Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Bhootnath - a mis-mash of different emotions
On June 21, 2008 in Culture, Video, Child, Drama, Song, Movie, Values, Society
I watched Bhootnath just the day after having watched Jannat just the previous day, and given that my impression of Jannat was not good, any movie would have been good. But Bhootnath was a movie that impressed in parts. The Director, Vivek Sharma, tried to take many human emotions into the movie; thus taking the movie into 3 separate parts - the first part where the ghost appears to be evil and a danger to whoever tries to enter the property; the second part where the child makes friend with the ghost and turns him into a proper civilized person-like character with human emotions; and the third part where there is an attempt to throw in a lot of tear-jerkering emotional scene so that the ghost can disappear and everything can turn out normal. In the end, these attempts to make the movie cater to many interests put a lot of strain on the overall movie, and my feeling is that it did not turn out as well as could be. The movie takes on a heavy social issue of how children go abroad, and become of that land.
The movie is geared towards kids, and that was clear when I saw the songs. They were all songs designed to appeal to children, and it did seem a bit different to see songs that had a lot of kids in them; but most of the audience was adults, so was wondering whether there was a mismatch in terms of the advertising of the movie versus the intended effect of the advertising. The movie has a cast that is capable of some great things - Amitabh Bachchan, Aman Siddiqui, Juhi Chawla, Rajpal Yadav, Satish Shah, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Shahrukh Khan. Amitabh Bachchan gives a good role, but one feels that in the middle of the movie, he gets overshadowed by the kid, and then in the latter half of the movie, Shahrukh Khan seems to get most of the attention (Shahrukh Khan had a role that was more than a guest appearance, but less than a full role). Rajpal Yadav was very thoroughly under-used in the movie, getting 2 very brief scenes (almost like a cameo).
Swades: An eminently watchable movie
On March 22, 2008 in Patriotic, Culture, Video, Values, Classic, Movie, Bollywood, Despair, Society
Swades, released in 2004, was a much awaited movie. Ever since Lagaan was released in 2001 and its theme of a rural village uniting to fight a foreign oppressor became a hit, there was always the expectation of another movie on a rural theme making it big. And thus when the same director, Ashutosh announced another movie, this one too on a rural theme, there was a great amount of hope that the presence of Shahrukh Khan would make this movie a super-hit as well. However, this was not to be. The movie came, got some good press, got some criticism over its length and the fact the movie seemed to many people too unrealistic, too much like a documentary. Come on, a successful NASA scientist chucking it all away, and then going off to generate electricity almost single-handedly for a rural village. Fiction indeed.
The fact remains, Swades is a great movie. The movie has a legend of ‘We, the people’, and seems to be a labor of love (with the movie having been written, produced and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker). It shows a fair amount of the ills such as lack of knowledge, illiteracy and discrimination that plague our villages. At the same time, it does not present these as obstacles that cannot be overcome (as many other movies do, which try to show conflict as the only way to resolve the problems). The movie has a great romance theme, heavily under-stated with a great new comer performance by Gayatri Joshi. The movie has great music, seemingly very appropriate for the movie theme (Music is by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Javed Akhtar).
Omkara (2006) - A great interpretation of Othello
On March 04, 2008 in Song, Mafia, Culture, Revenge, Video, Character, Crime, Bollywood, Politics, Romance, Action, Movie
Omkara (release in 2006) was a much awaited movie. Director Vishal Bhardwaj had earlier made a name for himself with Makdee and Maqbool (starring an incredible performance by Irfan Khan), and his Hindi interpretation of Shakespeare’s Othello had already lead to much anticipation, with the prospect of Saif Ali Khan playing a baddie’s role being much awaited.
The movie delivered, but not too much as Vishal would have thought. It won a great amount of critical acclaim, and extreme kudos for the 2 best performances of Saif Ali Khan and Konkona Sen. Vivek Oberoi and Kareina Kapoor won praise, while the performance of Ajay Devgun could have been better - much more is expected out of an actor who has given a performance like Gangajal.
