Nimbooda from the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

For a long time after watching this video, I was obsessed with creating my own Chicana version of a Bollywood musical number. I imagined made up cholas and chachas dancing in the Lincoln Mini-Mall, Bollywood style. Afterall, the Indian women on the screen didn’t look all that much different from the Latina women in my neighborhood. I asked around to see if some film student would be up for the idea, but no luck.
This video for Nimbooda (Hindi for Little Lemon) is one of my all-time favorite Bollywood scenes. The costumes are beautiful, the choreography amazing and the song extremely catchy. It features Aishwarya Rai, considered by many to be the world’s most beautiful woman (too bad she wears blue contact lenses) and is from the excellent film ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.‘ It’s the usual Bollywood story of forbidden and unrequited love, deliciously enjoyable and equally frustrating!

Another Bollywood favorite from the movie Asoka:

Aa Tayaar Hoja

My favorite Bollywood movie description from a DVD box in Little India:
“Will their timeless love survive the test of time? Only time will tell…”

Other Bollywood movies you might enjoy:
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (great music and dance sequences)
Devdas (very popular film, super high budget, big stars)
Lagaan (same as above with anti-colonial message)

Not a Bollywood film but it has beautiful singing, dancing and more interesting, strong, tough women (they’re prostitutes):
Mandi

Check out these films and in no time you’ll want to learn Hindi and start your own living room dance numbers. You might even pick up a few slick lines like “Cool, Tony, cool!”