Archive for the ‘Nostalgia’ Category
Om Shanti Om: Nothing great about it
On November 28, 2007 in Action, Bollywood, Crime, Melody, Movie, Music, Nostalgia, Revenge, Video
What can one say about this movie. The previous movie with the combination of Farah Khan doing the direction and Shahrukh Khan doing the production and the lead acting was ‘Main Hoon Na’. While a very slick masala movie, nobody could really claim that it was an exceptional movie. And the same message was reinforced for this movie as well, with all the hype before the movie proudly claiming the fact that this will be another entertainer, a pure masala movie (no pretensions at being a social movie or an art movie of any kind).
The movie has some good music, and the first half is pretty interesting. The whole scene is of the 70′s type of setting, and I actually quite enjoyed most of this part. The impersonation of the South Indian heroes, the caricature of Manoj Kumar (in spite of the controversy, the touch was amusing). The flow of the movie was very natural, with a young sidey actor, his resourceful friend, and an over-acting mother (although it was a sheer waste of an actress of Kiron Kher’s calibre). Shahrukh’s acting was enjoyable, whether it be the shy person in front of a superstar whom he adores, or when his dream crashes and he realizes that she is in love with someone else.
Epic: Ramayan on Doordarshan
On November 24, 2007 in Character, Classic, Culture, Doordarshan, Drama, Hindi Serial, Mythology, Nostalgia, TV, Values
The Ramayana is the most popular and holy epics in Hinduism, the story of the God who came to Earth and lived among humans in the form of a human, and who is now worshiped as epitomizing the ideals of the ideal man, in thought and action. In the 80′s, as society developed, people were slowly moving away from religion and faith. TV was developing as a new media that would provide information and entertainment. And then came the serial written and directed by Ramanand Sagar called ‘Ramayan’ (with 78 episodes).
The serial took the epic and presented in a dramatized form. It started coming on Doordarshan Sunday Morning at 9:30 AM from January 1987 to July End 1988. India had never seen something like this serial. It ignited the religious thought in people like nothing that had been seen. Television in India was not so common then, and yet, people found a set somewhere to watch. If a neighbour had a TV, you would go there to watch, or go over to a relative’s place. In smaller towns or villages, a single set would have a large number of people watching the single set.
Nostalgia: Great epic – The Mahabharat
On November 02, 2007 in Action, Character, Classic, Culture, Doordarshan, Drama, Hindi Serial, Mythology, Nostalgia, Popular, TV, Values
After the success of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana, it was the turn of the other great epic of India, The Mahabharat to be brought to television viewers. The series was produced by B.R.Chopra and directed by his son, Ravi Chopra. It was a spectacular success, maybe the most popular serial ever in terms of dedicated viewing. The serial had 94 episodes and ran for a length of 45 minutes for each episode, appearing on Doordarshan between 1988 and 1990. For people who know the Mahabharat as a great epic that also incorporates the Gita, the spiritual guide to all Hindus, it was as if the epic had come to life.
For many, the Mahabharat was a story that was not supposed to be kept in the house, and a story that they could relate to only with context to having read in their childhood as an ‘Amar Chitra Katha’ comic. Seeing it in life and blood, with real life characters was an incredible experience, and kept the immense crowds watching the serial. If you did not have a TV, then you would go to the neighbor’s house to watch the serial. If you wandered out, the roads would have much less traffic than you would expect.
Doordarshan Nostalgia: Nukkad
On October 21, 2007 in Character, Classic, Culture, Doordarshan, Hindi Serial, Masala, Nostalgia, TV
There are times when you get reminded of serials that one watched a long time ago, at a time when Doordarshan was the only channel in town and the only entertainment that you got on TV were the serials and Chitrahaar that Doordarshan would dish out.
One such very popular serial of the Doordarshan time was called ‘Nukkad’. What does Nukkad mean ? It literally means the neighborhood, and was all about the characters who would live in the neighborhood or a locality (in the case of the serial, it was a locality of people that were not well-off by any means, in fact, they were poor). The idea of the serial was to show their life, and for many of us, it was a good awakening to see how people separate from us lived, what were their hopes and aspirations, and most of all, they emotions, their ambitions, and their despair.