Basant Bahar (1956) - Some incredible songs
On March 04, 2008 in Melody, Culture, Video, Devotional, Song, Talent, Bollywood, Classic, Competition, Singing, Movie
Basant Bahar was a movie released in 1956, more than 50 years back. It has some great songs, and hence has never been forgotten. The movie starred Bharat Bhushan, Nimmi, Leela Chitnis, Kumkum, Om Prakash, and many others. The movie was directed by Raja Nawathe, and had some excellent music by Shanker Jaikishan. Lyrics are by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri, and the singers for the movie are Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
The story is about a son not following in the footsteps of his father. Gopal (Bharat Bhushan) is the son of the Raj Jyotshi of a kingdom (Chitaldurg State), and his father had always sought to have his son follow in his footsteps. Instead, Gopal begins to become a vocalist, and is fairly gifted. He also falls in love with Gopi (Nimmi), the daughter of famous singer Neela Sani; both of these facts do not go down well with his father. However, Gopal continues on his path, until one day a rival tampers with his voice. Further, there is a turn of events that estranges him from Gopi; will Gopal be ever be able to be the greatest vocalist of his generation and what will happen to his love story ?
Videos of songs from the movie Basant Bahar:
DUNIYA NA BHAYE MOHE (Sung by Mohammed Rafi)
Indian serial wives don’t share the truth with their husbands
On January 31, 2008 in Culture, Values, TV, Hindi Serial
One fact has always puzzled me about the way that Hindi serials present the devoted wife. She is the one who will do what she can do to protect her husband and his family, will suffer all kinds of indignities and torture, but will keep on struggling until she manages to make things right. Sometimes it may take years, but she will do thing right, for example, you have Tulsi of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Parvati of Ghar Ghar KI Kahani, Kumkum, Praachi of Kayamath, Saloni of Saath Phere, the list is endless.
This is epitomized as the ideal of what the Indian woman should be like. In addition to the fact that this is a highly regressive image that many men would expect their wives to be like; there is another big flaw in this whole concept. If the wife is shown to be devoted and ready to sacrifice all, somehow she is ending up not telling her husband the truth. Implicit in this argument about saving the family and the situation is the fact that they don’t tell the husband about the whole situation and end up in a case where the husband may in fact not believe them.
Also not telling the husband could be implied that either they do not consider the husband as being able to help out, or not able to handle the situation, or even otherwise not believe her. A mighty amount of trust they show towards their husbands.
Doordarshan Nostalgia: Hum Log (1984)
On January 11, 2008 in Family, Values, Nostalgia, Culture, Doordarshan, Classic, Middle Class, TV, Popular, Hindi Serial
Hum Log was the show that started it all, the craze for serials. Doordarshan was the only channel in India, and people were slowly moving towards the concept of watching television for entertainment. And it was Hum Log that started it all. Starting on July 7, 1984, the show became widely popular. Written by the famous writer Manohar Shyam Joshi (who also wrote Buniyaad), the serial took the life of a family who could be any other family, a family that a large number of people could identify with.
The serial could seem a bit boring to kids, but was very engrossing to adults. It was also different in the sense that till then, most serials had to end in 13 episodes, and Hum Log was the first one that went way beyond 13 episodes.
The serial also had a very popular actor, Dada muni Ashok Kumar who would appear at the end of the episode and summarize the serial as well as give a brief speech. He became extremely popular, and received a large number of letters on a daily basis. And the irony was that he was supposed to do this only for the first 10 episodes or so, but the success made this happen for the length of the serial.
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam (2001)
On January 02, 2008 in Song, Melody, Drama, Culture, Values, Character, Bollywood, Romance, Family, Movie
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam (also known as K3G or KKKG) was a much awaited movie from the Karan Johar stable since it promised to bring together the 2 biggest stars of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. In addition, the movie would also star the very infrequently seen Jaya Bachchan, and a bonus would be the hearthrob and hunk, Hrithik Roshan. Kajol and Kareena Kapoor would complete the list of all the star cast.
