Monica! Oh My Darling!

Monica loves Indian movies like me. She has seen DCH, Sathiya, Lagaan, Swades, Veer-Zarra, Asoka, Taal, DDLJ, Chalte Chalte, Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste and most of the so-called Bollywood blockbusters. She has seen many Shyam Benegal’s movies like Nishant, Ankur, Mandi, Zubeidda, Sardari Begum and Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda mostly in the Indian Film circuit. She has also seen Bandini, Guide, Kagaaz ke Phool and Rukmavati ki Haveli.

If you read it, it does not appear extraordinary for any movie lover to see all those movies. But the fact is that Monica is not Indian. She is a Spaniard which means she comes from Spain though I seriously doubt that. She has seen a lot of Indian movies with English subtitles although as she says that Spaniards do not like movies without Spanish subtitles.

She did not like “DDLJ”. One question which will make me see DDLJ again is, How did Shahrukh know Kajol’s London’s address and then her Indian address when she never exchanged her address. Answers in the comments section please.

She knows much about India and its culture but she still thinks that she knows little. I could challenge that she might be knowing much more than some of our Indians too. She says she is weak in her own culture. She writes long and I mean very long mails to me which I don’t mind but sometimes find it difficult to give long reply. She does not blog because she feels she does not have in her to blog. Looking at her mails, I don’t understand what she does not have? She says that she cannot express herself properly though her emails tell a different story. She does not think she has anything interesting to tell people again which I doubt.

She stays in a Spanish town (Not Madrid). She has a Physics degree but would like to work for the Meteorological department. She is my guide to the Spanish Cinema, although I have to admit that I haven’t seen any. She has read many Indian Authors, which I haven’t done so far. She asks me so many questions about Indian movies that I have to take efforts to find answers for them. But then meeting a fellow movie lover is always a pleasure just like I like reading oz.

She comments on all my post even though they are pathetic in every sense. The only other person who has commented more on my blog is Vi. Sorry if I miss someone else. I guess people like them make me blog more because they appreciate the crap I dish out. So why am I telling about Monica? She is a guest writer on Full2 Faltu for some posts. She is going to report about an Indian Film festival recently held in Spain. I have never been to a film festival and it was a good thing to have a Spanish ‘kudi’ reporting for Full2 Faltu. Its good for my blog’s image. Imagine, me knowing a sexy beautiful Spanish lass.

When I first found her comment on my blog, I smiled at myself. Her name reminded me of the song from “Caravan”, the one with “Monica, Oh my darling”. I told her never to tell her name to an Indian. Most of them would smile or laugh like me. So the post title. No offence meant not I am chedding the kudi. Oye! Maine toh dekha bhi nahi use!

Without much ado, I will let Monica take center stage and give a brief introduction about herself in her own words.

 

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As requested by Punds I will write a bit about this stranger who will be hijacking his blog for a few days. Just in case you get a shock. There is not much of interest to be mentioned really but here we go.

I am a Spaniard living in Spain (what a great beginning, it sounds like a learning English first day course). I know Punds doubts it some times, but it is true, I haven’t got any Indian roots.

Now, what on earth is a Spanish lass doing in Pund’s blog then? That I would like to know myself, but never mind.

I came across Full2 Faltu one day when I was looking for information / reviews / opinions about Mr and Mrs Iyer. Why Mr and Mrs Iyer? Because I had just seen the film and I had liked it so much that I wanted to know what others thought about it too and as many of you might know Punds has written a review on that movie (a wonderful review, by the way).

But… why was I watching Mr and Mrs Iyer, you might wonder. Well, I like watching Indian movies. This, by the way, for those of you who don’t know, is a very difficult hobby to have in Spain because Indian movies are not shown at cinemas (apart from those having an international release such as Fire, Water or Monsoon Wedding and this happens just once in a blue moon). And that is how my liking for this cinema began: my first Hindi film was Monsoon Wedding and as a matter of interest I had to go on my own because no one around was interested in watching it. However, I have known afterwards, that some friends have watched it and they liked it.

Anyway, after watching that film I bought the soundtrack and the DVD and I started finding out about Indian cinema and music. One fine day I discovered there was a little season showing the films Asoka, Saathiya, Dil Chahta Hai and Maachis as an introduction to the Hindi Film Industry (I missed Maachis but could watch the rest of them). I loved Saathiya and DCH and before I could realize it, I was hooked on Indian movies. My knowledge about this film industry has grown “quite a lot” since then and now I know about some films, actors, actresses, directors, singers, composers, etc.

Last week there was an Indian Film Festival held in Madrid called Imagine India.

So the idea of me writing here is that when I told Punds that there was a going to be an Indian film festival in Madrid this month and that I was planning to attend he thought I could be a reporter for Full2 Faltu. I hope he knows what he is doing!

And that is about it really. The only thing that is left to say is that I hope you all like about the festival. I am a guest blogger on Full2 Faltu for a while.

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