Shopping for Bollywood films is both science and art form. Rare is
the film you can walk to Walmart or Target or other major store and buy on DVD
(3 Idiots is perhaps the one exception). There are Indian groceries that carry
a motley mix of pirated and legitimate, but mostly pirated. If you are very,
very lucky, there is perhaps an Indian DVD store. But their selection is never
expansive, nor guaranteed, and seeking a particular title is often an exercise in
futility.
There are libraries, but their duties are first to books and then
to DVDs and VHS. I have made some great finds at libraries, but there too it is
useless to hunt for a specific title.
The new releases quickly show up streaming on Netflix and
Einthusan, but the older titles are often hard to find online, especially if
you require subtitles.
There are sites like Induna and ErosEntertainment.com to buy DVDs,
and almost everything is on Amazon these days. But there is little to no thrill
in that. It’s akin to those who complain about buying books on Amazon rather
than in a bookstore, only worse. Not only can you not feel the DVD, it feels as
though you haven’t given it the treatment necessary for such a rarity. You
haven’t searched for the treasure. You’ve merely picked it up and methodically
paid.
.
And so sometimes, the hunt for a particular title goes on, and on,
and on, and on.
For this reason, I still haven’t seen Sholay. Or Mother
India. Or Pakeezah. Or Anand. Or a half-dozen other things.
.
But for one classic, at least, my hunting has ended.
