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Re: # 51
parihoonmain - thank god! another person who thinks black overrated! i agree with every single adjective you used and i also thought that while whatever rani was doing was great, it wasnt a woman born deaf, blind and mute. i dont what that was. srk was great in his early uncategorized days - i remember the scene in maya memsaab where he closes the shutters on the train windows and he just leapt off the screen and i couldnt believe the charisma of the strangest looking hero i ever saw. and then... karan johar came into his life and he cant stop crying ever since. aamir`s movies fall into categories - brilliant or godawful. lagaan/sarfarosh was the former, mangal pandey/mann was the latter. ew.
i was really excited about the supporting cast in rang de basanti. they seemed like a bunch to watch. i`ve heard about that mal movie with the gujarati boy and my mother kept telling me to watch it but i somehow didnt. will do next time i`m in india. has anyone seen the mal movie directed by santosh sivan? i forget the name but it was apparently some kind of supernatural mystery or something, i`m excited because its sivan.

swarrier - i`ve seen kalliyattam and i loved it! i thought it was brilliantly portrayed and the guys who played othello and iago were perfect. wow.

thanks Majumdar - bemisal it is! i only saw it once and that too a pirated copy on cable but it kind of stuck with me.

Re: # 53
Amrita and Tinker Bell
I hated Black. It was the worst movie I had seen in some time. I had to see Govinda sing ``Mein cycle pe ja raha tha, Mein bhel puri kha raha tha ``, several times to get the taste of that vile movie out of my mouth, my eyes and my ears.
I did not like Rani M either . She overdid it. She should have seen Sparsh before trying on this role.
I expect nothing more from Mr. Bhansali. I had the mortification of paying $10 to see that miserable ``Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam`` in a moth eaten theatre in Arlington MA, some years ago and have not yet recovered. Thank goodness Ismail Darbar gave some decent tunes in that film.
Only relatively decent movie that came out of that man was Khamoshi. Must have been a mental aberration.

Re: # 51
Oye Sunita Rao....)))
Oh yes, I`m a snob all right. You should talk to my wife. Rheal culture vulture that`s me.
I used to like the old Dev Anand movies. So spiffily dressed and always nodding like Noddy of Enid Blyton fame. And he was a villain in Jaal. Seducing poor Geeta Bali and all. And I`m a total Shammi Kapoor fan okay.
Saw 3 movies in one day at Matunga. Badal, Bijlee, Barkha theatres. Junglee, Kashmir ki Kali, and Dil Deke Dekho. They were having a reprise or something.
Don`t diss Shah Rukh ? I`ll send my son after you? -)) He`s total Khan fan. As my Bandra pals would say ``He`ll give you solid pasting men``.

I haven`t seen Blessy`s movies yet. Will be going to India in summer so I shall check them out. I want to see Perumazhakalam.
Anybody saw Anahat ? Marathi film. Rather neat. It`s an Amol Palekar movie. Didn`t like Sonali Bhendre in one bit but she was really decent otherwise.

Re: # 52

Warrier-ji, Do not poke fun at poor Dev saab, though I must say Noddy does describe him. But I rather like Noddy. It ranks up there with Asterix and Tintin comics. :-) Not today`s Dev Anand though -can`t bear to see a Dev Anand movie these days. One must admire the man`s guts though - his subjects are still topical. If only he wouldn`t insist on casting himself! But yes, the Dev Anand of Tere Mere Sapne, Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, Jewel Thief, Jaal did make my heart skip a beat. And Shammi Kapoor is always a joy to watc. What joie de vivre. Warrier-ji, there is hope for you yet.
Now if only you would watch newer comedies like Andaz Apna Apna - what a laugh riot - or even Priyadarshan`s frame by frame remake Hera Pheri? Actually, I do not think Priyadarshan has ever made a single original movie in his life! He is always ripping off other directors` films.

I saw Anahat - loved it. I have always liekd Amol Palekar`s movies - though even he has doen his share of ripping off. There was a decent movie called Thoda sa Roomani ho jaaye with Anita Kanwar and Nana Patekar - I have forgotten the European film it was taken from. He did a decent job adapting it to the Indian milieu - now if only our directors would learn to give credit where it is due.

I actually like Shah rukh - strange though it may seem - I think he is capable of a lot more than the silly roles he does now - he has charisma. I agree with you Amrita - Karan Johar has killed the original Fauji - I remember seeing that long ago - he looked like a spaniel with hair falling all over his eyes, but he caught your eyes and held your interest.

