Well Bollywood this week sees the release of Amitabh Bachchan's Paa & Himesh Reshammiya's Radio.While Paa has been in the news ever since it was known that Amitabh plays the 13 year old son of Abhishek who is suffering from Progeria, Radio has also been in the news for Himesh's music, his " new " voice and the fact that the producer has already recovered his money.
My take- Paa is carrying good reports,should find acceptance with the multiplex junta,but may not be a mass hit.Nevertheless at a budget of around 15 crores,it should make money. Radio may prove to be a surprise and just about do well- keep watching this space.
Tamil cinema might see Renigunta and Edhuvum Nadakkum releasing along with Vettatam.Edhuvum Nadakkum is an experimental thriller with Karthik Kumar and Aparna Pillai, Renigunta a hard hitting realistic tale on child criminals and Vettatam a rural tale.Cant say much about these films, except that Renigunta has some buzz as it was earlier refused a censor certificate due to some objectionable portions.
Malayalam cinema- Mammootty's Paleri Manikyam directed by Renjith was to release today ( 3rd Dec ) but its release seems to have been put on hold due to a stay order by a court due to some payment issues.Probably Gulumaal may release tomorrow.With Jayasurya and Kunchako Boban in it,the movie is supposed to be a fun outing.Lets see if the audience finds it entertaining enough.Telugu cinema- Amaravathi - a thriller with Bhumika & Sneha released today and lined up for tomorrow is Sarrai Veerraju and Pravarakhydu.
Nothing interesting on the English movie scene though.The movies releasing are New In Town and Ghost of Girlfriend's Past.No expectations from both of them.
Among the earlier releases- 2012 continues to do well across the country and entering its 2nd week is Ninja Assassin.Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is still hanging on- a big hit indeed and De Dana Dan has done better than expected.Pazhassi Raja is still holding on in Kerala and a few other places like Chennai.Arya 2 ( Telugu ) had a very good opening week as expected- lets see if the negative feedback affects the 2nd week majorly as is expected.
Will be back soon with whats up for the next week, keep watching this space.
After Bujjigadu-Made in Chennai, the combination of director PuriJagannath and hero Prabhas is back again with Ek Niranjan. This one bears the stamp of typical mass hero formula films in Telugu, something that Puri Jagannath seems to relish following the stupendous success of his Pokiri. The plot is fairly simple. The movie begins with Chotu (Prabhas) getting separated from his family during his childhood as he is abducted by Chidambaram (Makrand Deshpande). Chidambaram forces Chotu to become a beggar just as he has forced a lot of other children too. One day on a tip off from Chotu the police arrests Chidambaram but Chotu continues to keep in touch with Chidambaram in jail as he knows that he is the only link to his family. As Chotu grows up he goes on to make a living as a police informer who turns in people wanted by the police. On one such occasion when he is on the lookout for a gangster Kailash, ( Mukul Dev ) wanted for the murder of the CM, he crosses the path of Johny Bhai ( Sonu Sood ), an underworld don. Chotu also falls in love with Sameera (Kangna Ranaut at her awful best) who is a guitar teacher and Sameera’s brother again happens to be someone that Chotu is after. So what happens to Chotu? Does he unite with his family? Does he win his love? Are there any twists in the tale? The rest of the movie answers all the questions in routine customary style.
I told you Kangna plays a guitar teacher Talking about Puri Jagannath, he is somebody who has made some interesting movies like Idiot, Amma Naana O Tamila Ammayi, Super etc before the formula bug bit him hard with Pokiri. That Pokiri was a trendsetter is by now known to all and following the success of Pokiri he seems to be following the same path with his movies like Desamuduru, Chiruta, Bujjigadu-Made in Chennai and Neninthe. Neninthe was supposed to be an inside story of how the Telugu film industry works. But in trying to balance realism with escapism, somewhere the objective got lost. Going back to Ek Niranjan, Puri Jagannath seems to be suffering from the Pokiri hangover in a major way. If it was Mahesh Babu as Pandu trying to act uber cool in Pokiri here it is Prabhas doing the same in Ek Niranjan. You had a villain Ali Bhai ( Prakash Raj ) with some kickass dialogue baazi in Pokiri and and here you have Johny Bhai ( Sonu Sood relishing his role with gusto ) doing the same. Ok there was one child in Pokiri and here you have a handful of children. The similarities do not end here. There are lots of sequences again which give you a feeling of déjà vu. Prabhas seems to really thrive in these roles and he has come up with a more than passable performance. The less said about Kangna Ranaut, the better. She has probably never looked more awful on screen than in this movie (whom do we blame for this?). Tanikella Bharani, Makrand Deshpande,Posani Murali Krishna and Mukul Dev are ok. But the real hero of the movie according to me is none other than Sonu Sood. As Johny Bhai, he plays the don with a sadistic streak brilliantly with a comic touch. The dialogues,expressions and the costumes suit him very well. In fact the dialogues between Sonu Sood and his accomplice,Bhramaji are the main highlights of the movie. Brahmanandam, Ali, Sunil and Venu Madhav have been used just as props.
Are who's the actual hero? The music by Mani Sharma is decent with the pick of the lot being the opening song – “ Amma ledu, nana ledu, akka chelli tambi leru, ek niranjan” . What takes you by surprise is the last song though- “are rey narthana thara “which is a sort of tribute to Michael Jackson with some of MJ’s footage playing in the background as well. Having said all this I am feeling a little tempted to think of what would have been in Puri Jagannath’s mind when he was conceptualizing the movie and given below is a sample check list that he must have used- 1.A cool entry scene for the hero with a nice energetic song to follow ( how else would we cheer the hero enthusiastically on his entry )2.Back story for the hero ( so that there’s an element of intrigue )3.A Villain with brilliant sense of dialogue delivery and comic timing4.Emotional quotient to be used at the right time with use of family sentiment5.Heroine who is shown as vulnerable and fragile to whom the hero loses his heart instantly.6.At least couple of songs to be shot overseas (Well we are teaching our song and dance routine to the outside world)7.Comedy brigade with all the big names included ( so what if they hardly have any screen time )8.The mandatory chases and fights ( with statutory rope shots ) for the desired effect9.Item song10.Punch Dialogues
Mass factor- fight in Bangkok Well I can go on and on but let me stop my sample check list with the main elements listed and I can safely tell you all that in most of these elements Puri Jagannath doesn’t disappoint over here in Ek Niranjan . In spite of the extreme déjà vu factor the movie is still time pass fare for most part of it when suddenly the movie shifts its base to Bangkok (probably the producer Aditya Ram wanted to reward everyone with a foreign trip) and things suddenly look forced. Even the dialogues seem to get laid back over here. Sample this – when Sonu Sood tells his goons that they should rush to Bangkok and when Bhramaji asks him how he can be so sure that Prabhas is in Bangkok, the reply from Sonu Sood is“Lets go and search, if we don’t find him I’ll settle for a Thai massage instead “ . All said and done if you are yearning for some good old masala movie due to the hangover from “Wanted “, Ek Niranjan is not bad for a one time watch. But its high time Puri Jagannath reinvents himself otherwise he would continue to make clones of Pokiri.
A tale of marital discord with the lead actors being the ever popular Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Shot in impressive locations abroad & with nearly half the movie based in an airport and added to this is an array of well known names doing cameos. All this automatically makes Main Aurr Mrs Khanna (referred to as MAMK from hereon) a great Diwali release, one that can be an ideal outing with family or friends right? No my friends this one is again an embarrassment to the filmography of Salman Khan. The plot ( if I can call it one ) is all about Samir Khanna ( Salman ) and Raina ( Kareena ) whose marriage is facing rough weather as Samir’s career seems to have hit a crisis. And making things difficult for them all the more is Samir who announces one day that they would follow his friend’s (Dino Morea) advice and shift to Singapore from Australia. Raina gets to know at the airport that Samir doesn’t want her to accompany him and instead wants her to go to Delhi. But Raina prefers to stay back in Melbourne and takes up a job at the airport. There she comes across Akash (Sohail Khan) who works at the airport café and falls for her almost instantly. Her work permit is about to expire and Raina has to unwillingly apply to get married to Akash so that she can continue to remain in Australia. Just when Akash starts thinking of proposing to Raina enters Samir who returns after getting himself well placed in Singapore. He is now eager to take her back with him. What happens next is not so difficult to guess. Prem Soni the writer and director, has got it thoroughly wrong. You wonder at times whether it’s an attempt to have a serious take on marital discord or a light hearted entertainer. There are so many situations which make you laugh (in agony) and cringe by looking at the situations conjured up by Prem Soni. Throughout the film there appears to be zero chemistry between Salman and Kareena and in fact Salman hardly has adequate presence in the film. In the scenes that he is present, Salman looks as interested as the furniture in the airport café. Kareena is strictly average over here. Sohail does what is expected. Yash Tonk, Mehek Chahal, Nauheed Cyrusi, Bappi Da (yes of course Bappi Lahiri indeed) all have supporting characters (nothing special though) but are counted as cameos . Music by Sajid- Wajid is pretty average with the best track (Don’t Say Alvida) coming in pretty early into the movie. The Preity Zinta cameo including the song is a big let down. All said and done it looks like quite a few people have been either taken for a ride or have done the film without even caring to bother about the story (or the lack of it). After a string of flops Salman had bounced back with Wanted, but MAMK certainly derails him a bit. It’s a pity that Prem Soni couldn’t come up with something much more impressive than this. With a star cast like this and with an enterprising banner supporting his venture its surprising how he let go of a wonderful opportunity. And it’s also a surprise as to how UTV had even wanted to support such a venture. A potential Diwali dhamaka that’s ended up as nothing but wet crackers. Inspite of the running time being well within 2 hours if you are still shifting uncomfortably in your seat or keep looking at your watch you know how boring the movie could be. MAMK gives you enough scope for it.
