What's this? Over a month without posting anything here? Busy and somewhat difficult times.... Well, I left with music, and now I'm back with music.
Today I had lunch with my good friend Louis at NYC's Curry In A Hurry. Shouldn't have taken the lamb, as most of it was bone, but lots of basmati rice and cauliflower made up for that. (And the sweet rice pudding filled up whatever space was left in my stomach.) Upstairs, in the dining area, the restaurant has an large HD monitor, and they were playing some recent movie musical numbers featuring Amitabh Bachchan. For those who don't know who Amitabh Bachchan is--probably most everyone who reads this blog--Bachchan is a god in India, that country's most popular actor of the last few decades. Ages ago, I use to make a point of seeing his films at the Indian theaters in NYC (Bombay Cinema in Manhattan--long gone--and some theater in Jackson Heights). The pairing of Bachchan and fellow Hindi actor Sashi Kapoor was always a guarantee of seeing a quality and important film from Bombay (or, as it is called now, Bollywood). I hope to write more about Indian film and the importance of seeing these films in a theater, but now back to Bachchan--and the music I promised.
After lunch, Louis and I headed over to an Indian CD and DVD store nearby, where I picked up a double film score set of two Bachchan films--NASEEB and SHAAN. The latter is one of my all time favorite Indian films with life affirming music that inspires, thrills, and bounces/shakes your body instinctively. Great stuff.
Here are two clips from these films.
This one is from NASEEB:
And this one is from SHAAN; Bachchan with Shashi Kapoor, and the stunning Parveen Babi and adorably cute Bindiya Goswami. This is one of the most joyous bits of cinema from India, or from anywhere in the world, in my opinion:
