My favorite film
Is Haathi Mere Saathi
Why? Elephant race!!!!
March 17, 2008
Qurbani (1980)
Ah, testosterone. It pours out like a river from the screen during Qurbani. One fistfight leads to another, and another, and another. Punctuating the fisticuffs are doses of male bonding and declarations of undying friendship. Also many many (not necessarily testosterone-related) Poor Decisions are made.
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March 15, 2008
Trivia time #17
March 12, 2008
Saazish (1975)
Today I am going to stray from my usual format for discussing movies. I can’t offer a synopsis of the story, since it was nonsensical and bewildering and I lost the thread about halfway through. The closest I could come would be to say that it’s “The Love Boat” meets every cheesy spy movie/tv show ever made.
But I present this argument: a coherent plot is not always necessary. Despite the lack of one, this film had entertaining goodies a-plenty.
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March 11, 2008
Trivia time #16
In which film does an obviously stuffed bird attack a scantily-clad Jeetendra, and why does it attack him?
Our winners are Nithin and Aspaan, who knew that it’s the film Nagin (1976) and Jeetendra is a snake (in man form) and the bird wants to eat him! A truly baaaaaad film as you might expect, but good fun nonetheless.
March 8, 2008
Nastik (1954)
Let me begin by saying that I loved this film, although it did lose some momentum and direction towards the end. It is essentially a movie about faith (or the lack thereof: nastik = atheist), and unusually for a Hindi movie (at least in my limited experience), contains a fairly strong condemnation of the hypocrisy in organized religion. Comedian IS Johar both wrote and directed the film, and has a supporting role. A strikingly young and handsome Ajit stars alongside the beautiful Nalini Jaywant—who looks a lot like Nargis, and is absolutely wonderful as Rama, the moral center of the story. The real star of the show, though, is the sublime music by Chitalkar Ramchandra (a severely underrated music director in my opinion) with lyrics by the great lyricist and poet Kavi Pradeep.
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March 4, 2008
Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977)
When I see Nasir Husain’s name on a film, I am pretty sure I will be entertained. When I see Rishi Kapoor blowing on a trumpet on a DVD cover, I am pretty sure I will be entertained. When I see go-go boots that I covet within the first 5 minutes of a movie, I am pretty sure I will be entertained. And so it was that I was entertained by Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.
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March 3, 2008
Dulhan Ek Raat Ki (1967)
From the title, I suspected this might be a sad film. Then I discovered it was based on Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” and knew it would be. I haven’t read “Tess” since high school but I vividly remember that it doesn’t end happily. Unless you enjoy tragedy, which I don’t. But—I thought there might be some hope that a Hindi film would give it a less dark twist, being as that happy endings are more their hallmark, especially in the 1960’s. I also needed to get the Dharmendra-Nutan-Rehman bad taste from Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya out of my mouth!
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February 29, 2008
Jugnu (1973)
I needed a respite from a spate of bad/mediocre Hindi movies, so I dragged out some favorites to watch again. Jugnu is one of them. Dharmendra and Hema Malini are dreamy together, and Pran takes a break from villainy. It contains 100% of the Recommended Daily Masala Allowance: it’s almost three hours long and jam-packed with excitement and entertainment. It’s also one of my sister’s favorite films, and there’s no higher recommendation than that!
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February 28, 2008
Trivia time #15
These screenshots show an actress and an actor who play husband and wife in this film. Who are they, and what is the name of the film (hint: the actor plays the title character)?
Our winner is Shweta, with a big assist from v9y and Carla. I thought this was a difficult one, but guess I will need to try harder!
The movie is Halaku (1956). Pran plays Halaku, a Mongol conqueror of Iran, who falls in love with Meena Kumari. This doesn’t go down well with his wife (Veena) or Meena’s beloved (Ajit, in one of his early hero roles, before he became a stock villain). The music by Shankar Jaikishan is beautiful, and Helen and Minoo Mumtaz have a dance together too!
MemsaabStory 