Note- By young star the reference here is to an actor in his 20’s and who has enough star power to carry off a film on his ‘young’ shoulders.] A short while ago when I was in Mumbai I was involved in a discussion with some friends which included a few PFC authors as well. All of a sudden the discussion started focusing on one aspect- who is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? Most people said Shahid, one or two said Ranbir and probably someone took Imran’s name as well. Mind you this discussion took place a week before the release of Wake Up Sid and maybe if it happened after the release, Ranbir may have got a few more votes. Now quite recently I was talking to another friend and discussing who would be the ideal candidate to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version. After a lot of thought I realized that probably the best choice for the same would be none other than Hrithik Roshan. Yes I do agree that Hrithik is certainly a decade older than Ram Charan, but then considering that the hero in Magadheera has to fight, dance, ride a horse, wear a period costume, perform bike stunts and most importantly look convincing in all these, nobody else I thought fit the bill better than Hrithik. Most of us must be aware of the buzz created a few days back by apparent rumors that the producers of Magadheera ( Geeta Arts ) have decided to rope in Hrithik and Aamir to portray the hero in the Hindi version ( Hrithik for the past and Aamir for the present ). All this has made me ask the question aloud- where are the young stars in Hindi Cinema today? My personal observation is that Shahid Kapur certainly can fit the bill to a reasonable extent. While with a Ishq Vishk, Vivaah and Jab We Met he proved that he can pull of a romantic and family oriented film, the action genre still eluded him. After Kaminey even that has been handled to some extent. But what Shahid needs now is to prove that he can pull off an out and out masala entertainer and emerge a big star in his own right. While Saawariya and Bachna Ae Haseeno invoked mixed response to Ranbir’s acting, Wake Up Sid has certainly brought in favorable response and now I think its clear that for light hearted romantic flicks Ranbir can certainly be an ideal choice. Even his forthcoming movies like Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and probably even Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year seem to suggest the same. Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti might make a difference as it would be something out of the ordinary for him. But in spite of all this it’s still debatable if he can carry off a masala action entertainer. We need to wait and watch. As for Imran Khan I do not really have much to say. I think the success of his first movie – JTYJN was due to a combination of A.R.Rehman’s music, the script and the performances of the entire star cast and not of Imran in particular. His later movies like Kidnap and Luck have not done anything positive for Imran. It’s probably even too tempting to say that Imran has probably been overrated a bit too early. Lets see if his forthcoming releases like Delhi Belly manage to create a more positive impact and tell us if he’s overrated or not. Now let’s talk about Neil Nitin Mukesh who made a decent debut with Johnny Gaddar. While he looked lost in Aa Dekhen Zaraa, he was all right in New York but still has a long way to go before he can give us the confidence that he is a big star in the making. While Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail could be a turning point for him, its time that Neil also decides to move out of the serious grim roles and loosen up a bit and do a light entertainer too so that we can see some variety from him. Now the only other names that I can think off are Kunal Khemu, Emran Hashmi, Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh. While Kunal Khemu is certainly a good actor I really doubt if he could carry off the larger than life roles convincingly. Emran Hashmi,Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh are people who have just turned 30 and can maybe easily pass off as few years younger as well. After doing some trademark movies the actor in Emran has finally started emerging with movies like Awarapan and Jannat, but he still needs to do more such movies before getting universal acceptance. Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh have unfortunately got slotted as actors who excel in comedy films and though they have done movies like Life in a Metro, Rang De Basanti, Sorry Bhai (Sharman) Naach, Cash ( Riteish ) which are not comedy films, they still tend to get associated more with the lighter movies. Hopefully an Aladin and a Rann for Ritesh or 3 Idiots for Sharman will help in proving their versatility. When we look at the scene in regional cinema, the scene is a bit different. While in Bengali and Malayalam cinema the situation is somewhat similar, it’s a lot different in Tamil and Telugu cinema. In Malayalam Prithviraj is the only actor among the young brigade who looks well set to fill in the slot that’s firmly occupied by Mammootty and Mohanlal. In Bengali cinema for a long time now it’s basically Prasenjit Chatterjee and Mithunda who have been ruling the roost. The only other actor who has managed to make a serious impact is Jeet who shot into prominence with his debut film itself (Saathi).
Prasenjit Chatterjee and Ranjit Mullick - Mama BhagneThrough there are other talented actors like Jishu Sengupta who have been hovering around for ages, they are yet to get their due. Dev is the current sensation and might probably join the ranks of Jeet to prove a worthy challenger to Prasenjit. A case in point about the lack of younger stars can be seen in the form of a recent Bengali movie- Mama Bhagne ( remake of Govinda’s Rajaji : ) ) where Ranjit Mullick and Prasenjit play the uncle and nephew respectively whereas ideally one would expect younger stars to fill the requirement. The situation certainly is a lot better in Tamil and Telugu cinema. While Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan are still going strong and Vijay,Ajith, Surya, Vikram, Madhavan constitute the next layer, there’s also a big pool of younger actors in Tamil like Dhanush, Simbu, Vishal, Bharat, Arya, Jeeva, Jayam Ravi and a lot many more. While Dhanush, Simbu and Vishal are focusing on trying to be the next big star, people like Jeeva (Katradhu Tamizh, Raam, Siva Manasule Sakthi etc), Bharat ( Kadhal, Pattiyal etc ) and Arya ( Arindhum Ariyamalum, Pattiyal, Naan Kadavul etc ) are trying to make a balance in their choice of movies. Telugu cinema also has a lot of younger actors like Jr.NTR, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan Teja, Ram, Allari Naresh etc who have reasonable star power. Having mentioned all this let me get back to my earlier questions. Who do you think is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? And who do you think will ideally be fit to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version? I don’t think there would be too much of confusion regarding the responses to these questions, nevertheless let me wait and see what you all have to say. Let us remember that most of the popular stars today like SRK, Aamir,Salman,Akshay,Hrithik, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek, Ajay Devgan etc all had become stars before they even turned 30. After all there are very few people like Amitabh Bachchan who started a bit late and turned a star in their 30’s. Considering that it’s tough to say how many of the current lot would go on to emulate their seniors. Time alone would say. In the meanwhile let us look forward to Hrithik (in all likelihood) doing the Hindi version of Magadheera. After all wasn’t it just recently that we saw Salman Khan doing his version of Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri (Wanted)? Note- I have on purpose not discussed people like Zayed Khan, Harman Baweja, Jacky Bhagnani etc for obvious reasons.
Imagine a typical day in your life when you go around with the regular routine, be it at work or home and then settle down to end the day on a rather nonchalant note. And at that particular moment if you were to come across something out of the ordinary, wouldn’t that really catch you by surprise? I had a similar experience last week when I saw the latest Tamil movie from the stable of S Pictures- Eeram. Now S Pictures, the movie production firm of Director Shankar has been known to make some small/medium budget interesting movies (unlike the big budget mass movies directed by Shankar himself for outside production houses ) like Kadhal, Veyyil, Kalloori etc. S Pictures has enabled debutant directors like Simbudevan to make a mark and also given a fresh lease of life to directors like Balaji Sakthivel,Vasantha Balan etc who couldn’t achieve much success with their initial movies. Continuing in this journey we now find another debutant, Arivazhagan (who has assisted Shankar earlier) coming up with his first film- Eeram (which means dampness in English). As the movie begins, a cop Vasu ( Aadhi of Mirugam fame in a totally different avatar ) is called on to investigate the death of Ramya ( Sindhu Menon ).When Vasu arrives at the spot it is raining and throughout the movie water in the form of rain or otherwise is seen as an element in the narrative. Ramya’s body is recovered from a bath tub in an apartment of a high rise apartment complex. And since there is a suicide note left behind, it makes everybody including the police convinced that it’s a case of suicide. But somehow Vasu feels that there is something else apart from what meets their eyes and carries on with the investigation. And as Vasu gets emotional after seeing Ramya’s body, it is revealed that Ramya and Vasu used to love each other in their college days in Trichy. Ramya’s sister Divya ( Saranya Mohan ) supported their love affair but since Ramya’s father disapproves of the same, they drift apart. Vasu goes on to fulfill his dream of becoming an IPS officer and Ramya marries Bala ( Nandha), a businessman and moves to Chennai. All this is depicted through flashback and then cutting back to the present there occurs a series of deaths all in a bizarre manner, one after the other. But this makes Vasu all the more determined to solve the mystery as he thinks there is a link to all these deaths. Slowly the movie evolves into an interesting thriller with a hint of the paranormal/supernatural touch. One of the major highlights of the movie is the interval point where the director makes a startling revelation and manages to maintain the flow of the narrative later on adequately.Manoj Paramahamsa’s camera work literally adds strength to the film and brings out the blue and red colors (the colors by themselves qualify as elements in the movie) brilliantly. Thaman’s background score is certainly adequate and talking about the performances from the cast one can say that Arivazhagan’s choice of actors is excellent. Aadhi carries off the cop act convincingly and Nandha once again reminds you that he is an actor with potential. Sindhu Menon truly impresses and both Saranya Mohan and Srinath (as Nandha’s friend) do justice to their roles. Overall this is a film which does manage to impress and keep the viewer fairly engrossed. It’s a welcome addition to the growing list of interesting Tamil movies the current year has witnessed so far.
