Yesteryear trendsetters

If you, like me, have been wondering what was totally hip in 1973’s filmi world, look no further!

I am sadder than I can possibly express that this gem is not in color. The commentary almost makes up for it: Who is “a gajra-wearing ‘idli'”? Or wears “chest-hair displaying velvet trouser-suits”? Or always remains the same—“paunch and all”?

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I know a lot of you out there won’t care about anything on that page except Shashi’s centrally-parted Baba-Cut, so here you go:

shashi_babacut

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This is purely for ME:

shammishocks1

Actually, I really want that kurta and not just because Shammi is in it.

Posted on January 31, 2009 at 4:16 pm in Hindi movies, Vintage Bollywood images | RSS feed You can skip to the end and leave a reply.

Tags: filmi style, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Stardust annual 1973

34 Comments to “Yesteryear trendsetters”

filmigirl
January 31, 2009 at 5:10 pm

I think I’ll just time travel through the pictures to 1973 – it looks like a rocking party! And CHINTOO!!! How cute!

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the post-punk cinema club
January 31, 2009 at 6:12 pm

1973: THE YEAR SHASHI GREW HIS HAIR LONG

A SPECIAL YEAR IN HISTOREEEEEEEEEE

BABA CUT ZINDABAAAAAAAD!

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Cindy
January 31, 2009 at 6:53 pm

Are the straps on Faryal’s legs part of her dress or part of her shoes? Or, is the whole outfit connected together? That’s quite the look.

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memsaab
January 31, 2009 at 7:16 pm

filmigirl: Chintu thinks he looks older with a mouche. So.deluded. :)

ppcc: Yes, the Baba-Cut in closeup just for you (and Beth)

Cindy: I still have not figured that ensemble out. I am thinking that the dress is connected to the straps are connected to the shoes. Hey, why not?

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bollyviewer
January 31, 2009 at 7:29 pm

“gajra wearing idli“!!! But she still looks gorgeous. And ’73 was when Shashi started using curlers? *adding fact to growing archive of Shashi trivia* And did AB’s mom always accompany the B’s everywhere (it looks like Teji Bachchan with Amit-Jaya in the first pic)? I’ve seen some other pics of the couple from that era and she’s always with them!

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dustedoff
February 1, 2009 at 12:42 am

Welcome back, memsaab!

And hey, I do think Jaya looks rather glamorous in that hairdo in the first picture, even though the clips are RATHER huge.

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memsaab
February 1, 2009 at 9:01 am

bollyviewer: She does, but I think I’d be a little insulted by being called an “idli” (although I am sort of white and plump)…I’ve seen Teji Bachchan in a lot of photos with those two as well from early on in their courtship and marriage.

dustedoff: Thanks :) Those clips make me think she’s in the middle of a hairdressing session—here in the States they are used mostly by hair stylists in the salon while they’re working on your hair (they take them out when they are done)…I wish so much that I could see her maxi dress in color though. She had such a cute little figure too!

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Beth
February 1, 2009 at 11:52 am

FAAAAAAAAAAB! It’s like reading a 16-year-old’s scrapbook! There’s something about the hand-written comments, arrows, and doodles, that makes this feel so personal – and therefore even more fun than, say, Bollywood Fugly :)

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memsaab
February 1, 2009 at 11:57 am

I know!!! Some of it is so very catty in a teenaged sort of way too :) So much fun. How I love vintage Bollywood magazines!

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harvey
February 1, 2009 at 12:24 pm

welcome back and with such a vengeance! Wow!!
Shashi looks really great and so does dev!
Hema surely needed a stylist.
“Hep on the screen and idli off it” applies to many south indian actresses in the 80s as well. for e.g., Sridevi!

BTW what is Zeenat wearing? American? What?
Rishi Kapoor looks like a roadside mawali.
Kaka’s lungis are a hit. A pity that they never really established themselves. I had a short spell in the 80’s, where I used to wear lungis at home. Utter catastrophe!

