This is exciting! And very difficult since I’ve only seen 3 out of the 8 films I want to cover. Oh well, I’ll give myself a nice slow schedule. And throw in the usual Sunday Reruns and new movies and stuff in between so you aren’t bored.
Monday 2/17: Andaz (1971) (Prime)
Ramesh’s first film, a fun Shammi Kapoor romance with Hema Malini, Ramesh’s muse. And it is soooooooooooo 70s! Really, watch this song from the school charity party, complete with Shammi on saxophone, white ladies in bikinis, and fancy dress.
Wednesday 2/19: Seeta Aur Geeta (Prime)
Hema’s big starring role! A double role in which she charmed all of India. Plus the two heroes, sophisticated doctor Sanjeev Kumar and street tough Dharmendra. Also, it’s weirdly popular in Eastern Europe, must have been some distributor who hit it hard over there.
Friday 2/23: Sholay (at your local library, or Einthusan. DO NOT WATCH ON PRIME! Prime is missing 10 minutes of footage and has the alternate ending forced by the censors. If the choice is watching on Prime or not at all, “not at all” is the better choice)
The Greatest Movie ever made in India. Just a remarkable film, and a must watch if you want to be someone who understands Hindi cinema.
Monday 2/24: Shaan (Prime)
Shashi!!!! Shashi and Amitabh together as brothers, with Shatrughan Sinha and Sunil Dutt in support, plus Parveen Babi and Raakhee. And classic RD Burman songs.
Wednesday 2/26: Shakti (einthusan, or on youtube without subs)
Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan together onscreen, plus bonus Anil Kapoor. And Ashok Kumar in a special appearance! So the 3 generations of Hindi film acting all in one photo, for one time only. It’s a tragic cops-robbers story, but forget that, Dilip and Amitabh together!
Friday 2/28: Saagar (Prime)
After 12 years away, teen sensation Dimple Kapadia was returning to the screen! Now a mature woman. And reunited with her first co-star Rishi Kapoor. Also, there’s a topless scene.
Monday 3/2: Zamana Deewana (Prime)
Ramesh Sippy’s weird version of a 90s romance. There’s a lengthy Anupam Kher drag scene, an Shahrukh’s most sexual song ever onscreen. Really, don’t miss it!
Wednesday 3/4: Shimla Mirchi (Netflix)
Ramesh’s newest film, 25 years after his last one, starring his muse Hema Malini, released without fanfare and I am so curious about it!
dontcallitbollywood 
Sholay is on Prime now! In the US. I was excited, that’s how I could finally watch it. Baazigar too, I think. That’s been another one of my unicorns I could never find.
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Woot! But it’s the censored version. That is FASCINATING. The intended ending, written all along and shot and so on, was for Thakkur to kill Gabbar and then finally let loose as he fully feels all his grief and what he has lost. That’s the ending on the DVD version and the only one I have ever seen, but for years it was considered lost. And for some reason now Prime is showing the censored rather than the real ending again.
Anyway, it is a MUST WATCH, especially for the last few seconds of Dharmendra comforting Sanjeev:
On Sat, Feb 15, 2020 at 11:59 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Shoot, I just checked, Prime is missing a full 10 minutes, plus the ending which is vitally important. You probably won’t do this, but I feel obligated to recommend that you watch the entire film over again on Einthusan because you haven’t really seen Sholay if you watched the Prime version.
At the very least, you need to watch the full last 10 minutes over again on einthusan. This isn’t the usual “director’s cut” or “alternate ending” kind of difference, the censors wrote their own ending and forced the director to delete his ending and replace it with theirs.
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It’s true I didn’t like the ending. I’ll take a look.
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Oh good! I look forward to hearing what you thought of it, when you get a chance.
On Sun, Feb 16, 2020 at 2:26 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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