January 22, 2009
For best score, and two for best song: “Jai Ho” and “O Saaya”! He is a genius, after all!
Slumdog also gets nods for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, and sound editing and sound mixing.
Woo-hoo! Ten nominations in all!
Posted in Everything else, Hindi movies |
26 Comments »
January 13, 2009

In honor of India’s own Golden Globe winner Allah Rakha Rahman!
Since Slumdog Millionaire has been finding its feet here and people I know have seen it, I’ve been asked a lot about AR Rahman’s work (ha! all of a sudden I don’t seem so crazy to them!). As I said on my last post (in the comments) I have promised some that I’ll put together a CD of his work. I am pretty unfamiliar with his Tamil film music, so forgive the under-representation of it here; many of you have left recommendations in the comment thread of my last post and I will be looking into them (anyone reading this because they want to know more, should definitely check them out too!). I first heard his music early on in my “Bollywood” career with Lagaan, which I still consider one of his best soundtracks. I loved it so much that I went and got other movies (Taal, Roja, Kandukondain Kandukondain) solely on the basis of his having done the music.
So here is my hastily cobbled-together list (true confession: all my favorites lists are fairly hastily cobbled-together, it seems more honest that way) of my fifteen favorite songs by India’s genius composer (it started as a top ten list, but felt too incomplete and simply was not possible to stop there). And I did have to give myself one rule: only one song to represent each film, although I cheated a bit with #10.
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Posted in Hindi movies, Memsaab's lists |
116 Comments »
January 12, 2009

Was it to see AR Rahman and Anil Kapoor on the red carpet at the Golden Globes?! And winning!!!! Congratulations to all of you for your four well-deserved awards!
***Applauds madly and cheers (would whistle in addition if I could)***
SRK was poised and articulate too in presenting the film as a Best Picture nominee!
Posted in Hindi movies |
58 Comments »
November 13, 2008

I rarely venture into movie theaters any more, being antisocial and all. Danny Boyle’s never been a favorite either: as most of you know, I like happy! not his brand of in-your-face hellishness! But when a friend offered a ticket for this one, I couldn’t resist.
It’s been winning awards at film festivals for several months now, but that’s not what drew me. I just couldn’t wait to see Anil Kapoor in a “Hollywood” movie. Of all the actors in Hindi cinema these days, he’d be one of the last I would expect to see cast in one. For one thing, he doesn’t seem interested in an international career—his son had to explain who Danny Boyle was when he was offered the film; and for another, he has not been making a lot of movies for some time now.
So did he deliver?
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Posted in Everything else, Hindi movies |
45 Comments »
May 24, 2008
BollywoodFan has translated all the lyrics from Aamir Khan’s nephew Imran’s new film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (released by my beloved Shammi!); the music is by AR Rahman and lyrics by Abbas Tyrewala. He has kindly also transliterated the Hindi into Roman spelling, and it’s a treat all the way around.
So much so, that Abbas Tyrewala himself left a comment (BollywoodFan is not so sure it was really him, but I am!). BollywoodFan has also footnoted his translations to share his vast knowledge of Urdu and Hindustani. You really must visit if you are interested in such things. Help me encourage him to continue!

Posted in Hindi movies, Yahoo! Shammi! |
7 Comments »
April 28, 2008

This weekend I decided to take a trip down memory lane and revisit an early, somewhat guilty, pleasure: Daud (tagline: Fun on the Run). It’s probably one of the first fifty Hindi films I saw; I bought it for Sanjay Dutt whom I had just discovered, and I really enjoyed it but haven’t watched it since. All I really remembered about it was the crackling chemistry between Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar, and the wacked-out musical numbers.
All that is still there; but now, six or so years and hundreds of Hindi films later there is so much more too!
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Posted in Hindi movies |
30 Comments »