means in a natural way) while a Pomeranian imitates the love - making couple by going at the pillow unable to find a mate! Interestingly when this film, Sex and the City was released in Israel, the orthodox Jews, the Rabbis, protested. Protested not the contents but its name! They suggested to the producers that the name be changed to just 'The City' deleting the word 'Sex'. The producers laughed. Can you market Coca-Cola if you call it just Cola? they asked.
Be that as it may, the subject of the cinema takes one to the great academic interest shown by the American Universities in Indian movies, particularly in the Bollywood films. Bollywood films are becoming a global phenomenon. Universities in the US are beginning to offer courses that trace the history of Hindi films and their impact on the social, political and cultural life of India and the diaspora. In my opinion, the latter, the immigrant Indians, seem to feel home sick and suffer from a cultural dilemma. The only way the immigrants feel at home culturally is by seeing Hindi movies or Indian movies in their homes. Thanks to DVDs.
While this is understandable with the immigrants, the first generation American-born kids, known as ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) don't seem to have this problem. They are totally into the cultural main - stream of American milieu, exceptions apart. They speak like American Whites, accent and mannerisms et al, they eat the kind of food the White Americans eat (mostly steak, beef is preferred, except for the puritans, the die-hard veggies). Their interest in sports, games and entertainment, including cinema, is same as that of the Whites (which also includes American Blacks in this regard).
Probably, to make up for the disappearing Indian imprint among those born in America, the new Indian generation, the American Universities, so also the Universities in the United Kingdom and Canada, have introduced courses of study about Hindi film industry in their Universities. You will be surprised to know that the University of Pennsylvania hosts a biannual conference on Hindi films. Last year, New York University had held an international conference on Hindi cinema that was attended by scholars from India, Canada and UK.
I had heard of our late Dr. Sinduvalli Ananthamurthy obtaining a Ph.D. for his doctoral thesis on the legendary “Company Theatre” owner - producer and actor Gubbi Veeranna. Similarly, somebody in North India might have done a doctoral thesis on Amitabh Bachchan too. I don't know. But if the trend in the American Universities about Bollywood films continues, the Indian cinema's greatest phenomenon Amitabh Bachchan is going to be a hot favourite among students for a doctoral thesis.
The next in line could be the King Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, and the Cinderella of Indian cinema Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. If at all there is any subject of study for an Indian student in the American University, which is both academic and entertaining, it is the subject of Bollywood films. The number of South Asian students, it is learnt, pursuing their Ph.D in cinema studies in the US has been steadily increasing because of the job opportunities available as teachers.
However, there is one question that needs to be answered. What use do these courses fill? And do they have real value as academic pursuits?
