Advertisement
X

Hyde and Seek

We are having an Indian summer in a manner of speaking. The city has gone Bollywood crazy. Selfridges, that retailing giant on Oxford Street, began it all by selling kitsch from Mumbai at outrageous prices. There were no takers for Dimple Kapadia’s hideous bed. The Victoria and Albert Museum is currently having a fine exhibition of Indian film posters. The selection is not particularly large, 70 in all, but it’s a good one. There is one from Mehboob’s Aan with Nimmi reclining seductively and Prem Nath towering over her. At the other end of this huge hoarding we have Dilip Kumar nose to nose with Nadira. Our film poster artists are in a league of their own. They owe nothing to anyone. It’s our one genuinely original modern art form.

The National Film Theatre has also got into the act. It is paying tribute to Satyajit Ray. For the next two months, it will screen all of Ray’s films and I mean all. Has anyone even heard of his The Zoo/The Menagerie? The festivities kicked off with Pather Panchali. Then there is Bombay Dreams which has come but not gone. Not yet anyway.

Show comments
US