You had me at the pelvic thrusts and the white flaps-o-fabric, er, garment you wore for the legendary Yeh Mera Dil number in Don. How did you manage to dance the way you did in something that had such a wardrobe-malfunction risk potential, and with such authority?
According to Jerry Pinto’s joy-filled tribute, today you turn either 67 or 68. You are not the number, so which exactly it is doesn’t matter much. For me you are a truly exotic beauty (and I don’t mean that in an Orientalist, Edward Said fetishistic sense), you are unique, a heady Bellini that’s one part Burmese, one part French, with a dash of Spanish blended in. You’re the coolest of cool girls. The one with the dramatic eyeliner and funky clothes who usually doesn’t get the guy, ’cause he’s too dumb to realize if he had the cojones to buck convention and choose you over the Sati-Savitri type waiting at home that Mummy and the whole community approve of, he’d be in for quite a trip.
I hope you have a fabulous day and know how many good feelings you provoke in people as we watch you do your thing onscreen: happiness, desire, envy, admiration and wonder, to name the most frequent.
i love you salman kashmar/iran
aap hamehsa kush rahe aap ko janam den mubaarak ho
I read somewhere that Helen’s dad is Anglo-Indian.
i love you iam amin from iran
how r u
MW, did you see him in Being Cyrus? It was disappointing – though atmospheric – but I thought he was surprisingly good.
Then again, in Parineeta, I thought it was Sanju who did a surprise turn.
Yes, true, there is also bittorrent…
I think the Chhote Nawab has gone in for a rhinoplasty recently. Doesn’t his profile look so much softer than when he had just started in films? But his transformation into a serious actor has been a revelation. No one would have imagined him doing (or getting, in the first!) the kind of roles he’s performing these days. I’m personally looking forward to watching Omkara.
Umm, depending on how and where you stand on the related issues, have to tried bittorrent sites for hard-to-find movies? There are a couple of sites that have almost any movie under the Sun, even ones that aren’t easily available in India.
MW, enough liquid eyeliner and I think many of us could. But seriously, yeah I can see it a little bit, except Sharmila’s nose is the giveaway. Funny how the Chhote Nawab has inherited nose and eyes from his Mum.
On methodology, hmmm, back in May I drew up a list, of the titles I knew by name as being filmi historically important (or just popular), but when I get into the local DVD rental place, it becomes more a question of what I’m in the mood for, adn what they have. (Though most of what I’ve watched in the past 6 weeks or so has been on the list.) One trend that has been evolving almost each week is that there’s usually an Amitabh Bachchan film in there somewhere, except I’m avoiding that time before Major Saab, ’cause I think he hit a real low point.
There’s a website that has quite a few Indian DVDs fairly cheap, so I just ordered Don and Coolie last week, plus a few others.
Of the new releases, I’m really looking forward to Kabul Express, KANK and Dhoom II.
I went looking for Pyaasa today but they don’t have it so I’ll have it Netflix it, and took home Chandni Bar instead.
A question for you filmiholic: How do you go about deciding which film to view next? Is there a method to it or do you just make random selections?
Is it just me or does Helen look strikingly like Sharmila Tagore in the photograph?
An eternal favourite of mine is Piya Tu Ab To Aaja from Caravan,rendered to perfection by the truly inimitable Asha Bhosle. I guess they were complimentary to each other ~ Asha’s melodious voice and the ultimate seductress at work ~ together it was sheer magic on screen.
Helen is ageless – can you imagine Indian cinema without her? And who can forget the legendary dance from ‘Sholay’? Happy Birthday from all true fans of Bollywood…
Michael, thanks for visiting.
Shoefi, it’s the latter. 🙂 Given how widely Spanish is spoken in the US, it’s one of many Spanish words that has gotten rolled into English here.
🙂 What does cojones mean? (I’m thinking guts, balls?)
happy birthday, best of the bests 🙂
thanks for remembering her.
greetings from germany
michael