Saturday, July 18, 2020
Remembering MUKESH on his 97th birth anniversary July 22
And HERE's the Mukesh episode of FILMY SHOTS—RAJIV VIJAYAKAR. Do LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE. Coming up—Rafi & Kishore.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
My first article on Bollywoodhungama.com
My first article on Bollywoodhungama.com - an interview with Sajid-Wajid. 17886 views in 11 hours. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/celebrities/features/type/view/id/3534
Saturday, June 9, 2012
HOW INTELLIGENT IS AN AUDIENCE THAT ENDORSES ROWDY RATHORE, HOUSEFULL 2, BODYGUARD & AGNEEPATH?
The huge success of Rowdy Rathore was, strangely, predicted more by the pseudo-intellectual brigade than by the normal Hindi film buff, who is always a shade apprehensive that the film does not prove a catastrophe like, say, an Agent Vinod or a Rascals.
The ivory tower inhabitants, especially those who write reviews in national publications (read English), either condescendingly stated that the film will rake in the greenbacks irrespective of “quality” (or similar) and their opinion of it (!) or just rubbished the entertainer. These worthies, full to the gills of international (off-beat or niche) cinema and (back home) the Anurag Kashyap-Vishal Bhardwaj kind of sensibilities, failed in all their ‘wisdom’ about cinema to understand that the films they endorsed were of a different kind, made for a small and different chunk of audiences, and anyway were far from original. After all, original is not only about story or script but also about formats and techniques.
Most critics’ favourites are those that are not mass-friendly, whether it is Indian cinema with its element of nautanki, folk and our epics, or the cream of Hollywood. Anything that connects with the masses is lowbrow, cheap and not “happening,” say they, as they consume vada-pav from a roadside stall. But why these ‘cinema-literate’ people want a Dabangg, Om Shanti Om, Murder 2, Dhamaal, Bhoot, Krrish et al to all be like their pet films (usually foreign and preferably dark fare!) is beyond me. How can every film be evaluated on identical parameters? It is insanity and cinema-illiteracy of the highest degree to apply the same yardstick even to two completely commercial films like Housefull 2 and The Dirty Picture, how then can we apply it to totally different subjects? Can a Deewaar ever be like a Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge?
Ha! And that’s not the only contradiction. Like bad foster parents, they look at movies as wayward children who should fall in line (sic), come up to their expectations and ‘benchmarks’ (sic) and not disappoint their hopes. The same ladies and gentlemen who run down mass-connect composers like Anu Malik for his few plagiarized songs or Sajid-Wajid for their rooted melodies and extol a Rahman or Amit Trivedi for their innovation (simply because they are influenced by oh-so-happening alien genres like rock and world music) continue to hover metres above terra firma in their blinkered glasses and are apologetic about a Rohit Shetty or Anees Bazmee failing to live up to Tarentino / Majidi /whatever, who are geniuses no doubt in their respective countries.
One film review of Rowdy Rathore even psycho-analyzed its filmmakers! It asked whether producer Bhansali was struck by avarice to make such a film. Well, we wonder what would happen if this critic ever invested his own money in a film?
Correction – that was till the ‘90s that filmmakers would literally come on the streets if they persisted in disregarding the audience. Today, the producer pockets the moolah, and most of his corporate financiers who lose the money do not personally suffer either as the money is not going from their own pockets!!
And here’s a standing joke we all know: Ivory tower critic slams Heyy Babyy (yes, I too did not like it, but had to respect its mass connect). Sajid Khan directs Housefull three years later. Convenient amnesia strikes and as this new film is being butchered in their ‘review’, we read the gem of a sentence, “Heyy Babyy at least had a certain wit (or whatever)…, but Housefull lacks even…”. Two years later, poor Housefull 2 releases to deserve a higher gem, “Housefull had its moments of wacky humor, but this film…!” And so on!
But perhaps the worst aspect of all this is the way this brigade (which sadly also includes a small chunk of film buffs and a lot of GenY film-folk) casts aspersions on the intelligence of the audience that turns Dabangg, Ready, Singham, Agneepath (I hated the film, but so what? There must have been a reason why it made so much money!) and now Rowdy Rathore into such blockbusters. The audience is moronic becasue it does not endorse their (re)views, see?
