"I have always felt that distinctions between people from the same country fade when they come to a new place. What you have in common, as outsiders, is greater than what initially set you apart. What Yogan and Samar recognize in each other early on is a desire to better the conditions of the women they love, their families. They're men in their twenties, just stepping into a new stage of life. They're excited to talk about their wives, their dreams, their clothes!"
"Their visions of their lives and their potential futures seem to draw more on what they've seen in Bollywood movies, which are a driving force in the story. Does Bollywood have that degree of influence? Oh, yes! I am thinking particularly about the slate of films that came out in the late nineties and early two-thousands. The Bollywood dimension of this story took me by surprise, since I was never a film person and used to feel embarrassed by the big musical numbers."
"I used to watch these movies with my parents, and something about their overly chaste rituals of romance felt even more suggestive to me than an onscreen kiss would have. I suppose I also didn't want my parents to know how much I actually enjoyed watching these saccharine love stories! Which is to say that these films got into my bloodstream despite my resistance."
Yogan and Samar arrive in Dubai as young men whose shared outsider status quickly outweighs national distinctions. Their early bond centers on improving conditions for their wives and families and on everyday enthusiasms like clothes and dreams. Their expectations derive from online vloggers and, more importantly, late-1990s and early-2000s Bollywood films that shape visions of romance, courage, and social acceptance. Big musical numbers and saccharine love stories become formative, producing both embarrassment and secret enjoyment. Memories show how sentimental cinema can enter the bloodstream despite resistance. Wholehearted embrace of these films could alter their ambition, courtship, and courage.
Read at The New Yorker
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