Erin's Top India Film Picks: Part One

You can take a Bindi Girl out of Indyah, but you can never take India out of the Bindi Girl!

True love for the spicy subcontinent never dies - even if you're saturated after four years in the masala.

Today's post shares five of my favorite India-themed movies - with some real oddball picks! (This will be a multi-part post, since there are so many to share!)

In no particular order...

1. Outsourced (2006)
Sweet, sweet, sweet with just the right amount of sugar in the chai. A Seattle guy gets shipped off to a village in Maharashtra, a few hours outside of Mumbai, to set up a call center. This heartwarming flick does a great job of portraying the cliches of typical India, without going over the top. It's mightily accurate and doesn't try to be anything than what it is: quirky and beautiful, just like India. The main character, Todd (whom the Indians call Mr. Toad) falls in love with bindis, too!

Josh Hamilton and Ayesha Dharker are sheer naturals without a trace of overacting.

2. Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Ooh, la-la. This visual fest by filmmaker Mira Nair captured my heart in a big way. It was Monsoon Wedding that put me over the top, watching it in an art-house cinema in Berlin, I fell deeply in love with the colors, the music, the madness of India. Mira Nair's films are known for incorporating controversial social topics in a way that keeps you in contact with the beauty and soul. The soundtrack is unbeatable and the best is "Aaj Mera Jee Karda" (Today My Heart Desires) by Mychael Danna, sung by Sukhwinder Singh. Listen and enjoy here.

3. The Namesake (2006)
Based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, here's another Mira Nair splendor. From the beginning train journey scene, in which the main character (Irrfan Khan - a intellectually-sexy favorite Indian actor who also stars in Slumdog Millionaire) loses everything save for the drive to start anew in New York City, we are glued to the screen with our very souls. The back and forth transition between traditional Bengali life in Calcutta (Kolkata) and adjusting to the ways of the modern world is poignant and heart-wrenching. I'm getting choked up just writing about it. Gulp.

4. Bride and Prejudice (2004)
For the sheer fun of a crossover between Bollywood and Hollywood - and the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai - former Miss World and the indisputed queen of Bollywood. Of course, other princesses have already come and gone, but nothing can take your eyes off of 'Ash' once you've fallen under her Bolly-Barbie spell. Part screwball comedy, part Grease musical ("No Life, Without Wife"), Bride and Prejudice is a good time all around.


5. Erin Reese's YouTube Channel (2002-2011)
*Just-for-fun Amateur Pick!*
The making of mini-movies around the globe has opened my heart and mind, and India gives me inspiration no end. From sunrise yoga to Varanasi rickshaws, the wild east Orissan seaside to the promenades of Mumbai, this novice filmmaker professes no technical expertise, just a whole lotta love, light, sound, and spice - it's travel and soul.

Coming Soon: Darjeeling Limited, Mississippi Masala, Slumdog, and much more!