American explains life in India after 15 years

this place isn't going to change for you it's not going to bend to your will because somehow you wanted to and I think that Americans when they come here they struggle with that this is Jeff Goldberg A New Yorker who's been in India for 15 years he writes movie scripts direct films and runs his own acting studio Jeff explained why it's hard for Americans to understand India whether living in India has become more expensive lately and why sharing a cup of chai from a street chai Wala is the best way to make friends with Indians I'm Max chernov let's go what do you think the hardest thing for a foreigner for a Westerner especially May before American to understand about India I'm glad you framed it with the American thing because uh I wouldn't say that Europeans are quite as stuck this way but Americans yeah there is a bit of a thing that I've noticed with then is you know in America we grow up with this like everybody in the world wants to be America everybody in the world wants to come to America America America the greatest America The Shining Mountain on top of a hill right and I'm sure a lot of people are going to disagree with me but that's how we grow up right that's part of the education system that's the way it's presented to us that like you know the American Revolution was an experiment in democracy and this experiment is this special place that's been going on ever since you know the 18th century even the French writer Alexander teville spoke about it you know and yeah that's there that's true in the mindset so people when they come out into the world from the United States and this isn't just true of India it's true everywhere with Americans they think the world wants to do everything the American way and what they don't realize is that local people are very comfortable doing it their local way like they're very okay with it you know they're not sitting in in Mumbai or Chennai or in Singapore or you know uh in oi Min City thinking to themselves gosh I wish we were doing the American way I don't I don't think anybody's thinking that I I think that people are very comfortable with their local way of doing things and they're not obset about it at all um I think they're very happy and I think that Americans when they come here they struggle with that you know like why isn't it being done this way and why isn't it being handled that way and it's like guys we're not at home and and and and people here are very comfortable with their way of doing things their way of transacting business their way of living and and their way of life is essential to their being you don't get to like change that just because you think it should be this way right you know that's something that I think Americans really really struggle with Europeans I think are a little bit better with that because you know obviously Europe you cross borders much more readily you're familiar with it's a much more cosmopolit in place you're more familiar with other nationalities and ways of life uh where in the United States it's a little bit more homog genus and it's a little bit more monolithic are there cases when let's say Americans come to India spend there like one or two years and then they just I cannot do it anymore so I go back absolutely I don't want to talk about Mumbai or India at large because there such gigantically different things in so many ways but based on my experience yeah I mean one can hit a threshold here one can hit a wall here and just be like I I can't anymore you know cuz it is different and every day you wake up and it that difference doesn't go away and the logic is other and the way that things function is other and at some point I guess as maybe you get older or maybe as your family composition changes you add kids or you know you add a wife or a husband maybe you want things that are a bit more familiar a bit more comfortable and that makes sense because this place isn't going to change for you it's not going to bend to your will because somehow you want it to and another thing I think that Americans struggle with is being immigrant I'm an immigrant in India I recognize that you know I don't have a family backing I don't have a family apartment I don't have help that network of people you have in your local spot and that's a very different way to live Americans aren't used to being immigrants and that's evidenced by just even the way they're treating their own immigrants right now like it's just awful how unhospitable people seem to be I'm not saying that there is or is not a problem with the immigration issues in the United States I'm sure there'll be lots of comments about this now but be honest with you I don't know enough about it to weigh in on like what the issue is with the Border or the immigration thing what I'll just say this is like look man people are people you know and we all come from somewhere and ultimately I think most people are trying to do good by themselves by their kids by their families and want to live peacefully and I think that's pretty reasonable of course there's always going to be hiccups and of course there's always going to be things that go wrong but come on now like we're we're all trying to achieve something it's it's not it's not with malice in our heart I don't don't think at least I hope not I think what's one common thing that Americans and Indians have is the sense of patriotism Indians right now feel very good and that's good they should they are developing their country at break neck speed and I wish that we weren't digging up every road at all at once but no I mean the country is developing money is coming in education is happening uh in a lot of different ways a lot of different places and spaces it'd be nice to see it reach everybody in a more um uniform and equal way but that's not for us to figure out right now however yeah no Indians are extremely patriotic you know and and and why not and you know you look at the things that they're put putting out in the world today the ISRO the Indian space agency is putting up rockets and doing