It goes without saying but I love movies; if eight year old me knew about Letterboxd, she would have seized her parents’ laptops and created an account. The username would have been something like @cutecookie27 (my dream alias when I wanted to make a YouTube channel back in 2014).

I’d been thinking about what to write for a while. I’m not much of a non-fiction writer, I say as I actively do reviews, but I wanted to try something different. Essentially, I’d been wanting to do something with the overload of information I have. I’ve gotten the comment (and most like me probably have as well) that there’s nothing useful to knowing a lot about movies, books, tv, pop culture, music. Yes, it’s crucial to understanding the world around us, but now I can finally use the junk in my brain to write this piece. This is the first of many, I hope. This idea’s been playing in my head for quite a while now–the same old dance, music and movies.

So: here is the beginning of Aditi Acharla using her movie and music knowledge to double bill them together! (Title work in progress).

I was unsure what to start off with, but I thought a good entry to these complementary pairings would be my Letterboxd Four.

Note: please feel free to contact me and tell me your top four, I love knowing others, my username is @anatomyof.

OM SHANTI OM (2007) (dir. Farah Khan)

This is my first memory–huddled up with my parents in front of the living room TV in 2008-2009. This movie is the root of my love for movies, and probably music. It’s very fitting for the plot actually; a small-time actor falling in love with a famous actress and their reincarnation. Om Shanti Om is a love letter to Bollywood specifically. All lights, camera, action, vivid colour thrown everywhere, the most dazzling costumes and one of the best soundtracks ever. Fun fact: it’s also one of the only movies to make me cry.

OST wise, you must listen to Main Agar Kahoon by Vishal-Shekhar, Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal. A duet, this song is beautifully melancholic, reminiscent of a music box come to life. The music video is also worth watching. If I could keep one non-personal memory for the rest of my life, it might be this music video. A film lover's dream–the main characters sneak into a film set after dark, toying with the rear projections while they sit in the dark, the love interest lit in illuminating white and blue, dancing.

Personally, I’d pair the movie with Maria by Leonard Bernstein, Jim Bryant, Johnny Green and other cast members of West Side Story where the song comes from. A Western music for a Bollywood one. Other than that, the same crescendoing desire in Om Shanti Om is echoed in this tune, the want for the ‘perfect girl’ no matter the circumstances.

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014) (dir. Ana Lily Amirpour)

Maybe I am a bit of a romantic, no matter how unconventional romance is portrayed here. I first watched this towards the end of the first lockdown in 2020, as a perpetually tired and bored fifteen year old. An Iranian vampire movie, entirely in black and white with a strange girl and a cat, it kind of checks all of my boxes. For anyone that’s seen it, you know what I’m talking about, but for those who haven’t–there’s this one specific scene between the male and female lead that just changes your life (no spoilers, go see it for yourself). The desire in that scene lingers everywhere, dark, a bit gothic, and a bit innocent.

The record playing behind this moment is a song encapsulating young, angsty romance; Death by White Lies. Regardless, I know this tune as one of the most beautiful wrapped inside heavy guitar and lyrics almost universal to anyone.

My personal choice follows something similar albeit much softer; Fire by Les Loges Noires. The almost shoe-gaze instrumentals continually build up without any vocals, the guitar becomes more solid near the halfway point. Like something in a grungy coming of age movie, it would slip seamlessly into A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night as if part of its original soundtrack.

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992) (dir. David Lynch)

Ever since I watched Twin Peaks during the very beginning of 2020 it’s never left my mind and I needed to devour every part of that world. This movie has so obviously integrated itself into every aspect of my life: from my review of FWWM after Lynch passed, to the posters in my room, to my dad now being a super fan too. The movie specifically keeps looping in my thoughts–dark, a bit sultry, enveloped in pulsing red but overall horrifically depressing. It’s not necessarily a fun thing to think about, but it’s incredibly beautiful.

To encapsulate, my first recommendation is by Angelo Badalamenti of course. As the composer of this film and the Twin Peaks series, it’s only standard. This song is on the sadder side, still hazy and slow, located at the very end of the movie to round things off; The Voice of Love.

My personal recommendation would be Laura by Bats For Lashes, if anything–for the lyrics solely. Many fans of the song associate it with the Laura Palmer, “Laura, you’re more than a superstar,” a heavy piano ballad with low strings.

CLUE (1985) (dir. Jonathan Lynn)

Dare I say this is one of the funniest movies…ever? I think everyone should watch Clue at least once. For lovers of board games and murder mysteries and Tim Curry, it has everything; Miss Scarlet wearing an iconic off-shoulder dress, storms overlooking gloomy mansions and entertaining chase scenes topped off with quotable dialogue. “Husbands should be like Kleenex; soft, strong, disposable.” If anyone watches this, they must provide me with running commentary and a 200 word review of it afterwards–much appreciated. This movie also reminds me of my friends, every time we get together, always playing Cluedo and Articulate.

For music, I’m straying a bit from picking an OST, primarily because I couldn’t find one nor could I remember any soundtrack (the least memorable thing in the movie). Think of jazz, spooky yet jaunty (the closest word I could think of), swinging and swinging and swinging.

The first is Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman that’s one of the biggest staples of big band jazz. The music is roaring, yet still has an eerie chord to it. Everyone’s dancing to this. Some are running around a mansion, for a dinner party they were mysteriously invited to, trying to locate a gunshot ringing in the middle of nowhere.

The second is Amad by Duke Ellington. While it starts off slowly with lingering cymbals drawing listeners in, when the brass instruments begin, the song erupts into harmonic noise. Inspired by his group’s tour of Asia and as part of the Far East Suite, it contains some obvious ‘orient’ elements. Yet the piece is fun, inciting chaos that feels in line with Clue. You’d be listening to this play on the gramophone and all of a sudden the lights turn off and the maid is dead!

Hopefully/I hope that this piece has [given] you a few recommendations and I also hope that I’ve found those who already love these movies/songs. Regardless of what, feel free to let me know! As this might hopefully become an ongoing thing, if you have any ideas for hyper-specific, niche ‘genres’ (think Arthurian adventures or movies set during one party), please, please reach me on instagram @aditi.ach. There is more to come xx