Year after year one comes across movies which bring with it a lot of expectations and as the date of release draws nearby, the excitement only keeps rising more and more. So how many of these movies go on to disappoint you? Many, I’m sure and that’s when you are irritated, upset and sometimes heartbroken. And then when the next such movie releases you still go again thinking that this time you aren’t going to be cheated. But how many times do you watch such a movie and still come out thinking all that excitement and hype was justified ?And is it often that you keep thinking so much about the movie that its 3 A.M in the morning and you are still debating whether to sleep or continue soaking in the experience of watching the movie? I’m sure such instances are far and few nowadays and so when such an occasion comes by, isn’t it time to rejoice? Without much ado I now head on to talk about Kaminey- the movie that most of us have been waiting for. By now its common knowledge that Shahid Kapur plays the roles of Charlie (he lisps) and Guddu (he stammers), twin brothers who hate each other due to an earlier incident in their life. You also know that Guddu and Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) are in love and that Sweety happens to be the sister of Bhope Bhau ( Amole Gupte), a Jai Maharashtra swearing gangster and a wannabe politician. With this premise Vishal Bharadwaj builds up a whole host of characters which initially give you the impression that there are parallel tracks running along in the film. But anyways what is to happen will eventually happen. So by a strange turn of circumstances all the parallel tracks converge slowly to become one cohesive track. Brothers who’ve not met for years are forced to meet again; love for the beloved gets tested, cops turn as dangerous as criminals themselves and there is blood everywhere. All this happens and what keeps the strings tied to a common knot is not a person, but an object- a guitar. The movie takes some time to hook you, but be rest assured that once you are hooked, you are hooked till the end. Vishal Bharadwaj scores brilliantly in terms of managing the delicate balance of using so many characters and still ensuring cohesiveness. He also scores for two other reasons- music, which is vibrant, pulsating and in sync with the movie as well as the choice of actors for the movie. The cast has a curious mix of known names, debutants and people from other streams of cinema all coming together on screen here. For both Shahid and Priyanka the movie would do wonders to their filmography but I would certainly single out Amole Gupte ( he can now look at returning to acting in a big way ) and Chandan Roy Sanyal ( who plays Mikhail ) who shine through the movie- not that the others are any tad lesser in their act. Tassaduq Hussain’s cinematography also needs a special mention for having brought out the raw images in the movie splendidly. And aren’t movies all about those special moments- ones that you connect to and keep talking about and cry or laugh along with the memory later on? In case of Kaminey there are so many such moments that one can probably write a post on just those moments alone and I bet you that the post will look extremely lengthy. So I’ll refrain from doing so and instead allow some surprises to remain for you all. There was a stage in life when I used to enjoy the big mainstream movies alone and frowned upon the so called “art” movies. Much later I started getting disillusioned with the bigger movies and then started looking forward to the middle of the road cinema. All this was part of my growing up in terms of cinema exposure. Now I feel that there is no need for any distinction between mainstream and middle of the road cinema (except for the scale of production). What really matters is whether the movie is ultimately good or bad. If the movie manages to keep you hooked right till the end, a major part of the director’s responsibility seems to get paid off, like it does in case of Kaminey. I will not pass any judgment on the movie by giving any grand statement but all I can say is that this is a movie which has its heart in the right place and I guess that’s what counts eventually isn’t it? Dhan Te Nan- Go on and enjoy the journey!!!
Tamil Cinema has been having a fairly good run of late. Last year saw some really interesting movies like Subramaniyapuram, Anjathey, Poo etc which really bought back some glory to the industry. This year again has been no different and movies like Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, Pasanga, Naan Kadavul, Nadodigal etc have all been quite unlike the run of the mill stuff that we are usually subjected to. And now continuing the trend is Achamundu Achamundu (AA from hereon) – meaning ‘there is fear, there is fear’, directed by debutant Arun Vaidyanathan. AA has been in the news for being the first Indian movie to be shot using Red One camera and after doing the festival rounds, it’s now released in India. For his first movie Arun has chosen to go with a powerful yet rarely approached subject. To begin with AA is the story of a typical South Indian family in the U.S. Life is picture perfect for Senthil (Prasanna). He has a good I.T job, a loving wife Malini (Sneha) and an adorable daughter Rithika (Akshaya). Having just relocated to a new residence they find that their basement needs to be painted. Thus steps in Robertson (John Shea) who comes over to do the painting job. Soon their peaceful life goes for a toss and things are never the same again. Arun Vaidyanthan makes a reasonably good debut as director with AA. The very fact that Arun has decided to tackle the sensitive theme of child abuse and pedophilia in his debut movie makes one appreciate the intention behind the movie. Since the subject happens to be a very sensitive topic it needs to be literally handled with kid gloves and Arun manages to do it fairly well. The chemistry between Prasanna and Sneha is wonderful and they portray their characters quite well. Karthik Raja’s (we need to see more of him) music especially the BGM suits the movie. But there is no real distinction that the Red One camera is able to bring in as a highlight to the audience. While the overall length of the film is not a concern (under 2 hours), the flow does get languid at times. Also contrary to expectations it does not come across as a taut thriller and it is only towards the end that the pace picks up a bit. The dialogues also seem to be quite weak at places. Also there are no standalone moments in the film which one can linger upon in particular.All said and done the theme is very important in today’s contemporary world and for having tackled it in a mature manner, AA is certainly recommended for those who love good cinema. And yes for those looking for regular wholesome entertainment,this may not be what you are looking for.Sadly the odd show timings and the overall number of shows do not justify the kind of movie AA is. But in the days of movies like Masilamani, Ainthampadai etc AA will certainly be noted in the annals of cinema as a movie that stood for a specific cause and dared to be different.
Well I know its my fault that I havent been updating this space frequently these days.Well no specific reason though.Do blog regularly on PFC, just need to get my lazy bones to update this space here too regularly and what better time than to start now :) First thing first things are all fine- life continues as it is , keep watching movies, blogging and interacting with people & yeah not been reading so much- need to get back to it soon.Got quite a few books to catch up on.From now I'll start a weekly feature called "What's Up This Friday" which should ideally be posted on/before every thursday.This is a quick take on the movies releasing the coming weekend & my take on it.Will try to follow it up with a quick analysis after the weekend.Thats it for now, time to rush and watch Ninja Assassin.More on that later, my friends.
Well life takes a curious turn once again & I saw myself moving out.It's now been close to 4 weeks of having moved back to Chennai.It's a new job, so new office and new people at work.But I find myself relatively at peace.After the emotional turmoil I went through in the last few months, I guess I needed this peace.It's nice to be back in a city which has always been home to me.And to top it up I've also moved back into the same building where I used to live earlier. So in a way its like a homecoming for me.Meet up with friends whenever I get time and of course watch a lot of movies especially @ my 2nd home- Sathyam Cinemas.Shradha's taking a liking to Chennai, which is quite heartening.Hopefully she'll be back to work again soon.The past one week has been a 'family' week with my parents having come over. Hoping to settle down at work at the earliest and enjoy life to the fullest.Viva Chennai!!!
We keep using the phrase ‘as different as chalk & cheese’ in our daily life so often that sometimes it takes one by surprise when you actually experience it in a very interesting way. The weekend that went by was another filmy weekend for me, but one that was rather very special. Just like enjoying a biriyani and a pizza equally or freaking out on ghazals and rock music with the same zeal, I happened to watch 2 movies this weekend which were completely unlike each other. The movies concerned were Bhramaram and Sankat City ( SC from hereon ) and there was hardly anything in common between them. For starters Bhramaram is a Malayalam movie made by Blessy (his 5th film) and stars Superstar- Mohanlal. SC on the other hand is a Hindi movie made by Pankaj Advani ( his 1st official release ) and has no superstar in it but a very talented cast comprising of Kay Kay, Anupam Kher,Rimi Sen,Chunky Pandey, Rahul Dev,Yashpal Sharma,Dilip Prabhavalkar etc.
While Bhramaram is more of a road movie with the undertone of a thriller, SC is a mad caper and is a fun ride all the way. Bhramaram is more or less a one man show (Mohanlal) while SC belongs to a whole host of characters and it is difficult to just single out just one or two characters. Well I can go on & on but then I guess the message is loud and clear by now. But what is important to know is that I had a good time watching both these movies. In their own ways both Bhramaram and SC have the capacity to engage the viewer and there in lies the one common thread between the two.
Saturday evening saw me taking off early from office to be in time to watch Bhramaram. The initial scenes are quite ordinary and it takes a while to slowly get hooked to the narrative. Suresh Menon (whom we’ve seen for ages on T.V & in Bollywood films) is Unni, a stock broker who lives with his wife (Lakshmi Gopalswamy) and daughter in Coimbatore. One fine day a very shabby looking Jose (Mohanlal) lands up at Unni’s place and introduces himself as his old classmate from school. Unni is unable to recollect Jose but since Jose is able to describe a lot of events from the school days, he is forced to believe him. Jose who claims to be a jeep driver in the high ranges of Kerala does not initially reveal the reason for his visit.
Once the reason is revealed the movie really gets going and you see traces of vintage Mohanlal slowly unraveling. After Unni and Jose embark on their journey it then goes on to become a taut game of emotions. Blessy manages to keep the narrative interesting enough by interspersing humor in certain places which helps in maintaining a balance. The cinematography of Ajayan Vincent certainly impresses especially in the night shots captured in the hills. Music by Mohan Sithara is decent. Suresh Menon certainly impresses and hopefully this performance should help him fetch more such roles. Muralikrishnan as Alex, friend of Unni is also quite effective. Lakshmi Gopalswamy and Bhoomika (Mohanlal’s wife) have nothing much to do. On the whole the movie is certainly a far cry from the recent Mohanlal movies like Red Chillies, Sagar Alias Jackie (Reloaded), Bhagawan etc and gives you glimpses of the brilliant actor that he is. Blessy again redeems himself to some extent with Bhramaram (after Calcutta News) and hopefully should do even better the next time around. Definitely not great cinema, but certainly one of the better films in recent times.
While I kept thinking of what could have made Bhramaram even better, I couldn’t escape the fact that the movie had disturbed me. Later that night Lalettan’s Shivankutty/ Jose continued to haunt me and I realized that the character was not just lingering in my mind, it was also making me feel low (those who’ve watched the movie would understand). So on Sunday morning when I woke up slightly earlier than usual, I was unsure of how to get back into groove and that’s when I realized I didn’t even have to try hard- I was lucky to end up watching a 10.30 A.M show of SC.
