Beth Loves Bollywood

one: I first saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers a few years ago with my friend Luci, who was raised on the movie and whose family is completely nuts about it (and I'm not saying anything here that Luci wouldn't say herself). They were gracious enough to invite me (and my dog) to Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving after my parents retired and moved out of state, and after the big meal we all sank into giant cushy chairs in the living room and watched this, with Luci, her sister, and her sister's husband reciting all the lines by heart. It was great . Somehow their enthusiasm lodged a lot of the lyrics and finer points of this great cinematic work into my head, and to this day I can easily be prompted to burst into "goin' courtin', goin' courtin'." And am slightly afraid of packs of red-haired dancers. two: Abby, my usual Bollywood-watching companion, and for this one too, is also a long-time fan of the SBSB (hey! it works for American movies too

I just heard Preity Zinta refer to Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna as "kank" in an interview! This makes me very happy. On the down side, however, I think I may be kanked with Film Cafe. This is the first time I've listened in many weeks and I'm just not interested. It's not really very deep, is it? It's gushing. Sometimes I enjoy that, but lately I guess I don't. And it's almost always "Tell us about the character you play in XYZ film" and "Tell us why everyone should go watch XYZ film." Snooze. And: I tried several times last night to log in to post my review of Satte Pe Satta but blogger, darn its beautiful hide [get it? get it?], was misbehaving. Meanwhile I'll just tell you that everyone should read my post on Satte Pe Satta because it's a really, really good post and everyone worked really hard on it and it's a fun post with something for everyone.

In Diwali's spirit of new beginnings, t-HYPE , Susania , and many more of us are pleased to announce Ugly, Ugly, Bollywood Fugly , a new site devoted to the very finest inflicted by Indian film costume designers at their very worst moments. Some other folks were already covering celebrities out in the wild - and well done, Twinkle Twinkle and others - but we're more interested here in what they wear on screen. For me, it's a matter of time management: I watch a lot of Bollywood, so that I can easily write about, but what with trying to keep up with the outfits of America's own completely loony celebs, I couldn't possibly have the energy scan Indian magazines and gossip sites, and I leave that noble task in the capable hands of others. My personal slant for the new blog, at least for the time being, is to roll out a series of fashion lessons. I always find myself thinking, "Now if there's one thing we've learned from Bollywood (and there are many),

I have been trying all day to think of a snazzy way to phrase this, but I can't, so: everyone who wants to, let's write about why we love (or don't love) Shahrukh Khan on his birthday, November 2. The more pictures of eyebrows or non-shirts, the better.

So do your favorite awkward dance step, put on your best flared pants/-collared shirts, quote a line, flip a coin, and have some paan. Right on, Big B. Right on. (Or something. I'm really tired and poorly-versed in classic Amitabh movies. But I will be ready for SRK's birthday on November 2.)

So I finally watched Don . Like for Sharon , the verdict was out on whether to watch it before or after the new one, but I figured it was time to break the recent string of terribly terrible movies with surety and style. Bow-tie-with-slacks style, preferably. I enjoyed Don very much. And while it has its share of completely ridiculous moments* - the tightrope being the high point of disbelief, as Maja pointed out , but don't forget the flaming car at the graveyard or knowing the van with the vault would stop exactly over that utility hole cover (I didn't drive while I was there, but I reckon from what I observed that Mumbai traffic is not that predictable) - it was good fun, and who cares, right? This is canon, and even if I don't entirely understand why, I'll accept it as so. What I do feel I can comment on is how SRK will do. (Please note I have watched none of the teasers for the new movie, so forgive me if I'm talking about things that don't exist in

I love a challenge. I especially love a writing challenge. So when The Buddha Smiled tagged me to discuss movie characters that should have had blogs and in what ways would their blogs have changed the movie plots, I was thrilled . I had marked out today to work on my Fulbright project - they seem to think they deserve some sort of educational, useful project in exchange for the five weeks in five-star hotels, whatevs! - but that was already down the drain after sleeping in and lounging in the sun for awhile. I'm limiting this to Bollywood movies, since that's what I'm here for. You know who I think should blog? The side characters. The ones we're left wanting to know more about or the ones who give us the impression that they have a lot more to say than they ever get screen time for. To do this tag properly, I need to blur reality a bit here, to feel like these characters are real people who exist beyond the scope of the movie because what good is a blog that ju

Alert reader Velu has asked me a very interersting question: How do u decide that u r gonna watch a hindi film? [That is, if it doesnt star Akshaye, of course.:D] Much to everyone's surprise, I've only seen 9 of Akshaye's 22 movies (thanks, imdb!) - even with him in them, it's going to be completely bottom-of-the-barrel before I turn to either LOC Kargil or Deewaar . (No one has ever told me anything about these, so my opinion is largely based on trailers, and they just don't look like my kind of thing. Reviews welcome. Plus I should save the latter to watch with Babasko, obviously.) The sad truth is, I don't have much of a system. Rather, I don't have any sort of system that I can articulate. It's like how I shelve my books or stack items on my desk at work - there is a plan, there is a reason for everything, but not that anyone who isn't me would discern. This doesn't always serve me well; sometimes I end up with things like Haan Maine Bhi P

[Note: if you haven't seen Asambhav , this probalby isn't going to make the teensiest bit of sense. You might want to skip over it. But if you have - and heaven help you - read on.] I know. I know, and I'll tell you all about it. Because I'm the Indian President in Asambhav , Veer Pratap Singh, and this is my story. (And yes, earlier this year I was the Defense Minister in Rang De Basanti - you'll see why I wanted a different job after you read what I went through.) You have to understand something. My role in the Indian government is largely ceremonial, so when I asked my advisors to arrange a vacation for me and my darling beti Kinjal (who just finished at Harvard's, I'm so proud!) in Switzerland, we figured we'd have no problems at all. But no sooner do we check into this hotel on an island near Locarno - I'll admit, I'd thought the Swiss would have pulled out all the stops for the Indian president, given how much movie industry business w

I am so going play this game . This is from a channel I spent many, many happy hours watching this summer and that brings us a show called "Why Did You Hit My Buffalo with an Egg?"(Meri Bhains Ko Anda Kyon Mara?), so you know it has to be good.

Stunned. Stunned by badness. About a year ago I promised myself that I would write something about every Bollywood movie I watched. And I think those four words will do the trick for these movies. No, okay, I'll give them a bit more. Jaani Dushman was every bit as bad as I had been promised - by Army of Monkeys and Fireball , for example - and I laughed and laughed and laughed. I can't imagine I could say anything original about this one, so I will limit myself to one comment, which is less difficult to do than it would be if I had taken screen captures of it, which I didn't. Wouldn't you think that, by the time he heard that his character would have already been pulverized and in a coma and then he had to fight some cursed snake/shape-shifter guy underwater with a knife sticking out of him , Akshay Kumar would have put the script down, turned to the producers, and said "No. No, I'm sorry, but I'm just not going to do it. I'm Akshay Kumar and you n