pulling off amazing feats that Western scientists Arc capable of doing or are doing it in much much much much much much more expens in a much more expensive way that's amazing that's really impressive India is exporting so many goods and services to the world today and on top of which you know I mean Indians are a very educated group of people who are industrious and hardworking there's no country in the world today that hasn't benefited from the diaspora of folks who have traveled and are living abroad say in Singapore the United States France the UK Germany so I think India has a lot to be proud of and this is definitely her Moment On The World stage so let's all watch or take a bow what are the changes that that you see around you everything man I mean you know I'm surprised we can't have we don't have construction banging away right now uh what I mean is is like literally they're like digging up the whole city all of a sudden at once you know they're building a seaf facing Road they're digging tunnels they're um extending the uh sea links they're building a Metro they've just built a brand new beautiful huge Bridge uh that goes off the Eastern side of the peninsula towards the mainland of India it's a really interesting time to be here but it is the challenge is you know it does feel like we're living on a construction site and we spoke a little bit about my time in New York and Paris last time I'm an artist you know and I always knew that I'd have like a Bohemian life uh you know going from one place to the next and I always sort of expected that like as a good friend of mine used to say um what we artists don't make in money we make up in cool right so wherever we go it's cheap but we're cool right we we we bring the cool to the cheap right interestingly what I'm seeing happen is is like the expensive is starting to take over and the cool is starting to like be pushed out again and it's kind of tough and a lot of artists looking around are kind of like shrugging their shoulders and they're like where do we go we can't afford this anymore and that's another big change since actually even we met is the city has just become really expensive like actually expensive I haven't lived in America for over 20 plus years but like every once in a while when I hear a price in my head and I know it's a lot for something I'll actually like quickly translate back into dollars and I'll be like wow that's a lot of money like that's a lot of money for that like you know New York that's like a New York price for something like that and and that's confusing cuz cuz you know we don't have the same social safety nets here and you have a lot of people who live on much much less in terms of salary in terms of means and it's kind of confusing it's like if those of us in privileged bandra are struggling how's the rest of the country keeping up because it it it feels like it's a pinch right now so that's what I would say actually I think it's a global change we can definitely uh filon Singapore you know it seems like people around the world they're like I keep hearing from my friends oh London is so expensive now or like dubling Ireland is so expensive now and people think it's only their place but I think they're the reality is like the whole world is getting like more expensive because of the wars because of the conflicts so that's kind of the notion currently I think I guess you know I mean like I don't know like you know it's just it's weird because it's like somebody in my office keeps pointing this out keep saying it like exasperated you know um Indians look at two things that are kind of interesting they're kind of fun you know where in New York westerners will look at like you know the New York Stock Exchange or the K in France or the footsie in London you know they'll look at the market here in India people look at the market they look at the sensex you know make sure it's going up but they also look at gold prices gold prices are a big thing in India you know people love to look at the gold price and usually when the Market's going up the gold price is either level are going down right because it means that like you know one is doing well the other one can kind of chill when his insecurity gold goes up right she keeps every day she keeps looking at both prices and she throws her shoulders up her hands up and she's just like how is gold and the market going up at the same time you know it just it just sort of defies logic at the moment but then again you know I think we live in a very different Paradigm than even we did pre the pandemic you know it's actually really interesting I was uh sitting around yesterday Sunday's my real day where I get to kind of just not too much so I was sitting around in my new apartment uh which is actually a beautiful um old house in bandra uh we have a little apartment inside it and it's really nice to live in like one of these old kind of houses or what we call Bungalows here and I was sitting around in this beautiful place uh built back in 1951 thinking to myself wow I feel like I've just woken up into a new paradigm a whole new idea whole new different world like I I feel like I've been sleeping you know because everything just feels so different all of a sudden so quickly and I don't even think it's just money I think it's everything I think everything is just moving so quickly now that we're all running after it how's your Social Circle looks like that's the first one and second one what would be your advice for someone new to India how to make friends with Indians what's the let's say how to make these friendships like physically where to go how to do it maybe what to talk with people I have a few expat friends but that's not actually what I'm about like you know most of my friends are Indian most of my people are local that's just kind of how I've always kept it and it wasn't really by design it was more or less by accident but sure I mean there are like one or two guys who are from uh the states or from Europe from France where I lived that I'm buddies with and you know it's just nice to speak