Over the weekend, we saw Harry Potter 7 (part 2) in Hindi. Even though I obviously didn’t understand many of the finer points in Hindi, I knew most of the plot from reading the books (even though the movie did make some changes and I was sort of confusing from not having watched part 1). Some interesting things about Indian movie theaters:
- Assigned seating. For this movie, someone was actually sitting in our seat, and the usher asked them to move.
- Pre-paid tickets. For almost every movie, you have to get the tickets beforehand as they attempt to sell out the theater.
- Refreshments, please? You can order refreshments from your seat as people walk around to ask you if you want food.
What is amusing to an Indian audience (the biggest noises in the theater happened when…)
- Ollivander and Harry were talking about wands. Many many many jokes about “big sticks” were made by pubescent boys.
- Voldemort appeared. Take one for the villain.
- Romantic moments. In old Indian film, romantic moments are not really allowed, and so romantic moments are still a little surprising to some viewers.
Interesting things lost in translation:
- Spells- still the same.
- When Voldemort speaks in Parseltongue, they translate it into Hindi.
- there is still code-switching (word substitution in English) in the movie. Examples: “bloody hell,” “brilliant.”
Luckily, I have decided that my childhood is not over yet. Since I’m still a teenager, and have not seen Harry Potter 7 in English, I still have time…
Julia - Thank you so much for keeping up with your blog. I'm really enjoying reading about your adventures and can't wait to hear all about them/see the photos in person. I'm in Chicago this week enjoying some India-like weather (but probably still not nearly as hot). Having dinner with Rachel and Linda tonight downtown. Wish you were here, but glad that you're having such an amazing experience!
ReplyDeleteLove - Aunt Sue