I think that it’s time they were soundly told – while they are relishing their sadak-chhap bhajiyas as if they are exotic and un-Indian caviar – that, hello, guys’n’gals, get real! It is the very same audience that has loved Chak De! India, Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots, The Dirty Picture, Kahaani and Vicky Donor that has endorsed Murder 2, Yamla Pagla Deewana, Golmaal 3 (I did not like this one either), Dhoom 2 and Gadar –Ek Prem Katha.
The audience is greedy for value-for-money cinema – of any and especially diverse kinds. Period. And that’s why the best of so-called offbeat, different or ‘arty’ films have always proved hits down the decades – whether it was a Padosi in the ‘40s, Pyaasa and Do Ankhen Barah Haath in the ‘50s, Kanoon (a songless film then!)and Aashirwad in the ‘60s, Anand and Ankur in the ‘70s, Arth and Ardh Satya in the ‘80s, Maachis and in the ‘90s and so many films in the millennium.
Make no mistake – the audience is and always has been far, far more intelligent than any ‘intellectual’ – critic or otherwise – can ever hope to be.
The prosecution (not the defence) rests.
*
The ivory tower inhabitants, especially those who write reviews in national publications (read English), either condescendingly stated that the film will rake in the greenbacks irrespective of “quality” (or similar) and their opinion of it (!) or just rubbished the entertainer. These worthies, full to the gills of international (off-beat or niche) cinema and (back home) the Anurag Kashyap-Vishal Bhardwaj kind of sensibilities, failed in all their ‘wisdom’ about cinema to understand that the films they endorsed were of a different kind, made for a small and different chunk of audiences, and anyway were far from original. After all, original is not only about story or script but also about formats and techniques.
Most critics’ favourites are those that are not mass-friendly, whether it is Indian cinema with its element of nautanki, folk and our epics, or the cream of Hollywood. Anything that connects with the masses is lowbrow, cheap and not “happening,” say they, as they consume vada-pav from a roadside stall. But why these ‘cinema-literate’ people want a Dabangg, Om Shanti Om, Murder 2, Dhamaal, Bhoot, Krrish et al to all be like their pet films (usually foreign and preferably dark fare!) is beyond me. How can every film be evaluated on identical parameters? It is insanity and cinema-illiteracy of the highest degree to apply the same yardstick even to two completely commercial films like Housefull 2 and The Dirty Picture, how then can we apply it to totally different subjects? Can a Deewaar ever be like a Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge?
Ha! And that’s not the only contradiction. Like bad foster parents, they look at movies as wayward children who should fall in line (sic), come up to their expectations and ‘benchmarks’ (sic) and not disappoint their hopes. The same ladies and gentlemen who run down mass-connect composers like Anu Malik for his few plagiarized songs or Sajid-Wajid for their rooted melodies and extol a Rahman or Amit Trivedi for their innovation (simply because they are influenced by oh-so-happening alien genres like rock and world music) continue to hover metres above terra firma in their blinkered glasses and are apologetic about a Rohit Shetty or Anees Bazmee failing to live up to Tarentino / Majidi /whatever, who are geniuses no doubt in their respective countries.
One film review of Rowdy Rathore even psycho-analyzed its filmmakers! It asked whether producer Bhansali was struck by avarice to make such a film. Well, we wonder what would happen if this critic ever invested his own money in a film?
Correction – that was till the ‘90s that filmmakers would literally come on the streets if they persisted in disregarding the audience. Today, the producer pockets the moolah, and most of his corporate financiers who lose the money do not personally suffer either as the money is not going from their own pockets!!
And here’s a standing joke we all know: Ivory tower critic slams Heyy Babyy (yes, I too did not like it, but had to respect its mass connect). Sajid Khan directs Housefull three years later. Convenient amnesia strikes and as this new film is being butchered in their ‘review’, we read the gem of a sentence, “Heyy Babyy at least had a certain wit (or whatever)…, but Housefull lacks even…”. Two years later, poor Housefull 2 releases to deserve a higher gem, “Housefull had its moments of wacky humor, but this film…!” And so on!
