Bollywood is For Lovers

Join hosts Matt Bowes and Erin Fraser for a bi-weekly podcast that explores the wonderful world of Hindi Cinema through the lens of two Canadian cinephiles! Contact us at [email protected]

[bollywoodisforlovers]

Supplemental Episode 21: A Tale of Two Events

Alongside Nim (@MapleBrownie), we discussed the opening night event of the tenth annual India Film Festival of Alberta, as well as a workshop put on by film archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.

Show notes:

Bollywood Drafts Podcast

India Film Festival of Alberta

Ghoomer

Our coverage of the 2017 India Film Festival of Alberta, where we saw A Death in the Gunj

Celluloid Man

Film Heritage Foundation

NEXT TIME: Nineties Bachchan, we swear

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts! and Saavn! and Hubhopper!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Netflix and Dil: Angry Young Men, Angrier Young Viewers

We checked out the latest talking heads documentary about Bollywood cinema, Namrata Rao's Angry Young Men. Did we learn anything?

Show notes:

De Palma

Friedkin Uncut

Netflix and Dil: High and Low - Cinema Marte Dum Tak and The Romantics

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th

The Story of Film: An Odyssey

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror

Angry Young Men

NEXT TIME: Nineties Bachchan

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts! and Saavn! and Hubhopper!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 157 - 2024 Midyear Review

It's midyear review time! We check in on the first six months of the year and all of the Bollywood (and Bollywood-adjacent) movies that made it in front of our eyeballs.

Show notes:

Merry Christmas

Fighter

Article 370

Laapataa Ladies

Murder Mubarak (Episode 154)

Crew

INTERVAL ("Ghagra" from Crew)

Monkey Man

Amar Singh Chamkila (Episode 155)

Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2

Kalki 2898 AD

Sharmajee Ki Beti

Kill

NEXT TIME: it's a surprise!

Our sponsor this episode is #BollywoodMonsterMashup, the LARGEST South Asian festival in Canada and features FREE performances by international Bollywood stars, food, shopping, dance performances, a laser show and more! The whole family can enjoy this monstrous event with FREE entry, FREE parking and FREE family activities. Come dance, sing and feast with us at this one-of-a-kind production taking place at Mississauga Celebration Square!

Check out BollywoodMonsterMashup.com for more info!

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

Follow us on Twitter! Like us on Facebook!

[ohmybollywood]

Preity Zinta in Veer-Zaara (2004)

[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 156 - Preity Woman: Kal Ho Naa Ho and Salaam Namaste

We travel back to the mid-2000s with one of Bollywood's most fearless actresses, Preity Zinta.

Show notes:

The Stanley Cup finals are on (we lost)

Bollywood Drafts

Preity Zinta (has not made an impression on Matt)

We would really like to see Sangharsh

Heaven on Earth (and its gorgeous poster)

Erin's thesis on Preity Zinta

INTERVAL ("It's Time to Disco" from Kal Ho Naa Ho)

Kal Ho Naa Ho

Toronto plays New York

The film's approach to homosexual jokes

Anand comparisons

Erin hates "movie diseases"

Mid-2000s fashion

Salaam Namaste

Siddharth Anand really pivots

Jaaved Jaffrey's Crocodile Dundee

Baby drop rate

NO, FART ZONE

Too much pro-life propaganda

NEXT TIME: TBD

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Netflix and Dil: Lahore Girl, Give Us Nothing!, or Heeramandi

We travel back to the opulence of 1940s Lahore with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's lush Netflix period drama Heeramandi.

Show notes:

Heeramandi

Tawaifs

Be Kind Rewind - Sofia Coppola and the Godfather Part III Disaster

Next time: Preity Zinta

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 155 - Sad Songs Say So Much: Qala and Amar Singh Chamkila

We are belting our hearts out with two Netflix features on the turbulent lives of popular singers.

Show notes:

Straight-to-streaming films are legit now

Qala

Comparison to Amadeus

Halloween VI: Hell Hath No Fury, Stree and Bulbbul with Matthew Stepanic

Elvis and Norah Jones

Style over substance

INTERVAL ("Baaja" from Amar Singh Chamkila)

Dil-Luminati Tour

Wee Book Inn

Amar Singh Chamkila

Amar Singh Chamkila

Comparisons to western hip hop

The Mr. Holland's Opus problem

Jodi

The use of archival images

NEXT TIME: Heeramandi

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 154 - Murder Most Fun: Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! and Murder Mubarak

We are polishing our magnifying glasses and donning our deerstalkers, because once again, murder is afoot!

Show notes:

We just love murder mysteries!

Our Noirvember playlist

To Those Who Killed Me and Call of the Void, the mystery books Matt has edited

You can't have too few or too many characters in a murder mystery

Detective Bymokesh Bakshy!

"When the Hindu Right Came for Bollywood"

Byomkesh Bakshi

Comparisons to other famous fictional detectives

Kosuke Kindaichi

1940s setting

The music and the violence go too hard

INTERVAL ("Calcutta Kiss" from Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!)

Murder Mubarak

Is Sanjay Kapoor one of our guys?

"In a movie about rich people you can't kill the help"

Karisma Kapoor's first film in 12 years

Fantasy casting The Thin Man

NEXT TIME: Singer Movies

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 153 - Madhuri Madness 2024: Aarzoo and Pukar

To wrap up Madhuri Madness 2024 we're joined by our good friend Rashmeet to discuss two action films in which our beloved heroine finds herself at the centre of a deadly love triangle.

