Despite major roadblocks in production, Deepa Mehta’s Water is completed and slated for release in theatres this month. The story is about Hindu widows who live together in a “Widow House” in Varanasi during the time of Gandhi’s liberation of India. Widespread protests erupted in India, almost halting the filming of the production. Undeterred, filming was completed in Sri Lanka. So excited to see this.

After watching Spike Lee’s Inside Man last weekend (great movie) I have been listening to the track which opened and closed the film. The track, Chaiyya Chaiyya, is from the 1998 Hindi movie Dil Se and was one of the many soundtracks I have memorized by heart due to my parents’ undying love of Hindi filmi music. I have not been able to stop listening to the song all week and thought I’d post it here if anyone saw the movie and wanted the song. I have made the original 1998 version available for 48 hours here. Click the image above to watch the sequence in the movie where the song was sung. On top of a moving train. Yeah. Bollywood.

The opening title sequence for the movie, Thank You For Smoking is so wonderful with graphics reminiscent of vintage cigarette packaging. Each introduction gets it’s own “brand” and the typography is so beautiful. For more type nerdiness, check out this post on Typographica where each typeface in the opener is credited. I can’t wait to see this movie.

Idlewild takes place at a speakeasy in the South in the thirties and stars the men of Outkast: André Benjamin and Big Boi (aka Antwan A. Patton). The story is of the relationship between a piano player (Benjamin) and the club’s showy manager, played by Patton. The movie also stars Ving Rhames, Terrence Howard, Paula Patton, Patti LaBelle, Cicely Tyson and Macy Gray among others. Outkast also did the music for the movie which, judging by the trailer, sounds amazing. Can’t wait.