India, July 11 -- Want a modern example of main-character energy? Don't look at the bride and groom at an Indian wedding, look at everyone involved in the sangeet. Family, extended family, the groom's workmates, the bride's office gang, their gym group, the school friends, the college buddies, the miscellaneous group, a good-terms ex... Everyone is out there shaking a leg. How did we all get roped into song/dance/skit performances that take up a whole evening, events that have no real audience, recordings we play only to watch our own selves?

Bollywood does it too. Alia Bhatt was in Spain last month, being bridesmaid to her bestie, Tanya Saha Gupta. Even they got dressed for a choreographed routine. That 10-second Reel was fun to watch. ...