I liiked Mangal Pandey - historical inaccuracies notwithstanding - I must be one of the few who did. :-) Mann was a disaster! Thank God he has stopped acting in such idiotic movies.

I loved the middle-of-his-career Govinda movies - the earlier ones were all Bhagyaraj movie remakes and full of double entendre. If I saw Shakti Kapoor and his nada one more time, I would have thrown up. But Hero no 1, Sajan Chale Sasural and Coolie no 1 were `timepass`. :-)

Re: # 55
Tinker Bell (if you don`t like this appellation say so and I won`t use it)
It`s not WarrierG .-) Its swarrier. Like e.e.cummings. You can say ess.-) Sounds like the Slytherins. I like Noddy too. Though I was partial to his car as a wee child. And Tessie Bear was a comely young wench.
If you`ve read A J Cronin you know where the scripts of Tere Mere Sapne , Kala Pani etc came from.

I have the Andaz Apna Apna DVD. Only missing the Gogo (Mogambo ka bhatija) costume. I`ve even seen Hera Pheri and Ramji Rao Speaking and all the other Priyadarshan ripoffs, both Malayalam and Hindi. You are right about him.
Thoda sa Roomani ho Jaaye was the remake of ``The Rainmaker`` which was originally a Broadway play by N Richard Nash , then made into a movie starring Katherine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster. I rather liked Anita Kanwar.
I thought Mangal Pandey was okay. It was a fantasy. I would see it again. I liked the dance with the gypsy women in the movie. I thought it was great. Did you like Sarfarosh?

Re: # 56
Ye gads and little fishies! Someone who reads AJ CRonin????? Well, atleast Dev Saab adapted good literature - though Tere Mere Sapne was a three handkerchief adaptation of the Citadel.
I am glad, though that Hindi films are going back to strong scripts and good literature. Raincoat, Devdas, (UGH!! another self-indulgent piece of desecretion) Parineeta, Chokher Bali.
Maqbool and now Omkara. I heard Being Cyrus was based on a short story. Then there are
The Namesake, with my perennial favourite Tabu, Mistress of Spices, etc to look forward to.

BTW, forgive my ignorance, but why `Tinker Bell`?

Re: #46
Jay, Sangeet Sarita was great. ``Kahe tarasaye`` is from Chitralekha. Music by Roshan. I liked the film`s ideas. And Sahir Ludhianvi`s lyrics were super. Mohammed Rafi`s ``Man re tu kahe na.... (Yaman Kalyan) is fabulous.
Actually there is another song in Lalit that I remember ``Ek shahenshah ne banwake haseen Tahmahal , sari duniya ko muhabbat ki nishani di hai`` from Leader, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni.
I think Sahir parodied this in another song by saying, `` Ek shahenshah ne banwake haseen Taj Mahal , hum garibon ka udaya hain mazaa``. Ever the Marxist Sahir, couldn`t stand Khurram`s extravagance I guess. The line appears at the end of a song , I cannot, remember the starting lines right now. It`s a solo by Rafi. It`ll come back.
I have this big problem with Jagjit Singh. I`ve heard him live once at IIT Bombay and he played to the gallery so much that I got turned off him completely. Took a long time for me to erase that out . He`s good.

Re: #47.
Amrita , My brother Nikhil was a very nice movie. In Maqbool I thought Om Puri and Naseerudin Shah playing the witches (the policemen) were really evil. They were fantastic, frightening. I loved the way ``The Birnam forest come to Dunisnane`` becomes the Indian customs force (the sea) coming to land. Lovely adaptation of Macbeth. I`d like to see how his Omkara will compare to a Malayalam movie Kalliyattam that was made some years ago. That too was based on Othello, and the settings were very nicely adapted to the Theyam customs of North Kerala.

Bemisal is correct. Thanks Majumdar. It had a lovely song by Lata ``ye ree pawan dhoondhe kise teraa man chalate chalate``. It`s a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film.

Kulharee , I had to share this. One of the best renditions of Malkauns that I heard and saw was on Doordarshan. They used to have this classical music program on Friday nights. On the eve of my Electrodynamics paper they featured Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar and Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar. They sang a Dhrupad in Malkauns. It was dedicated to Lord Shiva. It was so good , I couldn`t study after that. I cracked the paper though. Must have been the music. I also have some tapes in India by Zia Moinuddin Dagar playing the Rudra Veena a sadly neglected instrument nowadays. Great stuff.

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.

