Author Archives: Beth Loves Bollywood
Hera Pheri
Hera Pheri is another of those films that I want to keep in a perpetual state of just having begun, so that I am aware of how amazing it is yet still have more pure joy to experience. It is … Continue reading
Paapi
Paapi is fantastic. Within seconds of the production banner, we have a lechy, shirtless Kamal Kapoor; an innocent, shirtless Heena Kausar; hot pink walls; a fake passport; a gold medallion; a fedora; Iftekhar as a police officer/father figure to a … Continue reading
Agent Vinod
I have no interest in and no respect for much of the wild critic-bashing that flares up when the professionals don’t think highly of a movie that the rest of us seem to really like. Critics are part of the … Continue reading
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
Full disclosure: I watched Laaga Chunari Mein Daag for two reasons: the cast as a whole—full of people I love/like, and I didn’t even remember Hema Malini actually dances in it!—and the specific romantic pairing of Rani Mukherji and Abhishek … Continue reading
Charas
Charas is fantastic. It’s glorious, giddy, jam-packed but streamlined 70s masala. I am simultaneously incredibly grateful to have seen it and saddened by the knowledge that for each movie like this I see there is one fewer remaining to discover. … Continue reading
Darr
How did Yash Chopra manage to make Darr creepy from the very first scene but so brain-bashingly stupid? A story that uses fear to contrast definitions and depictions of love would be so much more effectively if the romantic pair … Continue reading
Godzilla vs. Mothra
When members of the Mysterious Order of the Skeleton Suit decided to play Secret Santas, I knew I would be in for a treat. Last week I opened my mysterious package to find Mothra vs. Godzilla (trailer here)—a film I … Continue reading
Haatim Tai
Haatim Tai, which begins with giant glittery letters forming the production house emblem, whooshing stormy winds, and a booming voiceover, hints at certain pleasures from the onset: flying giants, underwater pastel palaces, fire-breathing mouth-shaped lair portals, that kind of thing. … Continue reading
Cha Cha Cha! Bahut Accha! Award: for the birds edition
Inspired by “Kabootari Bole Kabootar Se” from Suraj, I put heads together with Gunmaster G9 and the Buddha Smiled to come up with more songs about or featuring pigeons. As someone who grew up in a small town without any … Continue reading
Phaansi
Raju is a just barely inside-the-law police officer on a mission to take down a gang of dacoits led by Tilak Singh (Ranjeet), who killed his father (Iftekhar) and sister. Raju eventually gets backup from some other officers but it’s … Continue reading