Yeh Mera India (Hindi 2009)

This movie is a melange of different characters trying to make it in Mumbai in the span of one day. Yeh Mera India is about bias and prejudice. By the end of the span, several of the main characters have realized their bias and addressed it. This was a good movie, but much of it was untranslated. About 2/3 was translated and 1/3 was not. Unfortunately, there were periodic episodes of a voice over, I suppose making an editorial comment about the action, that were not translated. Particularly moving was a scene wherein a Muslim terrorist is readying himself to shoot a Hindu target. By chance encounter, he is reminded that one can look at the good in interactions with the other or one can focus on the bad. He remembers being saved during the time of Muslim terror when Hindus were lighting the Muslim neighborhoods on fire and remembers that it was a Hindu home that gave him and his child shelter. After this memory, he witnesses a lost Muslim girl on the street. She is crying and a small boy, whom we and he later find out is Hindu, gives her succor. Her mother finds her and is grateful to the Hindu boy. The terrorist watches. Then another Muslim terrorist plants a teddy bear bomb under a political rally grandstand in the same vicinity. The Hindu boy, seeing the abandoned teddy bear, wants it and reaches for it. The Muslim terrorist watches this as his mark comes out, his partner yells at him to shoot, and he chooses to rush to the aid of the boy, grab the bear, throw it, and is blown to bits himself. Later, another character confronts patrons of a restaurant who are overheard talking about Muslim terrorists and confronts them with their stereotypes, reminding them that all terrorists are not Muslim. Issues dealt with in this film include, economic status, religious affiliation, immigrant status, newcomer status, competition for jobs, attribution of responsibility, and appreciation of the good in people. I recommend seeing this film, but possibly look for a version with better subtitles. I watched Adlabs.