Bollywood is For Lovers

Do you like robots? Yes! What about killer robots? Oh robots don’t kill you say? We’ll see about that! We get to the bottom of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics with Hotstar’s new sci-fi-comedy-mystery series OK Computer . Show Notes: If you are able to lend your support to the COVID-19 pandemic situation in India, here is a list of verified organizations to donate to: https://donate.indiacovidresou...

Karen Unland is back to discuss to two Indian adapatations of classic Jane Austen novels.  Show Notes: Welcome back Karen Unland of That’s A Thing?! Teen culture is all about remixing That’s A Thing?!: “ New life for Clone High, fake life for VTubers ” Jane Austen Hollywood’s love of Austen Where are all the LGBTQ2S+ Austen adaptations? Are we living in another Austen moment? (INTERVAL (“ By The W...

In this supplemental episode we discuss Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ new memoir, Unfinished , and her latest film project, The White Tiger . Show Notes: 66th Filmfare Awards ( the video Matt watched full of spoilers ) Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas “ 73 Questions with Priyanka Chopra ” Episode 6: Priyanka Chopra: Who's the Hottest Girl in the World? The White Tiger PCJ getting fashion advice from T...

Happy Pi Day Lovers! To celebrate we’ve invited our friend Amanda Mullins on to discuss two films about women and math. Show Notes: Welcome Amanda Mullins ! Erin may or may not have made cherry pie today Studying maths Erin claims to like math Math stereotypes in movies Number sense The Futurama Theorem Gender stereotypes of mathematicians in pop culture (INTERVAL (“ Pass Nahi Toh Fail Nahi ” from...

We continue to explore Amitabh Bachchan’s filmography, one year at a time.  Show Notes: How we choose the movies for this series (hint: it’s random) We couldn’t find Coolie Thank you Rajat Dikshit Khud-Daar The theme of reuniting the family Matt wants more tall man comedy Flying car song: “ Hat Ja Bajoo Nahin To Uda Doonga” Dishoom “From Bombay With Love” “ Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain I Love You ” and...

In our eleventh supplemental Matt speaks to scholar Brian Collins about the new book Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence and Cinematic Fears in India .  Show Notes: Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence and Cinematic Fears in India edited by Ellen Goldberg, Aditi Sen, and Brian Collins Halloween III: Season of the Witch: Ramsay Brothers Horror and  Bollywood at Cannes: Masaan, Titli and Miss Lov...

Happy Valentine’s Day Lovers! Romance is in the air, so we’re discussing three romantic comedies featuring retired (?) leading man Imran Khan. Show Notes: BiFL points are in the mail! Imran Khan Thank you to everyone who participated in our poll! “ A Bollywood Brokeback ” “ Cleeeeeeeeo ” Who ate Imran’s lunch? Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na We didn’t know that Arbaaz and Sohail Khan grew up in Calgary (I...

Well, we made it through 2020, and all we have to show for it are 17 short movie reviews! Enjoy! Show Notes: Thank you Rajat Dikshit! Get in touch to claim those BiFL points! Bulbbul Dil Bechara Shakuntala Devi Lootcase Raat Akeli Hai Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl Class of ‘83 (INTERVAL (“ Dil Bechara ” from Dil Bechara ) Cargo Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare Khaali Peeli Serious Men Ludo Chh...

In our tenth supplemental episode Matt speaks to film historian Debashree Mukherjee about her new book Bombay Hustle: Making Movies in a Colonial City . Show Notes: Bombay Hustle: Making Movies in a Colonial City by Debashree Mukherjee Saadat Hasan Manto Shanta Apte Amazon link to INR special edition of  Bombay Hustle NEXT TIME: 2020 year end review! Bollywood is For Lovers is a member of the Albe...

We welcome back fellow podcaster Asim Burney to discuss two identical David Dhawan comedies made 25 years apart.  Show Notes: Welcome Asim Burney of Upodcast and Khandaan Judwaa  episode Twitter’s gonna hate Should remakes exist at all? Coolie No. 1  (1995) How much ownership does Govinda have? Comparisons to Jim Carrey and Umer Shareef The songs are all bangers: “ Coolie No. 1 ,” “ Main Toh Raste...

We get in touch with our inner child by watching two Hindi-language children’s films. Show Notes: Indian farmers strike Get your BiFL points in! Vikas Bahl and the closure of Phantom Films We don’t see a lot of Hindi-language children’s films 90s live-action children’s films: The Little Rascals , The Sandlot , etc. Chillar Party “For the love of dog” Matt is in favour of civil disobedience  Bollyw...

In our annual Noirvember episode, we discuss two thrillers from the 1960s that maybe one could call noir, or neo-noir, or noir-ish... noir-esque? Show Notes: The liquor store sent us twice as much Prosecco as we ordered Our Noirvember playlist “ Filmfare recommends: Best Bollywood noir films of the ’50s ” Film Noir Singapore Songs: “ Aane Laga Jeene Ka Maza ,” “ Dekho Ji Dekho ,” “ Tum Lakh Chhupa...

