lystn

Over the course of a career that spanned three vastly different decades, Manmohan Desai revolutionized Hindi cinema - not by inventing something new, but by knitting the most recognizable bits of the very old into a one-size-fits-all comforter dubbed a masala movie. His work at the pinnacle of his creative years are classic Bollywood: Raampur ka Lakshman, Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Roti, Dharam Veer, Chacha Bhatija, Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony, Suhaag, Naseeb, Coolie, Mard...a truly astonishing ten years. Most people will agree that Amar Akbar Anthony was the ultimate masala movie ever made; our panel on the podcast today will testify that Mard is possibly one of the most camp movies ever filmed. The classic Desai film is always fun, patriotic, and family-friendly with wink-nudges for the adults. Everyone is the movie suffers through multiple horrifying incidents but at the end of three hours it all ends happily. They have become a part of the fabric of Indian life and have been remade into other languages, referenced in newspaper articles, and studied and cited.So we sat down with known Desai-lover Angela of the Post-Punk Cinema Club to discuss the women in his movies - from the classic all-suffering Maa to the kickass criminal chicks, the virgin prostitute to the nice girls forgotten in all the action. And of course, in true Masala Zindabad fashion, along the way we found the time to detour on to subjects like Shashi Kapoor's lovemaking skills vs. Amitabh Bachchan's, a short investigation into Dharmendra's underwear (again), and how religion leads to Bollywood fandom. You're welcome. You can listen to Masala Zindabad: Manmohan Desai a the Women by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on iTunes, or downloading here.