By now most of us know the plot and characters of SC so I wouldn’t really get into that. But yes to give a quick insight I can say that it’s all about money and how a host of characters get interwoven into a tale that has money as the fulcrum. Right from the first frame till the end I kept smiling and at times couldn’t really control myself from laughing hard- I guess it was true for everyone else among the audience too. For the sake of people who are yet to watch the movie I wish to point out a few things about the movie- What SC definitely has- 1.Characters who are loud and even over the top and thankfully do not pretend that they are anything else2.A sparkling cast of some superbly talented actors and some of them would even surprise you with their portrayals.3.Uniform pace of the movie- there’s hardly any dull moment and you do not have to keep looking at your watch.4.Enough and more entertaining moments to keep you glued to the screen till the end, the very end.5.Some wonderful locations in & around Mumbai that have been captured brilliantly ( like for example the garbage dump )6.The budget seems to have been completely well utilized or rather most efficiently utilized ( check out the scene in the bus when the bags get switched )
What SC definitely doesn’t have- 1.Superstars and A – list heroines2.A routine structured story ( it’s a mad caper after all )3.Emotion, tragedy, drama ( well yes it does have it, but certainly not like what you think )4.Item numbers by Rakhi Sawant etc ( well there’s a small bit where Anupam Kher and dynamite are dancing though )5.Songs shot abroad6.Gyan-baazi ( oh! There’s nothing preachy here )7.While actors like Kay Kay , Anupam Kher etc have done some serious, meaningful cinema- this is certainly not a serious off beat movie.
All I can say is that SC is one movie that not only entertains it also makes you think- as to why we don’t have more of such movies coming out of Bollywood these days. While watching the movie I also realized that Pankaj Advani & his team must have certainly had a blast while shooting the movie, it clearly shows on screen as everybody seems to be enjoying what they are portraying on screen. That to me is a very big achievement indeed and I heartily salute Pankaj and the entire cast and crew for giving us SC- a film that we can certainly enjoy time and again. It’s my fond hope that somebody concerned would do something to enable a much better presence in theatres for the movie by increasing the shows and also by enabling prime time shows wherever possible. A sincere movie like this which has also been getting good reviews needs a much better reach than what it has presently. Till then it’s a sincere request to all those who are passionate about cinema to go on & watch SC- you won’t be disappointed for sure.
Ok so Sajid Nadiadwala entrusts a debutant filmmaker Sabbir Khan to make a movie. So like all Nadiadwala productions they decide to make another lavishly mounted project with A listers Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor. There are also top notch Hollywood stars like Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh and Denise Richards featuring and to top it all they decide to shoot the movie against the backdrop of Hollywood. And what do they do about the story – well they just decide to look down south and rip apart a Kamal Haasan’s Tamil movie.
Followers of Tamil cinema and fans of Kamal Haasan would remember a movie called Pammal K.Sambandham (referred to as PKS hereafter) which had Kamal Haasan and Simran in the lead. Directed by Mouli and with hilarious dialogues by none other than Crazy Mohan, the movie was a simple tale of a stuntman and a lady doctor, who both have distinct identities of their own. This movie was shot without too much of grandeur in Chennai except for a couple of songs which were shot abroad.
But in case of Kambakkht Ishq (referred to as KI hereon) there is nothing called originality. In fact exaggeration is too weak a word to describe the happenings in the movie as virtually everything is over the top. The plot is extremely silly and it’s all about Viraj ( Akshay) a Hollywood stuntman who doesn’t respect women & has them literally falling all over him. Viraj arrives at his brother Lucky’s (Aftab Shivdasani ) wedding to Kamini ( Amrita Arora ) to admonish Lucky for getting married. That’s where Viraj bumps into Simrita ( Kareena )who is Kamini’s best friend and who in turn admonishes Kamini for getting married to Lucky, as she doesn’t trust men.
The die is cast and there’s a virtual ego clash between Viraj and Simrita now. So after numerous silly jokes, some illogical situations and some constant love- hate banter between the two, the movie ends on predictable lines. Akshay Kumar seems to have literally sleep walked through the movie as the role is a cakewalk for him and he has no need to try hard. Kareena looks gorgeous no doubt but there’s nothing beyond it. Vindoo Singh as Akshay’s side kick is o.k. while Amrita Arora and Aftab have nothing much to do. Javed Jaffrey and Boman Irani are virtually wasted in the movie. Kiron Kher has again a very typical role.Anu Malik’s music is nothing great- you are likely to forget the songs after the movie completes its theatrical run.
While a lot of things can & should be overlooked considering that it is a movie after all, nevertheless certain things are almost tantamount to crime. I have never heard of any stuntman who is able to lead the kind of lavish lifestyle that Akshay Kumar leads in the movie. The kind of excessive indulgence shown in the movie actually starts hurting the eye after a point. None of the so called appearances of the Hollywood actors make any worthwhile impact on the movie. Kamal Haasan’s stuntman character was a Hanuman bhakt who wants to remain single. The character was largely believable unlike the fake portrayal by Akshay over here. Though Simran who played the heroine in PKS also has a fiery temper, she still endears to us by some realism in her depiction whereas Kareena tends to certainly go overboard often.
The script (Anvita Dutt Guptan,Sabbir Khan ) seems to be the big culprit here in what could have otherwise been a reasonably engaging movie similar to PKS. Considering that KI is probably made at more than 10 times the budget of PKS, Kamal Haasan would indeed be shocked to see what a relatively quickly made medium budget movie has turned out to be in its Hindi avatar. And yes it would also remind him again that while people are not willing to back his magnum opus – Marudhanayagam or Marmayogi due to budget constraints, there are people in Bollywood who have it going for them to produce an expensive tasteless film like KI ( at more than half the budget of a Marudhanayagam ).
Akshay- inspite of the setbacks of late (CC2C and 8*10), you are still right on top with the Khans.Why do a film like this in the first place? And as for your statement that you & Kareena in KI would be the new Mr. and Mrs.Smith, well I have no words to describe my feelings on the same. In spite of all the excesses your recent blockbusters like Welcome and Singh is Kingg worked because it was patronized by the family audience. But with KI you seem to have only alienated them and in case you haven’t realized it by now it’s certainly a pity.
Thanks to the Bollywood strike people have been literally starved of movies and so the terrific opening for KI is not a surprise at all. But it would be interesting to see if the movie is able to sustain the momentum and emerge profitable for all. I’m someone who loves the smaller films but once in a while would like to indulge in the regular mainstream stuff also. But if this is Bollywood’s idea of entertainment then I guess I would rather stay away from it. So what made me watch this? Well at 50 bucks for a balcony ticket at a good standalone cinema, I thought the deal couldn’t go wrong. But I was proved wrong. So go on if you are getting some good deal like this or else leave it for one of the T.V channels to air it shortly- you won’t regret it one bit. On a parting note I would like to ask a question to Sajid Nadiadwala and co- when you had a lot of people to thank in the opening credits, was it too difficult to acknowledge anybody concerned with PKS? This is all the more surprising because due to industry sources, the remake rights have been bought officially.
I am just back from a late night show of Masilamani- a recent Tamil release. For a movie into the 4th week of its release there was more than 80 % occupancy. At a large single screen theatre like Kasi in Chennai which is regarded as a collection center, this certainly means that the movie is a safe proposition. The movie has a close connection to last year’s surprise hit- Kadalil Vizhunden (KV from hereon). Not only is the lead pair the same (Nakul and Sunaina), this one again is a Sun Pictures release. KV was the first movie to be released by Sun Pictures, the film division of Sun TV network and emboldened by its success they have gone on to buy over and release a spate of movies like Thenavattu, Dindigul Sarathy, Padikathavan, Ayan etc. The success of KV itself could be a case study in isolation. While the anthem song – Nakka Mukka had already become popular, the movie was in the cans for a while. Starring virtually the unknown pair of Nakul and Sunaina, there wasn’t much going for the movie- i.e till Sun Pictures took over the movie and decided to make it their first venture. What was then unleashed was the marketing might of the Sun T.V network. All of a sudden the T.V audience was bombarded with promos of various kinds for KV. No, they did not stick to the earlier trailer which was floating on air for some time earlier. They unleashed a series of different promos of various time durations with sharp focus on the selling points.In fact so impressed was Sun Pictures with the response to Nakka Mukka that they even made the cast and crew shoot another version of the song which wasn’t earlier there in the movie. It also helped that there were other songs which were also quite good (like thozhiya en kadhaliya ) and Vijay Antony’s songs and the lead pair got well recognized. Whether you were watching news, a daily soap or a movie, any interruption would be greeted with a KV promo and lo and behold the people flocked to the theatres out of curiosity. Thankfully the product was reasonably entertaining and thus a successful business model was created. Buoyed by the success of KV, Sun Pictures announced that they were there in the market for keeps. By that time the then big players- Pyramid Saimira and Ayangaran were already facing the heat and Sun Pictures was more than happy to capitalize on the situation. Things turned a complete circle later on as Shankar’s mega project- Endhiran changed hands from Ayangaran to Sun Pictures. After KV Sun Pictures literally went on a buying spree and picked up movies for release. Whether it was a small movie like Dindigul Sarathy or a mass movie like Ayan, they showed that they were adept in handling the project. They even went on to release an English movie- Outlander all over South India in both English and the regional languages. While their efforts at releasing and marketing the movie is commendable when we look at it from the view point of a KV or a Dindigul Sarathy, it becomes extremely irritating to accept carpet bombing on air in the form of promos for movies like a Thee. Dindigul Sarathy (a remake of Sreenivasan’s Malayalam movie Vadakku Nokki Yanthram) would have definitely struggled for a release considering it had comedian Karunas in the lead but Sun Pictures ensured that not only did the movie get a good release, it was also well promoted. Thenavattu saw Jeeva attempting an action movie for the first time and while critics blasted the movie and said Jeeva should rather concentrate on doing movies like Ram and Katradhu Tamil (leaving the mass movies to Vijay and Ajith), the marketing of the movie seemed to work and the movie was a success. The heavy duty promotion of Ayan has been a big factor in ensuring the spectacular success of the movie. So once again with Masilamani they have been doing what they’ve been reasonably successful with. Expecting just a regular masala movie (coming out very clearly from the promos) I went on to watch Masilamani for the heck of it but came out both disappointed and confused. The movie directed by RMR Manohar has nothing great in terms of a plot. Its all about Masilamani (Nakul) fondly called Masi by all and he is the typical do-gooder. The heroine Divya (Sunaina) is a dance teacher and while Masi falls in love with her at first sight somehow whenever she sees him, he comes across as a ruffian to her due to circumstances. That’s when Masi comes up with an alter ego called Mani who is the opposite of what Masi is and the rest of the movie goes completely in predictable fashion. Music by D.Imman is of the typical variety and couple of songs have become reasonably popular. The movie has a stock comedy track (no connection to the main story) with M.S.Bhaskar and Karunas. So obviously the promos are all focusing on the songs and the comedy scenes. While the movie is not on the lines of a Villu or a Thoranai it certainly is nothing great to talk about. This gives me a major cause of concern all of a sudden. With the kind of financial and political muscle that Sun Pictures has they are only going to be producing and releasing a lot many more movies. While I salute their efforts to release and promote a small movie like Dindigul Sarathy, I am also happy to see them push a big movie like Ayan. After all the money made from an Ayan can be used to fund many more smaller films. But what I’m not in favor of is having movies like Thenavattu, Thee and now Masilamani thrown down our throats. As a keen follower of Tamil cinema I do welcome the advent of a big player in the industry but I’m watching them carefully and curiously to see how they are headed. Let’s see what unfolds in the days to come.
