Such a pity that a country with so much to offer spiritually & creatively has to resort to this empty, insipid and quantitative form of entertainment to put our country on the map or as they call it reach a wider audience.

7.When the hero fires at the villain(s), he will never a) miss b) run out of bullets. When the villain fires at the hero, he will always miss (unless the hero is required to die, as in rule 2).

1. Any fight sequence shall take place in the vicinity of a stack of a) pots b) barrels c) glass bottles, which will be smashed to pieces.

2. Any movie involving lost and found brothers will have a song sung by a) the brothers b) their blind mother (but of course, she has to be blind in order to regain her sight in the climax) c) the family dog/cat.

3. Police inspectors (when not played by the hero) come in two categories: a) Scrupulously honest, probably the hero’s father – killedby the villain before the titles.

b) Honest, but always chasing the anti-hero (as in Rule 1), saying “Tum kanoon se bach nahin sakte”, only to pat him in the back in reel 23. Usually, this inspector’s daughter is in love with the anti-hero.

c) The corrupt inspector, (usually the real villain’s sidekick) unceremoniously knocked about by the hero(s) in the climax.

Yes – banks are not supposed to finance them, by policy.

I suppose that’s where the gangsters come into the scene in Bombay and sharks in the south.

GV – Director Maniratnam’s brother killed himself 2 years ago after a couple of flops. Interesting that he was a Chartered accountant and knew more than enough people to bail him out…

Btw, to repeat what I said on another blog…I’m surprised no one mentions films made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee (the real desis, I mean!). One hardly finds movies that revolve around middle-class lives these days. Also check out some of the movies made by Gulzaar (except Parichay), Basu Chatterji et al.

Devadas on the other hand I thought to be extremely boring. SRK is a bad actor (fake crying et al) and Aiswarya needs to just stay with the cat walk.

It takes more than beautiful costumes and exotic scenery to make a good movie.

For all of those who still like their heroines pleasantly plump (in all the right places), contact me.

Interesting thing is that apparently Rajanikant is NOT a South Indian. He is from Mahrashtra and his real name is Sivajirao Gaekwad. Hard to believe that when we hear him in Hindi movies….. he speaks with much more of a Tamil accent than Kamalhaasan.

ANd yeah, I’ll probably get killed for saying this, but I think Amithabh hams way way too much. He’s a great star, but only a just-above-average actor. Of course, in Hindi cinema, anything other than hamming is “great acting”. These days even the National Film awards seem to subscribe to this philosophy – eg: Raveena’s award, or Devgan’s. Or take a look at this years best actor: Saif Ali Khan in “Hum Tum”. Lots of you would have watched it. Think about it – should we honestly think there were no better lead performances in the “800-1000 films” of last year?

Of course, I grew up watching Mohanlal, Mammootty and KamalaHaasan at their best, so I AM smug. But seriously, I am horrfied at the difference of what is considered “good acting” in Hindi and, say, Kerala.

blink you’re kidding, right?

Amardeep, does this book (or any other you know of) address the (mis)representation(s) of Indian-Americans/members of the Indian diaspora in mainstream Bollywood film, i.e. Kal Ho Na Ho, Aa Ab Laut Chale? That would be an interesting conversation.