Come View Indian America "Beyond Bollywood"
Bollywood Dancers. Photograph by John Merrell
by Priya Chhaya
In the western imagination, India conjures up many things.
It’s a simple statement. A quiet declaration that opens the door between fiction and reality. A commentary on perception and stereotype.
A conversation starter on how we see ourselves.
For many Indian-Americans, this conversation often begins and ends with visions of brightly clad dancers and upbeat music spliced with commentary on restaurant food. But there is more to that story.
There is more to our story.
On February 27, 2014, the Smithsonian invites visitors to go one step further, beyond the imagination, beyond the exotic. To go Beyond Bollywood.
In Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation, the Indian American Heritage Project and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center present the story of Indian-Americans from their first arrival to the United States (it’s earlier than you think) to the groundbreakers of the recent past.
This exhibition isn’t about the imagined India. In some ways it’s an exhibition that we’ve all heard before, but through the eyes of other immigrants who have traveled to American soil for a new future. Beyond Bollywood is about being American, while maintaining a cultural connection to India as evidenced through art, music, and literature.
One of my favorite parts of the exhibition is a series of photographs by John Merrell. Each image is of a different form of Indian classical dance, which I remember learning about in tandem with ballet and jazz. As I’ve grown up, I no longer dance on a regular basis, but I see these forms in exercise studios, television shows, and inter-collegiate competitions—all a part of everyday American life.
Which leads me to say, that the above is a bit misleading, because Beyond Bollywood is not just about Indian-Americans for Indian-Americans. It’s for everyone who sees themselves as part of a migration story-to a new country, or even to a new city. This exhibition is for anyone who understands issues of displacement and assimilation, but also about remaking yourself and starting over. It’s an exhibition about creativity and perseverance and yes, a little bit of singing and dancing (because we know that stereotypes often start from a kernel of truth).
This exhibition is the American story, and we hope you’ll stop by.
Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation shows at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History from February 27, 2014 through August 16, 2015.
I am excited to check this out, thanks for highlighting the importance of the immigrant experience within the United States!
I am reading one of the three books by Maya Angelou that I received for my birthday, Her description of the sixties made me realize the changes that have taken place in this country since I came, in 1962. All the rights that African Americans fought for and won benefitted Asian Americans, especially Indian Americans a great deal. That’s how there are so many appointees in the Obama Administration and in the courts around the country.