I remember seeing Kajol in a similar saree like Tanuja in the pic.
Faryal sizzles? She looks like a cheap hooker there. Otherwise in the movies, she sure had style.

I also want Shammi’s Kurta, without him in it and 5 sizes smaller.

Questions to the more enlightened ones:
Who is this guy wiht Sanjay Khan and Neetu Singh? What are they two doing together?
Who is Gulshan?
Who is Sharad Kumar?
Who are in the pic left to the pic with Anil Dhawan and REkha?

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memsaab
February 1, 2009 at 12:38 pm

LOL harvey, you have a lot to say! (so did I when I read it). Great commentary :)

The guy with Sanjay Khan and Neetu is Madan Puri! Rocking his “long” hair, ha ha :) I think Gulshan and Sharad Kumar—like Mahendra Sandhu—are failed would-be stars who were a big hit to magazine editors but not so much with actual paying audiences. I’ve only ever seen them in magazines of the era. And I *think*—although I would not stake even $2 on it—that the photo next to Rekha’s is of Neetu and maybe Jeetendra? Neetu had hair like that and wore “mini-minis” as the caption says.

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Suhan
February 1, 2009 at 1:24 pm

I’m with Harvey, Kaka’s lungis rock! He used to wear them quite a bit (silk from the looks of it) from what I remember in the ‘Bombay Superstar’, ‘Daag’, etc. Tres elegant :-)

Velvet trousers for heaven’s sake both on Kaka and AB!

The language sounds like vintage Shobha De if this is from Stardust Memsaab?

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memsaab
February 1, 2009 at 6:03 pm

Ah, velvet. It never goes away.

Yes, could be Shobha De; it’s from my Stardust Annual 1973!

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Another Kiran in NYC
February 1, 2009 at 10:14 pm

The campfullness is terrific! HEE HEE

Things dont get better than this commentary.

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V. Manohar
February 2, 2009 at 2:02 am

Super Star Rajesh Khanna yesteryears has set lot of trends like his hair style, curta & pyjama and his dressess

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harvey
February 2, 2009 at 6:29 am

Dear Memsaab thanx for the compliment!
BTW Mahendra Sandhu’s Agent Vinod is being remade with Saif Ali Khan in the lead. And now I remember the name of another Sanddhu Film: Jay Vijay.

And I’m off to read the Tarana review.

Last nite remembered an old movie, which I saw on Doordarshan: Thief of Bagdad with Shotgun Sinha and Reeny Roy and Bindu as magician’s moll, who naturally falls in love with Shotgun and Premnath as the evil sorcerer. As a child I fell in love with the movie. Try to dig it up. You will surely fancy it.

And welcome back!

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Anonymous
February 2, 2009 at 6:37 am

Kiran…. this sounds dangerously like me!!! de

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memsaab
February 2, 2009 at 8:44 am

AKNYC: It is just fabulous top to bottom, every page.

V. Manohar: The Super Star is here twice too, along with Dimple! :)

harvey: I am dying to find Agent Vinod (I know I’ve said that on these pages before)…but if I can’t, the new one will have to do. Thief of Baghdad sounds wonderful!!!!! Off I go to look for it!

Anonymous: Though you are speaking to Kiran, I am dying to know which part(s) sound dangerously like you :-D

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bawa
February 2, 2009 at 12:13 pm

Memsaab: here’s a gem of a “long” post relating filmfare awards year by year..tidbits include how Asha Bhosle and the Travancore sisters (your favourites!) had to be dropped in the 2nd year of awards, cos the chief guest (read to find out who!) was a stickler for rules…

Ah the good old days

http://www.hamaraforums.com/lofiversion/index.php/t3477.html

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memsaab
February 2, 2009 at 12:38 pm

I tried to register with hamaraforums a while ago, and though I validated the link they sent me and everything I never was able to log in. Then the forum administrators deleted me. So I decided that hamaraforums was not in my destiny :)

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bawa
February 2, 2009 at 1:05 pm

oooh, sorry. I am actually a member, I was just able to read this without registering (it did ask for registeration for downloading the article).

