Missed a day in between, but hopefully I shall not fall into that easy trap again ... a deadly combination of a chilling six degrees with a very unexciting morning spent at the laundromat getting a small mountain of clothes washed and dried (which I must add refused to dry - 40 minutes and they still came out soggier than a Bombay-monsooned-t-shirt). So am back at my writing position in front of the Rathaus, decidedly, with a topic in mind. Of course, armed with some happy fattening hot chocolate. Oh these evil Starbucks people I tell you ...

BTW, a really cute habit I came across is the German way of saying 'Hello'. Now, in India - I have heard every possible variation of this ... Hull-lo, Hay-low, Halo, Hell-O ... never this one. A sweet, tinkly 'Al-lo' not very different from what we are used to hearing at our pal, Rene's little establishment! Allo Allo indeed!!!!

Now back to mudda - the issue, as once rightly coined by a dear friend ... I was trying to describe 'Bollywood' to a friend, and she asked a pertinent question ... if I was to recommend a 'list' of films that for me represented / epitomized (?) Bollywood - what would this list include? Mind you - this list is about those truly 'Bollywood' films ... that revel in its own idiocity ... that are so groundbreakingly formulaic / anti-formulaic that they are a genre by themselves ... not necessarily great films or top films. It was tough but I put down a few ... readers, fans, ACs - feel free to add a few.

1) Sholay - This is one those few films that would make it to ANY list on Hindi movies ... its so epic-al on all levels.

2) Deewaar - (The old one obviously) Amitabh, Shash-man, Maaaaa ... so many brilliant one-liners that I simply cannot pick one at the time, but am and always will be stunned by its super-awesomeness. I think the one that has AB expressing his issues with standing in a line is my personal winner though.

3) Hum - I LOVED this movie. (As far as I know, Meg is the only one who has also expressed deep-felt pyaar for this one) Its just so utterly random ...

4) Amar Akbar Anthony - Aww.

(Yes - I do realize that every movie till now on this list has starred AB ... am thinking ... thinking ...)

5) Ooohhh ... we just revisited this movie on the night I was leaving for Germany ... Vishwatma OR Tridev - Ultimate cornball popcorn munching downmarket lowgrade totally satisfying Bollywoodian crap.

6) Om Shanti Om - I know, I expect brickbats for this one ... but guys - this was for me ... THE SRK film. He was big, loud, brash, obnoxious and the film had everything! Tragedy, romance, drama, action, comedy, ghosts, music, retro, one-liners, SRK and dinchak dance moves.

7) Kuch Kuch Hota Hain - Only include this because it was similar in vein to entry 6. Had everything in terms of the typical Bollywood checklist. After this I regard all the K items performed by KJo as weak wannabes with not enough masala in them to make them B'wood, and not enough of anything else to make them H'wood or any other wood for that matter.

8) Khalnayak - The deadly Dutt v/s the jaunty Jackie ... for the first (OK, I'm kidding) time we eagerly cheered on the bad guy in this cop versus bad-guy-who-will-eventually-turn-good-but-anyway-has-heart-of-gold ... and of course Madhuri politely letting us know what exactly ARE the contents of her choli did much to make this movie a sure-fire Bollywood classic.

9) Lagaan - I know what you're thinking. No way. But guys, this is what true Bollywood does ... take an unreal situation to us (for eg. mother & sister captured by mob boss / nephew held over vat of acid / uncle thrown into lake of crocodiles / waiting for rain to hit our crops) and make it so real that we're rooting for goodness to prevail. I loved this film simply because I think Aamir put in every B'wood button that he could to make sure the film was also commercially viable. Critical Climax? Check. Last minute prayer song to God? Check. Hindu-Muslim Unity point? Check. Bad guys so bad that you want to clonk them on the head with their own weapons? Check. Blonde Item chick? Umm :-) ... check-ish. Silly desi girl for scoring brownie points in the home-girls-better-than-firang-girls department? Check. Read the checklist, disbelievers!!!

10) Mr India - Again, a masterful mingling of dhak-dhaks and exploding teddy-bears that made this film relevant and watchable by anyone with a brain count of 0.1.

Phew. I know this is most definitely not definitive, but oh well. I need to watch some Bollywood now!!!

Cheerio ... and I see the sun outside. There is a God.

Sush