Archive for the ‘Nostalgia’ Category
Andaaz Apna Apna (1994) – Great comedy
On May 17, 2008 in Bollywood, Classic, Comedy, Drama, Movie, Nostalgia, Romance, Song, Video
Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have hardly appeared together in many movies, and I think Andaz Apna Apna is the only movie in which they may have appeared together. When the movie came out, these 2 were the tallest stars in the Hindi film industry, and there was a lot of worry about how the egos of these 2 stars would be managed. So, when director Rajkumar Santoshi announced this project, there was a feeling of challenge about how this would turn out (Santoshi had a good reputation, having directed Ghayal and Damini before this movie). This movie, released in 1994, was eagerly anticipated; in the end, viewer reaction was very positive. Of course, no one would ever call this a serious movie – it was a very well done comedy.
The movie took a long time to get made, with anticipation that ego clashes between 2 main leading male stars would cause problems; ironically it were ego clashes between the 2 heroines (Karishma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon) that caused a lot of delay in the making of the movie. However, it was lucky that this infighting did not show up on screen, and a lot of people would walk away from the movie thinking that this was a fun shoot, and everybody was lovey-dovey with each other.
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Song: Hum ko manki shakti dena
On February 07, 2008 in Bollywood, Classic, Devotional, Melody, Movie, Nostalgia, Song, Video
Hum Ko Manki Shakti Dena is a devotional song from the movie Guddi. It is a very popular song, and the movie is equally good. The movie stars Jaya Bhaduri in her first film (in 1971), portraying her as a fresh faced girl, star-struck. She is positively fawning in her idol-worship of the star, Dharmendra. Her bhabhi takes her to her uncle’s house (Utpal Dutt, who is a professor). She refuses the hand of an otherwise well qualified person, since she is in love with Dharmendra (or so she fears), at which time her professor uncle manages to persuade Dharmendra to help out with the situation. They decide to show her what the real world of the film-line is like; how an on-screen villain or a miser would be totally different in reality. At the same time, Dharmendra does his bit by showing how he is not a super-man, he is human after all. Guddi finally realizes reality and loses the stars in her eyes.
The director Hrishikesh Mukherji manages to get several stars like Dilip Kumar, Mala Sinha, Biswajeet, Navin Nischol, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan and Vimmi to put in special appearances, showing them hard at work in the studios. The music was composed by veteran composer Vasant Desai.
Video of Song: Hum ko manki shakti dena
Doordarshan Nostalgia: Hum Log (1984)
On January 11, 2008 in Classic, Culture, Doordarshan, Family, Hindi Serial, Middle Class, Nostalgia, Popular, TV, Values
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.
Doordarshan nostalgia: Buniyaad (1987)
On December 31, 2007 in Character, Classic, Culture, Doordarshan, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Nostalgia, Popular, TV, Values
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:
