Portrayal of NRI's in Indian Cinema

Watched BKB over the weekend, it was meh...But it brought up this age old grudge that I have against Indian movies, and the stereotypical portrayal of NRI's. But before we get to that, are kids really that out of control in India? :| I never knew smoking n drinking were so common lol. Guess it's time to head back to the motherland and see for myself lol.

Anyway getting to the point. I dislike the way our movie makers stretch the truth sometimes. Why is it that most of these directors, particularly KJO, portray NRI's as just lucky people who freakin put on their coats and head to work with their briefcases. I wish just one movie would present the hardships and the long hours of work, the struggle, the stress of school, figuring out ways for PAYING FOR SCHOOL, this whole generation gap amongst kids n parents, and so on, that AVERAGE Indians living in the states or outside India go through. I wish a movie would explore the attitude and mentality of Indian parents outside of India and the differences and gap from their kids who grow up in a totally different world from what they grew up in. I see it so often that Indians, who live outside of India, are more conservative than the ones living in India. I want someone to explore than angle.

I swear if my dad was a rich producer like KJO's, I'd put him out of business >_< LOL and with GOOD films!!

Ok my rant is over =) Your thoughts?

I agree with meena that kids in India are more spoiled than NRI kids , and they are that because they kind of belive what they see in the movies , and then they try to be like the NRIs they get spoilt!
im talking abt my own relatives , i dont know abt others :)

but yeah i would not say NRI kids are doodh ke dhole , even some of them are spoilt , but i think they try to adjust to people they hang out with :)

Of course ladies....I'm not saying that NRI's are angels, who have no flaws in them. We all have negative qualities, and neither are "kids" in India so naive that they will follow what is presented in movies blindly (I hope). My main concern is CAN WE PLEASE FOCUS ON THE ACTUAL LIVES OF NRI'S, rather than the conjectured versions.

One movie i will name which i thought they showed something really bad abt NRIs - Namastey London , hated the movie!

Hmmm kawal yeah in a way the kids attitude was annoying, but i actually liked the fact that they showed the whole conflict between Upen Patel and his parents regarding him wanting to live with the gori. Also Rishi not understanding his daughter and vice versa, which is extremely common.

Originally posted by: kawal_tak

One movie i will name which i thought they showed something really bad abt NRIs - Namastey London , hated the movie!

I wasn't a fan of the film either didn't like the way they made it too sad...

I have to agree with you. When I was in India I learned that they call us NRI which means Non Reliable Indian.

Everyone has to go through the hardships of lives whether it is NRI or a person staying in India. I think it is a general view that oppurtunities are more availabe there and if you work hard you can have a decent living. But for a common man in India how much ever you struggle there is a limit to the comforts of life.

We are way more than what K-JO or Yash Chopra showcase in films, and I think one needs to spend more than 3 months in New York or London to make films over us. All of the NRIs on TV are discriminated against and we are made to look like the ones with no sense of right and wrong, which is such a false picture. You can't just discriminate...it depends on the individual.

It's amazing how I boast of my culture and my values to my friends, and in India and Pakistan, all I see is people pretending to be someone who they are not. While Indian films are somewhat changing, but Indian tv is still stagnant. A girl in Western clothing automatically means she's more liberal, 'modern', rude and somehow vulgar?

Who would seriously think of wearing Couture or Dior to high school or University? 😆 Not everyone is from the Upper East side, yo! We work, we attend school, we attempt to figure out ourselves, we balance being an Indian-Pak/American or Canadian. It's mind numbingly dumb to just over and over come across Indian channels to see how we are being mocked of....and why do they mock us? To justify the people from there? Is that fair? Media drives our society and when the entire of India watches us in such a derogatory manner, of course they will perceive us as the Anti Christ. 😆

As for our values passed down to us, its probably that we don't change them based on the characters of our former favorite serial, but instead we believe in the right and can distinguish it from the wrong, and if it's not then we either ignore or fight for justice.

This may sound harsh, but if the Westernization and it's rate keeps on accelerating, I will not be surprised if in no time India will be colonized yet by another foreign country because people are losing on their own values and cultures faster than Rakhee changes her boy toys!