Bollywood meets Swinging London? That will be Purab Aur Pachhim.
I've not seen the movie, but Bossbeat (check out his Bollywood clips for more of the same) put us onto it. The title apparently translates to 'East and West', with the plot revolving around 'a good Indian boy going to swinging London in the 60s'.
Want a clip? Check it out below. No sign of it being available in the UK right now, but I'd guess some specialist sellers will have a copy.
A lot of popular Hollywood films have been remade in Bollywood and one of the most unusual Bollywood remakes has to be this knock-off of Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) called Aatank, which was released in 1996. I don't know much about Aatank since I've only managed to see clips of it on YouTube and it doesn't seem to be easily available on DVD or VHS at the moment. I do know that the movie was directed by Prem Lalwani and stars Nafisa Ali, Dharmendra and Vinod Mehra. You can see a clip from Aatank below, but unfortunately it doesn't feature any of the film's entertaining musical numbers. It does feature a giant shark though!
Tonic Clothing is an ethical clothing label, offering a range of t-shirts, polo shirts, hoodies and bags. I'm not wild about a lot of the designs on the site, but I do like this Shootist t-shirt.
At first glance, you might think this is a Scarface t-shirt, but it's actually Amitabh Bachchan, star of 1979 Bollywood blockbuster The Great Gambler. The shirt is made from ethically-sourced cotton, with the design sat rather smartly at the bottom left-and corner.
Sized from small to large, you can pick one up for £2.
Find out more at the Tonic Clothing website
Long before The Beatles headed over to India to meet the Maharishi, the records were already on the shelves - and Bollywood had its own versions of the Fab Four.
Here's one of them - mop tops, Rutles-like tunes and plenty of crazy Bollywood-style dancing moves. Enjoy!
Via Retro To Go
The disco craze was still going strong in India in 1982 when Bollywood director Babbar Subhash made his epic musical Disco Dancer. This entertaining action-packed drama features Mithun Chakraborty as Jimmy, an aspiring disco performer who must fight off criminals and gangs while overcoming the tragedy of his mother's death to become a dancing superstar.
The clip below features one of the movies big musical numbers called Bang, Bang! by Bollywood composer Bappi Lahiri. If you're familiar with The Buggles big 1979 hit song Video Killed The Radio Star you'll hear more than a passing resemblance to it when you listen to Bang Bang! from Disco Dancer.
The movie is currently available from Shemaroo and you can purchase it at Amazon
- Kimberly Lindbergs
This great musical number is from the Bollywood classic Jewel Thief
The Jewel Thief was directed by Vijay Anand and stars Dev Anand as Vinay. When Vinay is mistaken for a daring jewel thief who's terrorizing Bombay, his developing romance with the police commissioner's daughter Anju (Tanuja) is cut short. Vinay must help find the real jewel thief and prove his innocence to win back Anju, but it's not an easy task.
This great Bollywood movie is beautifully shot by Vijay Anand and features lots of memorable musical numbers written by composer Rahul Dev Burman. The movie is available from Eros on a Region-0 (all region) NTSC DVD, but the DVD occasionally goes out of print and can be hard to find. You can currently find used copies of the DVD selling cheaply at Amazon
- Kimberly Lindbergs
Hopefully you all responded to the psych intro from Bollywood film Don by rushing out to pick up a copy.
Now, your head shredded by it's mix of speeded up car chases (watch out for the dog), Adam West style Kung Fu, unlikely doubles and insanely funky soundtrack from the legendary Kalyanji Anandji duo, all that remains of your mind is a question - how do I spread the good word?
Fans of this wild Masala classic, fear not. Head on over to Desi Threads, pick up this fine unisex t-shirt picturing leading man and Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan in a very Pacino-esque pose, and get ready to infect the world.
I'll gladly admit I know nothing about Bollywood, but I'm rather intrigued to find out more after seeing the trailer below for Don from 1978 and highlighted on the Electric Roulette website. Is it as good as this trailer suggests? Are there anymore Bollywood movies with soundtracks as catchy as this one? If you know, please let us know.
