I’ve always been a fan of musicals from Gold Diggers of 1933 to West Side Story to Grease. I’m a complete sucker for a good dance number. I’m saddened by the fact that the genre has completely faded in the US movie industry and the only choreography that you see anymore on screen is on the small screen in music videos.
I had no idea what Bollywood was until a couple of years ago when I saw some friends of mine performing in The Bollywood Follies at The Key Club in Hollywood. The Bollywood Follies re-enacted famous dance numbers from Bollywood movies of the 1960s along with a live band that absolutely nailed it musically.You see, movies in India (Bollywood) the movie capital of the world, are actually considered a rip-off if they don’t have a big musical/dance number. No matter what the movie is about, at some point an extravaganza ensues. Now that’s entertainment!
So this week no playlist because I really want you to check out and hopefully get a kick out of watching some of these Bollywood gems (links open in a new window).
I’d love to hear The Spin You’re In in the comments section!
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Donita!
those videos are fantastic. Perfect for a friday.
Donita!
Torture!
fitz
Donita always makes me smile! Thanks for some great bollywood.
Folks – we have a wealth of good stuff here all at once – so sing and dance a little but also don’t miss Lindsay’s great piece on Joe’s new buddies below!
I especially like how the masks seem to appear and disappear at random.
Siun @ 5
Suin – I saw the post about Lieberman’s fundraiser briefly but then it disappeared.
What happened to the prior post about Straight? The comments link goes to a 404 page???
Don’t you know that dancing is immoral?
ANd now it’s gone from the main page! Something about Ray Bradbury (not the writer) and an organization that used torture to scare teenagers into being upright citizens.
Did I dream that????
poliscifi — it is scheduled for 4 pm ET/1 pm PT — it went up early by mistake. Fret not, it will return soon, I promise.
I love how every movie must have a number in it or it’s crap! Can you imagine the latest Scorsese flick or even the Jackass #2 with a big song and dance number?
America’s Least Wanted
Whew! Thanks, Christy, I thought I was losing it!
poliscifi at 13 — no problem. :)
Stephen Parrish, CPA,
If you are around, I left a comment on the last thread #113 about the religion in the military debate.
Oh, God, I can’t escape Bollywood and the “extravaganzas” that ensue, despite being a white chick from D.C.
My old bandmate was Indian, and we had band practice at his house, in a room with a big Indian swing. His mom smoked us out of the place with hot pepper fog from her cooking almost weekly. And the movies she watched, with all that dancing, I thought, were just crazy! Why all the breaking into song and dance? I never got it.
My mom’s longtime boyfriend is Indian. And he’s actually been in a couple Bollywood movies.
For a while there (late 90s), everywhere I turned–hundreds of people dancing in brightly-colored clothes.
Thanks for sharing the videos. It makes me want butter chicken.
Christy Hardin Smith @
11
That’s so sad that Lindsay’s post has been temporarily disappeared. Just finished reading it. some scary stuff! if only it wasn’t true.
Donita — this is perfect for my dreary Friday afternoon. Love it — thanks so much!
Everyone must check out the last video too. A couple of Austin Powers twins show up halfway through. I’m pretty sure this is where Mike Meyers got the look.
This is so important.
The story I truly want you to take to heart today and to act upon, is the story of Augustine Aguayo who is brave and clear and in need of our help.
http://aguayodefense.org/
Helga is telling her story to the media, despite her natural diffidence, because she and Augustine are right. From the website:
http://aguayodefense.org/
After more than two and a half years of struggling with the US Army to be recognized as a conscientious objector, Agustin Aguayo has gone AWOL (absent without leave) in order to avoid a forced deployment to Iraq.
Aguayo realized after about one year of service in the military that his beliefs had changed to the point that he could no longer in good conscience be a part of the armed forces. He first applied for discharge as a conscientious objector in February of 2004. While his application was being processed, he was sent to Iraq as a medic, where he refused to load his weapon even when put on guard duty. His application was denied by the Army while he was still in Iraq, but because it had been seriously mishandled, he had a chance to challenge the ruling by filing a habeas corpus in federal court.
The habeas corpus was denied on August 24, 2006, and exactly one week later, Aguayo’s unit in the 1st Infantry Division was to deploy once again to Iraq. He made it clear to his chain of command that as a conscientious objector, it was against his beliefs to participate in war in any form and he would not deploy. On August 31, he “missed movement” by not deploying with his unit. The next morning, he turned himself in to the MP (military police) station.
