In one of our first staff meetings of the new year while we were discussing Boeing-Boeing, someone mentioned that while they were describing the play to a friend, that friend stopped them and said, "Isn't that a Tony Curtis movie?" True! The play was made into a movie in 1965 starring Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis and was actually nominated for two Golden Globes. Despite that fact and the fact that the play was revived in a Broadway production back in 2008 (and won two Tony awards), it's surprisingly hard to find the movie version today. You can't find it on Netflix, but you can find it in 10-minute segments on YouTube and sold in VHS format on obscure websites, but that's about as good as it gets. I posted a clip from the movie in one of our previous posts, just so you can get a taste of what it's like.
However, while I was reading the Wikipedia article about the 1965 movie, I found out there have been two, yes TWO, Bollywood remakes of the film: one actually titled Boeing-Boeing (1985), and the other, made by the same guy -- Priyadarshan -- twenty years later, entitled Garam Masala (2005). From my anecdotal research, it seems that the director's second incarnation of the film is the one that was more popular. Shocked at the novelty of my discovery, I decided to see if I could find a copy of the movie, and lo and behold, Netflix came through in my search. I put it at the top of my queue and waited for it to arrive.
Remember that 'snow event' in mid-January? Well, the movie arrived in the mail shortly before that, so when I found myself snow-bound at home, I sat myself down ready for a laugh. Yes, I laughed occasionally, but ouch! It was kind of painful. Maybe my perspective was tainted by the fact that I couldn't manage to get the DVD menu to work properly for a good half hour since it was produced in India and the Citibank India ads couldn't be skipped as I went back trying to set the subtitles to English, but still I can't believe I made it through. (Well, actually, I took a break half-way through for about 45 minutes so I could wring out my brain, but I did finish watching the movie.) I'm not advocating for or against the movie, I'm just saying it was a doozy.
I feel the play's silliness is nicely compact, so as silly as the story is already, I couldn't believe that they decided to ADD to it for the Bollywood movie. With the additional story elements and the songs (that don't seem to connect much with the plot in my opinion), the movie came out to be about two-and-a-half hours long. Despite all that was added, a lot is very similar to the 1965 film. In fact, someone made a couple YouTube videos illustrating the parallels between the movies, which is pretty neat. The quality of the videos aren't top notch but it's fun to watch, and I think it brings across the sense of speed in the story -- the ladies coming and going, the kitchen orders changing, all that chaotic hilarity. It's up to you whether you decide to rent the DVD, but either way, I think the videos are worth a watch. Enjoy!
I feel the play's silliness is nicely compact, so as silly as the story is already, I couldn't believe that they decided to ADD to it for the Bollywood movie. With the additional story elements and the songs (that don't seem to connect much with the plot in my opinion), the movie came out to be about two-and-a-half hours long. Despite all that was added, a lot is very similar to the 1965 film. In fact, someone made a couple YouTube videos illustrating the parallels between the movies, which is pretty neat. The quality of the videos aren't top notch but it's fun to watch, and I think it brings across the sense of speed in the story -- the ladies coming and going, the kitchen orders changing, all that chaotic hilarity. It's up to you whether you decide to rent the DVD, but either way, I think the videos are worth a watch. Enjoy!
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