A few days ago I was having a conversation over coffee with one of my friends who works in the industry and had just attended the first screenwriting workshop organized by Kamal Haasan’s Rajkmal Films in a tie-up with IIT-Madras. While my friend was sharing his insights about the workshop, he mentioned that apart from the various films screened as part of the course, they were also shown the teaser of ‘Marudhanayagam’, Kamal’s magnum opus which got stalled after the shooting started with a bang. Since I had seen the trailer myself, both of us went on an overdrive, discussing the merits and demerits of the project (as it appealed to us). I still remember the way the muhurat function was held. The chief guest for the event was none other than Queen Elizabeth who was in India at that point of time.
The trailer shows a glimpse of what the movie could have been. It in all probability could have certainly been India’s answer to movies like Braveheart as it falls in that genre and was deemed to be an extravagant affair. Unfortunately all that is left of the movie is around 30 mins of canned film and a dream that’s still not forgotten by Kamal Haasan for sure. Around the time when the shooting had to be stopped, the budget seemed to be something that Indian cinema would have found it hard to support. Now with bigger projects like Endhiran and Blue getting made, there’s still some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of getting some funding for Marudhanayagam. But the question to be asked is will that day be too late?
The reason for that is that Marudhanayagam in the present form requires extremely high levels of fitness and agility from Kamal Haasan and with every year that’s passing by, this is only going to get tougher and tougher for him. Some time last year Kamal even tried to come up with another mega project, again a period movie called Marmayogi. Pyramid Saimira who were initially picking up a lot of projects to produce and/or distribute had decided to produce Marmayogi and then had to back off after their losses suffered due to Kuselan. So now only time will tell whether Kamal Haasan would be able to fulfill his long pending dream of completing Marudhanayagam or whether it remains as just another incomplete dream in the cans.
This discussion made me realize that no matter whatever technical advancements that Cinema is witnessing, some things just don’t change. For one there’s still no safe formula for a successful film. Fortunes are still made and lost on Fridays. And yes luck is a crucial element in this business. That being the case isn’t it extremely heart wrenching for a film maker to see his/her movie getting stalled or lying in the cans unsold? Time and again we have seen so many film makers facing this predicament. This is a phenomena witnessed by both established and new filmmakers.
By now everyone (on PFC at least) knows the kind of struggle that Anurag Kashyap has had to face for Paanch ( still unreleased ) or what Pankaj Advani has had to face for Urf Professor ( again unreleased as of now ). These are just 2 popular examples that I have mentioned to explain a very common phenomena. That people like Anurag Kashyap and Pankaj Advani have a lot of conviction is evident as Anurag has gone on to make movies like Black Friday,No Smoking, Dev D, Gulaal etc and Pankaj Advani is right now gearing up for the release of his ‘ Sankat City’. But not every other filmmaker can carry within themselves so much of conviction, especially if it’s a new comer.
At the moment while I’m writing this my heart goes out to 2 other filmmakers, who share something in common with each other- their first film as a director was well recognized and fairly successful too. On one hand you have Sagar Ballary who made the popular Bheja Fry and whose second film Kachcha Limbu was completed quite some time ago. On the other hand you have Vasantha Balan who made the acclaimed Tamil movie- Veyyil and whose 2nd movie- Angadi Theru is also ready. So what else is common between these 2 directors apart from their first film being noticed? Well simple enough, both their 2nd movies are ready but still unsure of their release.
While Kachcha Limbu is a Sahara production, Angadi Theru is an Ayangaran production. Till recently both Sahara and Ayangaran were fairy serious players in production of Hindi/Tamil movies, but with the recession setting in, both these production houses have been affected to some extent. Sahara already has asked Sagar Ballary to try and find another entity to buy the movie from Sahara and then release it. While in case of Ayangaran as of now the release is still likely though a bit delayed. I just hope for the sake of Sagar and Vasanth that they manage to get their respective films released at the earliest and focus themselves on their other projects. When my fellow PFC author Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s first film Frozen finally got released in India last month after doing the rounds of 30 odd festivals and winning 20 awards internationally, Shivajee was a much relieved man. And why not, for finally his dream was not in the cans anymore and was there for the whole world to see. And yes the wait can be sweet if it does not go beyond a point and the movie still gets the same reception that it was expected to receive. But if the waiting period goes beyond a point, then sometimes things can certainly go out of hand too.
A classic case in point is the Tamil movie- Kutrapathirikai directed by R.K.Selvamani. The movie was highly controversial for being based on former Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi’s assassination. It was banned by the censors in 1992/1993 and after a prolonged court battle, the movie finally released in early 2007. For old times sake I did go and watch the movie but was thoroughly disappointed for 2 reasons- first of all the movie did not have anything objectionable for getting banned and secondly after nearly 15 years, the movie looked so out of place in terms of technique and sensibility that it was not surprisingly a big flop.
For the sake of all filmmakers and wannabe filmmakers I would certainly hope that as far as possible celluloid dreams lying in the cans should not go on to become a cause of concern. The celluloid dreams deserve to hit the silver screen and not lie around in the cans, unseen. Let the audience then deserve the fate of the movie, at least the filmmaker would have received his/her realistic chance of seeing his/her dream come true.
Right from the days when I was a kid, I used to enjoy traveling by train. Whether it were the long distance journeys usually in the summer vacation or the suburban train traveling in a Mumbai or Chennai, I would always look forward to it. Over years I have gone on to notice how Indian Railways seems to have become a home away from home for a lot many people who travel by trains regularly to work. Whether you talk about the electric trains in the metro cities like Western/Central/Harbor lines of Mumbai or the Guindy-Tambaram route in Chennai, or the underground Metro rail in Kolkata and Delhi or even in places like Kerala where people travel from a Palakkad to Coimbatore (T.N) or from far off places like Thrissur and adjoining districts to Cochin/Ernakulam, this phenomena is witnessed on a daily basis. The exceptions must only be in case of Sundays and holidays. Of course in Kerala with strikes and hartals being quite common one must see a lot more exceptions to this aspect.
For all these people traveling to work, the journey by train becomes an extension of their life. They even know the train timings by heart and would have their own acquaintances/friends whom they meet on the train every day. Speaking of this reminds me of Naseeruddin Shah in A Wednesday, mourning the death of a young man, a fellow train traveler who dies in a bomb blast. When you get into a routine of seeing somebody so regularly on the train everyday, you tend to identify him/her as someone familiar to you & look forward to meeting him/her again and again.
Why am I rambling on and on about trains and train travelers? Well basically because this post is my reflections over a recent Malayalam movie that I saw- ‘Passenger’. It’s a movie that’s certainly better than some of the mediocre stuff that we have got used to seeing from Malayalam cinema these days and it makes me in its own ways also relive my days of having traveled by the suburban trains in Chennai and Mumbai. The movie is not just about train journey, it’s also about the common man and the role that he can play in today’s chaotic society. So in a way that reminded me of A Wednesday, but the comparison is slightly superficial because there are a lot of differences between the common man in both these films.
Ranjith Shankar (a former I.T professional) makes a debut as a writer-director with Passenger. The movie is a definitely more than a decent debut for Ranjith as it’s certainly not a run of the mill subject and that needs to be appreciated. When the opening credits start I was astonished to find a big thanks to the ‘fans of Dileep’ and I certainly expected this to be a way of just addressing star tantrums, but thankfully as the movie progressed, I realized the actual reason for the credit and couldn’t but afford to smile when I realized the same. I will come to that later. Passenger is a movie that basically chronicles the events that take place in the lives of a few individuals whose paths cross due to nothing but quirk of fate. Sathyanathan(Sreenivasan) is the common man of the story and he works for a Pharmaceutical firm in Ernakulam and travels everyday to work (and back) from his house in a village near Chalakudy by train. On the train he usually encounters a constant set of people with whom he spends time by playing cards and chit chatting. This is how life goes on for him on a regular basis. That Sathyanathan has a social activist streak is evident as he is seen running signature campaigns for cleaner toilets on trains, asking for streamlining the halts on train routes etc.
