INDIA : MY IDENTITY
After completing my final exams for the semester last night, as I sat down watching the Bollywood Movie, Namastay London ,I realized that although this movie is merely an Indian romantic comedy, it was a movie to which I could relate a number of things I had learned over the course of the semester in our English 101: Introduction to Multilingualism Class.
The plot of the movie is such that Indian born Manmohan Malhotra (played by Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor) relocated to London with the aim of re-establishing himself along with his wife, Bebo (played by Bollywood actress Nina Wadia), who gives birth to Jasmeet (played by Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif). At the beginning of the movie itself it can be seen that Manmohan is embarrassed of his wife Bebo primarily because of her inability to communicate in English effectively. This related to my Project 3 research on the advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual as Cummins pointed out that bilingualism could lead to “cognitive disadvantages” especially if a language is learnt at a later age. Coming from a small Indian village, Babo primarily communicated in Hindi and/or Punjabi however when she moved to the United Kingdom with her husband she was forced to learn a new language at, what one may describe as, an older age. Hence, on numerous occasions throughout the movie Manmohan feels embaressed by Bebo and avoids taking her to important occasions.
During a family tour of India, Manmohan tricks his daughter Jasmeet, who prefers to be called Jazz, into marrying Arjun Singh (played by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar). On their return to London, Jasmeet announces that she is getting married to Charlie Brown (played by actor Clive Staden), who is well educated and has good friends and connections, even with Prince Charles. She refuses to recognise her marriage with Arjun as there is no proof of the wedding.
When Jasmeet is introduced to the friends of the Brown family, she is subjected to considerable racist abuse including a quote from Winston Churchill: 'When we leave India, the country will be in the hands of goons'. Arjun supports Jazz through every occasion and on a particular occasion in retaliation to a racist comment made by an individual at Jasmeet and Charlie’s engagement party when Mr. Fingel talks about her coming from the land of snake charmers and her change in name as an attempt to be one of “them”. Arjun stands up for her and his country and in his mother tongue, Hindi talks about India and its culture. He talks about it in Hindi and it is translated into English. This four minute long speech, can truly stir any Indian’s heart and according to me the main reason for this is the use of Hindi language and the national song “Vande Matram” playing in the background. This use of Hindi, again made me question the inter-relation between language and culture I explored during my Project 1 literary narrative and even during my Project 2.
At the end of the movie Jasmeet runs out of her wedding with Charlie and instead decides to spend the rest of her life with Arjun back in India. Looking at Jasmeet, an Indian girl brought up in the United Kingdom, who spoke broken Hindi as she led herself to believe she was British and not Indian her whole life, inspired me to question the importance of learning one’s mother tongue when one does not reside in their home country. Through personal experience, I know that when staying away from your home country, speaking in your mother tongue can immediately make you feel like you are back at home. Is it the same for people who have been born and raised in a different country? Do they too have the same personal connection with their mother tongue? This is something which I would really like to explore further when I get a chance to.
The plot of the movie is such that Indian born Manmohan Malhotra (played by Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor) relocated to London with the aim of re-establishing himself along with his wife, Bebo (played by Bollywood actress Nina Wadia), who gives birth to Jasmeet (played by Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif). At the beginning of the movie itself it can be seen that Manmohan is embarrassed of his wife Bebo primarily because of her inability to communicate in English effectively. This related to my Project 3 research on the advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual as Cummins pointed out that bilingualism could lead to “cognitive disadvantages” especially if a language is learnt at a later age. Coming from a small Indian village, Babo primarily communicated in Hindi and/or Punjabi however when she moved to the United Kingdom with her husband she was forced to learn a new language at, what one may describe as, an older age. Hence, on numerous occasions throughout the movie Manmohan feels embaressed by Bebo and avoids taking her to important occasions.
During a family tour of India, Manmohan tricks his daughter Jasmeet, who prefers to be called Jazz, into marrying Arjun Singh (played by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar). On their return to London, Jasmeet announces that she is getting married to Charlie Brown (played by actor Clive Staden), who is well educated and has good friends and connections, even with Prince Charles. She refuses to recognise her marriage with Arjun as there is no proof of the wedding.
When Jasmeet is introduced to the friends of the Brown family, she is subjected to considerable racist abuse including a quote from Winston Churchill: 'When we leave India, the country will be in the hands of goons'. Arjun supports Jazz through every occasion and on a particular occasion in retaliation to a racist comment made by an individual at Jasmeet and Charlie’s engagement party when Mr. Fingel talks about her coming from the land of snake charmers and her change in name as an attempt to be one of “them”. Arjun stands up for her and his country and in his mother tongue, Hindi talks about India and its culture. He talks about it in Hindi and it is translated into English. This four minute long speech, can truly stir any Indian’s heart and according to me the main reason for this is the use of Hindi language and the national song “Vande Matram” playing in the background. This use of Hindi, again made me question the inter-relation between language and culture I explored during my Project 1 literary narrative and even during my Project 2.
At the end of the movie Jasmeet runs out of her wedding with Charlie and instead decides to spend the rest of her life with Arjun back in India. Looking at Jasmeet, an Indian girl brought up in the United Kingdom, who spoke broken Hindi as she led herself to believe she was British and not Indian her whole life, inspired me to question the importance of learning one’s mother tongue when one does not reside in their home country. Through personal experience, I know that when staying away from your home country, speaking in your mother tongue can immediately make you feel like you are back at home. Is it the same for people who have been born and raised in a different country? Do they too have the same personal connection with their mother tongue? This is something which I would really like to explore further when I get a chance to.