Archive for the ‘Patriotic’ Category
Chanakya: A great serial on Doordarshan
On September 09, 2007 in Character, Classic, Doordarshan, Drama, Hindi Serial, History, Military, Nostalgia, Patriotic, Power, TV
In the midst of so many serials about troubles within the family, about the serials that explore the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law (saas bahu) and the constant problems between them, one sometimes get a wish (driven by nostalgia) for some of the serials that appeared on Doordarshan. One of these was Chanakya; and why am I thinking of Chanakya ? Because while I was browsing on YouTube, I came across some videos of Chanakya (watch them here), and that activated the section of brain dealing with memory.
I remember Chanakya for many things. At a time when serials based on ancient India or mythology were mainly costume dramas with a heavy focus on heavy language, where every other sentence referred to honour or the lack of it, here was a serial heavy on political drama. While in school, we learnt in a few short paragraphs (or maybe it was one chapter, I don’t remember) about who Chanakya was and what he had done. However, as far as I can recall about what we were taught, we were primarily taught that Chanakya was the writer of the ‘Arthashastra, the book on Indian politics and that he was a very clever tactician who brought his favorite king to power.
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Main Hoon Na: An incredible masala movie
On September 01, 2007 in Action, Bollywood, Character, Family, Melody, Military, Movie, Music, Patriotic, Politics, Song
The movie was an incredibly slick movie, in terms of the fluidity of movement and some of the effects as compared to other Indian movies. And considering that this movie was a directorial debut for Farah Khan, I would rate it as a good effort. Of course, if you are looking for a classic movie, then this one would certainly not be the one for you – the slightly cartoonish depiction of the main villain along with a not enough convicting reason about the reason for his stand, the depiction of a teacher wearing hot and sexy clothers and flaunting her sexuality, the actual relationship between the armyman and his wife son and his other son, all these are more for the masala angle and take away from the classic depiction of the movie.
Also, keep in mind that this is a production of Shahrukh and his wife Gauri Khan, and Shahrukh can be trusted to make sure that the movie is a commercial success. Now, having stated all that, I liked the movie overall, although I don’t think about it after having watched the movie. It has a few good songs, and also tries to handle the relationship between a girl pining for her love and he not bothering to acknowledge it. Also, Shahrukh had given interviews earlier about not doing movies that depict enmity with Pakistan, and hence this movie fits perfectly, since it tries to handle a delicate subject about prisoner exchange, and that too, civilian prisoners.
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Drama on Sa Re Ga Ma – Results of Independence Day Special
On August 21, 2007 in Competition, Drama, Hindi Serial, Masala, Music, Patriotic, Reality Show, Singing, Song, Talent, Zee
On the 11th of August, there was the Independence Day Special on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV with Kapil Dev being the star guest. Now the reasonable expectation is that on an Independence Day Special, there will be a lot of patriotism on display. What would make it interesting is the fact that there are 3 Pakistanis competing, and it would be difficult for Pakistanis to sing India independence songs. Now, this could be a political thing, in the sense that the Indian Independence struggle brought independence to both India and Pakistan.
However, this is still a competition involving singing, and getting voted on by the public, and while the rest of the singers sung rousing patriotic songs, these 3 folks sang songs that were either slower, or not heard before by a large section of the population. I can play these 3 songs below:
Junaid singing ‘Mere Dushman Mere Bhai’ from Border:
Great Movie: Sarfarosh
On August 16, 2007 in Action, Bollywood, Classic, Crime, Melody, Movie, Patriotic, Police
This is a movie that is subtle in some ways, and still loud in some ways. But overall, it is a great movie, one that I love watching; even if the songs with Sonali somehow seem to be out of place (although Sonali looks as great as over, but so does Aamir, looking young and debonair).
Sarfarosh was a movie released in 1999, around the time of the Kargil war, and was a pretty good depiction of the fight of the police against the mafia, gun runners and drug smugglers. The movie was anti-Pakistan, but not obviously though so in the sense of slogans or long speeches being made against the movie. The movie starred Aamir Khan as the young dynamic ACP, Ajay Singh Rathore, Sonali Bendre as the Delhi girl Seems with whom Aamir is in love, and starred Mukesh Rishi as a honest policeman and Naseeruddin Shah in the role of the chief villain, but not obviously playing the traditional role of a villain who beats up people and so on.
