<p>Does anyone know where I can find Bollywood movies for rent? I absolutely love them—the music, the costumes, the dancing—so entertaining!:). I went to Blockbuster looking for them, and the people working there had never even heard the term, Bollywood:eek: Am I the only one here who finds these films a guilty pleasure?</p>
<p>Netflix has everything distributed in the US.</p>
<p>They should have Bride and Prejudice although that is more a Bollywood style movie since it is in English
I would also recommend Lagaan- great story ( and nominated for an Academy Award)
Don’t know where you would go besides Netflix- Seattle is a big movie town so we are probably spoiled for choices.
I canceled my subscription however- cause I am in the mood for a certain movie and don’t want to wait.</p>
<p>In Seattle, we used to have Scarecrow Video which carried every obscure foreign movie known to mankind. May be there is a similar store in your neck of the woods? Many ethnic grocery stores have small movie/music rental sections, but I’m not sure if those movies will have subtitles.</p>
<p>I second Netflix. If you have a wireless internet router in your home, I would suggest checking out Roku. Instant movies can be played on your TV with Roku. The box costs about $100 last time I checked. Instant movies are a free part of a Netflix subscription starting at $9.99 per month.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks guys! I’ll check out Netflix. My brother subscribes. I’ll ask him to look for some Bollywood movies for me:)</p>
<p>Rent Ghost World while you’re at it. One of the main characters is fascinated by Bollywood movies, and the movie includes a great song/dance number.</p>
<p>I love Bollywood, too. My local rental place has 20-30 Bollywood movies. Also, don’t tell anyone, but if you go on eBay or Half.com you can buy DVDs of almost any popular Bollywood movie for about the price of a rental. Not all of these are necessarily authorized copies for distribution in the U.S., but the quality ain’t bad most of the time.</p>
<p>Some suggestions:</p>
<p>Romantic comedies/family drama:
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Kabie Kushie Kabie Gham
Kal Ho Naa Ho
Dil Chahta Hai</p>
<p>Historical Dramas (with love stories, of course):
Lagaan
Mangal Pandey: The Rising
Asoka</p>
<p>Issues, Geopolitics (and love stories):
Mission Kashmir
1949: A Love Story
Dil Se
Veer/Zara</p>
<p>Action (very popular, but not so much with me):
Dhoom</p>
<p>Bollywood Post-Modernism:
Om Shanti Om (save this for when you are familiar with the genre and stars)
The Rules</p>
<p>I love Monsoon Wedding. Wasn’t that Bollywood ?</p>
<p>When I was young I used to watch them without subtitles, don’t know a word they are saying but I enjoyed them all the same.</p>
<p>I bought Bride and Prejudice on DVD and keep it in my kitchen and play it on my little tv whenever I have a lot of cooking to do…I love the story and the music and the dancing are just magical to me…the names are lovely… I am reminded of Good Night Moon with some of them, the town of Amrisa (sp?) reminds me of goodnite brush, it is such a sweet sounding name, and of course, how could one not love Lalita, instead of Lolita… the actor who plays Mr. Koli is like a Bollywood version of Jerry Lewis…I love how he cites his master bath with SUPER JETS…</p>
<p>JHS,
thank YOU so much for providing us with such a great list…categorized and all… I also loved Monsoon Wedding… so I am looking forward to Lagaan, since 2 of you recommended it… and the Half.com site is one I will visit in the near future because I would rather just have it for the price of a rental… </p>
<p>our only options locally are the red boxes at the supermarket/wal-mart or Netflix… we no longer have any local or nearby rental stores…</p>
<p>My cable company, Cox Cable, has Bollywood on-demand available so it’s just a matter of clicking to it. It seems to have quite a few movies available. I’ve never watched it though. You might want to check for a similar availability on your cable or satellite provider if you have one.</p>
<p>Monsoon Wedding was not really Bollywood, more of an homage to Bollywood produced for the West (like Bride and Prejudice and Slumdog Millionaire, too). Actually, many of the films I listed above were produced to appeal to South Asian audiences overseas (i.e., here and in Great Britain), who are an increasingly important market for Bollywood, but who demand bigger budgets and more Western production values, and like to see themselves and their concerns reflected in the movies. As a Westerner, I find I tend to respond best to that stuff, too. Sue me.</p>
<p>Lagaan was the first Bollywood movie to get broad distribution in the West, mainly because it got nominated for the best foreign language movie Oscar one year. It’s pretty good, but atypical in its historical-costume-drama approach and general lack of big stars (except the main character). Be forewarned, Bollywood movies are long, and Lagaan is loooooong. Also, it turns out to be a sports movie, and the last half has two days’ worth of cricket in what seems like real time.</p>
<p>There’s a funny bit regarding Lagaan in Kal Ho Naa Ho. In Lagaan, there’s a very militaristic musical number (Chali Chalo) as the villagers prepare to do battle with the British oppressors (in cricket) to save their village. The same song is reprised in Kal Ho Naa Ho as a bunch of Indians in Brooklyn spruce up their restaurant to better compete with the Chinese take-out place across the street.</p>