March 8, 2008
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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Posted in Hindi movies |
29 Comments »
March 6, 2008
Pouring rain today
She had me groomed yesterday
Ha ha! serves her right
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Posted in Gemma |
7 Comments »
March 4, 2008
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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Posted in Hindi movies |
24 Comments »
March 3, 2008
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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Posted in Hindi movies |
20 Comments »
February 29, 2008
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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Posted in Hindi movies |
27 Comments »
February 28, 2008
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!
Posted in Hindi movies, Trivia time |
14 Comments »
February 26, 2008
Can anyone tell me who this lovely lady is? She was “Maa” in films from the 1950s into the 1980s.
v9y knew the answer: it is Mumtaz Begum (or Begam). If I had an Indian mother I might want it to be her!
Posted in Hindi movies, Trivia time |
2 Comments »
February 24, 2008
This movie is so dreadful that I normally would throw it in the “I’ll never watch this one again on purpose” bin and not give it another thought. But it’s interesting in that it has three actors I really like generally (Dharmendra, Rehman and Nutan) and I’m sort of amazed that they would DO this film. And, it’s a perfect example of what I find hard to tolerate sometimes on my journey to watch every Hindi movie ever made (at least the ones on DVD). People often ask me what I don’t like about Hindi movies; here’s your answer.
This should have been my first clue that I would hate it, except I didn’t realize yet that by “Man” they really meant “men” and had forgotten to add “women don’t count” at the end.
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Posted in Hindi movies |
37 Comments »
February 24, 2008
“Experts believe that now that Fidel has resigned, he will either be succeeded by his brother, Raul, or by his idiot son, Fidel W. Castro.”
-David Letterman
Posted in Uncategorized |
1 Comment »
February 24, 2008
I got some gourmet dog cookies for Gemma. They are delicious. They taste like ginger snaps, and go perfectly with a cup of chai.
Should I worry that I’m eating my dog’s cookies? And don’t want to share?
Posted in Gemma |
4 Comments »
MemsaabStory 