# Multicultural television in Norway


![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Mohabbatein.jpg/200px-Mohabbatein.jpg)This
entire summer, [http://www.nrk.no\>NRK2\</a](http://www.nrk.no>NRK2</a),
one of the state TV channels in Norway, have been broadcasting Bollywood
movies every Friday night. To me, this was a real treat. Although I
don’t enjoy every singly Bollywood movie (how could I, when they produce
over 900 per year?), I seem to me more receptive to them than many
others. In Jakarta, I found a theatre owned by an Indian family, that
often showed the latest Indian movie, and that provided perfect escape
from reality - I also saw some really great movies, like Dhoom:2, Lage
Raho Munna Bhai and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. I have been enjoying
watching the movies this summer with my mother (it is fun to share such
a moment with her). Movies I really enjoyed were Dhoom, Munna Bhai
M.B.B.S. and Mohabbatein.

Tonight I saw that they were showing Fanaa - a movie I saw during my
first month in Jakarta and really loved. It’s a crazy movie, almost like
two movies turned into one - after about 1,5 hours it completely changes
from docile love-story to high-octane terrorist thriller… and back. Only
Bollywood, I tell you, only Bollywood.

![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/16/City_of_Men.jpg/200px-City_of_Men.jpg)Of
course, for me it is extra fun because I have some small ambitions of
eventually learning Hindi. So I enjoy trying to pick up words and
phrases when they speak (this probably annoys my mother quite a bit). I
am incredibly happy though, that Norway has a state television that
dares to show foreign films from around the world (with no advertising
of course). Yesterday we watched a German film on NRK1 ([Agnes und seine
Bruder](http://www.br-online.de/kultur-szene/film/kino/0409/03603/))
which was also quite good. And most days, there is a French movie, a
Spanish movie, a Danish… NRK2 even had a Brazilian soap this summer
([City of Men](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Men)) which was
great - since I am kind of planning to learn Portuguese as well.

Norway might be a lot less multi-cultural than Toronto, and we have
problems with integration and xenophobia. But I love things like this.
And of course I am still waiting for them to recognize the world’s
biggest film industry:
[Nollywood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nollywood)!

Stian