Amritaji.....
samajhdaar (badon) ko ishara kafi hota hai...
You asked me to RUN..
Chalo ji...hum chale..


swarrier..
It was nice meeting you.
If you remember we have crossed swords elsewhere on other threads...on this site..
The muslim world view fascinates me.

If you analyes it, it is very brahministic in its exclusiveness (looking down on almost everyone else from a position of percieved superiority)..only the holy cows are different!
Elsewhere on this site i have listed those similarities...
And subcontinental muslims are equally racist as ``jativanta`` brahmins..on the www.pakistanidefenceforum.com site indians (to them all indians are hindus!) are routinely without batting an eyelid referred to as ``Bhangees``..and ``rats`` and worse, and percieved as dark.

I was lucky on this one to get away being called a slinking baccha! :)

Rather shows how the converts inherit their and carry out older worldviews...
It was precisely this attitude of the brahmins and higher castes in india that ``made India ripe`` for plunder in medieval ages....

As THE NAG has (i know this wil invite another fullisade of invectives from you guessed who..) rightly pointed out, I haunt paki sites to see how the ``enemy`` is thinking.

So far it is uniformly the same ..be it satribune.com, or pakistanidefenceforum.com (ma-behen sites)...or this relatively ``more civilised`` site.

tedhapan dikh hi jata hai.

Even you guys ..the regulars here..have begun to EXPECT it to be so..as i have been so convincingly told by amritaji.

Like it or not, to pakistanis WE are enemies. (Afterall It is in their textboks. No point in piously denying that HARD fact).
Knowing that distinction, better to follow the old adage ``Know thy enemy well``...

It is heartening to note the ``enemy`` has a clouded mind!
Clouded by the same biases the ``Proud`` indians had a 1000 years ago.
Of under-estimating the opponent by ``looking down`` on him.

Chalo bye,

is thread mein ab jyaadaa kuch ``matter`` bachaa nahi hai..

I am moving on..
(whining on..as some here would like to say..)
to pakistanidefence forum which is a terrific site in its own way!
there people are REALLY onto drink it appears, equating one pakistani soldier to 10 Hindu baniyas and more!!
Amazing...
With self deception of this order...we may not even fight a war after a few years..
:)
Jayen

Re: 48

AB, VM and Rakhi starrer- The movie is called Bemisal.

Regards

#44..right on the dot!
I remember the classy ``sangeet sarita`` every day sharp 7:15 am to 7:30 am.
me and my younger brother lapped it all up..and then regurgitated it saying ..``hey that is based on lalit, that one on kirwani, that one on malkauns and that on madhuvanti.
Not to forget many songs on kalavati...``kahe tarasaye jaiyaraa kahe tarasaye`` (amrapali?)
kalavati i think is the most used raga for vampish songs in old bolywood.

the only one i remember based on madhuvanti is ``Rasme ulfat ko nibhayen to nibhayen kaise?Jindagee boz banee to ..

Later on in life i got hold of an lp by prabha atre on kalavati and maru-bihag plus an lp by shivkumar sharma on madhuvanti and kirwani.

Hope you got to hear those..the albert hall ones.

The album unforgettables by that punjabi singer pair chitra and jagjit singh has one composition on lalit i listed earlier.

Jayen

Hi all,

swarrier..your knowledge of ``bolly`` things is awsome...why dont you start a thread on interesting ``bolly`` asides?

I remember reading in a marathi magazine many years ago a running topic on such interesting things as who thought up which tarz while driving, or listening to a distant majhi on the riverbank, or the gurgling of water in a ditch etc etc.

And what went wrong between C ramchandra and Lata mangeshkar or why suman kalyanpur never came up to compete with Lata.

Amritaji..thanks for bringing me uptodate on rules (``as the rest of us know`` and poor me didnt!) of the game on this site!..(rather confirming my opinion about most pakistani fora).

So any new guy entering a thread is to expect snide remarks (oh only once in a while no doubt)..if not from others, from you atleast..(ofcourse in third person as you rightly pointed out!), at his expense.

Rahi baat ``why dont you take it up with the men`` i did!
(unfortunately i did with women too)

The men, like the good ``non-baccha`` gentlemen they are, promptly apologised unconditionally!
(all credit to them for that).

Matter closed!

But aap to pange-wali hain...

What else to expect from tigresses like you but dhamkiyan on the lines of ``jo mujhse takrayega mittee mein mil jayega``? (``grinding into dust`` etc..)

