filum,filum,filum

the 2 biggest reasons i like bombay are food and film. can't get enough of either. yesterday we saw the 10am showing of "hanuman"-india's first animated feature. who dosen't love hanuman, right? this was so endearing-it was a bit sloppy, but cute and obviously modeled after the 1930s vintage disney shorts. there were times when you could see mistakes in the drawings, fills not proper, etc, but it just added to the charm. we see hanuman being born and turning into the powerful monkey king in the traditional ramayana fashion. i immediately set out to buy the soundtrack because it was excellent, and had my favorite singer, kailash kher, on many of the tracks, as well as sonu nigam.

after, we bought tickets for our evening show at 520, because this is opeffning week for a handful of hindi filums. we chose "kalyug" a movie about the porn, or "blue" film industry. all unknown actors, pakistani singers on the soundtrack, same people who did "paap", one of my favorite recent soundtracks. after strolling the city on a steller day, watching some cricket in the park, going to planet M, and doing some street shopping-(i purchased some great little yoga towels for some special girlie students of mine and the vendor held my rp100 bill flat in the palm of his hand as his friends marvlled at the crispness, utterring "atm"), we made our way back to the inox multiplex. kalyug did not disappoint. it was a political film about human trafficking and how most of them end up in the blue film industry. it was a fantastic soundtrack, and a great treat seeing all unknown actors. i really get sick of the same recycled hindi film actors over and over and over again.

we walked back towards the bay where we knew of a place called gokal near the gateway that is a supposed gay hangout with dozens of heavy drinkers. it was a real big dive, me being the only female in the entire a/c room, and not one male staring! such a treat. jeff ate the traditional pomfreit and liver masala, i stuck with prawn koliwada and some biryani (instead of chunks of chicken, there was a massive whole piece buried underneath the rice-a new one on me). the menu offered bottles of booze rather than glasses. we stuck with a couple of hayward 5000s.

but the real treat was this morning. there was one showing only at 930am sunday of a tamil film called "aaru"-i knew this had to be a good one because bombay does not get too many of these, and i expected there to be a small turnout. got up at 7 and did my yoga (strength is coming back!), went down to the kamut-for some idly, and to our delight, hundreds of tamil people huddled around the regal theatre for the one time showing of this big movie. and let me tell you, tamil movies put the current crop of hindi movies to shame. they've always been my favorite, because they usually are regular people (not yuppies), dark skinned (try to find that in hindi movies)-they dance like it's the last time on earth, they fight harder and better than any movies i've ever seen, even hong kong cinema, and they are just a true delight for the senses. my heart was racing throughout the entire film. and i got big pit stains from being constantly on the edge. the big star was surya, who i've seen before. and plenty of comic relief. i couldn't tell you exactly what it was about, but i could tell it was about betrayal, political corruption (most tamil movies tackle these themes) and, of course, love.

and it totally whet my appetite for the south. i can't wait to get to kerala! it kisses tamil nadu, and the films i end up seeing are tamil and malayalum. the sole hindi cinema is empty, you can hardly get near the local films. and it's SO exciting because the crowds really get into it-cheering their heros on, clapping and whistling. i love it.
now i remember why i love the south SO much. don't believe it when they tell you that the south is not the "real" india. it's more real and magical than you can ever believe.