Last post I promise: And that suggests that in one and half thousand years time a company like Disney might make an animated light fantasy very loosely based on the story of Jesus . . .

So someone in 150 AD who said they believed in Hercules's myths would have got no more than a “huh, okay then” too. We're at that stage I guess!

Just looked this up: the cult of Hercules was still widespread and active into the early Christian era, and early Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria offered historical dates for Hercules believing him as real person. It wasn't until 4th to 6th centuries CE that those cults totally died out.

It must have taken a while for belief in Greek and Roman deities to go from "fact" to "myth." In terms of time, we are less than 150 years since the historical veracity of the Bible was seriously questioned by many in western countries. That's no time at all compared with ancient Greece.

Dare I ask, what did the smell of no. 9 "????" turn out to be?

and the mix of melodrama, camp, and some truly odd choices (a dance sequence that looks like Wuthering Heights–era Kate Bush performing that scene from Flashdance spliced with a montage of truly gagworthy face slapping) produces sometimes riveting entertainment.

The great Anupam Kher steals every scene he’s in. The score is lovely, flecked with classical Indian and Rajasthani folk music,

Coupled with some gorgeous evocations of Rajput paintings, the exotic locations here include the Rajasthan desert, a field in Derbyshire, Alton Towers, and what looks like the travel tavern Alan Partridge lived in next to a dual carriageway.

Having said that, it feels old-fashioned and slow compared with the films Yash and Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar would make with Shah Rukh Kahn starting later in the same decade.

Kimmo Pohjonen's experimental score is also superb.

Stylistically, the film bears the influence of Tarkovsky and Parajanov (and Sofiko Chiaureli is among the cast, adding to the Parajanov connections), but it has a style and breathtaking beauty all of its own, making it heartbreaking that Saakyan died only a few years later, aged 37.

Hope you start feeling better soon!

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