On the other hand you have a young educated couple who are equally social minded. The husband Adv.Nandan Menon ( Dileep ) and his wife TV journalist Anuradha Menon(Mamta Mohan Das ) by way of work have locked horns with the Home Minister(Jagathy Sreekumar ) in connection with a case pertaining to sand mining in a coastal area. One fine day Sathyanathan pesters his boss to grant him leave for the next day as he being the local temple festival’s organizer wants to be there for the same. Reluctantly his boss grants the leave when Sathyanathan volunteers to work overtime for that day.
Having worked overtime Sathyanathan has to skip his regular train and take up another train at a later time. At the same time Nandan Menon is on the same train traveling to Guruvayoor (his wife Anuradha is part of a press team covering the minister’s press meet in Kottayam). A disturbing series of events unfold and the rest of the movie is all about what happens in the course of the next 24 hours or so. The lives of all the main characters in the story get intertwined. As far as the concept goes it’s not earth shaking but certainly better than the run of the mill stuff seen regularly these days.
In terms of casting again I think Ranjith Shankar has got it fairly right. Who better than Sreenivasan to play the common man? And kudos to Dileep for having accepted a role which is more of a second fiddle ( this is why I guess the thanks was mentioned for his fans- maybe for seeking their support ) and for a change it’s good to see Mamta in a non glamorous role. Though it’s become routine to see politicians as villains in Malayalam cinema, but still it’s refreshing to see the extremely talented Jagathy Sreekumar essaying the role over here.
The movie has managed to get a lot of nuances correct as seen in Kerala on a daily basis. For example in spite of attractions like T.V and cinema you still have a lot of people craving for the temple festivals, in most Malayalee homes you would find an elderly person typically watching an ‘Idea Star Singer’ or ‘Devi Mahatmyam’ on Asianet in the primetime slots on T.V leaving the others at home with no choice if you do not have a second T.V at home. The ending of the movie again is something that leaves you with a smile. And at a running time of just less than 2 hours, the length of the movie is just about right surprisingly.
But all said and done the movie still is not a path-breaker and is nowhere close to being called a great movie. There are a lot of loopholes in the script and sometimes you even question the validity of some events in the movie. But all said and done considering that it’s the first effort of Ranjith Shankar as writer-director and for having tried something different, the effort needs to be highlighted. I only hope that Ranjith and the other film makers only look to go beyond Passenger and come up with even better movies rather than stagnating over here. Malayalam cinema needs a revival, a revival that’s long overdue. Till that happens I have to keep re-visiting some of the good films of the 80’s and 90’s or keep hoping with every ‘Passenger’ that things are about to improve.
Well as work beckoned, I was back in Chennai for a short visit of 3 days, incidentally my 2nd visit in less than 2 weeks time. Chennai has more than been home to me and so always has a special place in my heart. This visit was extra special because I ended up watching 3 movies on the big screen all in a span of 24 hours. It was back to my old days of glory and the feeling was accentuated since I saw the movies in Sathyam Cinemas, which is virtually my 2nd home in Chennai.
Considering that the last 2 months have been fairly drought prone in terms of movies, what with the strike in Bollywood (now finally called off) and hardly any major Hollywood release too, it was mainly regional cinema that kept me busy. So it was all the more interesting that I was watching a Hindi movie and 2 Hollywood movies one after the other after quite some time. And adding to all this was the fact that I genuinely enjoyed 2 out of those 3 movies, so without too much of a prologue, let me get into the details.
Thursday, 4th June,’09- 3.45 P.M show at Studio-5 (Sathyam Cinemas) – Movie-99 No one could have asked for a better way to capitalize on getting free so early on a working day. I was there with an industry friend to watch 99 again. Another friend, also from the industry was supposed to join in, but couldn’t make it due to some work. While I had asked my friend to get the tickets booked, my friend was slightly hesitant. His contention being that the movie was about to enter the 4th week and it was an afternoon show on a week day, so tickets should be easily available. But the scenario seemed to be completely different. Yes it was the smallest of the 6 screens in the multiplex but still it was a full house and hence very creditable for a movie on the 21st day of its release.Quite a few people among the audience were watching the movie for the 2nd time & most of the people seemed to be having a great time watching the movie. I think if the Bollywood strike has benefited anyone the most; it should definitely be the team of 99 as the movie certainly seems to be getting watched by a lot of people. I would not want to review the movie now as by now most of us know quite a lot about the movie. But yes I would definitely like to mention that by and large I was impressed with the casting choices. Of course I felt Vinod Khanna’s role had no meat and it could have been done by nearly anyone else. Kunal Khemu is a good actor and I would like to see him in more such movies than a Jai Veeru .
Soha Ali Khan,Cyrus, Boman Irani were all more than adequate. But I think Mahesh Manjrekar and Amit Mistry in particular rocked. I would really like to congratulate Krishna D.K, Raj Nidimoru and the entire team of 99 for not only have they been able to make a movie that’s entertaining yet made within a reasonable budget, they have also been able to bring in a lot of authenticity as seen by the way they have captured the years 1999-2000 in the movie. And considering that they have got the nuances of Mumbai and Delhi so well it becomes an even better spectacle to watch. There are so many wonderful moments in the film, that one always stays glued to the screen. Oh! Yes I do plan to catch the movie again probably sometime later this week.
Thursday, 4th June,’09- 7.00 P.M show at Santham (Sathyam Cinemas) – Movie- Angels and Demons Based on the book of the same name by Dan Brown, this one is the filmy sequel to The Da Vinci Code (while the book is more of a prequel). While the book series and the previous movie have created enough controversy, this movie has also generated enough curiosity. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Robert Langdon in this movie directed by Ron Howard. Set within the Vatican, this movie is the archetype Hollywood masala movie. With its stock characters, some fair bit of intrigue, twists and turns and some rescue acts galore, this is a movie that will be lapped up by majority of the audience and the crowd at Santham (Sathyam Cinemas) seemed to be no exception too. Thankfully the movie moves at a reasonable pace and is technically good (not a surprise for a film of this magnitude). All in all it was a movie I didn’t regret having watched, but not something that I’m proud of either.
After the movie was over I realized that there was a paid preview of Star Trek, later at night and being a Star Trek fan (Trekkie/Trekker), I was tempted to make it 3 movies in a row, but restrained myself as I already had taken tickets for the next day.
Friday, 5th June,’09- 10.15 P.M show at Santham (Sathyam Cinemas) – Movie- Star Trek Ok this is a brand new installment of the franchise that I kind of grew up with. I still remember watching the T.V series on D.D as a kid and watching the movies those days. Oh! Yes I also remember reading the books/comics of the series when I was in school and so when I heard of the movie being made, I was naturally excited. When PFC had reviewed the movie after a sneak preview in the U.S sometime ago, my curiosity levels were raised and so there I was on the first day of its India release to watch it. First things first, the movie does not disappoint. For a lot of Star Trek fans, it’s like re-visiting the franchise as you are shown the origins of Kirk and Spock. And for most newcomers among the audience (majority of the people didn’t seem to be aware of the franchise) it was good that they got to understand the concept quite well. The actors have changed, some personality traits have changed but at heart the franchise remains the same.So there’s time-travel, black holes, Starfleet Academy, distant planets and more such things that the franchise had started to symbolize. And for all the original fans, one also gets to see Leonard Limoy (the original Spock) who reprises his role as the senior Spock in the movie. All in all, this is one adventure ( directed by J.J.Abrams )that’s lovely to experience. I’m now looking forward to the next movie in the series.
Finally before I left from Chennai for a short vacation to Kerala, I was almost set to watch another movie- the Malayalam hit, Passenger. But due to shortage of time, I had to cancel the plan and looked forward to watching it in Kerala instead. So coming up next is my Kerala Cinema Diary.
Note- This was written a few days ago and was to be posted over last weekend. Now at the time of posting this I have already watched 99 once more. Viva cinema!!!
On behalf of Ashwin I dedicate this post to Vrushali, who according to Ashwin is the best friend in the world.
Friendship is an integral part of our emotions and friends occupy an important part of our lives. In some cases friends often are given the same status as that of family members when it comes to certain crunch situations. For someone who has been brought up over a staple diet of Bollywood movies, friendship as depicted in these films has always fascinated me. This post is a simple attempt to illustrate how friendship is shown in Hindi films and mention a few movies in particular for they way they have gone about illustrating the same. And of course in my own small way I wish to thank a lot many people for, their friendship has certainly been quite valuable to me.
In the earlier days (at least in the 50’s and 60’s) life was considered to be a lot simpler than it is now. There were lesser complications that existed in those days. But even then friendship could take different dimensions as shown in 2 well known movies, both of which incidentally released in the same year- 1964. The films in question being Dosti and Sangam. Dosti was an ideal example for the fact that not all films need big stars to succeed. In fact the movie starred a couple of relatively new actors in the main lead- Sudhir Kumar and Sushil Kumar as a blind boy and a cripple respectively. It was a movie which was basically based on the friendship between these two boys who roam the streets of Bombay (as it was known then) singing songs and earning their livelihood. One of the biggest strengths of the movie apart from the very natural performances of the 2 male leads was the melodious music given by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, one of their earliest successful films.
