Beth Loves Bollywood

As I squeegeed the rising waters of Lake Basement yesterday, I wondered why I don't have a good list of flood songs to play during such occasions. The only one I could think of is the title track from Satyam Shivam Sundaram.

Go to :55 and 4:10 for prime Shashi.
I wish the water in my basement was as candy-colored as Raj Kapoor's flood. And from the same movie, more fun in the water in "Yashomati Maiyya Se Bole Nandala." It's not technically a flood but how can we resist the steam off of Shashi and Zeenat?

And then I remembered the raging waters of Kaala Patthar,

both destructive and redeeming, washing away sins and scars alike.

And of course the gigantic anachronistic racist mess that is "Wilhelmina, Georgia" in My Name Is Khan, but who wants to think about that?

What are your favorite flood songs and scenes?

I also got a chance to write up an interview I did with Temple of Cinema Chaat about Ekta Kapoor's teen vampire soap opera, Pyaar Ki Yeh Ek Kahani. I…

I once made the following joke about Bob based on his brief appearance in Ajooba:
Q: Are you familiar with the ubiquitous firang henchman actor Bob Christo?

A: Hmmm...don't know the name, but his face rings a bell.
The thing is, though, everyone seems to know his name—not that it's too hard to guess, given that a third of his characters are named Bob too—and has joyful memories of heroes wiping the floor with him in countless 80s and 90s movies. I haven't seen enough of his films (only seven) to know definitively whether he ever had any roles beyond plotting, guffawing evilly, chasing heroes while wearing silly hats, and flying through the air on receiving end of dishoom-dishoom,

but the avalanche of tweets upon the news of his death last month shows how joyfully and well-remembered he is.

Partly, I'm sure, this is because he wasn't just "that guy" in the villain's crew: he was a big, red-headed white guy who would have stood out no matter what he did. Bu…

Posts from friends and blog-colleagues ("bloleagues"?) in honor of Bob! Everything people send me will be collected here.
Temple of Cinema Chaat takes on Dhood Ka Karz
Denis of House in Rlyeh discusses Jagir
Liz of Ayoo! South Indian Film Heroes Do Your Chores presents a slide show of ten films that would have been more fun if Bob Christo had been in themAmaluu of Bollystalgia writes about her favorite Bob Christo sceneCarla of Filmi Geek chooses her favorite Bob Christo moment: Bob vs. Mithun inAshanti(the Big Gay Shirtless Fight with Mithun [BGSFMA], as she calls it) Jai Arjun Singh's tribute at his blog Jabbewock
Raja Sen's tribute at his blog Sen City
Rediff's sampling of film industry celebrities' tweets about Bobthe first Bolly website I ever read, which in its own right always deserves mentioning but particularly today as it was named in honor of Bob Christo: Planet Bollybob/the Bollybob Society
many posts on films Bob is in by Todd at Die Danger Die Die Ki…

"There's the pandit just in case...Shashi Kapoor and Rekha with Asrani in Chakker pe Chakker. Ashok Roy directs."


"Shashi Kapoor and Padma Khanna in Do Guru. Ravi Tandon directs."


"Mahurat of Aahuti, from left: Zahirra, Parveen Babi, Shashi Kapoor, director Ashok V. Bhushan, Rajendra Kumar, Krishan Dhawan, and Rakesh Roshan."


"Shashi Kapoor and Shabana Azmi location shooting in Gulmarg."


"Eagerly awaiting...Saira and Shashi Kapoor in Koi Jeeta Koi Haara."


"Tea and sympathy and the petrol shortage...Shashi and Zeenat with Mehmood Jr. in Diwangi. Samir Ganguly directs."


Cover image of the August 8, 1975 issue.


This one is from an article I will post next week from the issue above called "Shashi Kapoor: I'm Playing a Class C Stuntman." Photo: T. K. Arunachalam.

All images courtesy of Filmfare.

I've tried so many times to write about this movie—usually with post titles like "Come for the Espionage; Stay for the Pompadours!"—but each attempt has been defeated by a combination of dissolving into squees, dance breaks, and the weird contradiction of knowing absolutely nothing about it while simultaneously notating an ever-growing list of why it's so good. What little knowledge of this 1971 Telugu film by K. S. R. Doss (alas, no subtitles) I have is thanks to Todd of Die Danger Die Die Kill, whose writeup provides his usual hilarious summary and commentary on the actual filmmaking and cinematic context, which I will leave to him since he knows so much more about them and phrases them just so.

In brief, James Bond 777 is approximately two-thirds chases and fights spread over and among the various characters: the titular hero Kishore (Krishna),

I wonder if Mahesh Babu, like Ranbir Kapoor, ever catches stuff like this on late-night tv and thinks "...yeah, that…

I'll get to an actual review in just a sec, but first cynical me demands I say that A Little Liking, A Little Difference, and A Whole Mess of Product Placement is what they should have named this movie. Though at least I have an answer to the all-important question of whether Oreos exist in India (but not whether this market knows the right way to eat them).

Choco Pies, Oreos (what a combo that would be), Baskin Robbins, Starbucks, 7Up, Kwality Wall's ice cream, diet Coke, and McDonald's.
Also, holy crap, how many Abercrombie and Fitch polo shirts does Sid wear in this? At least forty-six, by my count.

His shirts were so distracting to me. I wonder why they didn't let him wear some other A&F clothes just to mix things up a little. This was like being stalked by a J. Crew catalog. The two significant scenes in which he wears something else were such relief, though they would have been awesome anyway because all the songs are very strong throughout thanks to great Shank…