But perhaps the worst aspect of all this is the way this brigade (which sadly also includes a small chunk of film buffs and a lot of GenY film-folk) casts aspersions on the intelligence of the audience that turns Dabangg, Ready, Singham, Agneepath (I hated the film, but so what? There must have been a reason why it made so much money!) and now Rowdy Rathore into such blockbusters. The audience is moronic becasue it does not endorse their (re)views, see?
I think that it’s time they were soundly told – while they are relishing their sadak-chhap bhajiyas as if they are exotic and un-Indian caviar – that, hello, guys’n’gals, get real! It is the very same audience that has loved Chak De! India, Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots, The Dirty Picture, Kahaani and Vicky Donor that has endorsed Murder 2, Yamla Pagla Deewana, Golmaal 3 (I did not like this one either), Dhoom 2 and Gadar –Ek Prem Katha.
The audience is greedy for value-for-money cinema – of any and especially diverse kinds. Period. And that’s why the best of so-called offbeat, different or ‘arty’ films have always proved hits down the decades – whether it was a Padosi in the ‘40s, Pyaasa and Do Ankhen Barah Haath in the ‘50s, Kanoon (a songless film then!)and Aashirwad in the ‘60s, Anand and Ankur in the ‘70s, Arth and Ardh Satya in the ‘80s, Maachis and in the ‘90s and so many films in the millennium.
Make no mistake – the audience is and always has been far, far more intelligent than any ‘intellectual’ – critic or otherwise – can ever hope to be.
The prosecution (not the defence) rests.
*
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
MY EXPERIENCE AS A JURY MEMBER OF THE 58TH NATIONAL FILM AWARDS
I was interviewing old-timer filmmaker Mohan Kumar for Screen at his bungalow when I received a call from New Delhi. It was a senior official of the Directorate Of Film Festivals (DFF). He wanted to know if I would like to be on the National Film Awards Jury for 2010′s films.
Pleasantly surprised, I asked what it entailed. He crisply explained and I said, “Why not? I would be glad, sir.” A few days later, I was asked for my CV. I was told that the DFF recommendation would have to be approved and passed by the Ministry for Information & Broadcasting.
That was in late 2010. On April 14, 2011, I got a call stating that my name had been approved and I was to be on the Jury-Western Panel, a 5-member team that was to watch, evaluate and then choose and recommend shortlisted Marathi, Gujarati and Konkani films for specific awards across various categories. On April 26, I was to fly to New Delhi, and we were to watch the films from April 27. Clearly, these three dates are now red-letter days for me.
It was a huge task completing my routine work that would be needed during my absence from Mumbai by India-West, Screen and the others for which I write. Something made necessary because under the confidentiality word of honour and ethics I could not reveal to ANYONE OUTSIDE MY HOME that I was on the Jury!
Friends were curious, so were professional associates. My India-West colleague, Lisa Tsering, started making wild but in their own way inspired guesses, even assuming that I was joining the Censor Board, because I had to tell everyone that I would be out of town and off-work for over a week!
I must say that being chosen for A GREAT NATIONAL HONOUR like this was very gratifying, simply because I did not know anyone in the hierarchy and so it was my work alone over the years that must have been noticed. When my wife Nishika told me at the airport before I caught the flight, “I am proud of you!” it was like winning a National award myself. Never mind if I had missed it for my book “The History Of Indian Film Music”, which I had entered in 2010 for the previous year’s awards!!
Yes, Jury business was hard work. My four colleagues were wonderful people – the renowned Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, our chairperson who pitched for our recommendations in the Central Jury, Aijaz Khan and Purushottam Berde, both filmmakers, and Sukumar Jatania, an accomplished DOP. It was doubly gratifying that I was the only media member.
