Hillary’s quote that was heard around the world  (or on the blogosphere) was not from the heated debate with the Indian environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, nor from the various deals brokered. It was about Bollywood. The Secretary of State said:

“Anyone who watches Bollywood movies will think Indian lives are very dramatic with happy endings. Hollywood, on the other hand, makes people believe that we don’t wear clothes and that we are always fighting with one another.”

Ouch, Madame Secretary. You touched a sore spot. Indeed, Bollywood definitely conveys such a message to the world. I just don’t care for it. She definitely pinned Bollywood correctly (and I thank her for leaving out the part that all of our movies have songs and dances). But, I want Bollywood to be more than that. I want diversity in genres, in plots, in themes. Bollywood shouldn’t imitate Hollywood, nor does it need a complete makeover. All Bollywood needs is a face lift.

No more rona dhona (crying dramatically) or songs in the Swiss Alps or cliche story lines. Let’s make movies that represent the changing dynamic of India. Let’s open our minds and make progressive films that can still be funny, still have songs, or have none at all. There can be unhappy endings, movies without love stories, even movies that are (gasp!) less than two hours long. We see the change already happening, we just need to speed things up. Next time Hillary visits, let’s aim for a visit to the local movie hall, where she could watch a Bollywood film that’s really Indian, possibly (gasp again!) without a happy ending.