We go backwards and forwards in time to uncover the true meaning of love, maybe, with three time traveling romances! Show Notes: Thank you Amrita! Does Erin really hate time travel movies ? Thermae Romae Love Story 2050 Harman Baweja aka not Hrithik Roshan Liking rain is not a personality Why Amazon Prime? Why? The future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted  Space Mut...

Here's a quick bonus episode for you this week, as Erin was tasked with putting together a panel discussion on Bollywood podcasting for this year's inaugural YEGPodFest . She reached out to Asim Burney ( Khandaan Podcast, Upodcast ), Manish Mathur ( It Pod To Be You , Queer and Now ) and Ankur Desai ( Parde Ke Peeche ) to find out their thoughts about Bollywood podcasting in general, and specifica...

In our sixth annual Hindi Horror Halloween, we are joined by writer and bookseller Matthew Stepanic to discuss two films about vengeful, supernatural women. Show Notes: Matthew Stepanic , Glass Bookshop , and Glass Buffalo Should horror movies be judged on how scary they are? “Elevated horror” Horror Story (INTERVAL (“ Kamariya ” from Stree ) Stree The “Nale Ba” urban legend Balancing act between...

To celebrate our new nephew, we welcome his mother Julie-Anne Weaver on to discuss a pair of pregnancy comedies.  Show Notes: The mountains are full of Jadoo ! Welcome Julie-Anne! She has actually been to India.  Why are both of these movies about how men feel? Badhaai Ho Our Ayushmann Khurrana episode News flash: parents have sex too How the film discusses abortion What it’s like to have a baby d...

Fresh off of its appearance at the closing night of TIFF, we discuss Mira Nair’s six-part adaptation of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy .  Show Notes: Thank you Mildmanneredgamer ! Join Erin at YEGPodFest ! Toronto International Film Festival Mira Nair A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth A Suitable Boy Spoiler Zone (52:26 to 1:01:01) NEXT TIME: Pregnancy movies Bollywood is For Lovers is a member of the Al...

In honour of her Hollywood debut, we discuss three of Dimple Kapadia’s most iconic and acclaimed films.  Show Notes: Thank you you crazybrownchik (and Chris) Attend YEGPodFest and Erin’s panel with other Bollywood podcasters Chatting with the Khandaan crew Dimple Kapadia Tenet Thank you Film Companion for the MUBI code Bobby Matt makes fun of the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards but they gave Adam...

We continue our exploration of Amitabh Bachchan’s career, finishing up the 1970s and moving into the 1980s. Show Notes: Thank you to Erin’s mother for helping us get to 1 million downloads/listens! We didn’t win the Oilers 50/50 draw Watch our panel at Namaste 2020: Global Utsava of Indian Soft Power Kriya  at Fantasia 2020 Kaala Patthar Our new favourite guy Dad movies (INTERVAL (“ Janu Meri Jaan...

We go back to the 2000s to discuss some of the first films from some of Bollywood’s most celebrated contemporary auteurs.   Show Notes: What happened to Khosla Ka Ghosla ? The 19th anniversary is bronze Dil Chahta Hai A classic Mr. Holland’s Opus reference How much time does the film cover? The pants game Its influence and imitators “ Kaisi Hai Ye Rut ” (INTERVAL (“ Wo Ladki Hai Kahan ” from Dil C...

In our (canonical) 100th episode, we discuss one of the most iconic and influential Hindi films of all time, Mehboob Khan’s 1957 epic Mother India .  Show Notes: 100 Baby ! Thank you to the Alberta Podcast Network, Audioboom, all of our past guests, all of our listeners, and especially Paul Matwychuk ! Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters thank you A.J. Devlin ! Our favourite episodes, biggest podcast...

For our 100th episode we intended to devote a small segment of the show to answering listener questions, but we received so many questions we instead put together an entire supplemental episode devoted to answering them. This took some time, it’s long, but we did our best to answer each and every one.  Show Notes: Thank you: Saad Ilyas, TheManish89, Safiyya Austen, Debbie Soderlund, Kimberly Tully...

While movie theatres still aren't fully open around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has still be a lot of great movies released so far this year and we’re still going to talk about them in our annual midyear review! Show Notes: Sushant Singh Rajput ( suicide prevention resources in Canada ) Chhapaak Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior Panga Street Dancer 3 Gul Makai Jawaani Jaaneman Malang L...

We go down to the underworld with Amazon Prime’s new show Paatal Lok to unravel a mystery that reveals the rotten truth about corruption in many levels of society.  Show Notes: " On TV, Cops Are Always the Main Characters ” Paatal Lok Episode 65: Anushka Sharma’s Clean Slate:  NH10 ,  Phillauri , and  Pari Svarga , Dharti, and Paatal  Transgender actress Mairembam Ronaldo Singh Spoiler Zone (41:38...

Picking up our Anil Kapoor series, we discuss three of his films from the 1990s: two well loved hits and an epic flop.   Show Notes: Our episode on Taal and our episode on Lamhe Thanks JustGivemeTheReboot ! (Do you like ReBoot ?) Parinda  on the Split Screen Podcast Virasat   and Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain Beta Madhuri Dixit just had sex aka “ Saiyya Jee Se Chupke ”  Other songs: “ Dhak Dhak Ka...