Beth Loves Bollywood

A few hours ago, DJ AshishB, the talent behind the excellent Beats from the East show, sent me this video. After watching it all the way through with my mouth agape in a mixture of shock and delight, I knew the only reasonable thing to do next was to share it. Here is "It's My Challenge" by Bappi Lahiri from 1987's Pyaar Karke Dekho featuring Govinda in a dance-off.

As no doubt are you, I am fond of both tiny and oversized props and set pieces in songs, and I think the confrontational duet between Govinda and Paul Bhattacharya on top of (and back and forth over!) a pair of giant tablas alone is worth the almost nine minutes of this song. Light-up translucent guitars, golden cummerbunds, lightbulb-encrusted moon rocks, literally record-breaking dance moves, and lyrics like "Breakdancer! Breakdancer!" and "Naacho! Gaao! Naacho gaao naacho gaao wow wow wow!" are icing on the cake. See how many nods to great popular songs and/or dances of the past you …

Alert reader Temple sent me this photo of the hilarious and scathing review of Ajooba that is featured on the back of the case of her copy of the film.

With marketing like this, who needs enemies?

For those who do not wish to squint, the text is identical to a user review on imdb (bottom of the page here), helpfully titled "One of the worst all-time Hindi movies ever." Happy Monday, everyone! I hope your day reaches at least one out of four.

As most readers will know, Shashi Kapoor was recently honored with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. What you probably didn't know is that he made a lengthy, significant, and history-soaked acceptance speech that was never televised. You may have read that all he said is "Thank you," but that is far from the truth! How the entire film fraternity (well, with a few notable exceptions) managed to keep their mouths shut about this magnificent oration, we'll never know, but now you, dear readers, have a chance to hear his words in this exclusive report!

Thanks to a fantastic friend at Filmfare, Old Is Gold and I had a rare opportunity to be present for the awards. But our friend had only one pass to spare, so, like good long-lost, recently-reunited masala sisters, we promised to share and share alike. I drew the straw to go in first, so I have the first half of his speech here for you, transcribed word for word off the recording I sneaked with my phone.
The Yaadon Ki…