Although they are summaries of the awards night, the article has some descriptions of outstanding dresses, and what actually went on (apparently in those earlier times there would be surprises like unexpected singers and dancers, and things like RD Burman giving Asha a kiss on receiving best music award from her!!

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Aimee
February 3, 2009 at 11:31 am

Oh my lord. This is the best magazine article I’ve ever seen!

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memsaab
February 3, 2009 at 11:35 am

I just got a bunch more Stardusts from the early 80s. So don’t speak too soon :-D

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Hema
February 5, 2009 at 10:31 pm

“idli” is slang for a South Indian.
gajra is what we wear when we dance….so Hema Malini is a gajra wearing idli as she was the Bharata Natyam Queen first and then an actress.

just fyi on the slang lingo….

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Hema
February 5, 2009 at 10:32 pm

Also I think Shammi ji is and always was the rebel.
But a see through kurta….see through to what would be my question.
Okay and yes, I want that kurta tooooooooooooooooo

Look at that hair, man!

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memsaab
February 6, 2009 at 8:43 am

Hema: Thanks for the slang info (was it what northern Indians called South Indians, or did South Indians call themselves that?)…LOL@see through to what. I don’t care—I would take the kurta with him in it in a nanosecond (although if I had to, I’d take it without him too) :-)

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Hema
February 6, 2009 at 10:05 am

That’s what North Indians call South Indians. I think they have more terms these days but I am not in touch. Perhaps someone else on the list is in the know?

I am not sure if Southies have any slang for Northies either.

On the Shammi note, memsaab, you must see Jawan Mohabbat because it is the quinitessential Shammi fan movie especially with a great song like Jab Mohabbat Jawan Hota Hai….with Asha (who else would make this complete)….to die for..they have a close up of his romantic eyes look and all of us are in a pool on the floor trying to pick ourselves up before we catch a glimpse of him in his pj’s (yum) with hair all messed up (yum yum)….and it goes on and on…

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memsaab
February 6, 2009 at 10:08 am

I have Jawan Mohabbat on VCD, but of course that means no subtitles :( I don’t think it’s ever been put on DVD with subs though. *SAD*

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harvey
February 6, 2009 at 10:42 am

I’ve heard some Southies say parathas to North Indians, but half heartedly.
Idli-Dosa is common slang word, though for the southies. Much more common: Madrasi. Northies just won’t differentiate between the south indians.

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desipolitan
February 13, 2009 at 12:55 am

omg omg omg. The wit, the acidic tongue, the sharp commentary. This is fabulous!!!! The author totally nailed her critique of post-marriage Jaya B. I love it. Thanks for posting and how’d you find this gem?

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desipolitan
February 13, 2009 at 12:58 am

Here’s to flower power lungis. May they soon make a comeback!

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memsaab
February 13, 2009 at 8:42 am

Vintage Stardust magazines are the MOST FUN EVER. :-)

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Suneel Gaur
September 30, 2009 at 12:12 am

DEAR MEMSAAB,
WHY DONT YOU WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT YESTERYEAR STAR BISWAJEET WHO GAVE US MANY AN ENTERTAINING FILM. I GOT THE CHANCE TO MEET HIM IN MUMBAI RECENTLY.
Kind REgards

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ARVIND GULERIA
November 5, 2013 at 2:49 am

I began to take interest in movies during the seventies. Rajesh Khanna was a Superstar, Dharmendra was equally popular, Dev Anand was still around plus a herd of new heroes entered in late sixties, like Amitabh, Navin Nishchal, Shatrughan, Vinod Khanna, Vinod Mehra, Kiran Kumar etc. Shashi Kapur had some following but after a few solo semi hits, he played second fiddle to Amitabh in bigger hits. Now the style part of it, for me style and sophistication then belonged to Dev Anand, Feroz Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapur. Among the non-stylists only Dharmendra the lady killer.

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