More Filmindia stills with captions courtesy the barbed tongue of Baburao Patel:
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June 24, 2009
A cruel man, but fair!
June 19, 2009
So much of gorgeousness
June 16, 2009
Made of awesome: Filmindia and Baburao Patel
Just in time to rescue me from my self-inflicted melodrama trauma come some old Filmindia magazines! If you are unfamiliar with Filmindia, it was one of the first film magazines published in India (if not the first—inaugurated in the 1930s), written and edited by a hilariously acerbic gentleman by the name of Baburao Patel. His caustic wit and sharp tongue are legendary and he spared nobody—politicans and film people alike were all fair game for his particular brand of satirical sarcasm.
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April 23, 2009
Ted Lyons & His Cubs update
My favorite band Ted Lyons & His Cubs have been spotted two more times now (film numbers five and six!) by dustedoff (thank you for letting me know).
They accompany a shimmying Laxmi Chhaya (and some guy with a lampshade on his head) in 1967’s Raat Aur Din which I am dying to see but cannot find anywhere *sob*:
And here they are in 1965’s Mere Sanam (review coming up!):
Incidentally, this guy shows up in the same scene, dancing with Asha. I need to know who he is! Pompadour Man! I see him everywhere.
Someone said once that he might be Vijay or Oscar from the choreographer duo, but I can’t find much about them either.
So many questions, so few answers. Hindi film history is so murky and veiled in mystery. Sigh.
Edited to update: He is in fact Oscar! One mystery solved.
February 22, 2009
Trivia time #36
December 22, 2008
Ranjeet: the hot villain
When I drool over Ranjeet, most people say: “Are you out of your mind?” He is, after all, not a guy you’d take home to mom; but while I never care much for his onscreen deeds, I do love his style—and I think he is really handsome. Although hampered (as all of us were, who were wearing clothes then) by the gaudy fashions of the 70s (and the even more gaudy costumes of masala-heyday Bollywood!), he always manages to loom charismatically large. And what a career! He is in many many many of my favorite films from that era (and beyond), and they are always enhanced by his presence. When I see his name in the credits, I admit it: I let out a fan-girly squeeee.
Sleepy, sleepy bedroom eyes! Black curly hair! I mean, he looks good in pale yellow velour! Accessorized with a black scarf! Not just anybody could pull that off as a bad guy outfit, but Ranjeet does.
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December 9, 2008
Movie Mahal: Manmohan Desai
My friend Asli Jat has done it again! He has sent me this episode of a 1987 series aired on Channel 4 in the UK called Movie Mahal (produced and directed by Nasreen Munni Kabir) and what a treat it is! It’s all about the “Miracle Man” Manmohan Desai—one of my favorite filmmakers, as anybody who’s spent any time here probably knows. He is interviewed, as is Amitabh Bachchan, and the interviews are interspersed with song clips from many of his films. I thought I’d put together a post with audio clips and screen shots since people enjoyed that format for the Bombay Superstar documentary so much. Manmohan Desai is a great deal of fun to listen to; he’s as intense and enthusiastic about his work as you could ever hope for! He calls himself a “dream merchant”—and breaks into song every now and again as well.
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October 8, 2008
Bombay Superstar
In 1973, the BBC documentary series Man Alive aired an episode about the then-reigning superstar of Hindi cinema, Rajesh Khanna, called “Bombay Superstar.” Thanks to my friend and fellow Rajesh fan Asli Jat (who also wrote a helpful synopsis of it for me) I managed to finally get a rare look at it: a copy of a VHS tape digitally converted several times, so quality is not optimal, but it’s easily interesting enough to make it worth seeing.
Reporter Jack Pizzey went to India and managed to interview the reclusive star, along with directors Hrishikesh Mukherjee and J. Om Prakash, actors Mumtaz and Shashi Kapoor, and others. Footage includes his surprise wedding to Dimple Kapadia, the Kashmir location shoot of Aap Ki Kasam and the film premiere of Daag. Besides being a profile of Rajesh, it’s also a fascinating look at the politics and power plays inside the industry, and the struggle it takes to stay at the top.
I’ve included some audio clips so that you can have the pleasure of hearing these legendary film personalities speak, along with some (very poor) screen shots of the program.
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August 25, 2008
Trivia time #30
July 30, 2008
A treasure!
I fortuitously stumbled across this blog while looking for old film images: Papa Ajoba.
It is a fantastic site written by Anuja Ghosalkar, the granddaughter of Ram Tipnis (whom she calls Papa Ajoba, meaning father-grandfather in Marathi). She is chronicling his stories from years of working as a makeup artist in the film industry (he began working in the 1940s). There are also audio interviews with him posted (sadly for me in Marathi and Hindi, but some of you will understand) along with photos and some video. He has a phenomenal memory.
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MemsaabStory 