Not sure if I am wording this question right, but Indian films give us all these romantic dramatic first meeting moments. Which is your favorite fantasy for yourself?
Veer-Zaara
Helicopter Pilot rescues you from a bus crash and you have a long moment of clinging together as he saves you.
Jab Tak Hain Jaan
You dive into a beautiful Ladakh lake and are rescued by a hot mature army officer
Swades
You are buying books at a bookstore and impress the friendly cashier with your ability to do arithmetic in your head.
Deewana/Dilwale/Chalte Chalte
You are almost hit by a vehicle and the driver falls in love with you at first sight
Dil Aashna Hai/English Babu Desi Mem/Happy New Year
You are working at your sleazy professional dancer job when a man in the audience sees you and falls in love at first sight despite your low circumstances.
Dil To Pagal Hai/Asoka/Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham/Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi/Raees
You are dancing like no one is watching when a stranger sees you and falls in love at first sight with your wonderful personality.
Obviously, my top fantasy is “buying books in a bookstore and impress cashier with math abilities”.
What’s yours?
dontcallitbollywood 
Bookstore all the way! Though I would have to impress him with something other than arithmetic skills.
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Same! But I could impress him with, like, alphabetizing the books really really well.
On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 1:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I was with you in the book shop right through to the last entry. Math is something I know, dancing is something I love. (I have just returned home from inventing the Silent Dance Workout, after all.) Plus, my wife and I did meet at an impromptu dance party, so I’m pretty much living my fantasy.
I guess both have the fact in common that the stranger who falls in love with me actually learns something about me from the situation. Not just what I look like and how I move, but a little bit about what I like, too. Dancing in front of an audience (especially for money) wouldn’t really accomplish that. And I would find it weird that among all the people watching only one is affected by the supposed charms that can even leap off the stage. The rescue romances are just cheating, in my opinion. That trope always makes me think of that study with the bridge, where the subjects were more likely to give their number to the nice attractive interviewer if they were on a swaying rope bridge rather than a nice stable concrete one.
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I like your line between dancing as a job and dancing for joy. I would add one more, dancing presented as “magical special person” activity, versus just “being myself and not caring” activity. It’s a fine line, but there’s a way to show the heroine where she is all glowy and slow motion and magical, and a way where she is just expressing her personality through her dancing around. There are loads of Indian movies especially where she is some magical fairy dancing in the rain, but not nearly enough where she is just goofily dancing by herself without caring.
On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 1:46 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Goofily dancing and not caring is probably more likely in industries where song and dance aren’t traditionally such a big part of the package. Indian actresses are expected to know how to dance. How do you convince the audience that she’s dancing goofily on purpose?
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Asoka did a pretty good job! She was all kind of skipping around and making faces and stuff, not being all delicate and graceful.
On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 2:06 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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True. Or you could combine the two dance situations. Make the heroine part of a dance troupe on stage, fiercely competing for something or other. And she is the only one who stays cheerful. Has one or two missteps, but laughs them away. I could buy an audience member being intrigued by that, telling us something about them, too.
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I almost feel like I’ve seen that, but I can’t think where.
On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 2:29 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Lol, making faces and skipping around without grace= Kareena in every movie 😈
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True! Which works when they lean into it, Jab We Met was such a great role for her.
On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 3:47 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The DDLJ – one…and/or the DilSe one…
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So, Trains!
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train, yes…or train station…or bus/car/flight…something contrasting being moved but not moving
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I’m running for a train and he’s holding the door open for me.
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Or wait! I meet him at my workplace and think he’s my best friend’s fiance whom I’ve never met, then accidentally insult him to his face.
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He does do that a lot.
On Wed, Jul 21, 2021 at 4:38 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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For a second I thought SRK was often insulted by random women he met in stores, but then I realized you meant the train. Whoops!
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I really love the “dance like nobody’s watching” scenario as the idea of someone just observing me from a far and not finding me utterly clueless and insufferable but kinda indearing – is definitely a bit of a wishfullfilment-fantasy of mine..
Elsewise maybe the idea of someone running into you and either being immediately head over heels in love with you at first sight (Kuch Kuch hota hai) or someone accidentally spilling your coffee all over you (Kal Ho Naa Ho). I might want to wear for this though a way less expensive coat then the one Preity was wearing in the scene haha In that way I could focus more on making eye contact with the handsome, apologetic stranger instead of getting furious about the tarnishment of my newly bought item.
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