The Diva

Rekha - India's Greta Garbo

 

 

A reluctant child star, Rekha is often described as a bit of an ugly duckling who turned in to a swan. Chennai born, she was apparently considered too dark and plump for the fashion of the day, but I've seen some of her early stuff and I call bullshit on that. Look at her in the video below, she looks divine. (Enjoy the marvellous moustachioed men heralding her entrance.)

 

 

She wasn't much interested in acting at the beginning, it was just a means of supporting her family but spurred on by the hurtful comments about her talent and her looks; she embarked on a strict diet and yoga routine, slimmed down, improved her Hindi and began choosing her film roles more carefully.

 

She starred in a lot of films with this guy and rumours did what they do and everyone started saying they had 'a thing going on,' which was super controversial because he was a married man... (gasp)

 

 

 

This culminated in a film that totally exploited the idea (way ahead of reality TV,) where Rekha played a character who was having an affair with the guy, popularly known as The Big B, and also starred Amitabh's real life wife Jaya, playing, you guessed it, his wife which enabled this deliciously tense scene of awkwardness to happen...

 

 

And they never made another film together again..

 

 But Rekha took her (alleged) broken heart and used all the FEELINGS to create the role that would become her most famous and define her in Bollywood hereafter. That of the beautiful, artistic but tragic courtesan Umrao Jaan 

 

 

She did a whole bunch of films after this, including a lot of independent and art house films.

Many subsequent leading ladies have claimed Rekha was an inspiration to them and her ability to sustain her career over the years has often been remarked upon. As has her seeming ability to resist the ravages of time....just by diet and yoga (naturally!)

 

 

 

Recently turned 61 #vampire

 

 

A true Bollywood icon. Her guarded privacy around her personal life gives rife to all sorts of speculations, like a continued devotion to Big B, and adds an extra aura of mystery about her. She's like a classic Hollywood star of old and is one classy lady.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Ten reasons why I fricking love Bollywood babe, Helen

A lady who exudes sass, sex appeal and seriously enviable dance skills.

Helen's family were poor and trekked from Burma to Mumbai when she was just a child, after her father died during the second world war.
 She was basically sent off to be a sexy dancer to support her mother and two siblings as they were penniless and starving; but she got her Bollywood big break at 19 years old, staring in Howrah Bridge.
 She was then a frequent sight on the Indian silver screen, one of the first big 'item girls,' women who primarily appear as dancers in films, rather than actors; although Helen did actually appear as an actor as well as an item girl in several films.

These songs are still great, as are Helen's performances, some of the images are a bit 'of their time,' though, which was generally the 60's in India...so a bit weird and inappropriate at times. Like the 1960's generally.

Here's a few extra reasons why she is FAB-U-LOUS............

The first - we've all been in the dumps where love is concerned at some point, (unless YOU are always the heartless cad we turn to drink over,) but we can't all rock it in a cage like Helen can! (Let's all just ignore the slightly creepy guy "Monicaaaa my darling-g)

The second - Can anybody else do wanton sexy gypsy lady better than Helen (I don't think so but I challenge you to find someone!) Those guys at the start are like "Oh yeeeah!)

The third - The woman is a party all by herself and can even make giant beach balls sexy, plus check out how she effortlessly skips over the jagged rocks! (clearly no health and safety on Bollywood film sets in the 60's)

The fourth - this should really be the first but oh well - not just a pretty face, the woman can dance! Four separate styles showcased here. Also four different languages, although that part is down to Asha Bhosle's vocal skills.

 

 

The fifth - say it with me..."Papaya Papaya Papaya!" ... "CocOnuuuut,"

 

 

 

 

The sixth - Only Helen could save this Bollwood meets Hammer Horror song and dance number. The song itself is surprisingly sweet considering the look of the scene. Look out for the cockatoo attempting to upstage Helen.

 



 

 

 

The seventh -  move over Coyote Ugly, can you balance a bottle of beer on a sickle? Our girl Helen can...

 



 

 

 

The eighth - need someone to just have a drink and dance with, Helen's got your back, check out the party pooper man towards end. Boo! You have no place in this scene, take your moody disapproving expression and begone!

 

 



 

 

 

The ninth - Helen's big break - mere naam chin chin chu shows off Helen's infectious dance style and versatile image, Howrah Bridge is a great film, style wise think Poirot but Bollywood.

 



 







The tenth -  I love me some Flamenco Helen and line dancing pirate men, what was Shammi Kapoor thinking though!! This one is a prime example of how hard the women have to work to compensate for the men often looking superfluous..

 

 

Basically - All Hail Helen - Queen of the Nautch Girls...



Halfway to Heaven

I haven't been able to do much since I hurt my dominant hand last week while practising yoga. I've watched a few films but it seems odd not to be stitching at the same time.

I watched a film called 'Murder By Death,' on Netflix which is very much "of its time," with some painfully hammy foreign accents and Peter Cook pretending to be Chinese. I thought it would be a murder mystery like Poirot or some other Agatha Christie style of film. It was supposed to be hammy and slapstick but seemed to be somewhere between Monty Python, without the cleverness and a Carry On film. 

I had to follow it with the French biopic of Edith Piaf, 'La Vie En Rose,' to feel better about myself. That was good, if a little bleak. Gerard Depardieu seems to have stopped aging a few years back.

 I also watched 'Ishqiya,' a really enjoyable Bollywood black comedy thriller starring the always wonderful Vidya Balan, she's such an interesting actress to watch and seems to have a good eye for unusual box office success stories. I look forward to catching the sequel.

 

 

 

 

Well this ends week one of the torn ligaments saga, hopefully after a second week of wearing the itchy wrist support of restriction, everything can go back to normal and I can start stitching again.

 

 

 

Here are some progress pictures of a big project I've been working on, I've done over half of the cross stitches but there will be a lot of detailed backstitching and French knots before it's completed.

 

She's an oriental goddess of prosperity, another Maia creation.

 

I loved her the minute I saw her, not least because the image reminds me of a long time favourite film of mine, 'A Chinese Ghost Story.'

 

Incidentally, Xena Warrior Princess owes a debt to that film for some of its plot lines.

Bollywood Does Shakespeare Beautifully

The tagline for this film is "a love story like no other," which is a little strange given that it's a reimagining of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but it's Bollywood so it doesn't have to make sense.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Romeo and Juliet is the most adapted Shakespeare play out there, but I'm too lazy to check that fact right now.

It's directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and as I'm a big fan of several of his other films, 'Devdas' and  'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam,' being my personal favourites, I was very excited to be able to watch this at the cinema.

It's big, bold, brash, beautiful and surprisingly risqué for a big Bollywood film, I've seen actual kissing in a few independent / art house type Hindi films but the mainstream still seems to prefer dramatic eye gazing to lip on lip action. I don't really mind this as I think sex is overused in film anyway but it's still nice to see some boundaries being pushed regardless.

There's nothing here a western audience would bat an eyelash at but you only need to read youtube comments branding it as porn, to see how challenging the actors, particularly the lead actress, probably found some of those 'intimate' scenes. Women, as is the norm pretty much everywhere else in the world too, get most of the hassle in Bollywood. Their reputations are more easily damaged in the eyes of their peers and the audience choosing to watch or avoid them.

So it makes me really happy that the actress Deepika Padukone seems to be doing very well in Bollywood right now, Ram-Leela and her other recent film choices have pushed her in to the top spot and she seems very much to be the actress in demand.

Ram-Leela is the kind of film where you know, more or less, what's going to happen but the clever thing about it is that you still find yourself caring about what's going on and hoping for a happy outcome even though you know it's not possible because...remember...you're watching 'Romeo and Juliet' not 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.'

The location, the costumes, the music, all conspire to make you feel like you're lost in a crazy world where it could be set a hundred years ago for the most part, but then they pull out their mobile phones, drive cars and mix modern jeans with classic gagra choli's and gorgeous layered lehengas.

I'd kill for all of Leela's outfits in this film, also for her dancing skills.

I enjoyed spotting some places I visited in Udaipur during some of the scenes as well, even though it filled me with an intense longing to be there.

Bollywood Dreams on the Silver Screen

I went on a rare trip to the cinema to watch a Bollywood film last Wednesday, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

I'm a fan of Indian cinema in general and there's nothing like watching one on the big screen, (in fact I dream of being able to watch the epic Mughal-E-Azam on a giant screen with surround sound, some day, with a box of tissues and a tray of Indian sweets to see me through.)

I've seen and liked a few Ranbir Kapoor films so I figured there was a good chance I would have a great time and not feel like I'd wasted my money (damn you 'Alice in Wonderland,' destroyed by Tim Burton, I'm never getting those minutes of my life back - *seethe*)

The deal breaker though was the cameo appearance of one of my all time favourite Bollywood actresses, Madhuri Dixit (what a dancer!) not seen on the big screen for too long now but by all accounts planning a speedy return with this fabulous 'item number' and two films of her own lined up (I pray they will make it to cinema screens over here.)

Anyway, it was big, bold, over the top, sentimental and generally wonderful, it reminded me a bit of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, I think mainly because they fall in love on a holiday and the second half takes place during a wedding.
It's definitely one of those films that leave you feeling emotional but happy by the end and I was also very jealous of the Indian family eating samosas behind us come interval time, what a genius idea.

I've only managed to see a few Bollywood films at the cinema because the ones near me are a bit rubbish in that department (can't believe they didn't show 'The Dirty Picture,') and this one is absolutely my favourite so far.

I hope the fact that two of my local cinemas were showing one Bollywood film each last week is a sign that I will get to see more at the picture house, as if ever a film was meant to be viewed on the silver screen, it's the Bollywood masala movie.