“Memories of dark-haired beauties,” is what a traveller to India will bring back, promises a 1970 advertisement for Air India. “Long after you leave India, India will still be with…Continue Reading →
Some movies just need to be there, embedded in our memories. We shouldn’t attempt to refresh its memory by trying…
(Dil Chahta Hai was released on August 10, 2001. This post was first published in 2011) Summer of 2001. Bhopal.…
कीचड़ में ही कमल खिलते हैं (Kichad mein hi kamal khilte hain) Out of the mud, the lovely lotus blooms Not too many would’ve seen Kaizad Gustad’s 2003 debacle, Boom,…Continue Reading →
A print advertisement from the 1950s for Castaroma hair oil endorsed by actress Waheeda Rehman.
Pleasantly surprised to find these posters in the neighbourhood. Sex in mainstream cinema has hit this genre hard but they…
For me the Uncle Pai association is stronger with Tinkle than with Amar Chitra Katha. Amar Chitra Katha told mythological and historical stories, Tinkle was (and I believe still is)…Continue Reading →
Suhagraat. The legendary Indian tradition where the newly-weds are left alone in a room for the first time, to do…
Abhishek Bachchan delivered a string of 17 flops before his first hit and then gradually rose up the ladder to…
Update: I think I need to eat my words. From what it now appears, to me, that it was indeed a cleverly planned in-film placement and the subsequent controversy was…Continue Reading →
The language was Bangla, but the accent and the stories, distinguishably Chinese. An avid radio listener, my father tried to…
Also see: Sholay 3D: The unofficial Google doodle Every other film, nowadays, that goes on to become a hit claims…
