I agree, the experience of sitting in a packed cinema where everyone cheers for the stars on screen is just amazing. It's so much fun watching how other people react when watching a new film. I've only been to 2 films in which the screen was packed out (Dabangg and Bodyguard), and both times I went on the opening night when the excitement is at it's highest. Both times I saw random guys dancing in the aisles when Salman's songs came on (and especially when Katrina rocked in her item song)! And that's one of the reasons I love Bollywood movies so much more than Hollywood - because there's infinite excitement surrounding all Indian movie actors/actresses. You would never see that in a Hollywood movie of similar story and content!
I haven't been to any premieres either, even though they happen all the time in London. I was away at uni while the premiere of Ra.One took place in Leicester Square and even though several movies have been made literally within 10 miles of my home (e.g. Desi Boyz was filmed on my route to school), I've just never been lucky enough to see them at the right time! I've never been to India and in Pakistan (where I've been many times), the Bollywood craze isn't as big as it is in India and the UK.
I don't know any Caucasian people who watch Bollywood movies, even though I tell them that the movies always come with subtitles for people who don't understand Hindi. In fact most of my friends (including Indian people who speak Hindi fluently) are bordering on ignorance because even though I'm always talking about Bollywood movies, they just don't understand how much contribution Bollywood makes to the global entertainment industry. The problem that my Indian friends have is that they sometimes don't even acknowledge that Bollywood movies exist, despite the fact that they would hear a lot more about it from their families in India.
You make a good point about why my fellow dance group members don't watch Bollywood movies. I've sometimes thought that maybe people are embarrassed by talking about Bollywood, because somehow it's "too cheesy" and maybe even has stigma attached to it. As some people have said to me, Bollywood movies are "just lots of guys and girls dancing round trees screwing lightbulbs and patting dogs".
For one of my dance groups in particular, it amazes me that people just ignore the films even though we have to take inspiration from them for our routines. I'm a person who learns dance moves from Bollywood films very easily, so I took advantage of this by showing the other dancers some of these moves. I did Salman Khan's famous belt shifting from Dabangg and nobody knew what I was doing. I showed them some of the moves from Chammak Chalo and Desi Boyz (both of which we were performing to) and they all said I was wrong when none of them have even seen these movies (that much I confirmed: I asked whether they had seen Desi Boyz or Ra.One and they all said no). I would have been fine with it if someone had corrected me or given me some criticism about how I performed the moves but no-one did - then the choreographers proceeded to look up the videos on YouTube and say that I was, in fact, correct. Cheek!
I'm 100% sure that no-one in my group has seen anything since ZNMD. The most recent film anyone has seen before ZNMD is Singh Is Kinng. As a result of this, most of the routines with this dance group have become street dance rather than taking inspiration from the movies. Even for festival songs like Dholi Taro Dhol Baaje, Tapkey Masti and Maurya Re (which require lots of movement around the stage) - we often just dance on the spot. As you can tell, this group isn't working for me so I'm concentrating on the other two!
True, they may be lying about how many Bollywood movies they've seen. But I think that's completely pointless - why hide your love for Bollywood just because other people do? I rave about Bollywood all the time and frankly I don't care if someone calls me a freshie because they're just narrow-minded. I don't complain when they talk about their parties or other things they enjoy. Unfortunately there is a culture in the UK of people being called freshie for various things, but Bollywood should not be one of them. Bollywood is a global industry and worshipped by millions of people all over the world.
Unfortunately there aren't any societies that screen Bollywood movies here. My 3 dance groups are all I have.
But I've got plenty of movies to choose from and as I can't get anyone else to watch them with me, I'll have to be happy with just watching them on my own! The first Bollywood songs I remember hearing were from 1942 A Love Story (1993) so I've been obsessed for a very long time! The only people my age whom I used to watch a few (but not many) Bollywood films with have all gone their separate ways now so no luck there! Yes, if only you were here, we could watch millions of Bollywood movies together! And the weather in London isn't that bad - it's bearable but it's nothing in comparison to Australia!
Ahun Ahun is a great song, sounds like you had a lot of fun dancing to it! And did you manage to see any of the filming at your university for We Are Family? What about other movies that have been made in Australia? De Dana Dan, Salaam Namaste, Crook... any of those?