cd's and dvd's

In preparation for my upcoming trip to India, I've been listening to Indian music and even watched a few bollywood flicks with English subtitles . . . I think I am hooked! I was thinking I wanted to buy some CDs and DVDs from India . . .

my questions are:
-are they cheaper there? what should i expect to pay? (it's better to know the price range to start so i know how to bargain!) . . .
-where's the best place to get them?
-will they work on my CD/DVD player at home? (someone told me they won't)

Thanks again for all your help!
Ace

Thanks meera! Unfortunately, I don't know of any Indian grocer here (in Louisville, KY), but when I was visiting family in Canada I got some indian music and watched a few movies. I saw Kabi Kushi Kabi Gam, and was totally hooked. I also saw Taal which was pretty good too. I love the music, and the story lines . . . and some of the actors are pretty good too!

So I thought, why not get some CDs and some movies when I am there? I don't mind getting a used copy (if they sell them) -- that way I don't have to worry too much about finding a video rental place, and returning it, etc.. but I worry about buying from there and then not having it work here . . . does this happen?

I think they are playing Kal Ho Na Ho on the plane ride there . . . can't wait!!!!

Finding bollywood movies in India is pretty easy unfortunately most are still on the old VCD format with no suntitles, this is changing but running down some DVDs or indeed VCD with subtitles is the hard bit!!
I own quite a few films but none only a couple with subtitles included.
Most of the films I bought came in at around 200-250 Rps.
Devdas, The Bandit Queen , Ashoka, Lagaan and Mother India are a few others worth watching as is Monsoon Wedding!!
Anglo Indian films are worth taking a look at as well Ghandi, Bend it like Beckham, Bhaji On The Beach
If anyone here know where to get films in India with English subtitles please post it here so I can spend a fortune adding to my collection.
Lastly most DVD player will play the VCD format no problem and DVDs in India are apparently mostly region free so can be played in any DVD player.
If not there's a liilte free program called DVD shrink that removes the regional encoding then you can reburn to a DVD recordable and then it will play in any standalone DVD player!!
Hope that helps and if you find DVDs with subtitles in India let me know!!

That's the way mahe vey

P.S. Mala Sharuk Khan rocks in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayange

Thanks cyber!!!

Who would have thought that finding movies with subtitles would be tough? I guess I took that for granted (pretty stupid of me, I know . . .)

OK, so the movies that have subtitles, will it say on them that it has subtitles? If anyone knows where to get movies with subtitles, PLEASE let us know!!!!

Out of the whole list you provided (thanks, by the way for the reccomendations!) -- I've only seen Gandi and Bend it like Beckam. I have considerable catching up to do! Can't wait to see Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayange! meera, where in Mumbai is it playing? or is it everywhere? and how much are cinema tix there anyways?

Thanks guys!

Netflix.com has the more popular ones -- with subtitles and all.

The ones from India will not play on your DVD player, because of the different region codes. Even if you get a player that does, those DVD are usually not subtitled. The VCDs from India will play on your PC, but the quality, compared to DVD, is pretty poor. VCDs usually don't have subtitles.

Try Nehaflix.com or Indiaweekly.com for cheap, original DVDs. If you'd like to know which DVDs to buy, just pop over to www.zulm.net/forums and we'll help you. Sadly, there are a lot of poorly done DVDs of Indian films out there.

Have I missed something here? Or is some of the information posted just plain wrong?

450Rs for a soundtrack CD? I generally pay 99Rs and sometimes they can go up to 150Rs.

For DVDs, I usually go to Crossword in Bangalore, and most of the Bollywood DVDs there are about 350Rs, sometimes up to 750Rs. And yes, they all have english subtitles, and I do believe they are region 0, which means they can be played anywhere, but check for yourself, don't take my word for it, I have a multiregion DVD player anyway.

Anyway, like you I am hooked.

I have:
Monsoon Wedding
Dil Se
Hum Dil De Chakde Sanam (sp?)
The Legend of Bhagat Singh
Daud
Devdas
and a few others which I can't remember the names of.

Also, bought a few dodgy DVDs with 4-5 movies on each one, but thats another story.

cyber, I bought several DVDs from the Music World in Delhi and they were with Eng subtitles - slightly more expensive than from Palika Bazaar but no fuss quality! you can find some addresses of the Music World outlets here thanks to Byronic

oh, and they are "region free" so should work in the US

[QUOTE=cyberhippie]
Devdas, The Bandit Queen , Ashoka, Lagaan and Mother India are a few others worth watching as is Monsoon Wedding!!


I watched Devdas last night that I purchased in India about a week ago. Unfortunately I purchased the original (its in Black and White). I am wondering how the current version stacks up to the original.

Also purchased DHOOM while in India and I must say all my travel buddies fall in love with it. We watched it 3 times while in India. Its a Boys movie but being a girl I didn't mind it either.

volga, how much were the dvd's you bought?

and kiwi-razz, is there a place in delhi or mumbai that we can get cds for that price? unfortunately, we're not going to have the opportunity to go to bangalore on this trip.

how do we know if it will play back home? is there some sort of notation on it?

hopefully, there is a notation that will tell us if there are english subtitles or not, right???

thanks for all your help!
ace

I would think they have Planet M, or Music World there, so just try any of the major music stores. Generally all the CDs/DVDs have the price printed on them anyway.

I just watched Lagan last week with a friend. Good movie. But I want to watch something with lots of singing and dancing... a real Bollywood type of movie...but I want to watch something good! (I have to order it from amazon.com, so I want to make it worth the price!) So, any suggestions. A comedy, perhaps....???

450rps is way over the top. Soundtrack CDs start from 99rps upwards. I bought the excellent new "Swades" soundtrack for 145rps from Music World(?) in Madurai, they also sell DVD's and have branches all over India.

I copied the DVD of A Knights Tale the other day to take to India as back up and was pleased to find my version was English with Hindi captions, so that should go down well.

Diane
A great start in the all singing all dancing world of Bollywood is one that has already been mentioned "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayange"
For the girls there is the added attraction of Sharuk Khan!!
Bollywood's heart throb!!
He was number 13 here in the Netherlands of the world best actors!!!!
Another that has already been mentioned is the NEW version of Devdas with again Sharuk Khan, any one of these movies will have you tapping your feet or dancing around the livingroom!!
The drunken dance scene by Sharuk in Devdas is classic,brilliant choreography!!
Strangely nearly all our films from India have Sharuk as the star, I think my wife may have something to do with that

Thanks guys for the DVD suggestions I'll take a look when in Delhi!!