While Robert was here in HK - he's now back in Shanghai - we were fondly recalling how, as teenagers, we always went to the movies half an hour early, so we could sneak in to watch the Vamp die at the end of the Hindi movie on beforehand. (Fiji cinemas always alternated Bollywood and Hollywood films to maximise profits.)
If you don't know Bollywood movies, in the end the Bad Girl, known as The Vamp, always dies, making way for the Hero and Heroine to marry and live happily ever after. This was always the tradition and the expectation, so it was HOW she died that made it so addictive to us.
Oh my, how we LOVED a good Vamp Death. And the best would always involved tuberculosis and dainty little coughs and many, many songs and dances and several costume changes, and it was always so profoundly silly, nothing could be more blissful, and we'd have to smother the laughter so as not to disturb the hordes of Indian lasses crying their eyes out all around us, and so draw the wrath of the ushers who'd have thrown us out in a heartbeat.
And talking about it now, after so many decades, I was so thrilled that Robert remembers all this and with as much joy and relish as I do.
Anyway, after he flew out yesterday, I went looking for a really charmingly silly Bollywood Vamp Death to send to him as a piece of Glorious Nostalgia ... but stumbled across this one that is so delightful no Vamp Death, no matter how spectacular, could ever top it.
Do you too love it? Oh my! This is so delicious, kudos, kudos, kudos all round!
Oh, those wonderful "La La Las"! And those leg kicks! And do note the Hero's evil Elvis haircut, and how he taps his fingers with boredom as the Vamps gyrate in front of him. And the bizarre presence of that four year old boy. And that old dancing Baddie, and those safari jackets, and that sincerely handsome sinister Tibetan/Aztec/Egyptian Baddie, and those delicious dancing Aztecs or Egyptians or whoever they're meant to be, and their wonderful "Huh! Huh! Huhs!", their pot bellies and their rolling eyes at the girlies bums.
Oh, and stick with it because there's this Ninja who appears at the end to dance with The Vamps!!!
Oh my! Oh my! This entire sequence is so shudderingly delightful, I'm sure I'd have to search hard to top it, so I'm choosing this one to forward to Robert in memory of our shared past, and I hope, despite it not having a Bizarre Vamp Death (and I hope to find the end of this film so we can all see how these two Vamp Girlies die) I do hope Robert loves it, and also that you love it too - particularly you, Lady R. - so can finally understand WHY we risked the wrath of so many ushers by sneaking into the cinema early!
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2 comments:
Helen is the one in green in this number, Praveen Babi is the one in black...Helen used to do her own cabaret-type dances - that seemed to be her forte...don't think she had body doubles as far as I know...this is old Bollywood - they've evolved somewhat away from these to a genre called "Bollywood Dancing"....cross between gym routines, hints of kathak and bharatnatyam, punjabi folk, gujerati folk, and any global flavor that appeals :-)
Rohini
Helen was a dudette. I actually saw this movie when I was in primary school. The title fascinated us as "sona" (a-hole) was a Fijian swear word meaning arse. In Hindi it translates as Black (kala) Gold (sona). The title became a legitimate playground swear playing on the Fijian and HIndi meanings to mean "black arse".
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