(And it was piquantly interesting to note that Dr Dwivedi and I, that is 40% of our panel, were medical doctors! A ‘clinical’ assessment of films was guaranteed, we both would joke, and the results too seemed to prove it! NEVER HAVE MARATHI FILMS CLINCHED 12 HONOURS AT THE NATIONAL FILM AWARDS IN A SINGLE YEAR. The tally was more than one-fourth of the total honours – 46 across 37 categories. Categories-wise, we had scored almost one-third!)
So what did all this entail? We would assemble at 8.30 in the morning to leave for Siri Fort Auditorium to watch our quota of 4 to 5 films a day. Our departure could be anywhere from 5 pm to 8.30 pm for returning to the hotel or meeting friends based in Delhi. One day, all of us had dinner together and breakfast was a meal we normally had together, once we had been introduced to each other.
I am sure that we were the most cohesive jury in the lot.Nature seemed to have arranged that five people who vibed completely had come together to have a blast amidst the very serious work we were doing with intense passion! And of that passion there was no doubt. As a film critic for 18-plus years on a weekly basis, I realized once again what goes into filmmaking. Their mutual conversations were insightful eye-openers too.
Contrary to popular belief, there were no pressures upon us. No Ministry official watched films along with us, discussions were in private and methods informal in the sense that we had to devise them between us. BUT OUR RECOMMENDATIONS HAD TO BE UNANIMOUS – AND THE PASSION WAS SEEN IN OUR FINAL DEBATE BECAUSE WHILE WE DID NOT TAKE MORE THAN TWO HOURS TO ARRIVE AT A CONSENSUS, WE HAD HEALTHY ARGUMENTS IN THAT PERIOD.
The excellence of the Marathi films made it easier. Mee Sindhutai Sapkal and Malaa Aai Vhaayachaaya were my personal favourites and both won 4 and 1 awards respectively,. Baboo Band Baaja which bagged 4 too, was liked by all of us though to different extents. Then there were more films like Champions (three wins) and some that did not make it to the final wins.
For me, New Delhi, where I schooled from Standard VI to IX in St.Columba’s – later to have Shah Rukh Khan as a student – also had a special meaning. I met four of my former classmates who showered affection on me – Raman Baluja, Atul Backliwal, Kapil Vaish and Varun Aggarwal, all eminently successful in their respective fields. I spent my first three evenings with them, and my Delhi stay had a great start because Raman and I spent five hours together at his home with his wonderful family, including son Atharv who is an extremely talented music video writer, director and editor.
The most wonderful aspect of these four gentlemen was that none of them had been close friends. We connected on Facebook last year and their warm natures and inherent Delhi hospitality and warmth made us meet like best friends meeting after years.
Finally, I met four people that I had only interacted with on telephone – Sidhant Khosla, Sanjay, Madhulita and Lakshika from the Times Books team that had published my book. They came across as very warm people and the icing on the cake is that they have promised to relaunch my book, whose marketing had been low-key because it had ALSO been included free with a set of CDs on 79 years of film music.
What more befitting reason and occasion can there be to motivate me for restart writing my blog after a break of several months?
Pleasantly surprised, I asked what it entailed. He crisply explained and I said, “Why not? I would be glad, sir.” A few days later, I was asked for my CV. I was told that the DFF recommendation would have to be approved and passed by the Ministry for Information & Broadcasting.
That was in late 2010. On April 14, 2011, I got a call stating that my name had been approved and I was to be on the Jury-Western Panel, a 5-member team that was to watch, evaluate and then choose and recommend shortlisted Marathi, Gujarati and Konkani films for specific awards across various categories. On April 26, I was to fly to New Delhi, and we were to watch the films from April 27. Clearly, these three dates are now red-letter days for me.
It was a huge task completing my routine work that would be needed during my absence from Mumbai by India-West, Screen and the others for which I write. Something made necessary because under the confidentiality word of honour and ethics I could not reveal to ANYONE OUTSIDE MY HOME that I was on the Jury!
Friends were curious, so were professional associates. My India-West colleague, Lisa Tsering, started making wild but in their own way inspired guesses, even assuming that I was joining the Censor Board, because I had to tell everyone that I would be out of town and off-work for over a week!
