Do Bollywood movies intermix languages like this?

India has so many languages that not everyone knows Hindi... some people may speak Hindi but not Tamil... while someone may speak Telegu, but no other Indian language... but many people learn English and speak it regularly. (even if they have never traveled abroad) This allows Indians from different regions to easily communicate with 1 common language, and it also allows Indians to enjoy media from English-speaking countries, and even communicate with foreigners at home and abroad.

Indian movies tend to have characters who know English, especially in non-rural movies, and those characters speak English every now and then, sometimes to articulate a point better, or to say words that are better explained in English... e.g. "Euthanasia... mercy-killing!"

So, it's neither a gimmick nor pretentious.

Hope that answers your question!

It's not a gimmick. People in India switch language sometimes even in the middle of the sentence. Its not uncommon at all. But since this movie was based in Goa, it is even more common.

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time."

So far all the Indian movies that have been produced in the last decade uses a mix of English and local Indian languages. I asked about this to an Indian pen-pal of mine and he told me that English is what connects a whole nation who speaks a smörgåsbord of different languages and dialects. Here's a wikipedic information:

Bollywood is formally referred to as Hindi cinema.There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well. It is common to see films that feature dialogue with English words, phrases, or even whole sentences.The film script or lines of dialogue (called "dialogues" in Indian English) and the song lyrics are often written by different people.Dialogues are usually written in an unadorned Hindi or Hindustani that would be understood by the largest possible audience. Some movies, however, have used regional dialects to evoke a village setting, or old-fashioned courtly Urdu in Mughal era historical films. Contemporary mainstream movies also make great use of English.
Break-up of 2009 Indian feature films produced in 24 Languages.


Rank Lang. Number of Flms
1 Hindi 235
2 Telugu 218
3 Tamil 190
4 Kannada 177
5 Marathi 99
6 Malayalam 94
7 Bengali 84
8 Bhojpuri 64
9 Gujarati 62
10 Oriya 17
11 Punjabi 15
12 English 9
13 Assamese 5
13 Rajasthani 5
15 Konkani 4
16 Santali 2
17 Haryanvi 1
17 Kodava 1
17 Maithili 1
17 Nagpuri 1
17 Nepali 1
17 Rajbanshi 1
17 Sambalpuri 1
17 Mishing 1
Total 1288

I'm bilingual and I know it's very common to combine English and the native language, even saying half the sentence in English, half in the native language, as they did in this movie. I don't find it annoying or pretentious, but rather charming and linguistically interesting.

My one complaint would be with the subtitles. It's fine that they have subtitles even when English is being spoken, but the English subtitles in this movie did not match what the character was saying in English! It had the same idea, but it wasn't identical, and I found THAT distracting. For example, the character would verbally say in English "pour me more wine", but the subtitle would read "give me another drink". I just wonder why they didn't make it match up?

Most people in India speak a minimum of 2-3 languages.

You HAVE to, if you wish to be able to communicate with people from different regions.

Most educated Indians today predominantly speak English mixed with their native language for all informal purposes.

As for native languages, there are 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects.

Before I answer your question, I must tell you that India is a vast country. By vast I didnt mean large but EXTREME diverse. Most of the people in India itself havent travelled whole of it. It might take an year or too. My mom, in her early days was an avid traveller and despite travelling for more than a year,believe me, is yet to cover up yhe north east. Such is the diversity here in India
with more journey across the country will make you more experienced. They say you want to get experience what life is, you better be here!!
Now, India alone has more than 28 states and each state probably has its own languages giving us more than what we can handle. And probably every one could speak atleast 2 languages. If you are business man you gotta have command on the major languages, although there is none. Hindi is spoken only in few states but since it is mother tongue, it is compulsory you have to be fluent to communicate in other parts. For others though, English is the common language.Dont be fooled that only a minor part here can speak English. The southern and the notheastern part, despite being not educated will make you feel embarrased with their fluency.
Bollywood alone doesnt have hindi. Many languages are taken in here.
Since this movie particularly is based in Goa populated with christians, the movie is set in English
To your question if they were aiming for western audiences, Bollywood focus more on domestic income rather than overseas.

the film is set in Goa, which has a heavy Christian population. The main character's name is Ethan. English is very common there.

Even outside Goa, English is taught in schools. Many Indians are bilingual: English and Hindi/Punjabi/Gujrati/Tamil/etc.

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