I am a European-American who doesn't know a word of Hindi, and I noticed that this film is playing near my neighborhood in Houston. Does the film have English subtitles, and can it be appreciated by a non-Hindi audience? Thanks.
Yes, the film has subtitles and why would you not be able to appreciate it? I've seen it, liked it, and recommend it to anyone, Indian or not.
shareAnwar, thanks for your response about the subtitles.
What I meant about appreciating it was, I grew up in Venezuela. The most popular shows on TV are soap operas and comedies. I once followed a couple of soap operas when I lived there. That type of show does not hold my interest any more, but I understand why they appeal to viewers.
Here in the USA, I have suggested to co-workers who are trying to learn Spanish that they might watch some soap operas. The language is usually clearly spoken, and the plots are fairly simple. And they might even enjoy the acting and the drama.
On the other hand, I find most comedy shows from Latin American television to be almost unwatchable. Even though I understand Spanish, the shows are not funny to me. They are often crude and depend on old-fashioned and out-of-date stereotypes.
Similarly, there are many films made in the USA which would offer nothing to non-US residents.
But we'll try to go see "Rocket Singh".
Thanks again and happy holidays to all of you.
I understand your point. It's really the exact same things with Indian series and television shows too. Overly dramatic, overly sappy, everything is over-the-top. Many Indian films are like that too, and I don't like those at all. Rocket Singh is a very nice, down-to-earth story of a middle class guy who's not great at studies and wants to do something in life. I think it's a pretty universal story and can be applied to pretty much any country in today's world, so I definitely think you may enjoy this one. There are no overdone drama or out-of-place song sequences here. ^___^
Happy holidays to you too!
Language differences aside, I think it would definitely be appreciated,
it's a film about ethics in the world of sales. Anyone should be able to relate to that.
Judging by your post, I take it you live in west Houston area, near The FunAsia-owned theater there (I think it is called Bollywood Cinema 6?). Listings at http://www.funasia.net
We have three FunAsia locations in Dallas and I love going to movies there. At my closest one, you can even get tasty Indian snacks at intermission (yes, intermission).
"Rocket Singh" is a good choice but I would also recommend "3 Idiots", which has just come out and is in pretty heavy rotation at all of the Dallas-area FunAsia theaters and must be on at you local Hindi-Plex. It was excellent, and the mountain scenery is worth enjoying on the big screen. The last time I checked the IMDB user ratings on that one, it was something like 9.0 out of 10.
Pretty much every Hindi-language movie that plays here will have English subtitles, BUT watch out for the occasional films in other Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam: those typically are NOT shown with subs, so you'll probably want to stick to Hindi films. FunAsia's movie showtimes listings usually indicate whether there are subs or not.
In the coming months, watch out for the Hindi movies "Veer" and "My Name is Khan' (previews of which you will likely see if you go to "Rocket Singh" and/or "3 Idiots"). If you would like to see more Indian movies, you can find rentals at your closest Indian grocery or video store as well as Netflix.
And I too am NOT South Asian!! If you want any Hindi DVD recs, you can email me at my hotmail address, and use nmlhats.
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I'm from the Netherlands, this was the first Indian movie I ever saw. I don't speak one single word of hindi, so thank god the movie had english subtitles!
When I picked it out at NetFlix, I thought this was going to a really funny movie (when I saw the title and the picture).
I must say, I absolutely loved the movie! Harpreet really touched me in the heart.