I must say that being chosen for A GREAT NATIONAL HONOUR like this was very gratifying, simply because I did not know anyone in the hierarchy and so it was my work alone over the years that must have been noticed. When my wife Nishika told me at the airport before I caught the flight, “I am proud of you!” it was like winning a National award myself. Never mind if I had missed it for my book “The History Of Indian Film Music”, which I had entered in 2010 for the previous year’s awards!!
Yes, Jury business was hard work. My four colleagues were wonderful people – the renowned Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, our chairperson who pitched for our recommendations in the Central Jury, Aijaz Khan and Purushottam Berde, both filmmakers, and Sukumar Jatania, an accomplished DOP. It was doubly gratifying that I was the only media member.
(And it was piquantly interesting to note that Dr Dwivedi and I, that is 40% of our panel, were medical doctors! A ‘clinical’ assessment of films was guaranteed, we both would joke, and the results too seemed to prove it! NEVER HAVE MARATHI FILMS CLINCHED 12 HONOURS AT THE NATIONAL FILM AWARDS IN A SINGLE YEAR. The tally was more than one-fourth of the total honours – 46 across 37 categories. Categories-wise, we had scored almost one-third!)
So what did all this entail? We would assemble at 8.30 in the morning to leave for Siri Fort Auditorium to watch our quota of 4 to 5 films a day. Our departure could be anywhere from 5 pm to 8.30 pm for returning to the hotel or meeting friends based in Delhi. One day, all of us had dinner together and breakfast was a meal we normally had together, once we had been introduced to each other.
I am sure that we were the most cohesive jury in the lot.Nature seemed to have arranged that five people who vibed completely had come together to have a blast amidst the very serious work we were doing with intense passion! And of that passion there was no doubt. As a film critic for 18-plus years on a weekly basis, I realized once again what goes into filmmaking. Their mutual conversations were insightful eye-openers too.
Contrary to popular belief, there were no pressures upon us. No Ministry official watched films along with us, discussions were in private and methods informal in the sense that we had to devise them between us. BUT OUR RECOMMENDATIONS HAD TO BE UNANIMOUS – AND THE PASSION WAS SEEN IN OUR FINAL DEBATE BECAUSE WHILE WE DID NOT TAKE MORE THAN TWO HOURS TO ARRIVE AT A CONSENSUS, WE HAD HEALTHY ARGUMENTS IN THAT PERIOD.
The excellence of the Marathi films made it easier. Mee Sindhutai Sapkal and Malaa Aai Vhaayachaaya were my personal favourites and both won 4 and 1 awards respectively,. Baboo Band Baaja which bagged 4 too, was liked by all of us though to different extents. Then there were more films like Champions (three wins) and some that did not make it to the final wins.
For me, New Delhi, where I schooled from Standard VI to IX in St.Columba’s – later to have Shah Rukh Khan as a student – also had a special meaning. I met four of my former classmates who showered affection on me – Raman Baluja, Atul Backliwal, Kapil Vaish and Varun Aggarwal, all eminently successful in their respective fields. I spent my first three evenings with them, and my Delhi stay had a great start because Raman and I spent five hours together at his home with his wonderful family, including son Atharv who is an extremely talented music video writer, director and editor.
The most wonderful aspect of these four gentlemen was that none of them had been close friends. We connected on Facebook last year and their warm natures and inherent Delhi hospitality and warmth made us meet like best friends meeting after years.
Finally, I met four people that I had only interacted with on telephone – Sidhant Khosla, Sanjay, Madhulita and Lakshika from the Times Books team that had published my book. They came across as very warm people and the icing on the cake is that they have promised to relaunch my book, whose marketing had been low-key because it had ALSO been included free with a set of CDs on 79 years of film music.
What more befitting reason and occasion can there be to motivate me for restart writing my blog after a break of several months?
