August 07, 2008

Something is rotten in ...

the state of Bollywood at cinemas in Vienna. I don´t know how it happend but from being forced to decide between three different films on one day we just dropped to nothing. Zilch. Nada.

For more than a month now there has not been one single show of any Indian film here. Even in the past when we had fewer Bollywood here the summer was good. There are always a lot of summer cinema specials. Open-Air screenings. Whatever. And they always had a few films on. But this year it just stopped dead. Sarkar Raj was the last film that was on. Ever since that not-so-exciting-thingy there´s nothing. Zilch. Nada. But I repeat myself here.

And there is no explanation for it. Sigh. Well, I guess we just have to wait a little more. And make do with a single screening of Monsoon Wedding, MHN or whatever deadbeaten film they will show late August.

I want to see Sing is Kinng! Bleh! The Germans get it and we don´t. Not fair.

Anyway. As you might (or not) have noticed I am still in Vienna. I should be in Chennai for a month already, but my stay gets delayed and delayed and delayed. But I am still hopefull that the next few weeks will finally see me going. Hah. And then I wont have any trouble with cinemas not playing the kind of films I want to see.

In the meantime I make do with Mamma Mia! (Did I mention before that I was raised on ABBA? Plus, it has Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan singing. *Squee* And the devine Meryl Streep. Bless her.) And Dr.Horrible. And as you might have noticed from this posts title I am (re-)reading Hamlet. The commentary book I got yesterday is more then thrice the number of pages of the play.. Why am I reading it? Well. I love Shakespeare. I haven´t read it in ages. Its summer. I have a beautiful green shady terrace with very comfy chairs. And what´s more, I can´t go to Stratford-upon-Avon to watch Patrick Steward and David Tennant perform.

So there´s that.

8 comments:

Beth Loves Bollywood said...

Very sad! I have missed the last two local screening of Bollywood. But the Unforgettable Tour makes up for it. I really want to see Bachna Ae Haseeno but no word on it being here!

Beth Loves Bollywood said...

Meant to tell you - went to Julius Meinl in Chicago for breakfast last Sunday and got horribly "homesick" for you and Vienna! I had Kaiserschmarren (is that a real term, or just when they call the chopped-up pancake thing?) and a melange. Dreamy!

babasko said...

Kaiserschmarrn its called only when its chopped-up. the pancakes are called Palatschinken (no ham. pronounce "Pala-tschin-ken"

miss you too. remember out 2tea-time" at haas haus?

Unknown said...

Hi,
I suddenly came accross your blog. And it feels nice that some one sitting in Vienna is crazy about bollywood.Singh is King is good movie..you must see. Here is an information too. Actor Manoj Bajpai has started his blog...you can get him at -
http://manojbajpayee.itzmyblog.com

BindiM said...

We are new to Vienna (from Australia) and I am missing my Bollywood films. Can anyone tell me where they are usually shown in Vienna or where I can buy DVDs? Thanks :)

babasko said...

Hi Bindi. Welcome to Vienna.

unfortunatly there is not much going on bollywoodwise at cinemas here in vienna at the moment. the only thins is a screening of Veer-Zaara on the 31st at 3pm in Haydnkino.

As for DVDs. The only way to get genuine legal DVDs with English Subs is the internet. Some DVD rental places might have some of the SRK Films that got dubbed to German (and usually have the original Hindi Audio track but no English subtitles)

Of course you could always raid the Indian Grocery stores for pirated films. The area on the Gürtel between Westbahnhof and Thaliastrasse is a good place to start...

babasko said...

me again. i have no news yet. but the cinema that was sceening new films until july was the uci-milleniumcity in the 20th district. you might want to subcribe to their email program newsletter and watch out for future sceenings. Haydnkino only screens films that have German subtitles

BindiM said...

Hey thank you so much for the info. I have made some notes now so I know where to hunt around! I am enjoying exploring this city so much. I might try the indian grocery stores for a quick fix first (I only brought Om Shanti Om with me and I am a bit over it)...Thanks again...