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 Laura Witkowski

Bollywood Ear Candy: Yeh Mera Dil

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Don 1978

by Laura Witkowski

Scenario: You’re in a hotel room with one of the world’s biggest criminal masterminds. You’ve managed to sneak away just long enough to call the police to tell them his whereabouts. The police are on their way – but the guy is getting antsy to leave. You have to keep him there until the police arrive, but how? Well, the answer is obvious: stall him with a seductive song and dance! That’s the basic plot info you need to know to truly enjoy this clip from the 1978 blockbuster film Don.

You can tell that Don (played by Bollywood mega-celebrity Amitabh Bachchan) is a world class bad-ass by his blazer alone. Only a man like Don could get away with wearing that. Also maybe Kanye West. Fun fact: Remember in Slumdog Millionaire where the little boy dives into a quicksand-like cesspool of human excrement and then runs like a poo-covered antelope to get the autograph of his favorite movie star? That movie star was Amitabh Bachchan. So the next time you say you’d do anything to meet your favorite celebrity, really think about the truthfulness of that statement. If you rule out poo diving, you’re not a true fan.

So is the song sounding vaguely familiar to you? That’s because the Black Eyed Peas sampled parts of it for ‘Don’t Phunk With My Heart’ But I’ll take the moves and charm of Kamini (played by Helen – and yes, she only goes by her first name) over Fergie any day. I especially love the way Kamini handles herself at 1:20 sec. That’s when she notices a stray bullet on the floor in between Don’s shoes. It must’ve fallen there when she hurriedly emptied his gun while she was calling the police. You know, in case he tried to shoot her for calling the police. Oops! The look on her face and the drop-to-the-carpet-crawl-and-push move she employs to get close enough to flick the bullet under the bed are priceless. What does Fergie have on that? Pants peeing? That’s what I thought.

Also, just like in Hollywood, Bollywood is big on the remake. So there’s a 2006 version of Don as well. Though a fun modern action film, it does lack the special kitch factor that only the 1978 version can provide. However, it is kind of fun to watch both versions of ‘Yeh Mera Dil’ back to back. In the modern version, Shahrukh Khan plays Don, and Kareena Kapoor is Kamini. If anybody wants to make me an animated GIF of some of Kareena’s dance moves (the taking-off-my-coat-robot dance at :27 or the stand-on-the-bed-and-shake-your-rump boogie at 3:09 for instance), I’ll be your best friend.

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