Sunday, December 5, 2010
MUSIC POLL 2010 RESULTS
FINAL SCORE OF MUSIC POLL ON BEST FILM SOUNDTRACKS OF 2010:
MEDIUM OF VOTING: CONFIDENTIAL ACROSS FACEBOOK & E-MAIL
ENTRIES: 47
VALID ENTRIES: 40
AGE GROUP: 16 TO 60
(INDIANS & NRIS)
GROUP OCCUPATIONS: JOURNALISTS, DOCTORS & OTHER PROFESSIONALS, BUSINESSMEN, SALARIED INDIVIDUALS, FILM & MUSIC INDUSTRY MEMBERS & MEDIAPERSONS
RANK(A) VOTES POINTS, AVR+RANK (B) FINAL RANK (A+B/2)
1.DABANGG 33/40 85 2.57 2 1.5 1
2.OUATIM 32/40 90 2.81 3 1.5 2
3.GUZAARISH 26/40 60 2.31 1 2 3
4.VEER 25/40 84 3.36 6 5 5
5.ISHQIYA 25/40 72 2.88 4 4.5 4 6.KITES 18/40 72 4.0 7 6.5 7
7.RAAJNEETI 15/40 46 3.07 5 6 6
8.LAHORE 5/40
9.ACTION REPLAYY 5/40
10.TEES MAAR KHAN 3/40
ONLY OUTSIDE VOTES TO:
MY NAME IS KHAN ) TWO VOTES
MILENGE MILENGE )
PRINCE )
LAFANGEY PARINDEY ) ONE VOTE EACH
AISHA )
BAND BAAJA BAARAAT )
JHOOTHA HI SAHI )
FINAL TALLY
T O P F I V E F I L M S O U N T R A C K S:
1. DABANGG SAJID-WAJID/LALIT PANDIT
2. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI PRITAM
3. GUZAARISH SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI
4. ISHQIYA VISHAL BHARDWAJ
5. VEER SAJID-WAJID
6.RAAJNEETI MULTIPLE COMPOSERS*
7.KITES RAJESH ROSHAN
(*AADESH SHRIVASTAVA/ PRITAM/SHANTANU MOITRA/WAYNE SHARPE)
MEDIUM OF VOTING: CONFIDENTIAL ACROSS FACEBOOK & E-MAIL
ENTRIES: 47
VALID ENTRIES: 40
AGE GROUP: 16 TO 60
(INDIANS & NRIS)
GROUP OCCUPATIONS: JOURNALISTS, DOCTORS & OTHER PROFESSIONALS, BUSINESSMEN, SALARIED INDIVIDUALS, FILM & MUSIC INDUSTRY MEMBERS & MEDIAPERSONS
RANK(A) VOTES POINTS, AVR+RANK (B) FINAL RANK (A+B/2)
1.DABANGG 33/40 85 2.57 2 1.5 1
2.OUATIM 32/40 90 2.81 3 1.5 2
3.GUZAARISH 26/40 60 2.31 1 2 3
4.VEER 25/40 84 3.36 6 5 5
5.ISHQIYA 25/40 72 2.88 4 4.5 4 6.KITES 18/40 72 4.0 7 6.5 7
7.RAAJNEETI 15/40 46 3.07 5 6 6
8.LAHORE 5/40
9.ACTION REPLAYY 5/40
10.TEES MAAR KHAN 3/40
ONLY OUTSIDE VOTES TO:
MY NAME IS KHAN ) TWO VOTES
MILENGE MILENGE )
PRINCE )
LAFANGEY PARINDEY ) ONE VOTE EACH
AISHA )
BAND BAAJA BAARAAT )
JHOOTHA HI SAHI )
FINAL TALLY
T O P F I V E F I L M S O U N T R A C K S:
1. DABANGG SAJID-WAJID/LALIT PANDIT
2. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI PRITAM
3. GUZAARISH SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI
4. ISHQIYA VISHAL BHARDWAJ
5. VEER SAJID-WAJID
6.RAAJNEETI MULTIPLE COMPOSERS*
7.KITES RAJESH ROSHAN
(*AADESH SHRIVASTAVA/ PRITAM/SHANTANU MOITRA/WAYNE SHARPE)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A Blog again - after 23 days!
It’s been 23 days since I haven’t contributed to my own blog. Disgraceful? Sure, but I could not help it. Was away for some days, and also busy with my younger daughter’s professional college admissions.
