Not surprisingly, they fascinated Jonathan Torgovnik, a young Israeli-born combat photographer who says he went to the Subcontinent after his military service because “India is the place to go if you want to be free and forget a little.” Ironically, that is also why the Indian masses go to see Bollywood (as in Bombay plus Hollywood) films. Torgovnik became intrigued by the omni-presence of the cinema in India: “I’d see long lines outside theaters and huge hand-painted billboards on the street,” he says. He decided to document the culture through the movies, “to go beyond the exotic, to show how life was lived.” The result is “Bollywood Dreams” (120 pages. Phaidon Press), a stunning coffee-table book with 120 color photographs that depict Bollywood as the “common religion” that brings the country together. An accompanying exhibit is on view in several U.S. and European cities.
Torgovnik’s documentary-style photos capture the riotous color and intense energy of Mumbai’s street culture and, above all, the multitude of faces behind the films–technicians, extras, fans, ticket sellers, billboard painters, working-class men stealing off to watch matinees. The prints juxtapose the harsh reality of India with the fantasies of Bollywood sets and stars: a homeless mother nurses a baby in the makeshift shelter of movie posters, a child reaches up to touch the larger-than-life picture of a movie star, an elephant walks down a road before an outsize billboard, a fan leans over the memorial of a beloved actor.
Torgovnik traveled with a touring company in an old truck–“a vehicle of dreams”–that takes movies to remote villages where people sit on the ground under a tent. Some walk miles to see their first film; others save for months to buy the 25-cent ticket. “It was surreal,” says Torgovnik. “I found it moving.” Those who see “Bollywood Dreams” will have the same reaction.
