Before we ended a recent interview, running in this month’s Khabar magazine, I had a chance to ask  Manil Suri, author of The Age of Shiva  and The Death of Vishnu about his  interest in  movies.   Here’s what he had to say:  

In both novels, Hindi  movies are all around the edges, and seeped inside them.   Do you like Hindi movies much yourself?

I certainly grew up on them. I would watch at least a couple of movies every week.   Once I  joined college I stopped seeing so many Bollywood movies, I started seeing more Western movies.   Nowadays when I want to see a Bollywood film I usually watch  something that I’ve seen before from the ’70s or so.   The ’60s and ’70s were the heyday where you had all the kitch and campiness, now they’re a little more globalized I think.

When I go to India I’ll see  two or three movies.

What are some of your favorites?

My all-time favorite is Caravan which is from 1972.    It has this very famous song/dance by Helen; I think that’s probably her most famous cabaret dance.   It’s a complete romp from beginning to end, no socially redeeming value but great fun.   I’ve seen it so many times and shown it to so many friends.   It stars Asha Parekh and Jeetendra.   It had music by RD Burman and was one of his first popular movies.   That’s the true essence of Bollywood, the escapism.  

Another is An Evening in Paris.   It has all these weird scenes where a fight will start in Paris and end in Lebanon for some reason.