#and also most of the songs grate on me. srk truly is the one thing i care abt hes horrible and it's everything <3

[theladyfae]

babygirl i miss u so,,,,

[rina-rambles]

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Bollywood

When most Westerners who like musicals hear Switzerland mentioned, their first thought tends to be of the Julie Andrews classic, The Sound Of Music. Although technically that film is set in Austria and so features the German part of the Alpine range, the distinction is incidental to the beauty of the landscape. 

As an Indian born and raised in Switzerland, my first thought is of the long and beautiful relationship Switzerland has had with the Bollywood film industry. Sure my family celebrates Diwali every year and like most Indians living overseas, I adore my mother’s home-cooked Indian food above all else. But it wasn’t until I discovered Bollywood films at the age of eleven or so that I truly connected with the film industry which fused my Swiss home and Indian roots. The connection between the flair of Bollywood and staid but scenic Switzerland was largely down to one man, the late, great film-maker Yash Chopra. Father of film-maker Aditya Chopra and actor Uday Chopra, he was also one of the most successful and legendary Bollywood film-makers, with an iconic career spanning from 1959 to his death at age 80 in 2012.

My personal connection with Yash Chopra movies is limited to his later films.  I loved the Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor-starrer Dil To Pagal Hai in 1997 and the old-fashioned but epic love story starring SRK and Preity Zinta, Veer-Zaara, in 2004. Incidentally, the song from Veer-Zaara which was filmed in Switzerland was ultimately cut from the film due to length. 

Nonetheless, Switzerland has had an even longer and profound relationship with Mr. Chopra than the films I personally have seen. According to a 2014 report on newlyswissed.com, Chopra first came to Switzerland on honeymoon with his wife Pamela in 1970. The article documented the long history of Yash Chopra’s movies using Switzerland as the backdrop for countless romantic song and dances. It’s strangely fitting that a honeymoon trip began his long love affair with Switzerland, because some of the most romantic sequences in countless films have stemmed from that initial exposure. It has been reported that even the very last film Yash Chopra directed before his death, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, was meant to have sequences filmed in Switzerland but that plan was scrapped when he passed away before the film’s release.

Since 2012, the popularity of Bollywood filming all over Switzerland carved a new niche in even the German market. Entire shelves in German malls can now be found devoted to completely dubbed Bollywood films, hilarious to watch in German when one knows what the original language sounds like. The best translation fail I’ve ever seen in my life was in Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. In the film, Shahrukh Khan’s character was named Dev: The delivery itself was visibly over the top and dramatic when spoken in German rather than the original Hindi, but what made it even funnier were the subtitles. Every time “Dev” spoke or was referred to by another character, the subtitles would call him “Entwickler” which is German for “developer.” Whoever dubbed the film somehow got the idea that the name Dev was short for developer or development and every time I think about that, it cracks me up.

While the landscape portrayed in the films themselves gives Indians a glimpse into the beauty of Switzerland, it goes both ways. Yash Chopra’s fondness of Swiss locations boosted tourism to such an extent that he has been honoured by the locals of Interlaken and more in multiple ways.

The government of Interlaken awarded Chopra the honorary title of Ambassador of Interlaken in 2011

Jungfrau Railways named a train after him – an honour shared only with founder of the railways, Adolf Guyer

The five-star Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken named a suite after Chopra, where visitors can spend a night for CHF2,250 ($2,347)

In May 2016, Yash Chopra’s widow Pamela and daughter-in-law Rani Mukerji unveiled a 350kg bronze statue of the late film-maker

Lake Lauenen, located near Gstaad, is now more commonly known as Chopra Lake, for being one of his pet filming locations

I’m personally not the biggest fan of snow and ice, but even I can fully appreciate how magical the Swiss Alps must seem to the average Indian tourist. Yash Chopra tapped into the appeal of Switzerland’s lush meadows and quaint villages to give people who use Bollywood as a way to dream big something to aspire to. It was the 1995 directorial debut of his son Aditya Chopra, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, that was a game-changer for the since-then deep bond between Bollywood films and Switzerland. Fondly known simply as DDLJ, the Shahrukh Khan and Kajol-starring romance told the story of Raj and Simran, two Indians who fall in love on a train journey across Europe with the typical filmy hiccups during the course of their trip. 

For over two decades, a cinema hall in Mumbai regularly showed the film as it was such a nation-wide smash hit. For most people, the escape from reality that Raj and Simran’s journey offered made it the classic it is today. I suppose that’s why for over fifty years, Switzerland has represented the dream sequences and foreign location settings that usually made no sense in the scheme of any given film. It was always about giving viewers an idyllic and dreamy setting for the hero and heroine to proclaim their love in, whether relevant to the plot or not. Since I grew up in Switzerland, I sometimes feel like perhaps the novelty of how scenic it is has worn off. My appreciation for the crisp, fresh air and beautiful environment usually peaks in times of contrast; right after returning from an extended trip to India, for example.

Exotic backdrops have always been a big part of what gives Bollywood films that quality of escapism from the hardships of daily life. Yash Chopra came to be known as the king of romance for the way he wove stories around the beauty of the Swiss mountains and meadows. It’s safe to say that the gift of romantic story-telling must run in families because DDLJ united Shahrukh Khan and Kajol for the second time of many in their careers. Where Aditya Chopra turned Raj and Simran into a love story for every Indian to aspire to, my favourite thing to look out for in DDLJ is the cameo appearance of his cousin, Karan Johar. If I’m honest it was not Raj and Simran that truly ignited my personal passion for Bollywood films but Rahul and Anjali, twice over in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and then again in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Whether one is Team Chopra or Johar, Dharma Productions or Yashraj Films, Bollywood movies are an undeniably acquired taste. I will always be grateful to have an entire film industry tying my two worlds, the Swiss and the Indian, together.

The most mind-blowing thing to witness has been the response that Europe has had to Bollywood in the last few years. Switzerland has always been the backdrop that Bollywood fanatics dream about when they picture being romanced by SRK (at least I know I have). Now it’s not uncommon to find the remains of Indian snacks in the snowy peaks of the Alps, left behind by the constant flow of Indian tourists exploring the places Yash Chopra’s films exposed them to. Times are changing, in both Hollywood and Bollywood the racy style has become less shocking and more common than it was a few decades ago. But Yash Chopra put tenderness and truly epic love stories out into the world for future generations to enjoy forever and gave hopeless romantics like me something to dream about.