Nov. 22—The Desi Student Association and University of Massachusetts Boston Navitas Global Student Success Program held a “Bollywood Movie Night” for International Education Week.
After the DSA sent out a poll inquiring about four different movies: ‘Munna Bhai M.B.B.S,’ ‘Gully Boy,’ ‘Queen,’ and ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,’ ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ was chosen as the final film. The “Hindlish” movie was screened in University Hall where Pepsi and pizza were served halfway through. One attendee called ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,’ “cheeky.” After asking what she meant, she said, “I just really like the storyline of this movie, I’ve never seen it before.”
Translated, ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ means ‘you don’t get life twice.’ The premise of the movie is a bachelor’s trip between three best friends—Kabir Dewan, Imraan Qureshi, and Arjun Saluja—after Kabir suddenly gets engaged. The beginning of the trip starts with tension between Imraan and Arjun but as they go through their journey, the three ease back into their friendship. Along the trip the trio meets new love interests—including one played by Katrina Kaif—long lost relatives, sing and dance, and experience character development. The 2011 movie itself features a lot of popular Bollywood actors and actresses.
Mira Lumb, the new treasurer, was able to talk about DSA’s plans for the future. “A lot more events hopefully. We try to do at least two big events per year; these are more of our just small, low-key-type of events and like I said, like this is Movie Night, we could have Craft Night or Paint Night or something like that—if you know, people actually want to do it. We are planning a big event for the Spring, I’m not going to spoil.” She went on, “As of right now, I was really approaching the idea, really thinking of singing, dancing, musical type of thing because music is so big and like every movie has music and dancing in it, so why not do an event like that?”
Lumb also talked about the importance of Bollywood films in understanding Desi culture. “I think if anyone wants to learn about what Desi culture is, sit down and watch a movie. Do it on every genre if you want to like … honestly, that’s how you learn. You learn through the dialogue, the acting, the songs, the surroundings of the movie. If you watch a movie that’s like this, that’s more open, it’s free. But if you something else, it might be set in a house setting with a family and you can see how Indian culture is, how Indian families might be, which is not fully true all of the time but somewhat true.”
There was a communication error at the beginning which led Lumb to be the only person spearheading the Bollywood Movie Night. Lumb almost made the call to cancel the showing but 17 people showed up to the auditorium. It dwindled down to seven even after pizza.
Sophomore Farrin Khan said, “Events like these bring me a little closer to my roots, since the most Indian thing you can do is watch a Bollywood movie.”
DSA meets every week on the third floor of the Campus Center at the club spaces. To reach out, DM their instagram (@desistudentassociation) or email them at [email protected].