Bollywood Banter

Well, not quite. But in the bare scalp-inducing world of Bollywood DVD releases, it can be a close call at times. Take this instance of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge - a classic film reviewed elsewhere in this blog that has just recently seen its fourth incarnation on our versatile friend’s format and for a fourth time disappoints.

   
The fab(ulously awful) four.

Shrugging, I assumed it probably wouldn’t be until the next generation of HD discs take off (whenever that’ll be) until we see DDLJ actually looking like the splendid film it is. Then I discovered a cheap, no-frills VCD from India that bewilderingly looked far superior to any version I had previously seen on a home video format. Gorgeous colour and splendid contrast; if this had been a DVD, I’d forgive the cropped video, bog-standard mono and lack of English subs. But as it is, this is still a VCD and while it would look amazing over at YouTube, on your telly it still can’t cut it. Nonetheless, hope for the future that Raj and Simran will one day shine on a TV screen as they did and continue to do in theatres.

(For more info on these releases, have a gander at the screenshot comparison review found at my new site BollywoodOnDVD.com, which has geeky technical info aplenty.)