If you are one of the two or three people who have not seen it yet, first watch the Crazy Indian Video…Buffalaxed!* video on YouTube.
And then watch the “Sarah Palin and John McCain” version at Funny or Die.
Enjoy! or be very very scared. You decide.
*Song is “Kalluri Vaanil” from the Tamil film Pennin Manathai Thottu starring Prabhu Deva and Jaya Sheel
I really need to see more Tanuja. I like her in everything I see her in (Jewel Thief, Do Chor, Haathi Mere Saathi, for example) even if I haven’t particularly liked the movie much (Mere Jeevan Saathi, for example). It holds true for this film too: Tanuja is lovely and fun to watch. Despite a lively soundtrack from RD Burman and Amitabh’s lambi presence, the film really only lit up when she was onscreen. The story is ho-hum, and there’s all the usual overacting and melodrama, but she makes it watchable somehow.
There are only two things which give me *good* nostalgia for the 70s: ABBA music and Hindi movies. I spent the latter half of that decade wearing hideously patterned Qiana shirts, sporting feathered hair and fighting the tendency of my stomach to overhang hip-hugger bellbottoms, all the while living in rural Indiana and wishing I were dead, so that is actually saying something.
I suppose if I had cable television and thus access to reruns of the original “Starsky & Hutch” television shows that might do it too, but I don’t. I love Laxmikant Pyarelal’s music in this film, though, especially the opening title and background music (although the songs are fab too). It’s funkadelic 1970s, all the way, and reminds me of the opening themes to those 1970s cop shows.
My beloved Shammi is 77 today! Many happy returns of the day, and wishing him good health and happiness for another year!
Edited to add: Suhan sent me this link to a nice interview with him. She also informs me that it’s Helen’s birthday too! So janam din mubarek ho to you too, Helen!
This film is truly a Shammi showcase. He spends half of it disguised as an elderly professor, and very convincingly too, I might add. It’s one of his best films from an acting standpoint, and he is quite restrained throughout—although still irrepressibly irresistible and charming. Good performances from everyone else in the cast, lovely hit songs by Shankar Jaikishan and locations in beautiful Darjeeling are the juicy cherries on top of this bit of romantic fluff.
This thing called “collyrium” pops up in subtitles all the time. According to all the dictionaries I have looked through, it means eye salve or eye medication. Is that what it means in Hindi film subtitles too? Because that makes no sense here:
While writing my list of favorite Helen songs recently, I was reminded to look for this film and to my great joy I found it—yay, eBay! I have long loved Kalyanji-Anandji’s music from it; with a substantial part for Helen as well, and lovely Mumtaz starring, how could it possibly go wrong? Well, it doesn’t—and it does. It’s a very enjoyable film through the first half, but then it runs off the rails (more on that later). But the music is sublime, Mumtaz and Jeetendra are cute together and Helen gets to play a benevolent benefactor instead of her usual vampy bad-girl roles. There’s even an attempt to give a woman’s viewpoint its due! Ooh-la-la.
I had long ago decided that two or three 1980s-era Hindi disco movies was probably enough for me. But in the interests of a well-rounded filmi education, I needed to see a Kumar Gaurav movie; after all, he is Rajendra Kumar’s son and Sanjay Dutt’s brother-in-law. So I braved this one, and was surprised to find it quite sweet and very watchable.
Largely this was thanks to the afore-mentioned star son himself: he is just as cute as a button, making his character one you can really root for. Especially when he suffers under a Ma who really should have thought twice before she brought children into the world and Saeed Jaffrey (love him!) as the villain of the piece. I even actually liked the songs (by Biddu), although Indian disco is not usually my cup of tea.
I’m reading reviews of Hello (which are pretty much universally dismissive) and it occurs to me that it sounds like Bollywood has made a call-center film which indulges in what I was afraid this one might: namely, cultural cliches and glib stereotypes.
Fortunately, this film avoids that. Although told from a definite American point of view, it is very equal-handed on the outsourcing issue, and, most importantly, affectionate and accurate in presenting the Indian characters and culture. It’s a sweet, funny film and everyone should see it. It also made me homesick for India, if that’s possible when you are a gori mem from the U.S.
Can anyone tell me who this actress is? Hint: She has appeared on my blog before, and her sister is a very famous actress.
Here’s another screen shot (I couldn’t find a time when she wasn’t making faces).
MemsaabStory 
