February 6, 2008
I was pretty happy to finally find this film on DVD since I’ve long loved OP Nayyar’s songs from it. Also it features three of my favorite people: Prithviraj Kapoor, Mumtaz and Helen. It’s beautifully shot in black and white and is very atmospheric (except for the omnipresent bright orange Time N Tune logo). The story takes some unexpected turns, the music is stunning, and overall the pace and the acting is good. But I ended up feeling that I should have liked this movie better than I actually did.
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Posted in Hindi movies |
24 Comments »
February 1, 2008
Set in a jungle estate, this is a fun movie mystery with bountiful clues and plenty of suspects to go around. What really makes it work though is the stellar cast: Dharmendra and Asha Parekh star along with Sanjeev Kumar—he won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award for it. They are also supported by Johnny Walker, Manmohan and Rehman—and my favorite girl Helen who gets two dances and a substantial role in the film! The songs by Shankar-Jaikishan are wonderful, and the dancing superb.
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Posted in Excellent Use of Helen, Hindi movies |
7 Comments »
November 10, 2007
Despite the DVD cover showing Deb Mukherjee and Alka looking young and beautiful, their romance is only half of the plot. The other half revolves around Ashok Kumar’s character, the principal of a college named Vidyanand. This is not a bad thing! it’s a nice drama about keeping one’s integrity and lofty ideals intact even in the face of injustice. There’s also a rich-vs-poor subtext which starts out strong but doesn’t really go anywhere. The very very best things about the film are the marvelous songs by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, including two Helen numbers, and—Deb Mukherjee! I did not see that coming, I confess.
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Posted in Excellent Use of Helen, Hindi movies |
15 Comments »
November 1, 2007
In what movie is the whole story of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” enacted as a play, starring Helen as the wicked Queen? Bonus points if you can tell us who plays Snow White!
Okay, nobody even has a guess! The movie is Baazi (1968) starring Dharmendra and Waheeda Rehman (who plays Snow White in this segment). The movie is okay, but this play within the movie is fabulous. It’s about 15 minutes long—and ends with a Helen dance, of course! It’s worth seeing on its own.
Posted in Hindi movies, Trivia time |
5 Comments »
September 28, 2007
Here is one for the weekend. It’s quite hard—another obscure film which I got because it starred one of my favorites (not telling which though). I often use this as my avatar because it makes me laugh every time I look at it. What film did I capture it from? Hint: this creature kidnaps the heroine:
(It also will definitely get its own post one of these days for its cheesy special effects alone.)
The film is Aaya Toofan (1964), starring Helen and Dara Singh (the wrestling champion). I am probably the only person who has ever seen it. VERY low-budget! It is beyond bad, but the “special” effects are good for many many laughs. Also Helen had oodles of songs and dances, always a big plus for me.
Posted in Hindi movies, Trivia time |
4 Comments »
September 24, 2007
This film’s positives are the great songs by Shankar-Jaikishan, the choreography, the filmi noir set decoration, and the Helen-Pran chemistry. Gumnaam is familiar to western audiences because the film Ghost World used its first song (“Jaan Pehchaan Ho”) in a scene. This song kicks off the journey into a crazy world where bouffant hair meets men in dresses; giant Easter Island statues with glowing red eyes compete with Helen for your attention; and a killer on the loose stalks his terrified victims. The drawbacks include a patchy and nonsensical plot, and Nanda and Manoj Kumar as the lead pair (Shammi and Asha Parekh would have been so much better!), but this is nitpicking when compared to the pluses.
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Posted in Excellent Use of Helen, Hindi movies |
49 Comments »
September 9, 2007
She doesn’t need any other name. Every Hindi film fan knows her simply as Helen. She shook her groove thing onscreen through 3 decades of cinema, before bowing out as gracefully as she shimmied in.
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Posted in Excellent Use of Helen, Hindi film history, Hindi movies |
18 Comments »
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