The movie, set on the complicated relationship in a family bound by traditions, and yet caring and loving each other, was a big hit. Although it also true that there are a number of people who can’t stand the movie, given that the story line is very limited, and the central theme of the movie is the distance between the father and the son due to the ego clashes between them (more due to the father not willing to bend his principles). The movie is also about the husband-wife relationship and about the expectations vs. responsibility of this relationship.
Right from the beginning, Yashovardhan Raichand (Bachhan) and wife Nandini (Jaya) have set family norms based on certain principles and family traditions that are really inflexible. Yashovardhan is the typical patriarch who runs the family, and his word is law. Nandini respects his authority, but is more believing in the love between her and her sons, and that is the abiding principle of her life. They have 2 sons, Rahul (Shah Rukh) who is adopted, and Rohan (Hrithik Roshan), who is younger to Shahrukh by 8 years. Because Rahul is adopted, he is even more dedicated to his parents and will obey every wish of theirs.
Doordarshan nostalgia: Buniyaad (1987)
On December 31, 2007 in Values, Nostalgia, Drama, Culture, Character, Family, TV, Popular, Classic, Doordarshan, Hindi Serial
After ‘Hum Log’ sort of opened the era of long-running serials on Indian television, making Doordarshan much more entertaining, it was the turn of another long running serial to try and captivate users. Buniyaad, from the Sippy house, was the next major running serial to capture viewers on Doordarshan. The serial started in 1987 and ran through 1988. The serial, however, will not ring in memories for a large number of TV viewers of today, given that it first appeared more than 19 years back.
The serial was directed by Ramesh Sippy, and was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi, and let to him becoming much more popular (he was already popular through being the writer of the serial Hum Log as well). The serial had the presence of Dadamoni Ashok Kumar who anchored the show without actually playing a part in the serial. The serial starred a number of characters who became very popular:
Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992)
On December 27, 2007 in Corruption, Character, Values, Culture, Crime, Romance, Movie, Bollywood, Music, Despair, Society
Ranju Ban Gaya Gentleman is one of the early Shahrukh movies, made before he became the King Khan and one of the hottest property of Bollywood. The movie has a fresh feel to it, being made (director: Aziz Mirza) when there was not so much money riding on Shahrukd Khan and movies could afford to skip the current formula of hard core masala, breakneck action, and so on. The movie has a nice flow to it, with a simplistic story set mainly around ambition. One needs to remember that this was 1992, when India was still totally under the grip of socialism, and movies high-lighted naked ambition as something bad and ugly, something that could cause a person to loose their morals and their bearings.
Kal Ho Na Ho - An emotional roller-coaster
On December 19, 2007 in Melody, Song, Drama, Culture, Video, Saas-Bahu, Character, Bollywood, Music, Romance, Family, Movie
Kal Ho Na Ho is easy to identify as a movie from the Karan Johar camp. It has Shahrukh Khan, some nice peppy songs, a lot of emotion, and plenty of color; and increasingly so, the setting is more and more outside of India (Kal Ho Na Ho being set in the cosmopolitan capital of the world - New York). And you could be forgiven for forgetting that the director of the movie is Nikhil Advani and not Karan Johar (he is the producer). The movie has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, lyrics by Javed Akhtar, and songs sung by Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Richa Sharma, Udit Narayan, Sadhna Sargam, Shankar Mahadevan, Sujata Bhattacharya, Vasundhara Das, Kay Kay, Loy Mendosa, Shaan, Ravi “Rags” Khote.
It is very easy to see why there is a good successful combo of Karan Johar and Shahrukh Khan, they get the best out of each other; Shahrukh gets a power packed role that would emphasize his status as the King Khan, while Karan gets the benefit of the full flow of the Khan charisma and gets the audiences and money rolling in. There are other stars such as Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Jaya Bachchan, Sushma Seth, etc, and they do turn in good performances, but these are mostly complementary to the main role of Shahrukh Khan’s character.
