On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of filmmaking in India, CG Guest Star Beth Watkins offers some things she loves about Indian film.
Gutter friends Todd Stadtman and Keith Allison are quoted in Shaikh Ayaz’ Open Magazine article about Indian filmmaker, Joginder, “The Poet of Poop.” “You need a special sort of brain to invent the lota dance, or potty rap, as it is known in somewhat better civilised parts of the world. And Joginder, according to his [...]
Instead of raving about Satyajit Ray’s well-known-outside-of-India projects like the Apu Trilogy (Pather Pancahli/Song of the Little Road, Aprajito/The Unvanquished, and Apur Sansar/The World of Apu) or Jalsaghar/The Music Room (available through Criterion), I want to rave about his fantastic fantastical 1968 children’s film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne/The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha.
“The Bicholim Conflict is a figment of a creative Wikipedian’s imagination. It’s a huge, laborious, 4,500 word hoax. And it fooled Wikipedia editors for more than 5 years.” The Daily Dot has more.
A gallery of amazing film posters by Kannada artist, Ramachandraiah. And another! (thanks, @lowdudgeon and @TeleportCity!)
At Beth Loves Bollywood, Beth shares her top ten films of 2012–and adds special recognition categories such as: “Women Doing Stuff,” “Hip-Flicking Earworm,” and “The Unpopular Movie That Has A Surprising Number of Supporters and We’re Vocal About It.”
At Wildgrounds, Kevin Ma shares his most enjoyable “bad” film and most enjoyable “good” film of 2012.
At Pulp Curry, novelist and journalist Andrew Nette muses on crime fiction set in Asia, in particular China and Cambodia. “What does it mean for the story and characters when your crime fiction is set in a country where corruption and extreme violence are regular features of everyday life and the term ‘criminal’ is often [...]
Todd Stadtman assembles a list of India’s mightiest film superheroes for The Times of India!
Indian actor Dara Singh has died. In remembrance, Todd from Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! has gathered together all his pieces about Singh’s films. The Times of India has responses from fans and filmmakers. The BBC has an obituary.
The FantAsia site is up and running with many, many trailers to get you ready for the festival. (Or at least, what films to keep an eye out for).
“The ‘Ramsay Brothers,’ as they are called, have in these films, and in India’s first horror show on television, featured ghosts, ghouls, monsters, zombies, witches, vampires and every conceivable version of things that go bump in the night. Mostly, they’ve been the first to do so.” More on the Ramsay Brothers and Hindi film horror [...]
Move over Ryan Gosling, Beth Loves Bollywood has a gallery of filmi actors wearing spectacles and flashing their biceps.
Beth Loves Bollywood responds to Firstpost‘s “My favourite bimbo: Why America loves brain-dead Bollywood”:
At Bollywood Journal, Beth Watkins takes a look at rare Bollywood cinema showcards being displayed in Toronto.
At Bollywood Journal, Beth Watkins writes about her favorite Hindi film pairing: “Shashitabh,” aka, Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan. “The joy of the pairing is the actors’ chemistry, no matter what roles they are playing.”
Beth Watkins brings Hindi film disco to the Wall Street Journal’s blog (with plenty of links). “Disco might just be the pop music soul mate of Hindi films, though it’s not like Bollywood ever needs an excuse to bust out the skin-tight shiny costumes, the opulent sets or the pulsating light design.”
One man laboring in obscurity in has finally done what scientists working for vast think tanks have struggled for decades to accomplish. Behold, the “Periodic Table of Exploitation!“
“Don’t fuck with Bajirao Singham.” Cars roll, guns are drawn and Bajirao Singham tears a lamp post up and hits a guy with it in this trailer for Singham, a remake of the Tamil action film, Singam, directed by Hari and starring Surya Sivakumar.
There have been many, many adaptations of Jane Eyre–from the first talkie in which Jane sings Schubert to an all out musical in the 1990s/2000s. So, of course, there is a Bollywood adaptation of Jane Eyre called, Sangdil in which “Rochester (here Shankar) and Jane (Kamla) were childhood friends[.]“
keep looking »