Ek prarthana hai aapse! after the grinding is over, and you are satified you have come out on top, just leave me out of your ``talk``. :)

This chhota bachha is mortally afraid of you! And hopes listening to ``polite requests`` is also part of your business rules!


If not, hum sunne pe majboor hain aur aap aadat se...
just like on those other sites i mentioned..aap aur unme kuch zyada fark dikhta nahi hai.
pange se panga....gali galoch..a lot of whipping up of dust and grinding into dust..the circle is never ending..you might love it as you said..i dont.
Jayen

Re: # 44

You flatter me. I`m not that up on things other than a few bits about music and a few films that I like. Growing up I was the typical convent westernised kid despising most Hindi films and going to see all the Angrez movies at Eros, Sterling etc (you know I`m from Bombay). However I did frequent Akashvani as I grew older and there was a treasure trove of good NFDC movies. I would actually thank Doordarshan for their Sunday broadcast of old Hindi movies (the shwet , shyam days) and my wife who has a far greater knowledge of these things.
She was a journalist and she`s done interviews of the film folks etc. However I do like the old stuff, I would rarely miss a Sai Paranjpe , Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal movie. Stopped seeing movies in the 80`s completely because of Bappi Lahiri et al...
Things are a bit better now aren`t they.
Of course I liked the fact that it was the film music that got me into Indian Classical music. Otherwise perhaps I would never have understood the infinite beauty of our musical traditions.

Re: # 45
I think the mantle;s being taken over by vishal bhardwaj these days. i really, really liked maqbool and cant wait for omkara. i`ve also been hearing things about a whole host of first time directors like the ones who directed My Brother Nikhil and Being Cyrus. And your wife is correct about Amitabh`s slightly redemptive side. the only thing i like about SRK is that the women in his movies get to hog center stage. but yeah, amitabh`s a far better actor, esp in the movies he did with jaya bachchan and rakhi.
there`s a movie in which he calls rakhi ``sakhi`` and its one with vinod mehra. do u remember the name of it? its one of those weird movies that had very poor production values but the actors were so good that you kind of forgot.

Jay1 - tell you what... you can whine all you want. khush? was that the permision you were seeking? are you happy now that you`ve convinced yourself everyone`s out to get you? RUN! we might be just around the corner!
whatever.

Hi kulharee and swarrier,
Joking when discussing a serious topic is odd!
Apologies accepted.
My grouse is why cant people hold a serious discussion just for the heck of it?
It shows a lack certainly of maturity.
Amritaji, i do not know where to place you...
are you so taken by male chauvinist pigs around you that you consider a protest against uncalled for offensive behaviour as ``rona dhona! and bachpana!``
Wow so at this rate those ``ma behen guys`` must all apppear as ``oh so manly!`` to you...right?
Afterall i am only using your own logic here.
Think before you talk.
What was the need to pass a snide musharafesque remark that in the end refelcted on your own skewed idea of what is acceptable?
i for one had NOT even interacted with you.
What was there for you to gain by calling me bachha except ``here is a tough (non bachha) lady who finds such behaviour acceptable!``?
Strange that women like you accept and condone rowdyism and cry fowl when the ``logical consequences`` follow for some of you!!
Talking of double standards...
Jayen

Re: # 37
Its funny you should talk about logic because i dont see you even on a nodding acquaintance with it. To the best of my knowledge i`ve never asked anyone to take back anything anyone has ever said about me, even when faced with a gratuitous insult. instead i have always given as good as i got and i have never said, ``oh i am a woman, you can`t say this to me.`` in fact, i especially enjoy ppl of that mentality taking on pangas with me because it gives me a special buzz to grind them into the dirt when they do. if you are so concerned about the treatment meted out to women on this site then why dont you take it up with the men who do it instead of telling women what to do or what they might feel.

as for you being a bachcha, all you needed to do was kid the two of them back about what they were saying and there would`ve been an end to it. but with people as deficient in humor as you, i understand that might be difficult. i dont blame you for seeing it as an ``attack`` - your persecution complex is very visible, as is your need for attention and your complete awkwardness when faced with a normal discussion in which, as the rest of us know, it is quite usual to include a joke or two in a ``serious`` matter. of course, not all of us are interacting in the hope of flushing out a ``paki`` or two. this isnt a paki-injun issue or a men-women issue - its a YOU issue.

keep the moralizing at home. and if referring to you as a baccha in the third person is such a huge deal in your eyes, then i apologize. i had no idea it would hurt you so much.