While every song was a gem (Rahi manwa dukh ki chinta, chahoonga main tujhe shaam savere and many more) the song in particular which probably epitomizes friendship is“Koi jab raah na paaye, mere sang aaye, ke pag pag deep jalaye, meri dosti ,mera pyar”.Such is the intensity of the song that it leaves you completely at peace. Friendship as shown in Dosti is truly divine. Moving on to Raj Kapoor’s Sangam, well the movie was about 3 childhood friends played by Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar & Vyjayantimala. It won’t require any special insight to know that the story turns out to a romantic triangle. It was a movie which placed a lot of emphasis on male bonding and tried to distinguish between the thin line between friendship and love. It also showed how love could result in anguish for someone. This was again a musical with Shankar-Jaikishan in brilliant form with scores like Yeh mera prem part padh kar,Mere man ki Ganga, Main kya karun Ram mujhe budda mil gaya and many more but the anguish & pain in friendship and love is aptly described in this song- “Dost dost na raha, pyaar pyaar naa rahaZindagi hamein tera, aitbaar na raha, aitbaar na raha”
In the year 1973 a sensation happened. Prakash Mehra came out with his Zanjeer with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead. The movie went on to become a path breaker in many ways. It was the first blockbuster in the career of AB, it paved the way for a long relationship between Prakash Mehra, AB & the writer jodi of Salim-Javed and of course the ‘angry young man’ persona which AB went on to successfully symbolize in movie after movie started off with this movie. But amidst all this the element of friendship is also something that the film focused upon. And here the friendship was special- it was the friendship between a cop and a criminal (Pran) who is influenced by the cop and gets reformed. And therein begins the deep friendship between the two. The song“Yaari hai imaan mera, yaar meri zindagi” composed by Kalyanji-Anandji summarises the friendship in the best way possible.
Well,when we are talking about friendship in Hindi cinema, would it be prudent not to talk about Sholay? Jai and Veeru today are probably the best known friends in the entire history of Hindi cinema. Yes Sholay is a classic and probably everything that matters in the movie was a highlight, but certainly one of the biggest positives of the movie was the bonding between Jai and Veeru. Be it the early scenes in the jail when the jodi tries to have a blast in taking a dig a the jailor ( Asrani ) or in the scenes when Veeru is trying to woo Basanti ( Hema Malini )- there is an inherent sense of humour that is prevailing throughout the movie. The song “yeh dosti, hum nahin todenge,Todenge dum magar, tera saath na chhodenge” symbolizes the free spiritedness of their friendship the best. The Jai-Veeru bonding went on to even be an inspiration for the similar bonding of Govinda and Sanjay Dutt seen in movies like Haseena Maan Jaayegi,Jodi No.1 and Ek Aur Ek Gyarah.
When a film’s title is Dostana what else can the movie symbolize but friendship? Both the popular movies with this title, one a 1980 release and the other a recent 2008 release had a strong undercurrent of friendship running throughout the film. Let’s look at Dostana (1980) to begin with. This was a classic tale of friendship between Vijay (who else but Amitabh Bachchan ) and Ravi ( Shatrughan Sinha ) who are best friends in spite of their work getting into the way. Even when both fall in love with the same girl, Sheetal ( Zeenat Aman ) they still manage to retain their friendship with Vijay trying to sacrifice his love. But that’s when their friendship gets fractured on the basis of a misunderstanding created by the villain,Daaga ( Prem Chopra ). The movie was a resounding success and the music by Laxmikant- Pyarelal was certainly a big boost too. My pick of the lot among the songs is definitely –“Bane chahe dushman zamana hamara, salamat rahe dostana hamara”.
Well, in the 70’s and 80’s there were hundreds of Hindi films which stressed on the friendship angle, but in most cases the movie would again go on to become a romantic triangle and the exceptions would be limited to the odd movie like Khudgarz. Just when I thought the topic had almost lost its impact, there came a movie in 1994 which ushered in a fresh wave- Andaz Apna Apna .Amar ( Aamir Khan ) and Prem ( Salman Khan ) begin as rivals fighting to marry a rich heiress and wanting to become rich overnight. Due to turn of circumstances they join hands and then begins the mad comedy of errors. For the way the two characters are shown as fun loving, bumbling characters- the movie can be seen endlessly. There is always an underlying current of one-upmanship between the two and that was certainly refreshing.
There was a movie which came a few years before AAA and which tried to explore the angle of friendship between a boy and a girl. The movie was the trendsetting Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) which along with QSQT is credited to have broken the trend of the mindless action movie of the 80’s. Here the two friends are Prem (Salman Khan) and Suman (Bhagyashree ) who try to portray that after all friendship can exist between a boy and a girl too. The innocence shows in the form of symbols like the ‘friend’ cap which went on to became a rage across the country. But of course all good things come to an end. This was after all a romantic film and yes the situations eventually lead to them falling in love with each other. Nearly a decade later (1998) the angle was explored again in Karan Johar’s directorial debut ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ as you had Kajol and SRK playing best friends.Of course friendship eventually turns to love here too.
If there was ever a movie to symbolize friendship between 2 women I would probably think of movies like ‘Dor’ and ‘Filhaal’. In case of Filhaal the story tackles the emotions running through the friendship between 2 childhood friends Rewa ( Tabu ) and Sia ( Sushmita Sen ) and brings in the element of surrogate motherhood between the 2 friends. Dor on the other hand is a sensitive portrayal of friendship between 2 women( Gul Panag and Ayesha Takia )of completely different spectrums yet who go on to share a bond- of friendship, that is extremely genuine.
The coming of age when it applies to human emotions and portrayal of friendship, can be seen in the form of Dostana (2008). Here Kunal (John Abraham ) and Sameer ( Abhishek Bachchan ) pretend to be gays to share an apartment with Neha ( Priyanka Chopra ). Though predictably both of them fall in love with Neha and try their level best to spoil her relationship with Abhimanyu (Bobby Deol ), they do end up realizing ultimately that the friendship between the three of them is what matters the most. Probably the best thing that Bobby Deol does in the entire movie is to tell Priyanka in the climax that the 2 of them (John-Abhishek) are truly her best friends.
Duniya Dilwalon Ki (1996- Kadhal Desam in Tamil) takes a slightly unconventional look at friendship again. Both Vineet and Abbas who are best friends are in love with the same girl –Tabu. When it becomes clear to her that both her friends are in love with her, she decides to give predominance to friendship over love and choses to remain friends with both of them forever rather than marrying one of them and losing a good friend in the bargain.
Well, talking about friendship and while discussing current trends how can I not talk about OLLO (Oye Lucky Lucky Oye). OLLO brings a fresh and unconventional approach to friendship. Lucky (Abhay Deol ) the protagonist and Bangali ( Manu Rishi ) are childhood friends who become partners in crime as well. Theirs is a typical tale of friendship as they do most of things in tandem, just when it looks like a regular tale of friendship there occurs a chilling betrayal and the friendship crumbles in a heap. This is a very contemporary take on friendship. As we are all aware life has got a lot more complicated in the recent past and to see such an event happening is but fairly natural.
And maybe another movie which I must mention here is Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gulaal’. I felt that the friendship portrayed between Ransa ( Abhimanyu Singh ) and Dileep Singh ( Raj Singh Chaudhary ) was impressive enough for the simple reason that it clearly shows how a bold and colorful personality can influence an otherwise mild mannered person.
This was not a comprehensive list of Hindi movies which explored friendship. Rather I have gone on to just look at a sample list of a few films all of which look at facets of friendship different from each other. I would certainly like to know which are your favorite Hindi movies depicting friendship and your take on the movies mentioned here by me.
A couple of years ago,on one fine morning, I was stranded in Bangalore’s HAL airport (or the old airport as we now describe it) for some 4-5 hours. The reason being my flight and most other flights were delayed due to fog condition and so I was caught unawares. Since the agenda was only a meeting with a retail chain towards lunch time, I was hoping to catch up on some other agenda’s and catch the evening flight and return back. You see those were the pre recession days and could easily fly short distances like Chennai-Bangalore and get back the same day too . Well I do miss those days I guess. Before you wonder if this post is going to be about my ramblings on recession, flying etc- let me clarify that it’s not what I have in mind. I just narrated this incident to tell you all how I wish I had at least known the story of Chandrasekhar Yeleti’s ( C.Y from hereon ) latest Telugu movie-‘Prayanam’ by that time.If that were so, who knows those few hours could have changed my life. For those who have seen or heard of C.Y’s previous movies namely Aithe, Anukokunda Oku Roju (remade as Sunday in Hindi) and Okkadunnadu, it would surely come as a surprise to know that Yeleti this time has changed tracks and gone in for a lighthearted romantic film in the form of Prayanam. Before talking anything about the movie- I have a question to ask. What would any guy who has a lot of time to while away in an airport try to do? Well yes the normal responses would be reading, checking your mail/chatting, having endless cups of coffee/mugs of beer, talking with someone on the mobile etc. But would anyone among us think of falling in love and then ensuring that one tends to get successful in it? Yeah! I’m sure most of us probably end up seeing a good looking girl and some of us probably even manage to talk to the girl and feel happy about it. But I repeat how many of us would use the few hours of time with us at the airport to fall in love with the girl and then try to woo her successfully? Not many, right? Well let me then go on to tell you what Prayanam is all about. The plot if I were to call it is all about a trio of friends – Dhruv (Manchu Manoj), Janardhan and Tamim who have just completed a sightseeing trip to Malaysia and are now at Kuala Lumpur’s International airport to fly over to Singapore. At the same time you have the female lead Harika (Payal Ghosh a.k.a Harika) along with her friend Kalpika who are also at the airport to catch a flight to Hyderabad. Harika is about to meet a prospective bride groom in Hyderabad and that’s the reason for her travel. In truly filmy style Dhruv falls in love with Harika – a classic case of love at first sight. But our hero is somewhat different because he is not content by merely falling in love; he wants to successfully woo her too. And he has just 2 hours to go about in this task. How he goes about doing this is what the movie is all about. Now I’m sure even without seeing the movie it would be clear to almost everyone that the plot is extremely simple and does not carry any meat on its own. In such a case it becomes very important for the director to be very effective in ensuring that the proceedings on screen keep the viewer enthused throughout the duration of the film. It is here that C.Y shows he is in complete control. By ensuring that the humour quotient is fairly high throughout the movie, he manages to keep the proceedings interesting enough till the end. In fact though it is a romantic film, I personally did not find anything extraordinary about the romance in the movie as such. But it is in the comedy scenes that C.Y completely excels and lifts the movie to a large extent. Also what is remarkable about the movie is that the movie is more or less shot in just one location (except the few scenes at the start) i.e. in the airport and there are just 5-6 characters in the movie. Also commendable is the fact that the comedy is never over the top. Brahmanandam as Satyanaryana Swamy is hilarious and the scenes that he has with Janardhan are certainly innovative. Also interestingly the characters of Kalpika and Tamim have been well sketched and the scenes involving them are entertaining again. Manchu Manoj seems to be having a blast in this movie (after Nenu Meeku Telusa which was reasonably noticed) and he will surely be talked about with this movie. Harika/Payal Ghosh does not have much scope but is fairly decent. Music by Mahesh Shankar is fairly adequate and does not distract (just 3 songs in the movie). The animation in the opening titles and the first song (YYW) is quite interesting. All in all this is one ‘Prayanam’ which can be safely undertaken. Not outstanding cinema, but definitely entertaining enough. P.S- By now you would have understood why I mentioned I wish I knew the story of Prayanam when I was stuck at Bangalore’s HAL airport. But on hindsight even if I had liked some girl then, with all the chaos that prevailed there on that day I doubt if I would have been successful enough like Manchu Manoj in the movie .
