Friday, May 05, 2006

Bollywood + Narrow Gauge Railroad: That's Entertainment!


(YouTube alert: mediocre video quality)

What's more fun that Shahrukh Khan leading adorable moppets at summer camp in a musical number? What could be more fascinating than being introduced to the Hindu festival of Holi by Sharukh's "Dead Poets Society" homage?

A playback song on top of a moving train, that's what.

Check out the shot about 4:55 into this video where the camera moves into the lead couple, goes around them, and backs into the chorus dancers.

From 1998's Dil Se, directed by Mani Ratnam. Song by A. R. Rahman. The combination of electronic beats with the traditional instruments was new at the time. This song appeared again in the musical Bollywood Dreams and in Spike Lee's 2006 film, Inside Man.

2 comments:

Tim said...

YouTube is a treasure trove of Bollywood dance numbers. (Search term = "bollywood," although you will come up with a lot of trailers, duets, and pop songs aping the latest Britney Spears video).

To save you some time, check out the work of Farah Khan, who choreographed the dance on the train, our fave numbers in Kuch Kuch Hota Hei and Mohabbatein, as well as Monsoon Wedding and Vanity Fair. YouTube has clips:

Bole Chudiyan", from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)

Her directorial debut film, Main Hoon Na! (2004)

Yes, that's Sharukh Khan in these clips too.

Tim said...

Oh my. Guess who else you can find on YouTube.

A really useful engine, that's who.