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Re: # 72

Tinks
Tara Deshpande is queen of Indian cooking here in Bostaan, after having married Amrikan and all.

I`ll bow to your knowledge on Tam Brahms, this is exactly what my wife told me. Maybe I knew only the bindaas ones and studiously avoided the others (actually perhaps they may not have wanted to do anything with me.
``Not hero material yaar`` , remember that one).

My respects to ``palli``. Do not tweak his/her tail. I have a dog called ``Raja``, He`s of the TACP breed. Large and licky . Jumps on all persons.

Dev was good. Not seen Waqt . Must do this weekend if possible. Wife has picked up Raghu Romeo.

Re: # 70
Amrita,

I agree with you about the dialogue delivery in Hinglish movies - they tend to be very school play-ish. You have to see 15 park Avenue to see what I mean. But I thought Jhankar Beats was more natural - especially the repartee between Rahul Bose and Sanjay Suri. Let`s Talk also had some natural dialogue delivery- they spoke like any other educated Indian.

Warrier-ji Saadu maharaj, you don`t know Tamil Brahmins - they can either be the most bindaas or the most closed and conservative lot. Had a pal whose father was in the government service - would have thought the girl who spent every three years being transplanted into the most out-of-the-way places in India would have picked up half-a-dozen languages and been more independent, wouldn`t you? This girl spoke her mother tongue and convent accented English and nothing else - this when she was 15! Probably still speaks only those two languages. Besides, she was quite aghast at our temerity in going to the cinema alone (gang of 5, cross my heart!) She always had a male escort. My cousin is not quite that bad, speaks a few languages here and there, but still (after marriage) needs to be escorted back and forth between her maike and her sasuraal. Will not travel alone.

Didn`t know about Roy`s dog, but I do have a pet lizard called `palli`. :-)

Loved Bombay Boys but can`t get the original DVD these days. I can only get the horrible dubbed Hindi version. Naseer was hilarious, especially when he says ``I don`t like to do these things, you people force me to do them` after he kills his director by bashing him on the head with the microphone. What price Tara Deshpande (in her only good role) when she tells Rahul Bose ``Stop this phirangi khitpit`` or even ``You want to talk? That will be double``.

I thought Dev was a fantastic movie - Bachan and Ompuri at their best. Likewise, the rapport between Bachan and Boman in Waqt made for some great humour.

I thought Bombay Boys was rather good. Jhankaar Beats was funny too.
Chameli and Mumbai matinee were so so.
Thakshak was marred by the songs which though good had no place in the film, and the ending which almost seemed like Govind Nihalani had no clue as to how he wanted the thing to come to a satisfactory conclusion.

Cannot comment about the dialogue delivery. Haven`t paid that much attention to it. It could be because when you are made to act in all those plays in school you mug up your part so it remains with you throughout your life. You are always trying to make your accent a little more firangi and less Indian sing song.

Mr and Mrs. Iyer was good but I had a big problem with Konkana Sen Sharma. I cannot imagine the daughter of a forest officer who has lived all over India being so closed and Brahmin. And not to understand what a dozen is. It`s the same in any language?

I never saw Everybody says I`m fine. Wanted to.

Joggers Park was a horrible movie.

Anybody see a Arundhati Roy movie ``How Annie gives it those ones``. That was really nice. Made long before she became the Goddess of small things. Did you know her dog was called Patti.-))

for some reason i thought Split Wide Open was directed/written by Rahul Bose. turns out i was wrong and I was thinking of Everybody Says I`m Fine which starred the excellent Rehaan Engineer. whatever happened to him? Its funny but Bose has been in a number of movies that i really enjoyed but were never quite ``all there`` for some reason. chameli, bombay boys, thakshak, jhankaar beats, mumbai matinee...

one of the things that really jar in indian movies made in english is the dialogue delivery. it always sounds like they`re reading off a page.

I`m going to get the DVD of Nizhalkuthu. That will be good viewing.
Did anybody get to see Train to Pakistan, Pamela Rookes adapation of Kushwant Singh`s novel? I thought it was really good.
Also ``Jalwa`` starring Naseer and Archana Puran Singh. I thought it was a great spoof.

