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!
In India—to my great excitement!—I got to meet Vinci Wadia, the son of JBH Wadia and nephew of Homi Wadia. JBH and Homi Wadia are the brothers who founded the Wadia Movietone studio in the 1930’s, and launched the career of Fearless Nadia the stunt queen. Homi Wadia also eventually married Nadia in 1961. Vinci Wadia spent a couple of hours with me talking about films, life, and Nadia, and generally charming my socks off (as a boy he met Frank Capra on Capra’s visit to Bombay!).
Attention all Shashi fans (and I know you’re out there)—this is a must-see movie for you! It is just so much fun, and Shashi is so…well…Shashilicious! His first song alone is worth buying the DVD for (I’ve watched it many times already and just can’t get enough of it). It’s called “Kehne Ki Nahin Baat” and it features Shashi dancing like Shammi, a marching band and a bunch of guys wearing berets with pom-poms.
I have been meaning to write about this—my very most favorite film ever, of any kind—since I started this blog. Alas, procrastination is my middle name!
But finally, here goes. This film was actually made in 2001 or so, but its release was delayed because the producer died or something. It is a remake of the Hollywood film “Housesitter” but it isn’t a scene by scene ripoff. Rather, it has taken the storyline and retold it in an Indian setting with an Indian sensibility, and it’s just perfect. The script and direction (and editing) are tight and the pace perfect; there is nothing extraneous, and every scene adds dimension to the film. The songs by Sajid Wajid are wonderful and fit perfectly into the movie, and all the characters—even the most minor—are portrayed vividly by an exceptional cast which includes the legendary Kamini Kaushal.
It is the star pair, though, whose chemistry sizzles and sparks, and who are so true to life that you can immediately identify with them. Khushi (Rani Mukherjee) is alone in the world, an orphan bluffing her way through life with a lively curiosity and an open heart. Ranvir (Ajay Devgan) is a dreamer and a bit of a loner, whose large, boisterous family doesn’t really understand him, and who has learned to keep his emotions shut up inside.
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.
Everyone who knows me knows that I love Shammi Kapoor more than any other actor, even SRK. Many people don’t get it, and I can understand why, because I did have to see a few of his movies before it clicked. But once it clicked — it really clicked. I would rather watch Shammi in a bad movie than many other actors in good movies. I am not saying that Shammi didn’t make good movies — he did! he did! but even his bad ones enthrall me.
Vishal Bhardwaj is a genius. He writes lovely music, compelling screenplays and makes wonderful movies. So I was thrilled to see that a movie he made in 2005 (before Omkara) was finally out on DVD. It is based on a novella by Ruskin Bond, and takes place in a small village in Himachal Pradesh—the scenery is breathtaking and of course the cinematography does it full justice. And the music doesn’t suck either. The film has been billed somewhat as a children’s story but it’s really for anyone who enjoys a good story and a beautiful film.
Found a site with four letters written by the great Urdu short story/screenplay writer Saadat Hasan Manto (and translated by Khalid Hasan). They are the first four of a series of nine letters written by Manto to “Uncle Sam” in the 1950’s before he died of alcoholism at the age of 42 in 1955, and they are hysterically funny. He talks about America’s plan to provide military assistance to the fledgling nation of Pakistan*, being tried on pornography charges, his alcoholic tendencies, plastic surgery, American casual wear shirts, Packards, Buicks and Max Factor cosmetics. The letters are sharp, sarcastic, and very very witty.
I have a book which he wrote called “Stars From Another Sky” about the Bombay film world in the 1940’s. It’s a great read too, if you can find it (I had to go all the way to India for my copy). So are his short stories about Partition (you can find them on Amazon or online used bookshops).
Among the funny lines in these letters:
“Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is a Kashmiri, so you should send him a gun which should go off when it is placed in the sun. I am a Kashmiri too, but a Muslim which is why I have asked for a tiny atom bomb for myself.”
About Gregory Peck’s visit with the Indian movie star Suraiya he wrote:
“Have all Pakistani actresses croaked that they should be ignored! We have Gulshan Ara. She may be black as a pot but she has appeared as the lead in many movies. She also is said to have a big heart. As for Sahiba, while it is true that she is slightly cross-eyed, a little attention from you can take care of that.”
Now I need to track down the last five letters. I’ll let you know if I find them.
*India at that time was leaning towards communism and the Soviet Union for support—as anyone who has watched Hindi films from the late 40’s/early 50’s knows!
MemsaabStory 
