The Book, Some Thieves, a Cop Undercover
Chori Mera Kaam (Theft Is My Job, dir. Brij, 1975) is one of those movies that nobody talks about when hailing the masala golden age, but everybody should.
Beth Watkins
The Bollywood Time Machine, Destination 2500 BCE: Mohenjo Daro
My previous installment for the Gutter, Dharam-Veer, falls into the Fully Fictional sub-genre of Historical Wackadoodle. Today we’ll look at an example of its counterpart: the Real-Ish. These films are part of a grandiose tradition of Hindi films that refer to real events but usually give them musical, […]
Dharam Veer
Dharam Veer is a Hindi cinema TARDIS, holding way more bedazzled boots, pirate shirts, Elizabethan doublets, Roman sandals, feisty gypsies, hand guillotines, romantic princes, creepy statues, sworn promises, lost relatives, baby-switching schemes, court politics, sword fights, naval battles, and eye-for-an-eye justice than you imagine could possibly fit inside […]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Go To Bollywood
In the world of underappreciated Indian films, Youtube spelunking often leads to treasures. Years ago, while looking for cabaret songs by one of my favorite 1970s and 80s stars (Rekha, seen frequently on The Gutter), I happened across a number from Chehre Pe Chehra, an adaptation of…. Dr. […]
Because we need a good romcom in the depths of winter: Khoobsurat
A Disney-backed production with a big budget and competent cast and crew does not really qualify for a spot in the cultural gutter. But even in 2020, despite its global audiences and massive output, Indian cinema rarely figures in international discussions of popular culture, let alone “cinema” and […]
Tum Mere Ho
It’s been far too long since we last discussed an Indian snake movie on the Gutter, so today I bring you Tum Mere Ho (Hindi, 1990). In essence this is a tale of star-crossed lovers sandwiched in what Indian cinema calls a mythological, a story about deities, displays […]
The Cultural Gutter 