If I had the time, could have written blogs galore about the admission process itself. But now, all’s well that ends well – it’s done!
When one takes the luxury of a vacation (for Mumbaikars, anything more than 2 days away is a luxury – and I took 4 days off away from the city) there is a compensatory hypertrophy in work – assignments have to be completed, deadlines in my absence provided for: that’s before the holiday.
And when you are back to the grind, though refreshed proportionate to the duration of the break, it’s double the pace for a few days. So is the vacation still worth it when it’s a military regimen before and after? It is!
And now we have social networking sites like Facebook, which for me is more of a meeting-ground with like-minded people and a partial source of feedback for whatever I write and express either paid (in my articles) or otherwise (on FB), the time spent after returning from a vacation increases. You have to reply to messages, screen friend requests and also check for comments et al.
Friends are suggesting that I join Twitter. I will, I guess it’s an inevitability in modern life. But I would rather select the moment – and by that I do not mean astrologically but in terms of my mental preparation and yes, a small knowledge of more than just the basic working. Technically I am already registered, but I have not yet become a Tweeter.
And yes, I have started three groups on FB, which I hope you guys out there join them in force – AND MORE IMPORTANTLY CONSTRUCTIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO THEM – ANAND BAKSHI, BRING BACK THE LIP-SYNCHED SONG – SAVE OUR HERITAGE and PADMA SHRI KALYANJI-ANANDJI – THE AGELESS DUO.
And yes, there are brilliant groups started by my dear friends like Vishal Singh, Pritam Sharma, Satyajit Rajurkar and Sudarshan Pandey on deserving names and colossi as well as issues – like Amit Kumar, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar-Jaikishen : The Emperors of Hindi Film Music and Laxmikant-Pyarelal and also one on Rare Hindi Film Songs.
No, I am not doing PR for these groups. We need motivated members who are passionate about these talents and music, to give us endless pleasure with their discussions and contribution to content.
Join only if you believe.
And for now, I promise that I will try and blog regularly. Good day.
If I had the time, could have written blogs galore about the admission process itself. But now, all’s well that ends well – it’s done!
When one takes the luxury of a vacation (for Mumbaikars, anything more than 2 days away is a luxury – and I took 4 days off away from the city) there is a compensatory hypertrophy in work – assignments have to be completed, deadlines in my absence provided for: that’s before the holiday.
And when you are back to the grind, though refreshed proportionate to the duration of the break, it’s double the pace for a few days. So is the vacation still worth it when it’s a military regimen before and after? It is!
And now we have social networking sites like Facebook, which for me is more of a meeting-ground with like-minded people and a partial source of feedback for whatever I write and express either paid (in my articles) or otherwise (on FB), the time spent after returning from a vacation increases. You have to reply to messages, screen friend requests and also check for comments et al.
Friends are suggesting that I join Twitter. I will, I guess it’s an inevitability in modern life. But I would rather select the moment – and by that I do not mean astrologically but in terms of my mental preparation and yes, a small knowledge of more than just the basic working. Technically I am already registered, but I have not yet become a Tweeter.
And yes, I have started three groups on FB, which I hope you guys out there join them in force – AND MORE IMPORTANTLY CONSTRUCTIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO THEM – ANAND BAKSHI, BRING BACK THE LIP-SYNCHED SONG – SAVE OUR HERITAGE and PADMA SHRI KALYANJI-ANANDJI – THE AGELESS DUO.
And yes, there are brilliant groups started by my dear friends like Vishal Singh, Pritam Sharma, Satyajit Rajurkar and Sudarshan Pandey on deserving names and colossi as well as issues – like Amit Kumar, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar-Jaikishen : The Emperors of Hindi Film Music and Laxmikant-Pyarelal and also one on Rare Hindi Film Songs.
No, I am not doing PR for these groups. We need motivated members who are passionate about these talents and music, to give us endless pleasure with their discussions and contribution to content.
Join only if you believe.
