From an Indian Lodge

Why 2006 should be the year of Raj Kapoor, aka something I've had from Greencine for way too long

For Westerners to appreciate Bollywood, there is a gap that must be crossed. "Once you get past the overdose of kitsch (the extreme length of the movies, the pseudo-silent movie acting of Shahrukh Khan, etc.), they're actually pretty entertaining." However, it's interesting that the farther back you go in Bollywood history, the smaller that gap was. The one Guru Dutt film I've seen was as billed neorealism in Bollywood. Raj Kapoor was Welles, Chaplin, and neorealism. Raj Kapoor isn't as foreign as Bollywood now. That is to say, even with Bollywood films now that I like, I understand that I'm not the intended audience. However, Kapoor seems to me to be universal. And to make the case for his greatness, my words will be entirely inadequate so here are some captures from Barsaat (1949).

posted by Erik Gregersen @ 1/10/2006