French or it's nice to talk about you know baseball and feel close to home yeah I you know I live in India and I mean when you live in a place you want to be in that place and integrating yourself to people and with the local community is very important and as for how would I recommend tip to get to know the Indians like anywhere else in the world break bread with them man eat food you know go have some dinner go have some lunch uh if you get invited over to your Indian colleagues house for dinner go if you get invited out for drinks with your buddies after work go Indians are incredibly hospitable when it comes to breaking bread and sharing food and you know here you it's actually very funny when I go back to the States now everybody orders a plate of food and you get your plate of food and you eat your plate of food right and I'm always the first one who cuts my food and I'm like does anyone want to bite and everyone's like what and I'm like oh aren't we supposed to share uh you know and that that's that's a very communal thing here we're like you know you put the food out and like some people in their homes will have a table that turns uh you know so kind of pick at the food and stuff and um I think that like you know sharing a meal with someone is always the best way to get to know them and also what's great is that Indians are so they love their Cuisine so much and when I say Indian Cuisine that is such a misleading term because Cuisine changes from place to place here I mean literally from place to place to place and when I say place to place I don't mean just City to City I'm talking from neighborhood to Neighborhood you'll find different food from region to region the foods are just completely different the spices the way they're cooked the way they're prepared you know when you go out with the local and they bring you to like their favorite place you're going to taste stuff that you've never tasted before and that's the other thing is like don't go to like you know the standard local travel guide places because those places yeah they're cool they'll be a little bit pricey and you might feel a little bit more comfortable but if you really want to like taste Indian food and you really want to eat local go to like these tiny little like up in North North India we call them daas you know down in South India you'll find places that'll serve like more South Indian food like um dosas and and idlies and with the pums and things like that you know just go and just eat and enjoy yourself that's my suggestion break bread I think that's the best way in the world to get to know anyone anywhere even in Italy or in France or in the United States just sit down and and have a meal yeah no 100% they actually the sharing culture is also super common in Singapore so basically people share they go to like a food court Hawker Center we call it here and people just uh share that's kind of the first option that you're going to do you can order but to yourself like some uh separate meal but you're kind of supposed to in most of the case supposed to share what about drinking you supposed to drink a lot with with with Indians um I don't know you're supposed to drink a lot I you should drink I mean I don't drink anymore so I I would I wouldn't recommend if you want to go out to especially like you're want to Bangalore man Bangalore is where the pubs are it's where you go out for a drink and have a beer uh but I mean you know here in mumai we have clubs and bubs and things like that as well and that's true in Chennai and Delhi and everywhere in between I mean I don't think you have to over drink you know I mean uh binge drinking is not necessarily something that's as uh widely common here as it is say like in the UK or France the United States but yeah I mean going out for a beer with people is is always a great way to get to know them and also what I would say is like actually my favorite thing to do is uh to get a cup of chai you know sit down and have a cup of tea with people um in the afternoon that's a really really lovely way to just kind of spend some time and the best chai is always the guy the chai well on the on the street uh whose uh whose child cost you anywhere between five and 10 Rupees matter of fact the one of the reasons that this studio is so beloved by all of us is the best chai in bandra is right downstairs my buddy makes it and stuff's amazing I me it's very sugary so you have to like want that but it's really good it's just so good actually what's the No No topics that you're not supposed to talk about with Indians they're kind of tired of being spoken to rather than with they often feel like the world speaks to them and not with them and when the world speaks to them it also speaks to them about them and so many of those opinions are really really really really really preformed I hate to use the word prejudicial and bigoted but some of them are the best thing that a person can do is just listen and absorb uh and like you do man I think you ask great questions and I think that's why you do so well with your videos is cuz you listen and I think that the No No topics of course like anywhere in the world it depends upon whom you're speaking to and of course what that person's belief system is what would be appropriate in the US if you chat with someone not close friend but someone you know what would be appropriate in the US but not really appropriate in India intimate matters Americans tend to be okay pretty quickly speaking about intimate matters um albe them you know emotionally intimate or physically intimate matters that might come up a little bit more easily in the west or in the US uh certainly in Western Europe Maybe a little bit more where in India intimate matters are not something that really come up all that often uh it takes a bit of time to sort of um develop that kind of friendship and that kind of trust uh so I wouldn't say it's a no no I would just say it's a question of proximity and permission uh and I think that but you know one of the other things like I actually flip your question around there's one thing