‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. False.  I was. After a day spent watching Christmas movies, I needed a break. I embarked on a mission to watch the least Christmas-y movie possible, eventually deciding on Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, but within 20 minutes of it, I was bored. And not just bored with the movie- bored with Hollywood itself. It was always the same plot that somehow always had a happy ending. But, it seems like the universe was working in my favor that night because Christmas came early for me in the form of a random suggestion from a good friend who told me “watch a Hindi movie”. And so I did. And so I fell in love with it.

Yes, I’m talking about Bollywood, not Hollywood. But what exactly is Bollywood? There’s so many misconceptions (that I once had too), which is why when it comes to talking about Bollywood, it is an imperative to describe what is NOT Bollywood. Although not an actual city like Hollywood, Bollywood is centrally located in Mumbai, the entertainment capital of India. Bollywood is NOT synonymous with the entire Indian film industry- it only refers to the country’s Hindi language film industry. Various other dialects have their own industries, such as “Tollywood” (Telegu) and “Kollywood” (Tamil). If you asked me a month ago what first came to mind when I heard the term Bollywood, I’d tell you complex musical numbers, ornate costumes, dramatic facial expressions, and cinematic pizzazz. That’s part of it, but Bollywood is much more that a compilation of musical numbers.

So, around 11 pm that night, I began watching 3 Idiots, one of the highest rated Bollywood films of all time. Noting that it was about 3 hours in length, I figured I’d fall asleep in the midst of it, and would probably never return to it again. But I could not have been more wrong. The description told me it was a comedy about two friends trying to track down their high school best friend, who along their journey, crash a wedding and a funeral, all while reminiscing about the past. So I expected a typical American comedy, defined by crude humor and sexual innuendos, but I could not have been more wrong. Sure, I laughed a lot, but I also went through a roller coaster of emotions, plagued by goosebumps along the entire way. 3 Idiots is undoubtedly a comedy, but it’s more like a drama, a (dark) comedy, and a documentary all in one. And every single Bollywood movie that I’ve watched since then (an incredulous total of 14, which totals to 42 hours of Bollywood) has taken me on this roller coaster.

I can’t really pinpoint one exact thing that has me so hooked on Bollywood because it’s more of a plethora of the feelings and realizations that I draw from the heartbreaking, but heartwarming stories, the rich culture, the age old customs and traditions- everything that makes India the beautiful country that it is  and all of this makes up Bollywood. The thing about Bollywood is that although [like Hollywood] there is almost always a happy ending, [unlike Hollywood] the darker aspects of Indian culture are depicted- the strict social hierarchy/caste system, gender inequality, societal pressures on children to succeed, poverty, and the everyday struggles of living in a third world country. When I watch Bollywood movies, it’s like getting a glimpse of a world completely different from ours, and I think that as someone who has a pretty great life in America, like many, I’ve never really taken the time or consideration to concern myself with other countries or cultures. And I never would’ve guessed that Bollywood would open my eyes to this.

Some say I’m weird for going through a Bollywood phase, or that I have Bollywood fever, but I’d say it’s more of a lifestyle change. Bollywood has opened the door to a whole new world for me. Because of it, I’ve been introduced to a whole new culture. My heart goes out to India, and truthfully, I’ve fallen in love with the spirit of the land, and I can’t wait to truly immerse myself in its culture one day.

So do yourself a favor and get cultured people- there’s a whole world out there waiting for us.