Frames of Reference

Every Frame Evokes a Memory, and Every Memory is Worth Sharing

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about

My name is Uday Nandivada and I am an Indian American in my sixties – a part time poet and a full-time movie fan. Movies, especially Hindi movies have shaped many things in my life. My celebrations begin with a song, and my disappointments end with one. I grew up in a literary family, which perhaps influenced my choice of movies. But it was movies that shaped my view of the world. Encouraged by some friends I started “Frames Of Reference” as a place for fellow cinephiles like me to gather and take this nostalgic trip along with me.

Memories of Bollywood

Memories of growing up with Bollywood movies is what drove me to create this blog. This page is where I share those memories.

Memories are a wonderful thing. They can make you smell roses in December, as the poet said. I have started this Blog to capture my memories of Bollywood.

In the seventh decade of my life, I have seen and experienced a lot – joy, bliss, love, anger, frustration, purpose, ennui, pride, shame, warmth, cold – if there’s an emotion that has a word to express it, I have felt it. With a beautiful wife and two wonderful children, I have few reasons to complain. I have traveled the world, met and befriended some wonderful human beings, and I would like to think that by and large I have led a purpose driven life.

I was born in Bengaluru, lived in six states in India and three countries outside India, and have reasonable fluency in three languages, and rudimentary conversational skills in two more. I have dabbled in Telugu poetry, participated peripherally in some cultural and socio-political movements, and I have contributed my share to the on-line squabbles during the early days of usenet groups.

Call me vain, call me delusional, but my life has been as much of a blockbuster as any Bollywood movie – be it the Yash Chopra “chocolate hero” genre or the Salim Javed “angry young man” genre. After all, as Aldous Huxley said, “Every Man’s Memory is His Private Literature”,

So I am taking this opportunity to convert my memories into a technicolor presentation. I hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I am doing while creating them.

What are your favorite Bollywood memories? tell us in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

My Memories

  • Abhi Na Jao Chod Kar! – In Memory of Asha Tai!

    Asha Bhosle — the voice that danced through seven decades of Indian cinema — passed away on April 12, 2026, in Mumbai at the age of 92. Her departure closes a chapter of music history that began in the shellac era and stretched into the digital age, a journey that defined the soundscape of Bollywood…

  • Abhi Na Jao Chod Kar! – In Memory of Asha Tai!

    Asha Bhosle — the voice that danced through seven decades of Indian cinema — passed away on April 12, 2026, in Mumbai at the age of 92. Her departure closes a chapter of music history that began in the shellac era and stretched into the digital age, a journey that defined the soundscape of Bollywood…

  • Born in Hollywood, Twisted by Bollywood

    Folk singer Pete Seeger once said that plagiarism is basic to every culture. Every film industry borrows. Some call it homage, some call it inspiration, some call it “creative adaptation,” and Bollywood — with its swagger, sentiment, and song‑soaked heart — has always had a special talent for taking a Hollywood skeleton and dressing it…

  • Lost in Translation, Found in Bollywood!

    The year was 1973, and the place was Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Our family had just moved from Hyderabad to Gwalior. My admission to the Kendriya Vidyalaya was almost in jeopardy due to my poor performance in Hindi during the admission interview.

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