that I love about India that you don't talk about in the west which is like your family you know like family comes comes up all the time there's nobody that I've worked with or even like known that doesn't know about my family it doesn't know about my girlfriend doesn't know about my son doesn't know about my studio doesn't know about my dogs um everybody's really connected that way right and and in the states or the West we're a little bit less open about those things um I'm not sure why but just we are we're here everything is so absolutely fused together that like your family is such a big part of who you are professionally personally socially Etc that like it's there it's present and I think that I really like for me like when I'm not at work I'm at home like cuddling my dogs or hanging out with my girlfriend or hanging with my son playing drums with him or playing video games or just watching like a movie or something so yeah like for me it's all about family Hollywood and the whole like film industry in the US like dominated the world in the ' 80s Maybe after the second World War I think for like 3 4 years that was the one of the main suppliers of let's say Cinema and art art of Cinema to the world India as I understand India cinematography and Cinema it's more oriented inside of the country maybe a bit less outside what do you think the future of Bollywood and not only Bollywood but the whole Cinema film industry in India like let's say for the next 10 years India uh yes the film industry has always been a bit more insular a bit more local uh playing to either the very very local audiences albeit Regional Cinemas meaning like the telu cinema in Andra Pradesh and telingana or you know the Canada Cinema industry which is in Bangalore or the malum Molly Al fil industry which is in carola which by the way is brilliant they make brilliant brilliant films and for anybody watching this please look up the films that are made in malum because they're making some great stuff but then of course there's also the uh morati industry but the one that the world knows is bwood that's the Hindi film industry and the Hindi film industry is centered here in Mumbai uh but it makes films for the entire Hindi speaking belt which is uh more or less North India and um it has a pretty huge remit because it's repealing and Catering to a lot of different states and different expectations and different tastes so it's it's it's a complicated thing but you know I think that filmmakers here are making films for Their audience which makes sense right and let's be clear you know they they're speaking their language and not just their language of Cinema but also the language of Hindi or the local Regional languages as well and they don't feel any compulsion to make films in English or on a global scale that doesn't mean they don't make globally critically brilliant films let's be very clear here I just think that like you know they're very comfortable with making things in their local languages and they should and I think that's a wonderful thing to celebrate and it's a very necessary thing and thank goodness they do that because we would lose those languages uh like we've seen so many other languages in the world a little bit diminished by English because it's just so everywhere right uh American English that is as we're in terms of the next 10 years of the industry right now we're going through a major frosts there's a major change going on since the streaming platforms we call them OTS here uh since the streaming platforms Netflix Amazon and a lot of local players have come online it's really changed the business model for a lot of the studios the local producers uh the bigger producers the small time producers everything is really really changed uh not to mention box officers seem to have kind of done this there I they're moving around because some films do really well and some films do really poorly uh and it's kind of hard to know what's going to do well because you know you have films like Barbie which did really well in the summer which is an American Film then you have a film like animal which is a local film that does really well in the fall and they're really actually quite different movies in terms of like theme in terms of story uh one is a bit more well one is very female Centric the other is very male Centric uh I'm sure you'll get comments about the fact that I mentioned that film animal uh and I'm sure they'll be very colorful because it was a lot of divided opinion on that one but I think ultimately you know look I often say this to my acting and my film students in this industry it's really easy to get confused by all the different prevailing winds and Changing Winds and ideas and media and it's hard to even believe half of it and Instagram tells you one thing in the tells you and everything it's your head is spinning by the end of the day a good buddy of mine back in New York once said something to me that's kind of stayed with me he actually said this to me in Paris but he's from New York like me he said to me he said you know Jeff making a film isn't that hard you write a good script you find the money you direct a good script and you make a good movie you know and and I wish it was that easy all the time but that's kind of what it is right and I think that in India we're kind of set up in the next 10 years to do that let me explain we have an absolute and I've used this term the last time ocean of amazing storytellers cinematographers actors directors and I think that sky is the limit and I think that you know if you're anyone who's watching this I really I'm like I can't stress this enough if you really want to take a look at some of the greatest Cinema coming out of India today look at the regional stuff look at the Telo stuff look at the taml cinema at the malum Cinema you know look at Bengali look I mean there's just such amazing stuff happening in morati uh all the local languages and of course Indie IND is making good stuff too no doubt but I think that people when they hear Indian Cinema they think of Bollywood and