Customer Reviews

Bombay Talkie [VHS]

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Bombay Talkie is a highly implausible tale about an obnoxious English woman who, in a nutshell, drives two younger Indian men mad with desire. It's all about her and her sick obsessions, and sheds very little light on the inner workings of the Bollywood film industry. This is disappointment number one.
Disappointment number two is the fact that the giant typewriter dance scene featuring Helen, hinted at in the included documentary "Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girls," is not really part of the feature. In fact, you get less of it there than in the documentary, just a tiny snippet of the rehearsals. What a waste -- one minute of Helen is worth an hour of Jennifer Kendal any day!
Worst of all is disappointment number three. I bought this DVD not so much for the feature but to acquire "Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girls." It is included, but it was mastered from a terribly scratched-up print with no attempt at restoration. As a result, most of the documentary is all but unwatchable.
Stay away from this lemon of a feature, and let's hope that a restored version of "Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girl" is released separately some day!

Ah but check the "Theatrical Release Date", yes indeed: January 1, 1970. Hence the almost unfunny stiltedness of the dialogue and apparent de rigueur Oxford accents all round. (Were they dubbed? I dont see why, but some of the chat between hero and writer is wayy out of synch with their lips). The strained and stiff Jennifer Kendal plays Brit authoress out in Bombay to *maybe* write about its movie industry. She falls for and has it off with real-life hubby hunky Shashi Kapoor, which makes for the convincing intensity missing everywhere else. Equally unconvincingly, the Kapoor chap leaves glam wife to cavort with la K, which apart from some deep kissing largely consists of being told not to be a bore and to have another drink. Kendal looks and acts like a nervous (but terribly well bred) bird, but now and then the camera catches a good angle and one glimpses the prettier and more accomplished Felicity. I can't work out what the relationship is - elder sis? cradle-snatched mum? - but it's damn'd distracting.

Rescued by interesting interview with Merchant, Ivory and Jhabvala and excellent 30-min documentary on Nautch hoofer queen, Helen. But as i say, cave the date - coz it *doesn't* wear its datedness well.