Dharmatma (1975) Feroz Khan does The Godfather, Bollywood style

When Feroz Khan died earlier this year, I thought I’d better see a few more of his films in order to pay tribute to his career.  One of the most mentioned films of Khan’s career seemed to be Dharmatma (1975), so I watched it. Feroz Khan, who has died aged 69, was an Indian actor and [...]

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Lajja (2001): item numbers & eye candy, or could I say aankhon ladoo?

Yaar! I watched Lajja(2001) (translation: Shame) and got carried away with the screen capping knowing I must do a post.  Yet what to post when I see the wonderful bloggers have already said it so well?  You know I specialize in the more superficial enjoyment of all films, so I’ll share my likes here by showing [...]

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“AIDS Sutra:Untold Stories from India” with a touch of Bollywood

For time-pass I watch a lot of movies and I also read books.  I suppose it’s normal to find stories about films in books about India, since the film industry infiltrates the culture. Even in this anthology on the serious subject of AIDS,  I was able to find a bit of very uplifting Bollywood material. The Bill [...]

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Images from Sawan Bhadon (1970)

Sawan Bhadon is a campy 1970 Bollywood film reviewed cleverly and thoroughly over a The Hot Spot Online and Planet Bollybob. With the film already being so well reviewed, I’m simply here to add some screen images to show some of the fun. Within minutes of Sawan Badon starting, we see Jayshree T. as “Dolly” [...]

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Would you rather be a Namak Haraam or a spoon(chamcha)? My first poll!

Dosto, I recently watched Namak Haaram (1973). Fabulous! Here are the basics: Namak Haraam (Devanagari: नमक हराम, Nastaliq: نمک ہرام, is a 1973 Indian Hindi film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The music is by R.D. Burman and the lyrics by Anand Bakshi. The film stars Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. The film also stars Rekha, [...]

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Indian Drag Queens, Gulabi Aaina, and “In Aankhon Ki Masti Ke” from Umrao Jaan (1981)

I have been fooled by official looking film festival palm leaf logos before. Haven’t you?  Those palms make something look legitimate and award worthy. So when a friend sent me Gulabi Aaina (2003) and I saw those leaves on the DVD I thought it would be great.  It’s a movie about drag queens who perform some Bollywood hits.  [...]

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Ever wondered about those huge homes in Bollywood movies?

I recently read Motiba’s Tattoos, a memoir by Mira Kamdar. Kamdar is an American born Jain woman and her book traces the life of her grandmother. I was reading along, not expecting anything Bollywood, but when describing her time spent in Mumbai as a kid Kamdar served up some spicy Bollywood dish: The slum was still [...]

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Video of the Day: Asha Bhosle’s “O Saathi Re” from Muqaddar Ka Sikander (1978)

It’s day 3 of “O Saathi Re”! Two days ago it was “O Saathi Re” from Omkara, OK different song, but same title, so it still counts. Yesterday we had “O Saathi Re” with Kishore Kumar singing Today’s version of “O Saathi Re” has Asha Bhosle as the playback singer Look at the young Amitabh [...]

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Video of the Day: “O Saathi Re” from Muqaddar Ka Sikander (1978)

Yesterday’s video from Omkara was the song “O Saathi Re” and here’s a different “O Saathi Re” song, this time Kishore Kumar is the playback singer, and Amitabh Bachchan is pretending to sing. Amitabh’s speech before the song is so touching, even though I don’t understand too much of it, he still makes the point. [...]

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Video of the Day: “Mohabbat Dil Ka Sakoon” from Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002)

As mentioned in yesterday’s video, I haven’t seen the movie Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002) English: My Heart Is Yours; starring Rekha, Preity Zinta, Mahima Chaudhry, Arjun Rampal, Jimmy Shergill and Alok Nath. I now MUST see this! At the very beginning of the song, a part is played by a puppet, named Rangeela, which is [...]

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