Indian Cinema is so much more than just Bollywood it is so diverse as a filmmaker and as an artist I think that's really exciting because you always want to be in a place where a lot is happening right a lot of different voices are in the room contributing to the expansion of the art I think sky's the limit um and I think the world's paying attention for someone who is not really into Indian Cinema only heard about Bollywood what would be your sorry for the like lame question but what would be your like three movies to start exploring India cinematography I'll start with uh three very very different films two of which I think you could probably even find on YouTube and then uh one of which uh you probably have to find on one of your streaming platforms OT channels the first one just to acquaint yourself with India and Indian cinema this is not a Bollywood film it's not a commercial film it's actually a very old film from uh the 1960s but uh sat jet R who is obviously one of India's greatest uh filmmakers cats and real auter satad rise film uh J Sager it's called Music Room in English what a movie I mean I I just love that film um it's about about an incredibly interesting time in India as um we see the maharajas being sort of pushed out by the new commercial people that are arriving in the Republic of India it's a very interesting film set in the 1950s on a um maharaj's Plantation in Palace and it's a wonderful movie and it's one of my all-time favorites and that's a personal one uh it's a bit artsy but I'm a bit artsy so you know I'm going to give you something that I like but I'd say start with jaw Saga because that's going to kind of like really give you a flavor of India I don't know it's going to give you a flavor of like popular Indian cinema today but nonetheless that's a good place to start another great film to look at would be and this is one I always go to this one I know is online on YouTube for free because I always s the link to people is uh Shakti it's a film from 1981 starring the great Amita butchen uh and it's just a wonderful story amitab is in his prime he's India's most famous actor or among India's most famous actors because I know a lot of people would disagree with that statement Rin Kant and others different parts of the country and justifiably are themselves huge stars but amitab in the world of Hindi is kind of you know he's the older Statesman and deservedly so and uh shaki what a movie from 1981 I love that film and then another film just to go to regional cinema you got to take a look at a film this wonderful film from about I don't know maybe it's 10 years ago already 8 10 years ago uh it's a a malum film called angay Diaries angay diaries is this film where do not watch it if you're hungry because you know they're cooking and eating throughout the whole movie and you're just going to get starving as you watch it but it's this very very very very very um just great gorilla offbeat film making fun romp through this world that like you didn't even know existed yeah so the angam Diaries and that's more modern uh but I love that film and and then as you sort of like get deeper and deeper into Bollywood you know then you can start getting into like the really really commercial stuff and there's a lot of really good commercial stuff to look at um and it's also very genre specific another film I have to throw a shout out to would be a film called company if you like gangster pictures and I know a lot of people are into gangster pictures company that's from the early thousands it's great movie um love that film it's with uh Vic oy and a dean and it's just a great film for our audience uh from Mumbai maybe you can like briefly explain what they can come for to your studio so you have some performances right that's the one and then if they want some classes like acting classes they also can come here at our studio you can expect uh you know a worldclass education in the craft of acting and film making if you're interested to know more about what we're doing please feel free to look up up the Jeff Goldberg Studio we're on Instagram we're on of course we have a website uh you can write to me personally I think my we my email address is there somewhere the reason I came to Mumbai to set up this studio was because I thought there was an opportunity to really work with some interesting people create something unique and in the 10 years that I've been at it with the studio I haven't been let down at all it's just been a wonderful wonderful ride and um I look forward to meeting and hearing from all of you folks out there in the internet and you know um starting a dialogue and also actually one thing I guess we're kind of coming to the close of today's chat I want to say is like you know because I really did read all the comments uh I was a bit obsessed for a minute there before bed every night I was kind of going through them and um I just want to say thank you to all of you like honestly guys like really moving and really cool that like people took out time to write and think positively there were a couple negative ones which uh that's cool too you man you know uh seem to be perfect uh but I I just I loved the fact that people took out time to have a conversation uh and and I just kind of wanted to make sure that I said to everyone today that like I I heard you let me show you some magic if you click on this video I will disappear and reappear again let's try it 3 2 1

Channel: Max Chernov

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Keywords: max chernov, india foreigners, india foreigners reaction, india foreigners vlog, india life, indian lifestyle, foreigners in india, foreigners in indian food, mumbai vlog, mumbai food, mumbai, things to do in mumbai, foreigners in mumbai, expat life in india, foreigner in india, is india safe, foreigner, expat life, living abroad, american in india, foreigner in mumbai, american about bollywood, jeff goldberg, indian movies, life in india, american expat in india

Id: QzObtLxcDvo

Length: 29min 49sec (1789 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2024