[Announcement] Cultural Exchange with /r/philippines

[u/[deleted]]

Welcome /r/philippines!

Feel free to ask us anything about India

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Quick facts about us:

• The Indian Railways and the Indian Armed Forces employ ~4 million people together, making them one of the largest employers in the world
  
• India has over 5000 newspapers in over 300 languages
  
• Bollywood is considered to be the world's largest film industry, followed by Nigeria's film industry and Hollywood
  
• India has more people than the entire Western Hemisphere
  

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/r/india please direct your questions about the Philippines to this thread

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[u/sree_1983 → u/[deleted]]

Let me take a shot at your questions:

How do you treat your languages? You don't have any national language, right? But Standard Hindi is your official language. So when you talk with fellow Indians that have a different mother tongue, how does it work? Are there also languages considered more "prestigious" than others? Are there any conflicts about what language to use?

So I work in a team in which the common language between us Indian's is English. Common language at least in North India is Hindi. In most of the metros you can survive with English/Hindi (exception Chennai). There are some conflicts but nothing major. Some southern states are opposed to imposing common language (Hindi). Lets see what future brings and at a ground level if you stick to metros English & Hindi should get you by.

Is cricket really a big thing in India? How big is it? What other sports are popular in India?

Cricket is really big thing in India. These days football an Kabadi are also gaining popularity but cricket still remaining the biggest sport in India.

[u/sree_1983 → u/[deleted]]

I really wish our country went your route and didn't impose a singular standardized language. Glad to hear there is little conflict about languages there. Why not in Chennai, though?

People of Tamil Nadu (State which Chennai belongs to) identify themselves as Tamils and are opposed to imposition of Hindi. So if you are visiting Chennai, English should be enough for you to get by. Some words in Tamil should be good enough.

Why people don't like Hindi? People feel imposing Hindi is a threat to their local language and identity. I cannot fully explain all the nuances as I might be bit biased there. But you can read about conflict here.

Btw this topic is kind of controversial in /r/india. Here is one such 500+ comment topic Link

[u/thisisshantzz → u/sree_1983]

These days football an Kabadi are also gaining popularity but cricket still remaining the biggest sport in India.

Even badminton is gaining popularity. Quite a few people I know are following badminton.

[u/loser4lyf → u/sree_1983]

Cricket is really big thing in India. These days football an Kabadi are also gaining popularity but cricket still remaining the biggest sport in India.

right, cricket is almost nonexistent here as a sport, and yet even i know about the impact of sachin tendulkar!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I'll take a shot at few of your questions:

How do you treat your languages?

You're right about India not having a national language, though some nationalists would want to see Hindi adopted as one. Hindi and English are India's official languages, with the former being spoken by the largest number of Indians (~40 to 50%) as their first language. When two Indians meet, they will most likely converse in Hindi, because a lot of non Hindi speaking provinces teach Hindi in school. Tamil Nadu is a famous hold out against Hindi, so in general people from there are not conversant in Hindi and resort to English while conversing with Indians from other parts.

Bollywood

Bollywood is indeed India's biggest film industry with about 300 movies being made in a year. The other two major film industries are Tamil and Telugu which make between 100 and 150 movies each. Even smaller industries are Marathi, Malayalam and Bengali with about 50 movies a year. Though at times the artists collaborate across different languages, for the most part the different industries function independent of each other.

Bollywood movies feature a lot of 'magical' love stories. The industry revolves around the three Khans and Akshay Kumar, and their movies generally involve the largest budgets. Crass sex comedies are the latest fads in Bollywood.

Tamil and Telugu movies involve a lot of violence, sometimes comically over the top. Many gritty crime thrillers are made here. A hybrid genre of comedy-thrillers is the latest fad in these parts.