Instead of facing a court-martial as he expected, he was told by Army personnel that he would be going to Iraq, even if they had to forcefully put him on the plane. Knowing of no other option, Aguayo fled the military base and is currently in hiding.
Helga and Augustine need our help. Donations, spreading the word, sharing their story–Howard Zinn tells us in the video that when soldiers put down their arms and speak up, war will end. This is now. This young man is in danger and he needs our help. We can encourage him and others like him to speak truth and we can end this horror.
http://aguayodefense.org/Donate.html
Ed*ard at 17 — oh, it will be back. Mister go to the mat for a penis pump needed a spolight moment all to himself, don’t you think?
hey donita!
TGIF! thanks for the fabulous videos! much fun! i believe Turner Classic Movies occasionally has a “bollywood” night and shows 2 or 3 movies in a row. i missed it the last time, but remember their advertising it.
i recently watched “gentlemen prefer blondes” and enjoyed it so much! there are so many amazing dance routines in that flick (especially the one with jane russell & the men’s olympic swim team)!
Following the India theme (though not exactly Bollywood), I’m watching the movie Ghandi that I Tivoed earlier this week.
It is salve for the soul and provides much needed encouragement that good can triumph over evil and that even small actions have big consequences
We have memorabilia from “Gold Diggers” in the lobby of my apartment building. Funny.
Great videos.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 18
Hi Christy! enjoy the bizareness
CHS # 17
Please, can you help Aguayo? What does the law say on this?
Nora @ 22
Oh behave baby
Uh, regarding Bollywood, which I think is what we were discussing… ;)
The lead female dancer’s head in the first video! It’s crazy! I might even have nightmares about it!
Help at 26 — Not knowing anything about the particulars of the case, it’s pretty much impossible for me to comment — especially seeing that I’m not an expert in the UCMJ. I’d suggest contacting a lawyer who is well versed in UCMJ law and taking it from there. It’s highly specialized, and I’d really be wrong to even hazard a guess on the issues involved here. (And, really, e-mailing me would have been a better way to ask a question on this issue rather than trying to hijack Donita’s thread…just FYI.)
Wow! that second one was as ecclectic as an Elvis with the Madonna and Child Velvet painting by Cecil B. daVinci.
What the heck do they smoke in Bollywood? All that’s missing is Annette Funicello and Bing Crosby.
Jenn from MD (aka HELL7) @ 16
Why break into a song and dance number??? Why the hell7 not??
Check out the moves on this bad brother:
Solla Solla
Note: the slo-mo at 1:52… it’s positively INSTRUCTIONAL!
Undeniable hotness
When I think of American musical (film) I think Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers – Swing Time, Top Hat, The Gay Divorce
CHS,
Helga, his wife, just met with the lawyer this morning. That’s why they need donations. He was given CO status in 04, but now they’ve changed their mind!
I can’t believe that they’re so hard up they’d force a CO to go! Even though when he went the first time, he refused to load his gun.
This is NUTS! What is this world coming to? Illegal war? CO’s being forced back to war…People coming and going out of Iraq so that they don’t have to end the war!
If you don’t want to donate to http://aguayodefense.org/ Please at least donate to Democrats who will END the war!
Bollywood!!
I love Bollywood movies! I love the flat-out glee of them, the wide-mouthed, big-eyed, scoop-it-up, swim-in-the-joy of them!
You cannot watch a Bollywood movie and be in a funk simultaneously. It would create a paradox that would end all life as we know it.
If you’re just getting started, try I Have Found It! This Bollywood remake of Sense and Sensibility (yes, Jane Austen) is wonderful!
Donita, you put a grin on my face. I’m going to watch I Have Found It! tonight.
sticky @ 32
Oh my god, that was fantastic! Everyone must watch.
I feel like I’m in an alternate universe. I went to firedoglake just after reading a long daily kos post about taking to the streets against this DC regime which made me more depressed than ever. Viewing these bollywood videos eased by aching heart. Thanks, I needed that!
Donita @ 31
:)
I think for someone who grew up the 70s and 80s, there were less musicals on T.V…. So “extravaganzas” were less common by then. I guess that’s why Seeing “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” a few years back helped the spontaneous dancing make more sense.
Russell Peters is an Indian comedian who does a Bollywood bit. I’m looking for it now and will post it if I find it.
By the way, did you hear Redd Kross “Switchblade Sister” yet?
My 6 (going on 16) year-old daughter loves Bride and Predudice.
