December 20, 2008
So much fun and stylish goodness packed into one movie, it is beyond belief. Mumtaz is gorgeous, Feroz very manly in his hirsute way (and their chemistry sparkles). It’s really more like two films for the price of one. The first half takes place in glamorous Europe and revolves around a jewel theft, with some pretty scary-insane bad guys and some gloriously kitschy sets and costumes.
In the second half our hero and heroine return to India where the hero’s crime-lord brother awaits. Prem Chopra has an opportunity to do more than spit out one-liners through his clenched jaw, with a more nuanced role than he usually gets; and it contains one of the best nightclubs in Hindi cinema (my screencaps are out of control) complete with one of my favorite Helen songs of all time. In fact, all of Kalyanji Anandji’s songs are great. There’s plenty in general to entertain, and it’s clear that producer-director-star Feroz Khan spared no expense or imagination! (Also see Shweta’s review for her take on it—and more screen cap delights!)
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Posted in Hindi movies |
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December 14, 2008
The 2001 Hollywood film Ghost World made this song and dance number from Gumnaam famous in the non-Hindi film fan world. Laxmi Chhaya’s verve and enthusiasm coupled with the lively tune and Boy-Wonder-masked backup dancers make for compelling watching. And of course, the singer’s ultra-cool style is the juicy cherry on top of this confection. Much speculation has issued forth as to his identity (is he the eponymous Ted Lyons?).
So today’s trivia question is: who is the manic front man in this wonderful song (the voice of course is Rafi’s)?
You can watch “Jaan Pehchaan Ho” here.
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Posted in Hindi movies, Trivia time |
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December 12, 2008
“This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY – nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”
Banno, whose writing and photography I adore, and whose film I am dying to see when she subtitles it (hint, hint) has given me this sweet award. I had no idea when I started blogging that my world would grow so immensely. So here are some of those (and there are many more of you, but I only can pick eight) I’m particularly happy to have become acquainted with virtually and hope to meet someday personally!
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Posted in Everything else |
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December 9, 2008
My friend Asli Jat has done it again! He has sent me this episode of a 1987 series aired on Channel 4 in the UK called Movie Mahal (produced and directed by Nasreen Munni Kabir) and what a treat it is! It’s all about the “Miracle Man” Manmohan Desai—one of my favorite filmmakers, as anybody who’s spent any time here probably knows. He is interviewed, as is Amitabh Bachchan, and the interviews are interspersed with song clips from many of his films. I thought I’d put together a post with audio clips and screen shots since people enjoyed that format for the Bombay Superstar documentary so much. Manmohan Desai is a great deal of fun to listen to; he’s as intense and enthusiastic about his work as you could ever hope for! He calls himself a “dream merchant”—and breaks into song every now and again as well.
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Posted in Hindi film history, Hindi movies, Yahoo! Shammi! |
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December 5, 2008
The title of this post really should be “My nine favorite rain songs and one rain scene” but—too long! The rains have a special place in Hindi cinema, as many before me have pointed out. I have always loved rain and thunderstorms, and I am determined to someday run around some trees in a (not transparent) sari as it pours down rain. Until that day dawns, though, I’ll settle for watching the cinematic rain fall.
So here are my nine favorite rain songs and one favorite rain scene! I have selected them based on how much I like the song, the picturization and its place in the film (I’m only using songs from films I’ve seen, not so much because I’m a purist but to make my task easier). And of course in my own selfish interests I can’t wait to find out about others that I haven’t encountered yet (hint, hint). Enjoy!
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Posted in Hindi movies, Memsaab's lists, Yahoo! Shammi! |
119 Comments »
December 2, 2008
I sometimes have very vivid and detailed but thoroughly crazy dreams; I wake up and think: “What on earth?” and worry for a minute that there’s something wrong with me, then go about my day and forget about it. Now I know that Manmohan Desai had those kinds of dreams too, except that in the case of at least one of them, he woke up and thought: “That should be a movie!” And so he made Mard.
It’s a trip through a demented sort of Disneyland, populated with characters from about a hundred different movie genres and policed by animals who are smarter than all the people around them combined. If you surrender yourself to the journey (and the film demands that you do) there’s a kind of lyricism and rhythm about it that’s hypnotic: it’s impossible to look away, but there’s an emotional detachment about it as well. You are just a spectator—so no worries!—but kya baat hai.
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Posted in Hindi movies |
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November 20, 2008
Here’s another favorite! I remember waiting for this to come out on DVD. I’d read how well it was doing in Indian theaters, I loved the story concept, and it paired Sanjay Dutt with his father Sunil Dutt, who hadn’t acted in sixteen years. I got it as soon as it was available, and I was not disappointed. In fact, I was bowled over.
This is the first Hindi film I ever saw where I actually laughed out loud and was laughing with it (I’d seen Disco Dancer and laughed too, but at it). Keep in mind that it was 2003 and I’d been watching Hindi films for less than a year; the ubiquitous Comic Side Plot still mystified me and I often felt that culturally I must be missing something that prevented me from understanding the humor. I was beginning to despair.
But this—this was a laugh-out-loud cross cultural fiesta with a squishy dil™!
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Posted in Hindi movies |
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November 17, 2008
I learned about two important things when I first saw this BR Chopra classic a while ago: Sahir Ludhianvi’s sublime lyrics, and Sunil Dutt’s penchant for making progressive women-centric films. He stars alongside Vyjayanthimala, who has many opportunities to show off her considerable dancing skills. She plays a nautch-girl whom Sunil’s character hires to pose as his fiancee to make his dying mother happy. She won the Filmfare (Best Actress) award for it as well, as did the story writer Mukhram Sharma.
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Posted in Hindi movies |
41 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 »
November 10, 2008
Everyone knows that Dharmendra is a he-man, good at fighting and drinking and other manly stuff. Luckily for us ladies, he is also good at romance. And as Jaya Bachchan has famously pointed out: he is as handsome as a Greek god. Almost all the playback singers of his time could sing realistically for him, too; he didn’t fit just one type of voice. Here are my ten favorite (so far! I still have lots more of his films to watch) Dharmendra musical moments.
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Posted in Hindi movies, Memsaab's lists |
76 Comments »
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