Simran and Baldev = Miri and David-Miriam Gaistman
I really enjoyed watching DDLJ because it is a film I can greatly relate to. My family and I also came to live to the United States from Mexico City and come from a close knit Jewish community where it is very rare to let anyone “in.” Just like Baldev in London, it was very difficult for my dad, David to accept the mentality in the U.S. An example is that in Mexico you don’t leave your home-even for college- until you get married, so for him coming to terms with the fact that I wanted to leave to the other side of the country was very difficult and took a lot of convincing. My parents also stress the fact that I have to marry someone Jewish, and it would be preferred that he were Mexican; however, if he were not they would accept him because when they decided to come live to San Diego there were things that eventually they needed to accept and change their way of thinking and expand on their friendships and comfort zones. In the movie Baldev had a very difficult time accepting that Simran and Raj were in love and wanted to be together because Raj adopted many of the western cultures as apposed to the traditional ones; he wanted to keep it in the family circle and have her marry Kuljit, his friend’s son. He ended up realizing that Raj wasn’t that bad of a guy after all and he indeed have good intentions with his daughter. When they were in the meadow talking they had a one to one interaction where he saw his true heart and Raj expressed how no matter where he went his culture and beliefs went with him. The mother is also like my mom trying to form a middle ground between me and my dad just like she did in a way with Baldev and Simran. I really loved how I could make so many personal connections with my life and similarity in the family and cultural aspect.
Filed by mirigai at June 1st, 2013 under Uncategorized