My current vintage obsession: Helen

Helen in Caravan (1971)

Vix definitely mentioned Helen ages ago on her blog, so that’s where I first heard of her, and she’s become my latest vintage obsession. It’s probably at least a little because she’s a mix of Burmese, Indian and European, like my grandfather’s family, and like them had to move from Burma/Myanmar to India during the Second World War. My family came to England, but Helen's stayed in India, and between the 1950s and 1970s became one of the most famous dancers in Bollywood, dubbed ‘Queen of the Nautch Girls’. Nautch is an old performance art; the dancers were almost legendarily alluring. I don't know enough about it to know if they all moved like Helen, but to be nicknamed Queen of them all is no mean feat.

So I watched my first few YouTube clips of Helen to see what all the fuss was about. And ay caramba, her routines are hot sauce – I can imagine a Eurasian burlesque artiste could do worse than make up a routine in homage to her. Fan magazines dubbed her 'The H-Bomb'. Also, she is giving me major makeup goals. And jewellery goals. But not clothes goals. I wouldn't do that to you.

Helen in China Town (1962)

And seeing the clips has started to stir a wider interest in retro Bollywood in me. The rock’n’roll numbers in 1950s movies, where the ladies rock circle skirts and saris with equal aplomb, the swinging fringes on the hip chicks in 1960s ones… In the ’70s Bollywood chaps were rocking a white flared suit well ahead of John Travolta, and people who know more about dancing than I do can argue over who boogied better. Okay, some of the dance routines, especially in the 1970s, are gloriously cheesy, an explosion of glitter and cheekiness and dodgy moustaches you wouldn't usually expect anywhere but Las Vegas, but they're still utterly brilliant. If you're going to be 1970s, be exuberantly 1970s, I say – be Studio 54 and Biba, be glam rock and Cher, be Boney M, don't be The Winter of Discontent. BE MORE BOLLYWOOD.

So now I need to see if we have any old Hindi films on cable – there could be all sorts of channels I've never explored, and there might be some movies in the 'On demand' option. I don’t know if Mr Robot would be prepared to watch a whole movie with me, mind. He doesn't like musicals in English. Though musicals in English don't usually have a Helen.

More from Caravan.

Perhaps I’ll have something other than art deco architecture to look out for when I’m in Mumbai. No, not Helen herself - I'm not some mad stalker - but perhaps there'll be a cinema showing one of her films, a Mumbai arthouse cinema. It'd be great to see a classic film in that setting.