Suleikha Snyder: Hooray for Bollywood
Love this line from Suleikha Snyder's author bio: "Suleikha lives in New York City, finding inspiration in Bollywood films, daytime and prime-time soaps and Hell's Kitchen wine bars." Talk about diverse sources of inspiration! Suleikha's recent release is Spice and Secrets, and she joins us to explain the appeal of Bollywood (and works in quite a plug for moi — nicely done, Suleikha!).
Suleikha: The holiday months, for many, evoke pine trees, roasted chestnuts and steaming-hot cider. For me, it's more about colorful powder rangoli drawings on the ground, lamps lit for Diwali and sneaking honey-sweet jalebis when no one is looking. This season in particular, I cloaked myself in scents from the East: the fragrant combination of coriander, ginger, cumin and asafetida sizzling in a skillet, waiting to be melded with meat or chickpeas; the memory of smoky Mumbai lorry exhaust and the heavy, green damp before a monsoon downpour. India has its unique spices and its unique secrets … and I've been endeavoring to share a bit of both in my new Bollywood Confidential novella from Samhain Publishing, Spice and Secrets.
Why Bollywood? Like henna and yoga, it's a one-word concept that much of the Western world understands immediately — at least in theory. You think big, splashy, foreign-language films with a lot of singing and dancing and no kissing. On the surface it's, dare I say the dreaded word, "exotic." But when you break it down for a romance-savvy audience, it's actually so much more than that. Because most of the stories are all about love, and love is universal and relatable. What I adore about blockbuster Indian cinema, about its tried-and-true tropes, is that every gesture is The Big Gesture. Even your alpha-est hero wears his heart on his bulging bicep. Emotion is always turned up to 11. And the fight to get to that crucial Happy Ever After … well, let's just say it involves a lot more leaps, bounds, fistfights and stalled cars than being graciously welcomed here by the uberawesome Joyce Lamb.
It's just all so hyper-emotional! Whether I'm watching a love story, or writing one set in the industry, I always get a kick out of how a Hindi-speaking film hero can get away with things a Western hero would never say. Even when he's not confessing his feelings through song, his dialogue is allowed to drip with sentimentality, because being that demonstrative is encouraged. The depth of passion defines the sex appeal of the hero rather than detracting from it. Think of Lloyd Dobler holding up that stereo in Say Anything … and think of every leading actor, from the beefiest action hero to the sweater-clad "chocolate hero" being guaranteed at least one instance of baring their souls in a film. Just check out this sequence from 1998's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, where single dad Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) makes peace with the ghost of his dead wife and then goes on a frantic search for his matchmaking imp of a daughter. Of course, he comes face-to-face with his true love, Anjali (Kajol), who's about to marry another man. They don't even speak a word to each other, but it's powerful. It's consuming. It draws you in. It's positively swoon-worthy!
My challenge with Spice and Secrets — which I hope I met — was to take that brazen, emotional hero archetype and pair him with a woman who is locked down as tight as Fort Knox. My Rahul, a producer/director, is determined to win back his first love, a former ingénue who has been away from the business a long time. Priya only wants to restart her career, not their youthful love affair. But can she resist his ardent, single-minded pursuit? Does she want to? Pick up the novella, available at all major e-tailers as well as SamhainPublishing.com, to find out — and hit up Netflix or Amazon to start your own, long overdue, love affair with Bollywood!
To find out more about Suleikha and her books, you can visit her website, SuleikhaSnyder.com. You can also connect with her on Twitter (@suleikhasnyder).