4 Lessons That Modern Bollywood Romantic Movies Can Learn From La La Land

Do you love Bollywood for the way it seeks to transport you to a new, almost fantasy-like world? Are you a fan of Bollywood because it does unbridled romance like no one else? Are you of the school of thought that great films aren’t supposed to be authentic or fact-driven, but they are the ones that make you the happiest from the inside?

If your answer to all the above questions is a resounding YES, then you shouldn’t, at any cost, go see a Bollywood film this weekend.

Instead, you should must go watch Hollywood release La La Land.

(And if you don’t care about what’s written above, you should go watch the movie anyway. Read the full review here.)

Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is a throwback to the Hollywood’s era of musicals. You see, unlike Bollywood, where the trend of actors bursting into song-and-dance is still going strong, Hollywood has ditched that practice as the time has passed.

Not to say that Hollywood has stopped making musicals altogether. In the past decade or so, we have seen excellent musicals such as Moulin Rouge, Chicago and Les Miserables coming out of Hollywood. But, like we said, they are few and far between.

And this brings us back to La La Land and why you – a Bollywood fan – must go and see it.

To avoid going on a rave parade, we won’t tell you all the qualities that the film boasts. But rather we’ll demonstrate how La La Land is different from all the mainstream Bollywood romantic movies that have released recently.  And what lessons our filmmakers, who have the same intentions as Damien Chazelle, can learn—and hopefully adopt.

Listen up:

It makes us believe in fantasy.

La La Land is perhaps more unrealistic than recent romantic Bollywood movies. Well, if you are dancing and singing in nearly half the movie, it has to be unrealistic, and hence unbelievable, right? Wrong.

Contrary to popular thinking, people are not averse to elaborate concept of love. It's just that the audiences have grown smarter. And this means, any formula or unconvincing moment in a movie can break our trust that we have shown. But, thankfully, doesn't break our trust but restore it. Both in love and excellent filmmaking. 

The cynics among us need something special to sweep us off our feet. 

Whether it is the utterly convincing and beautiful leads, or catchy dance numbers or feet-thumping background Jazz music, La La Land keeps us enchanted. There isn't a dull moment in over two-hour long movie and during that time there isn't an emotion that the movie doesn't bring out. 

Sometimes, love is about two people and two people alone.

In Bollywood these days, a romantic movie is attached to a social or cultural issue like living together, friends with benefits and marriage or cultural differences between two people. And so much attention is given to that issue that you kind of forget that it is really a romantic movie. Where are two lovers who live in their own world? Where are two people whose center of the universe is each other?  

Thankfully, La La Land brings back this 'old-fashioned' norm.

Yes, La La Land has fantastical features. But its roots are real.

La La Land makes us smile, laugh and cry. In case you are watching the movie with your girlfriend/ boyfriend/husband/wife, it makes you look in their direction and analyse them. It makes us confused about the concept of love and romance, and yet it motivates us to pursue it. 

The point is: La La Land details love in all its complexity. And that's great because that's how it should be.

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