Donita Sparks @
36
WHERE do I get some gold boots like that?!
Nobody has pointed out yet that this clip was used in the opening title sequence of GHOST WORLD?
It’s one of the reasons that film mesmerized me. Thora Birch tossing her head and body around like the people in the movie….
Mack @ 39
Bride and Prejudice is fun. Bend It Like Beckham and Monsoon Wedding also might appeal to your daughter. They aren’t actually Bollywood movies, but they have some fun Bollywood-style dance numbers in them.
TRex @ 40
Hey TRex! James Hall sends you his regards. The show was fun. James was good.
LindaR @ 42
Got em , but B&P was more on topic
Hey TRex! James Hall sends you his regards. The show was fun. James was good.
He always is.
He remembered me? Really?
Aw. That was sooooooo many years ago.
TRex @ 45
Like anyone could forget a 60 ft Theropod? *g*
TRex @ 45
Yeah, he’s got a memory that one. He also remembered the exact bill of a show he did in Sheffeild Eng. with L7 many moons ago.
Try out any Daler Mehndi videos.
First watched these in a very technical class I attended. Bunch of brainiac nerds, myself included.
By the end of the week we couldn’t get started without a fix. You will be addicted!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..arch=tunak
I don’t know much about Bollywood, but what little I don know it looks like a lot of fun hehe. Silly acting, silly plots, but fun nonetheless.
Musicwise if you saw V for Vendetta, one of the songs playing during the end credits is actually composed of samples from 2 Bollywood numbers. To hear it go here, and click on BKAB Speechless in the music player thingy. In the movie some political speeches have been mixed into the song…this is the version without the speeches.
I stumbled upon a neat music service this week, which I’ve been listening to a bunch. Check it out Click Me!. One of the songs that popped up on there was by Golden Smog, a band I never heard of, but one of the members is apparently from Soul Asylum. Very different music though! I love it when musicians give you something totally unexpected like that.
Also here:
http://www.dalermehndi.com/
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daler_Mehndi
The man rocks!!
Balrog @
48
Fab!
Mack @
39
I loved that movie too!
Bend It Like Beckham is one of my all time favorite “coming of age” films.
A bit of nostalgia – Night & Day. Love it at the end when they’ve ended the dance in a frenzy and he offers her a cigarette
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVE8eI7sw2g
portia.vz @
30
You didn’t see them? I saw Annette. Ok…I didn’t see Bing.
Thanks for these videos, Donita, especially the one starring the inimitable Helen. Here’s another great Bollywood video featuring the world’s most popular star Amitabh Bachchan from the movie Amar Akbar Anthony about three brothers who are raised separately as a Hindu, a Muslim and a Christian:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKI4TMBYrAo
‘Amitabh Bachchan… He’s a bad mother-…‘
;>)
For people looking for music that evokes the wonder of Bollywood, I would recommend the works of Kalyanji V. Shah and his brother, Anandji V. Shah…premier soundtrack composers of Indian film.
and OT: Christy earlier asked what commercials might evoke response from viewers, and why.
My opinion is that certain demos just ‘tune out’ the chatter, and thus the canny strategist (i.e. not Dan Gerstein) must find alternate media to initiate the approach.
One such media?…Video games.
;>)
Oh Balrog!
Years ago I was in Ashkabad, Turkmenistan. I spent long evenings passing time in my hotel room watching Indian MTV. Daler Mehndi is THE BEST!!
Thanks for resurrecting that memory.
Christy Hardin Smith @
21
“Republicans with Penis Pumps would be a great Will Ferrell and Steve Martin movie!
Donita @19
Mike Myers eat your heart out! lol
Daler Mehndi – Ho Jayedi Balle Balle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..&eurl=
Al Weisel @ 55
Great clip as well.
I’ll watch the Bollywood videos later, but as for the spin I’m in?
1980s hardcore is very relevant this week, especially the Dead Kennedys, so I’ve been listening to a lot of that, and blogging it of course.
Also, the Fleshtones are playing in Philly this Saturday, so I’m definitely going to that.
Other than that my head is spinning because of the torture “compromise” and the awful forknowledge that the democrats will do nothing to stop it.
Greetings from sunny England! (That’s not a mistake. Apart from some squalls from Gordon, most of the UK has been unseasonably warm the last week.)
Back in London, in a posh hotel after a week in Wales and the Lake District. And I’m compelled to add “Lagaan” to the list of Bollywood movies. Best movie every made about a cricket match. Not that much dancing, as I remember, but you will learn what “knocked for six” means, and grow to understand the South Asian infatuation with the game.
