Will Smith has a bucket list of things to do – among them is doing a dance number for a Bollywood film. So when he arrives in India, he drives an auto rickshaw and then meets up with Ranveer Singh, Karan Johar and others before shooting with Tiger Shroff for Student of the Year 2. This is Will Smith being introduced to all things Bollywood:
He drives the auto rickshaw and seems to enjoy the chaos and the noise and colour and the culture of India.
He wants to meet India’s most colourful star; wants to know how it is done so he meets Ranveer Singh - who makes an entry in his own inimitable style. He proceeds to teach Smith all about the big Bollywood hero’s entry. He also explains the concept of ‘pasia vasool’.
Smith also tries to understand how religion permeates every part of Indian life; particularly how it also becomes a part of Bollywood movies. Smith visits Haridwar to understand the relationship between religion and films, where he performs rituals and the aarti.
Karan Johar is the soul of Bollywood – good and bad. So Smith meets him and meets up with Ranveer Singh yet again.
Johar and Singh explain the importance of delivering the perfect ‘dialogue’ in the Hindi film and Singh enacts the iconic ‘Ma’ scene from Deewar to explain. Johar also warns that there is no place for subtlety in Bollywood.
And then we have Smith getting sleepless in Bollywood. He confesses that he cannot dance and wonders how he’s going to do what he's going to do – feature in a Hindi film dance sequence.
So then there is Smith learning to shake a leg – Bollywood style. It’s a ‘different flavour’ but he's going to get it, Smith assures himself.
We aren’t sure yet, how and if they’ve managed to weave this into the narrative of the upcoming film Student of the Year 2, but we know Will Smith shook a leg with the cast of the film starring Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday. In the end, it was a revelation to Will Smith – having been in showbiz for 30 years, this was him reconnecting to “Why I do this”.
One could criticise the whole thing for presenting a very limited idea of India, of leaving out the ‘other’ Bollywood (which doesn’t enjoy big budgets and huge releases). One could dismiss it all as a stereotypical, misinformed version of India that glosses over reality and presents only a romantic, easy-to-consume version for the ‘firangi’ visitor. Or you could just enjoy what is an undeniably fun video of the Will Smith Bucket List.
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