“Hinglish” is an unholy union of Hindi and English often used in the urban areas. In fact why Hinglish? Growing up in a South Indian family in Mumbai, we often used “Tamlish” (Tamil and English) at home with a little bit of Hindi (and a Marathi word or two) thrown in. Manufacture a term to describe that!!
Hinglish movies becoming more commonplace
img: via NPR
NPR’s “All Things Considered” had a recent story on the rising popularity of Hinglish movies, Indian movies set in urban India or even abroad, that are breaking away from the traditional style of movie making which includes writing the dialogues in the more urban contemporary “Hinglish” language as opposed to a mixture of street Hindi and Urdu. [NPR]
Take for instance, recent Über Desi favorite, Slumdog Millionaire:
Film critic Aseem Chhabra says he had an immediate realization when he watched the movie:
“I kept saying to myself, ‘My god, this is just like watching a Hindi film,’ ” says Chhabra. “Most people in modern India speak English and Hindi. They mix up the languages, and that’s how we speak, and that’s how these films are being presented.”
Other movies mentioned in the NPR story include Monsoon Wedding, Bend it like Beckham and Loins of Punjab. A common thread to these movies (besides having Hinglish dialogues) appears to be their willingness to break away from the traditional Bollywood mold
Monsoon Wedding, which chronicled a sprawling, dispersed family as it gathered in Delhi for a wedding, touched on themes like poverty and sexual abuse, which are never addressed in the fantasy world of Bollywood.
…………. and thereby perhaps appeal to a more wider audience …..
Another hit film that drew on both Indian film traditions and its Western roots was Bend It Like Beckham. “That was a very accessible film also, because it’s about soccer and young girls and the fact that they can do it,” says Chhabra. “But we had Sikh characters in it. They break into Bhangra, they break into Indian pop music.”
…… or, in some cases, not.
Loins of Punjab Presents, which opens in the U.S. this month, is set in an Indian immigrant community in New Jersey and features a ragtag mix of South Asian immigrants trying out for an American Idol-style singing contest. The catch: They’re all singing Bollywood songs. Director Manish Acharya recognizes that his film may have limited appeal in both India and the U.S., since it belongs in neither.
So how would you describe the language you spoke/speak at home, especially if you have a mother tongue not named English? Do you use a purer form of the language or one with lots of English terms thrown in? What would you call this language?
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