Show notes:

Welcome Rashmeet!

Madhuri Madness

Madhuban Performing Arts and Urja Yeg

Aarzoo

Gaslight, Girlboss, Gatekeep

Obsession gazebo

Darkman

"Dosti Karte Nahin" and "Mil Jaate Hain"

St. Andrews

INTERVAL ("Kay Sera Sera" from Pukar)

"Que Sera Sera"

Pukar

"Hai Jaana Hai Jaana"

Are we Rajkumar Santoshi fans?

Torturing Anil Kapoor

Madhuri Dixit's emotional range and appeal

NEXT TIME: Detective movies

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 152 - Madhuri Madness 2024: Mrityudand and Lajja

To celebrate International Women's Day, we are kicking off Madhuri Madness 2024 with two feminist consciousness raising ensemble dramas.

Show notes:

Happy International Women’s Day

Madhuri Madness

Every film industry is patriarchal (except Paradise Island)

Hollywood vs Bollywood women’s pictures

Mrityudand

Shabana Azmi and Om Puri

Prakash Jha’s political filmmaking

INTERVAL ("Badi Mushkil" from Lajja)

Lajja

A real multi-starrer

Manisha Koirala learns about feminism

Tonally inconsistent

Ajay Devgn's whip sword

NEXT TIME: MD & SRK

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Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Supplemental Episode 20: Rainbow Rishta Director Jaydeep Sarkar

We welcome filmmaker Jaydeep Sarkar, series director and executive producer of Rainbow Rishta, a new docuseries available now on Amazon Prime.

Show notes:

Jaydeep Sarkar

Rainbow Rishta

NEXT TIME: Madhuri Madness

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts! and Saavn! and Hubhopper!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 151 - 2023 Year End Review

Somehow we made it through 2023, which certainly was a year in Bollywood. Did Tiger 3 hit the jackpot? Did we soldier through Jawan? Find out now!

Show notes:

The 69th Annual Filmfare Awards (nice)

Neeyat (Episode 150)

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (Supplemental Episode 17)

Jawan

Jaane Jaan (Episode 149)

Khufiya

INTERVAL ("Dishoom Dishoom" from The Archies)

Thank You for Coming

12th Fail

Tiger 3

Animal

This is the only Bullet Machine we respect in these parts

The Archies

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan

NEXT TIME: Surprise Netflix and Dil!

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Supplemental Episode 19: Two Million Apologies!

It's hard for us to believe, but we've reached two million downloads! To celebrate, we wanted to look back at the evolution of the show and apologize for everything we have gotten wrong over the past eight and a half years.

Show notes:

Thank you to all of our listeners near and far for lending us your ears two million times!

Supplemental Episode 8: 60 Questions (which was to celebrate 100 episodes, not one million listens)

NEXT TIME: 2023 year end wrap up

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts! and Saavn! and Hubhopper!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

Follow us on Twitter! Like us on Facebook!

[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 150 - Detective Vidya-chu: Bobby Jasoos and Neeyat

We are on the case with Bollywood's leading actress, the incomparable Vidya Balan, will we solve it before she does? Listen to find out!

Show notes:

Vidya Balan

Star power and acting prowess

Bobby Jasoos

Feminist themes

Many spinning plates

INTERVAL ("Sweety" from Bobby Jasoos)

Neeyat

Character actor cast

Anu Menon

Split diopter and split screen

NEXT TIME: 2 million

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

Follow us on Twitter! Like us on Facebook!

[bollywoodisforlovers]

Episode 149 - Sujoy (Ghosh) Division: Kahaani and Jaane Jaan

To celebrate Noirvember this year, we delve into the catalogue of Sujoy Ghosh with the (not exactly noir) thrillers Kahaani and this year's Netflix release Jaane Jaan. 

Show notes:

Noirvember and our Noirvember playlist

Sujoy Ghosh

Adventures in the Public Domain: Aladin and Arjun: The Warrior Prince

Kahaani

Kolkata as asphalt jungle

The effectiveness of a pregnant detective

INTERVAL ("Jaane Jaan" from Jaane Jaan)

Jaane Jaan

The Devotion of Suspect X and Keigo Higashino

Comparisons to Drishyam

"Aa Jane Jaan" from Intaquam

The Kalimpong atmosphere

NEXT TIME: Detective Balan

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Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Halloween IX: Interview With the Dentist, or Dedflix and Kill (Again)

Happy (belated) Halloween Lovers! We may be late but our tradition of exploring all things spooky that Hindi cinema has to offer lives on! This year we are sinking our teeth into Netflix's romantic horror-comedy Tooth Pari.

Show notes:

This episode is quite late as we were our of the country and Erin got sick

Neighbours trailer

Tooth Pari: When Love Bites

Pratim D. Gupta and X: Past Is Present

NEXT TIME: Noirvember

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts! and Saavn! and Hubhopper!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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[bollywoodisforlovers]

Supplemental Episode 18: Sunny Singh's Bollywood State of Mind!

We welcome writer Sunny Singh to the show to discuss her fascinating new book A Bollywood State of Mind!

Show notes:

Thank you Sunny Singh for joining us!

A Bollywood State of Mind: A journey into the world’s biggest cinema

Heads up, we discuss some spoilers for Jawan if you haven't seen it yet

NEXT TIME: Hindi Horror Halloween

Find us on Apple Podcasts! and Stitcher! and audioBoom! and iHeartRadio! and Spotify! and Google Podcasts! and Saavn! and Hubhopper!

Thank you to Becca Dalke for the artwork!

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