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November 21, 2005
Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: godown
godown. /GO·down/. A warehouse or storage location, especially near a body of water. Thought to be derived from the Malay godong. Goods of all sorts are stored in godowns, as opposed to U.S. English specializations of storage spaces, such as silos and warehouses.Godowns are often great locations for Bollywood's legendary fighting scenes. Somewhat like Dr. Evil's lair, a secret godown is usually the site for illicit drug or alcohol related activity. The hero of the movie barges in with his crew, topples LOTS of boxes to get to the villain's henchmen. Eventually, someone decides to start a fire in the godown. The hero and villain engage in a final confrontation and the hero somehow succeeds in trapping the villain (or his stunt double) under tons of heavy boxes that conveniently contain explosives (remember, godowns can store anything). The fire gets to the explosive and the villain turns to ashes in an infernal fireball. All after lots of inane fighting.
So, next time you see a godown in a Hindi movie, you can rest assured that the plot is only going to go down from then on.
Posted by Vishy at November 21, 2005 10:21 PM