Re: # 67

Saadu no . No innocence here. And Maharaj is better than a G-string. The emperor can have new clothes.
Maia Katrak, yes, was very good. I can still see and hear her say ``Tendli, that`s what you have , tendli.``
Very good movie. Rememer Boman Irani `` Ve vill put the draipes over here.``
Munnabhai was great and I thought Arshad Warsi was phenomenal.
Parineeta was good till the end, breaking the wall was a little tedious. Saif Ali Khan shouldn`t have been so symbolic (shambolic).
Split wide open, had Rahul Bose, Ayesha Dharker, Laila Rouass, Shivaji Satham etc..
Haven`t seen it.

Re: # 66

Saadu maharaj, pranam. LOL.
Warrier-ji may have been a better alternative, dontcha think?

Split Wide Open? Haven`t heard of that one. Who stars? One movie that really caught my fancy is another directorial debut - Let`s Talk. It is a black comedy. Quite scary, come to think of it. Boman Irani was fantastic - as usual, but the woman - Maia, I think her name was - was also awesome. The dialogues were absolutely natural, and even the scene with her friend (Anahita Uberoi) were excellent. And if you want a screwball comedy, then what price Munnabhai MBBS? Another debutant director. Interesting thing is both directors were once Vidhu Vinod Chopra`s assistants. So also the director of Parineeta (another debut) Come to think of it Vidhu Vinod Chopra seems to have given the film industry quite a few good directors, don`t you think?

Re: # 65
Tinks, stick to Sadu, t`is easier on the years and ears. Warrier Ji sounds like the time the dinosaurs walked the earth. I am close to that in age but not quite. I will also answer to Khulvhul.
This century has another 94 years to run out so I`m hoping somebody will also discover the elixir of life so that I can watch the DVD. Funny I`ve got Shwaas with me now. I just haven`t had time to see it. Borrowed it off a friend recently.
Have seen English August. I agree the movie was better than the book, because I thought Chatterjee overindulged in the profanity, and all the kinky sex when it wasn`t really necessary. It is true in its depiction of a young bloke out in a small town with no access to sex or companions of a like mind but then he should have written a diary. The movie was better because it was more taut. I wanted to see Dev Benegals ``Split wide open``, but haven`t yet.

Re: # 63

Amrita,

Tinker Bell, Tinks, Pari - whatever. :-) What`s in a name? as the great bard said.

Keep Shahrukh away from KJohar and Aamir away from Indra Kumar (remember Ishq?) lol
hey I liked the gypsy dance in Mangal Pandey too. I thought those women moved really well. It was crazy. But then, I actually liked the movie so, maybe there is no hope for me:-)))
Call Warrier-Ji `khulture-vhulture.` it is not short ofocurse, but if the shoe fits......

Warrier Ji I think you are crazy if you expect Ananthabhadram to appear on DVD in this century - nope, no takers. And if you thought Kairee was good, how about Shwaas? That was fantastic - though definitely not a Sunday evening watch.

Anybody seen a 90`s movie called `English, August`? Rahul Bose was hilarious. I found the film better than the book actually.

Ams
swarrier - sads (short for sadanand or sadu) Yanks like to call me sadu. They feel sads is insulting. Oh yes the dance did have smouldering lesbian overtones. But I liked the part where the girl dances alone after dear old Aamir does his bhang laden steps. That was great. Have not seen Mann or the other one. As Tinks said je suis tres snobbish.
On artikuls , Cannot write!! I compare myself to my better three quarters and I get a terrible inferiority complex. She has an effortless way with words. Me has to strive. Pedantic hack, c`est moi.
Spent Asoka ogling Hrishita Bhat.. Nuzzing more. Actually Anu Malik is a good MD, but I think wants to take the easy way out like his dad Sardar. Methinks that the only song Mukesh sang in complete sur was ``Saaranga teri yaad mein`` and that was by Malik Snr.
I vote Tinks writes the next article while Zeemax and I ponder Nihilism.
Kul is a great man. He knows all about Bollywood. He sez so. He`s flummoxed by DD. You know DD when Bhaskar Ghosh was at the helm did show interesting movies.