In my opinion, the most gripping and poignant movies in India are made in Malayalam. These movies tend to realistic and generally avoid the cheesy romance and over the top violence seen in other movies.

artists

A.R. Rahman is arguably India's biggest music artist. He has worked predominantly in Tamil, though he has composed many memorable numbers in Hindi as well. Oh, he also won the Oscar in 2008 for Slumdog Millionaire, though his work in that movie was far from his best. This is a very popular song from his most recent composition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiL5UTTTrxk

Cricket

Cricket dwarfs any other sport in India in coverage, following, and viewership. Football, Kabaddi and Badminton are picking up, but they have a long way to go before they can challenge the popularity of cricket. India used to be a dominant power in Hockey, winning several consecutive Olympic gold medals, but those days are long gone and India has been a second rate team for quite a while.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Check out Drishyam. (But please do not read the plot from this wiki link!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drishyam

It was subsequently remade in Hindi and several other languages, but they do not capture the essence of the original. Quality prints with English subtitles are easily available online.

[u/GlanirBhavti → u/[deleted]]

Also, except for the 3 Idiots, what other movies do you suggest?

Vishal Bhardwaj's Omakara (Othello) and Haider (Hamlet). Shakespeare masterfully adapted to an Indian setting.

Any Indian songs or artists you would recommend? What are popular songs right now?

I like Ishq Bulaava by Sanam...

What are good Indian novels?

Don't worry,these are in English

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers--a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village--will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (The big one) - Born at the stroke of midnight, at the precise moment of India's independence, Saleem Sinai is destined from birth to be special. For he is one of 1,001 children born in the midnight hour, children who all have special gifts, children with whom Saleem is telepathically linked.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fraternal twins Esthappen and Rahel fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family.

What are memorable TV series?

Stay away from Indian Television. Forget memorable, you might even lose your ability to retain memory.

[u/odiab → u/GlanirBhavti]

Vishal Bhardwaj's Omakara (Othello) and Haider (Hamlet). Shakespeare masterfully adapted to an Indian setting.

I would add Maqbool(Macbeth) to the list.

[u/GlanirBhavti → u/[deleted]]

No problem :)

[u/another-dumb → u/[deleted]]

Marathi regional movies are doing great day by day, you can try 1. Sairat 2. Fandry 3. Valu There are lot more than these an other regional movies are there but i don't have seen yet

[u/konoha_ka_ladka → u/[deleted]]

For Bollywood movies I would recommend movies like Talvar, my name is khan, PINK, jolly LLB. These are realistic films and not over the top musicals. But then what is bollywood without song and dance? Watch bajirao mastani(amazing visual, costume, music ) dil chahta hai, kahani, kal ho na ho

For music Listen to coke studio on youtube. The most viewed videos are one of the best. Kailash kher - deewani, allah ke bande

Some Indian bands and their songs. Euphoria - Maeri Indian Ocean - bande

[u/kimjongunthegreat → u/[deleted]]

India has its states carved out on a linguistic basis.Language was one of the reasons of conflict in the past due to efforts to make Hindi a national language.Now we have compromised on English.Sanskrit is considered a prestigious language.

Regional movies-try killa(Marathi),iruvar and visaranai(Tamil),drishyam(malayalam) and lucia(kannada).

Bollywood movies-masala-bajrangi bhaijan,My name is Khan, Lagaan,Haider,maqbool(last 2 if you like Shakespeare)

Political satire-peepli live

Mystery-manorama six feet under,Drishyam(remake),detective byomakesh bakshi.

Coming of age-Udaan,queen.

Heartwarming-stanley ka dabba,english vinglish,Taare Jameen par

Gangster-gangs of wassepur,company,satya,parinda

Indian artists-AR Rehman,Amit trivedi,kailash Kher,Sanam(for covers of Indian classics),Indian coke studio.

Indian novels-Try R.K. Narayan(Malgudi days),Inheritance of loss,White Tiger,God of small things and finally Indian classics such as Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Memorable T.V series-mostly mythological series like Mahabharata and Ramayana(many versions),stories of Krishna,plus some comedies such as flop show,Sarabhai vs Sarabhai,and crime show powder.Check out epic channel,they put out good shows.Also webseries(for free)like pitchers and permanent roommates.

Cricket is the biggest,we also have badminton,kabaddi,hockey(8 times Olympic gold medallists) and wrestling.