Archive for the ‘Action’ Category
Hindi Film – Majboor (released in 1974) – starring Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, and Farida Jalal
On August 15, 2010 in Action, Bollywood, Classic, Crime, Drama, Movie
Majboor was a movie, released in 1974, that shows the fate of a man, who gets stuck in a web of his own making and is now making frantic efforts to extricate himself from that web. Majboor means ‘Somebody who is being forced into a course of action’. The movie was a fairly decent hit, with some good performance by the leading man, the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. The movie was directed by Ravi Tandon, and produced by Premji. The movie had some good music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and the story of the movie was written by the hit pair of Javed Akhtar-Salim Khan (who had written many other leading movie stories as well). The stars of the movie, included, besides Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, Madan Puri, Rehman and Farida Jalal.
The movie is apparently based on an earlier American movie called Zigzag (released in 1970), based on the same subject (that of an innocent man framing himself to collect money that his family will need, since he believes that he is on his death bed, but then gets cured and now wants his freedom back).
Hindi TV Serial – Bandini – Birwa goes in for a more violent mode, after seeing that nothing was preventing the marriage
On April 21, 2010 in Action, Bandini, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Marriage, Romance, TV, Values, Video
Bandini is a serial on Imagine TV that is fairly popular. The serial is essentially based on the struggle of Santu, a girl from a poor household who ends up marrying a much older man, who is also the richest man in the whole area and very influential. She in turn struggles to ensure that her new family does not come to any troubles.
In the current set of episodes, Birwa is very badly frustrated over the fact that Sarang is going to marry Monghi, Santu’s sister. When Sarang was after her, she turned him down, but by the time she realized that she wanted to marry Sarang, it was too late. He had started loving Monghi, even though she was much poorer than him. It is Birwa’s own father, DM, who moves the marriage forward, even ensuring that Sarang’s own father did not raise too many objections. The few objections raised by Sarang’s grandmother were also settled, and everything seemed to be fine.
In all this, Birwa, who is trying to prevent the marriage from happening was unable to control her anger. Using her business logic (where a cut diamond has no value), she reasons that if Sarang cannot marry her, he will not be able to marry anyone, she decides to get rid of Sarang, and takes him up a cliff through false pretenses. There, she is just about to attack him when DM’s car comes in between and saves Sarang, but DM gets hurt.
When DM comes back home, he is injured and claims that he was in an accident, and that Sarang was nearby and saved him. But Santu hears Sarang and his friend Rudra discussing this, and wants to know more, and tries to pump Rudra for more information. Rudra in turn is flirty, so one wonders how Santu will react when Rudra tries to flirt with her.
Ek Veer Stree Ki Kahani…Jhansi Ki Rani – on Zee TV
On February 21, 2010 in Action, Character, Drama, Hindi Serial, History, Jhansi Ki Rani, Marriage, Zee
Historicals are very difficult to pull through given the fact that the audience already has a definite opinion of the story one is about to narrate. It is almost next to impossible to carry out an interpretation that will closely fit into the collective imagination of the person or the period. Ek Veer Stree Ki Kahani…Jhansi Ki Rani, is Zee TV’s attempt to capture the essence of a woman who is revered and much adored till date in India. Indeed Laxmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi is for many India’s Joan of Arc-the brave lady who fought the oppressive British rule and took part in our very first Freedom movement.
It must be said that the channel, the producers of the show and the different creative heads by deciding on this particular historical figure took on a huge risk. The charisma of Jhani ki Rani is such that she is known through the length and breadth of the country. To capture the essence of such a dynamic and much loved character required a tremendous amount of guts and skill. To the credit of the entire team of the show, they have pulled it off. In fact it can even be said that their interpretation of Laxmi Bai has helped to strengthen the aura around her. The makers of the show have put more focus on characterisation than on the setting or on costumes. They have tried to delve into the psyche of this young girl/woman who rose above her ordained position to carve out a name for herself in history.
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Shweta Tiwari out of Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao
On July 28, 2009 in Action, Contest, Drama, Hindi Serial, Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao, Reality Show, Sony, TV, Video
Her wish to live in the jungle did not last for the full 2 months that she had initially signed up for. Shweta Tiwary was missing her daughter, and apparently finding that life in the jungle was not as easy as she thought it would be. There were animals nearby (apparently the unit saw a big snake recently); her experience in the game in the coffin with frogs would not have been too good; she was also critical of the rude behavior of Akash. Eventually, on the show on the 27th of July, she quickly packed her stuff and left after bidding a goodbye to the rest of the team. Even exiting from the jungle is not so easy. She had to walk in water, across another section of the jungle, and then in fast boat till she much have reached some form of civilization.
Another new celebrity entered the jungle at around the same time, and this was the the hot Nigar Khan, who had been deported from India a few years back. She cannot come to India for such a show because of visa problems, but since the show was being held in Malaysia, she could take part in the show over there.