hey peepz... i think this thing is open as long as you want it to be. but one of us really should write something for the front page so we can continue in aman and shanti. i vote either swarrier or parihoonmain coz i havent seen artikuls by either before.

swarrier - (how do i shorten that?) i cant believe you fell for the crazy lesbian gypsy dance in mangal pandey. rotfl. aamir is a fine actor but his problem is that he treats every movie like its great cinema. ideally thats wonderful, but realistically it means when he acts in a hokey flick like mann or that awful kramer vs kramer remake with manisha koirala [maybe he just shouldnt act with her] he buys into the hokey-ness too. so the very thing that makes him deliver a great performance in lagaan or dch, makes him look like an idiot in all those indra kumar movies. yuck.
kairee sounds interesting. i`ll have to dig it up.

tinks - we could call you julia after julia roberts who played tinkerbell. or just plain pari? you choose, its gonna be your moniker after all. :)
ananthabhadram is right. i googled sivan and came up with his site, which is pretty decent. i`m one of the freaks that really liked Asoka - apart from its modern rock opera pretensions a la Baz Luhrman directing Romeo and Juliet. I thought the movie was gorgeous, Anu Malik actually justified his existence and there were some moments in the film when I was reminded that if you keep SRK far enough away from Karan Johar, he can actually act.

Kully - we`ll have to educate you on Bollywood. You`re not an indophile until you`ve caught the bollywood ka keera.

Re: # 60
Okay , I`ll shorten it even further to Tinks if that is okay. -) My wife and I scoured the pavements of Bombay for books. We`ve collected old Bunters, William, Sudden , Malcolm Saville in addition to all my own stuff and hers. I`ve lost my old Biggles, etc... The new bowdlerised versions are not very good. There are no Golly`s in Noddy and Hurree Jamset Ram Singh speaks proper English. In one way that is good but I don`t think people should whitewash everything. Children have a right to know and question how the world was at one time.
I thought Hu Tu Tu was a very good movie. Tabu in Chandni Bar, Astitva.....Super.
I have to see Ananthabadhran, I don`t think it`s out on DVD. Been looking for Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha.
I`ve been telling Amrita she should see Kairee.

Kulharee Ji
Some of these movies are in Malayalam and in Marathi. So we beg your indulgence.
You know when AIR B used to play songs from Hindi films, sometimes 50% of the requests used to come from places like Multan etc. It was very romantic to hear those names because I read them in old books at the Asiatic library and writers like Rudyard Kipling, John Masters etc. I always wanted to come to Lahore, because of Kim, and the ZamZama. Your mother must have listened to Binaca Geet Mala from Radio Ceylon.
I live in Shrewsbury. You are always welcome.
Ragunath Seth at one time had made a small change to his flute so he could get some additional note. It was an actual key that could be depressed so a deeper note was available. Like a western flute. I was told this by a friend of mine who used to play the flute too. I had a lovely Gorakh Kalyan by him. The tape is now lost.
Enjoy the concert. I have a nice Yaman on the Sarod, by Amjad Ali Khan. Lovely instrument.
Lets continue this as long as we can. Then you can write your next article.
Then you should write one Tinks , and so should Amrita.

Re: # 59

Warrier Ji… Heartfelt thank indeed to Ali Rizvi Sahib. I had so much fun in this discussion listening to you guys (I feel like I grew up with you, as I can relate to most of the stuff, with the exception of Dohr Darshan and AIR – the only broadcast we got was AIR Delhi and Radio Ceylon – I am sure my mom remembers every single radio show, it was broadcast at 10:30 pm Pakistan Time (if I remember correctly, “aap ki pasand”), and my mom won’t go to bed without her little Panasonic (you know one with the red leather cover and 6 foot long aerial).

Mass is not that far; I can drive there on some weekend. I have friends in Hull, pretty close to Boston. I will take you up on your offer, and may be drag another friend along.

The concert I am going to is by Pundit Steve Gorn on Bansuri (only one of a very few American musician who is respected in Hindustani – he is disciple of Pundit Raghunath Seth) and Pundit Samir Chatterjee on Tabla of Farukhabad Gharana (we are very close). It will be as good as Ustad Zakir Ji and and Pundit Hariprasad (as good, only slightly different). I love the airy Bamboo Bansuri.. In my next Janam, I want to be either a Bansuri or a Sarood player. It is a WMI concert .. and these concerts are always fun – a touch of commercialism but a good dose of classical – hey, let’s face it, they have to make a living too.