Lot of listening to Radio One this week. The Brits love their R n’B!
yellow snapdragon @
57
My pleasure; thanks Donita for sparking my memory.
First time all day I’ve had a smile on my face, and it’s stuck there.
Christy Hardin Smith @
21
Is there a market for ‘penis pump’ visuals hereabouts?
‘Moo ha ha’
;>)
Donita- How was your gig at the Central?
I have a video contribution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDhc9y3cefE
Everythingseemssoneat @ 66
The show was good. We requested extra smoke machine and got it.
Donita — it’s official. Bollywood is a hit with the three-year-old set. *g*
Christy Hardin Smith @ 68
Another conversion!
A kind of trashy but fun contribution.
I enjoyed Hum Tum and Taal.
Other than the obvious bollywood theme,
the spin I’m in this afternoon includes a healthy dose of Miles Davis’ Complete Jack Johnson Sessions which I picked up at lunch.
Teo Macero was a genius with a razorblade (which was how the original Miles electric albums were edited) but the entire unedited sessipons are luminous.
The bollywood theme puts me in a mood to dig out some Transglobal Underground and the two Fuse anthologies when I get home. TGU and Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart fueled an Asian Underground late 80s scene in London which yielded some extrordinary music
New thread, gang.
Donita——————–
So glad I caught this thread, almost missed it.
What do you think of an ad with your group singing, “C’mon baby…get into my big black car…let me show you what my politics are.”
(That’s always been a favorite song, and now I’m trying to play it on the guitar.)
I love the idea, but it might not play well in…well, a lot of places. But it would make a hell of a video. And the bumper sticker of the car would say VOTE DEMOCRATIC.
If you want to see a fun Bollywood flick (which also fulfills my six degrees of separation weirdness quotient), try “Bride and Prejudice” a Bollywood retelling of the Jane Austen story starring amongst a cast of thousands, of course: Naveen Andrews (Lost), Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls, Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl), and Indira Varma (Rome miniseries on HBO, there’s also a singing cameo by Ashanti. Enjoy, and now I sink back to lurkdom…………..poof!
I’ve gotten hooked on Korean soap operas (with English subtitles). I started watching AZN TV (because I got sick of CNN and the news!) and then I couldn’t stop devouring shows like Emperor of the Sea, Full House, Lovers in Paris, Winter Sonata, etc., etc.
Behold your new God.
DONITA!
sorry for shouting. but you really must go check this link at boingboing: http://www.boingboing.net/2006…..ant_f.html soundexchange has some money waiting for L7. the check ain’t in the mail and if you don’t ping the buggers, well, they’ll just find themselves forced to keep your royalties.
cheers and keep on rockin’
(in Portland, Oregon, home of DJ Anjali & the Incredible Kid)
I am so lucky to live in a city with a rich Hindi culture going on. I was even briefly in TARANA, a RockBolly group that had one performance before our lead female singer had to relocate (I did not perform with them unfortunately having left the group due to time commitment).
Bollywood music is so precise–the musicianship is incredible. And a night out with the locals is joyous–colorful beyond belief. And the beautiful girls and the food…Taal Taal Taal!
dna
Avian @
77
The man has CHOPS!
AWESOME! As an Indian-American myself, I appreciate the shout-out! My goal is to bring Bollywood to Guatemala, where I’m at now!
Try ‘Devdas’ – the new one. Great dances and songs and tragedy and costumes like you wouldn’t believe…
Donita,
The third video was the best. Thank you for brightening up a day with the miserable news that our government is making torture official government policy.
There are hundreds of Bollywood videos on Youtube. Would you bunch some of your favorites so that it would brighten up another day for us.
God Bless!
Wow!! I used to have a link to the song “My name is Anthony Gonsalves”, but an actual YouTube video file!!
All I can say is “Exchouzh me please”!! Phenomenal!
thanks for the links. Devdas is now at the top of my movie rental queue.
LindaR, Monsoon Wedding is a favorite here.
tonight i happily stumbled across these two youtubes, i had to laugh at the beauty and eccentric resourcefulness, and that people are hilariously nuts, just read the comments to ‘white guy does bollywood’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l2J1I7eZk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..mp;search=
I am clueless as to how to begin a cultural analysis of your Bollywood post.
WHat a SWEET way to mush through the Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul that came on Saturday instead of Sunday!
THANKS