Of late I keep going into a reflective mode often and look back in time and relive a lot of interesting memories. A few days ago I was discussing with a friend about a Tamil movie –‘Guru En Aalu’ which after lying in the cans for a while finally got released a few weeks ago. What’s interesting about the movie is that it is the Tamil remake of Yes Boss. The discussion once again made me go back in time to the 90’s and think of some of the romantic songs of the 90’s.Now the 90’s are very special to me for various reasons. The 90’s were when I was a teenager and also the time when I moved out of school and into college. Also it was the 90’s again (the later part) when I became a young adult. So the memories of this decade are very precious to me & since that was the time my heart really started fluttering, a lot of memories come alive when I listen to the numerous Bollywood love songs of the 90’s.
Taking a cue from my fellow author Tushar’s write –ups ( like this one- http://passionforcinema.com/hona-hai-to-ho-hi-jayega-of-lost-songs-ii/) I am going on my journey of revisiting some of my favorite songs ( mostly romantic ) of the 90’s.If anyone is expecting me to write on the standard songs from the blockbusters like DDLJ,Aashiqui,Saajan, DTPH etc, you are thoroughly mistaken. The endeavor is to revisit those songs which have been more or less forgotten by us. Most of these songs are from movies which probably were not box office successes. And these songs are most likely not to be seen/heard anywhere these days- not even in T.V (unless the movie is being played), but back in those days of the 90’s were quite popular in their own way. Most of these songs are confined to individual memories and one has to go back to the old audio cassette/C.D or the internet to hear these songs again.
1. Sambhala Hai Maine- Naaraaz By the early/mid 90’s Mahesh Bhatt had kind of become obsessed more with the number of projects than the quality of work and this resulted in him doing a series of movies which didn’t do much justice to his filmography (barring exceptions like Zakhm of course).One such movie was Naaraaz a movie which had Mithunda,Pooja Bhaat,Atul Agnihotri & Sonali Bhendre in the lead. Though I do vaguely remember the plot and some scenes from the movie, nothing else has remained etched permanently in my memory like the song Sambhala Hai Maine from the movie. Picturised on Atul Agnihotri and Sonali Bhendre, this was romance at its expressive best. I certainly was envious of Atul Agnihotri when I saw the song for the first time. Not only was he romancing the pretty Sonali, he also got to sing such a beautiful song on screen- probably his best ever song in his entire career as a hero J
Check out the video and relive the magic, once again.
Trivia- Tadipaar is the only other movie apart from Naaraaz where Mahesh Bhatt and Mithun Chakraborty have worked together.
2. Utra Na Dil Mein Koi- Uff!Yeh Mohabbat The movie introduced a new hero- Abhishek Kapoor ( now popular as the director of Rock On ) and a new director- Vipin Handa (who was popular for his T.V shows on D.D) and had an upcoming heroine- Twinkle Khanna. Somehow the promos seemed to look interesting and I remember having to literally force a female friend & her sister to accompany me for the movie because no one else wanted to accompany me. I was not at all disappointed with the movie. True there wasn’t a great story to boast of but the picturesque locales of Sikkim and the songs like Utra Na Dil Mein Koi and Deewani Deewani ( music by Nikhil-Vinay )more than made up for it. While Deewani Deewani is more likely to be remembered by people now for its brilliant Sufi rendition, Utra Na Dil Mein Koi is the one which sunk into my heart and the romantic in me was floored.
For those who haven’t seen/heard the song and for those who would like to revisit it, here is the video- do have a look and fall in love once again.
Vipinji- if you ever read this let me tell you once again that it is this movie which made me fall in love with Sikkim and prompted me to make 2-3 visits. I know I have told you this before, but cannot resist the opportunity to tell this once again.
3. Sawali Saloni- Hum Sab Chor Hain Now when a movie has Kamal Sadanah and Ritu Shivpuri in the romantic lead (for those who do not know them, just forget itJ ), what more does one have to say? So while the movie did not grab any eye balls on release and is of course completely forgotten (rightly so today), there is this song- Sawli Saloni which was extremely popular in those days. Picturised on the lead pair on a fort/palace (don’t remember which one), this one again was a Kumar Sanu hit. Lyrics by Nawab Aarzoo were perfectly in sync with the music of Bappi Lahari for the song.
For all those interested in a revisit given below is the video.
4. Hum lakh chupaya pyar magar- Jaan Tere Naam Now this is a movie most of us are aware of. The songs were quite popular when the movie released and used to be a major draw on ‘Chitrahaar’ on D.D. Starring Rohit Roy & Farheen in the main lead, the music was by Nadeem-Shravan who were literally ruling the roost in the 90’s. Most of the other songs are also popular like Kal college bandh ho jaayega, main tumse juda ho jaunga, yeh akka India jaanta hai etc. But when it comes to love songs nothing really surpasses Hum lakh chupaye pyar magar sung by Kumar Sanu & Asha Bhonsle.
6. Resham Jaise Hain Rahein- Ek Tha Dil Ek Thi Dhadkan I vividly remember watching the promos of this movie in T.V in 1997. The movie was supposed to be the launch vehicle of Isha Koppikar and had Inder Kumar and Arbaaz Ali Khan (seen later in Mrityudaata as Amitabh Bachchan’s younger brother). The music was by Anand Raj Anand whose first movie as composer – Masoom had just released some time before this. Abhijeet was in his element while singing this and you can feel the free spirit in the mood of the song when you listen to it. The opening lines of the song are very simple, yet makes you want to hum it to yourself (I do it often).
“Resham Jaisi Hain Rahein,Kholein Hain Bahein ,Ye Vaadiyaan Mausam Saare Hain Apne,Rangeen Sapne,Hain Maherbaan Yoon Hi Gayenge Milke ,Hum Geet Dil Ke ,Sadiyon Yahan”
I don’t know if the movie ever got released and have not yet been successful in my search for the actual video of the song. I guess I have to depend upon my old audio cassette when I want to hear this once again.
7. Aake Teri Baahon Mein- Vansh
Vansh was the Hindi remake of Manirathnam’s popular Tamil movie- Agninatchathiram. This was a movie noticed mainly due to the music of Anand-Milind. Most of the songs like Main to deewani huyi, yeh bindiya yeh kangna, etc were also quite popular. But when it comes to the turn of having a pleasant romantic track which makes you forget about the visual and just sit back and relax, one can definitely slot ‘ Aake teri baahon mein’ in this category. With veterans like S.P.Balasubramaniam and Lata Mangeshkar singing to the lyrics of Sameer ( who was having a golden run at that time as he was the busiest lyrics writer in Bollywood then ), the song is a virtual treat to the ears.
Trivia- Vansh was directed by Pappu Verma more popular as an action director. And of the main cast, Sudesh Berry and Siddharth can be still seen occasionally while the leading ladies Ekta and Priyanka have disappeared.
8. Chand se parda kijiye- Aao Pyar Karen
This was a Saif Ali Khan,Shilpa Shetty,Somy Ali starrer and was one of the early films for the main star cast. Music was composed by the then relatively new composer- Adesh Shrivastav. In combination with Shyam Raj (lyrics) Adesh composed some good songs like Haathon mein aagaya jo kal, Jab do dil milte hain, etc. But there’s something remarkable about this song – “Chand se parda kijiye” which in spite of being a party song certainly has soul and is extremely romantic at the core.
Do check out the video once again to revive the memory once again.
Trivia- Directed by Ravindra Peepat,Aao Pyar Karein was a remake of a Tamil movie, Chemabaruthi directed by R.K.Selvamani & starring Prashant & Roja.
The list is not exhaustive and these are just some of my top of the mind recall songs in this category. Given below are a few more songs which I feel belong to this category-
Bin tere sanam- Yaara Dildaara Man chahe sanam- Aar Ya Paar Tu jab jab mujhko pukare- Qurbaan Ek chanchal shokh haseena- Baaghi Aankhon se dil mein utarke tu mere dhadkan mein hain- Fareb Chaha to bahut na chahen tujhe- Imtihaan Tu mile dil khile- Criminal
Feel free to add more songs which you believe fall under this category and let’s relive the 90’s once again.