If this discussion goes away, there is nothing stopping us from starting another. Who knows, I might start one as a “Hindi Cinema as seen thru Paki Eyes”.

Re: # 59
Warrier-Ji ,

Truth to tell, rather hated Tinker Bell in Peter Pan - I always thought she was a pest. But never the matter, if parihoonmain is too much of a mouthful (well,actually it is, but my creative juices were not flowing so early in the morning. :-)))

Bob Cherry of the biggest foot in the remove fame? You bet I read Bunter. Do you know you can`t get a Bunter for love or money? Even my second hand bookwallah seems to have run out of them. Yup, Kalyug was a great movies, so was Junoon. Mr Kapoor of the crooked teeth made some decent movies as producer - if you overlook Ajooba, that is.

Tabu - she is a joy to watch - Remember her giving gaalis in Hu tu tu? A vastly underrated movie, that. Or even the `blood on the hands` scene in Maqbool? Great actress. Wish she would do more movies - not the Hawas type though, whatever was she thinking of?

Jurmana had Rakhee go with Amitabh in the end though - he had great shades of grey in that movie. Not a likeable character at all at first, of course in the end there is redemption.

Is there something that says that the nice guys always lose the girl? He loses Rakhi in Bemisal and Vinod Mehra (the nice guy) loses her in Jurmana.

Amrita, I think the Sivan movie you were talking about is Ananthabhadran. Haven`t seen it so I may be wrong.

Kulharee Ji - I envy you. I have forgotten what it is to listen to a live concert. Please let us know how you liked it. It is interesting to discuss movies and music. Do you think this thread can be kept going?

Amrita
No idea about the Santosh Sivan movie. Must check it up this summer. My cousin and wife are the ones I turn to for Malayalam literature and cinema. They know everything. I have it from my wife that Bemisal was originally made as Jurmana with the same cast. I only remember the song ``Sawan ke jhoole padey``.
Please be nice to Aamir Khan.

Tinker Bell
The train of reasoning was thus. Pari = Fairy = Tinker Bell. PariHoonMain is a bit of a mouthful and it reminds me of Sunita Rao (she had a hit single by that name and it was played over and over on the V channel in 1993 or something).
``Ye gads and little fishes`` seems to have come from Bob Cherry in Billy Bunter. Hope you have read those? I still have some of them. I think Tabu is incredible. I remember the trailers of her with Sanjay Kapoor in some movie a long time ago. She was a buxom lass then and when she ran towards Mr.Kapoor I thought , here goes he`s going to be flattened.
I suppose people remember Kalyug with Shashi Kapoor as Karna. Rather decent movie that.

Kulharee Ji
Who`s playing? Not Hariprasad with Zakir Hussain. If so I envy you. I envy you anyway that you can go to the concert. I am currently listening to a CD with Ustad Sultan Khan and a French guitarist who lives in India Marco Salaun. It`s rather folkish and a little new ageish but it has its charm. You know the sarangi is another instrument that in the right hands is lovely. I have a small piece where Mehdi Hasan and Sultan Khan actually played together in London. The raga is Des. Yes Tequila and movie talk would be great. You know the last time we went to India my wife dumped our son with her sister and some of our friends came over and we spent the whole night listening to music, dissecting it, politics, literature etc. Haven`t done that here since we came back. Would be great to do it again. Let me know if you are ever coming to Massachusetts.

PS Do you think since we`ve been bumped of the Front Page we can continue this thread????
If not we should give Ali Rizvi a vote of thanks for this article so we could continue to talk. He deserves it anyway.
Rizvi Sahib , thanks a lot.

Re: # 50

Warrier Ji… I am going to a concert of Bansuri and Tabla this Wednesday with a friend. I will share with you how it turns out. Veena indeed is a wonderful instrument.

Your knowledge of Hindi movies is immense and I am learning so much about things that I didn’t know before (from you, Jayen, Amrita). Perhaps one day we can sit and have a little Tequila and a lot of Hindi movie talk.