And for now, I promise that I will try and blog regularly. Good day.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Foreign artistes in Hindi cinema
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/76297/foreign-touch.html
Trends in bollywood
The foreign touch
With actors from all corners of the world stepping into Bollywood, Rajiv Vijayakar traces the history of the foreign factor in Hindi cinema.
Barbara MoriThey are all over India, especially in Hindi films. The aliens have landed, from all corners of the globe, and in 2010, both the biggest hit (American Sarah Thompson in Raajneeti) as well as the greatest flop (Brazilian Barbara Mori in Kites) have had damsels from abroad as lead stars. UK’s Sir Ben Kingsley (Teen Patti), Jacqueline Fernandez (Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai and a song in Housefull) and Miss UK Lisa Lazarus (Veer) have been the latest this year in a long line of examples over the last decade, though there definitely were sporadic cases earlier.
The foreign hand is clear, and whether they are upping the quality quotient or not, these actresses (and some actors for good measure) are decidedly raising the novelty factor of Hindi cinema: Yes, the guys are there too — Paul Blackthorne in Lagaan as the malicious British officer, Michael Maloney as the Hindi film-crazy cop in I See You, Martin Henderson in the bi-lingual Bride And Prejudice/Balle Balle Amristar Se LA, and of course Sylvester Stallone and Brandon Routh playing themselves in Kambakkht Ishq — although their scope is restricted.
What could be the reasons for this ‘female chauvinism’? They are very obvious. Firstly, it will be impossible to cast these people as Indians, which some girls, like Giselli Monteiro (as the Sardarni in Love Aaj Kal) or Miss Sri Lanka Jacqueline Fernandez (Aladin) could carry off. Secondly, it is unlikely that our heroes would like to co-star with firang heroes in equal roles. Finally, and more flippantly, the overseas heroes cannot do ‘item’ numbers! The third reason is, however, for real — in the sense that a lot of the contribution by the ladies to Hindi cinema has been in the form of ‘item’ numbers — Mariah Gomes from Italy being the latest in the sensational ‘Teri neeyat kharaab hai’ in Teen Patti.
Ambitious girls from Western/Far Eastern and other non-Indian cultures have little inhibition about showing skin and bold camera angles. And with censors getting more lenient, filmmakers are literally pushing the ‘erotic’ envelope, as in Dus where no one came to know the names of the girls who did the ‘item’ song and Brazil’s Bruna Abdullah doing ‘Rehem kare’ in another Anubhav Sinha film named Cash. Saif Ali Khan’s ex-girlfriend, Rosa Catalano, showed up in several films too, just as many more non-featured names from places as varied as Ukraine, the Scandinavian countries and Ireland have been playing similar roles.
Ben KingsleySetting the trend was Czechoslovakian Yana Gupta, then married to an Indian, who came in with the chartbuster ‘Babuji zara dheere chalo’ (Dum in 2003) and since then went on to several films as a dancer, along with Negar Khan of Scandinavian descent, who took off with ‘Shaadi Ka Laddoo’ and ‘Rudraaksh’ in 2004.
Having said that, talent does count, and so does range, hard work and professionalism. With the exceptions of USA-based Linda Arsenio (Kabul Express, Mumbai Salsa, Aloo Chaat) and Jacqueline Fernandez, no foreign actress until now, despite enjoying the tenure in India and also wanting to work more, has succeeded in getting a second Hindi film.
“That may be as much or more because most films with foreign actors flop, and exceptions like Raajneeti, in which Sarah’s role was very small, ditto Love Aaj Kal with Giselle and Florence Brudenell-Bruce, only prove this rule!” confides a trade analyst. “Two more exceptions were Lagaan with Rachel Shelley and Rang De Basanti with Alice Patten. These two scripts demanded Britishers and in all four cases, the films worked, and they were certainly not hits only because there was a foreign artiste in the cast.”
This brings to the fore two more issues — first, that films pivoting around foreign heroines (like Kisna with Antonia Bermath) have never worked, and second, that in no film does the overseas heroine get the hero. So come Barbara or Sarah, Antonia or Rachel or even Baywatch babe Brande Rodericks (Out Of Control, in which the Indian hero is even unfaithful and caddish towards her), it is the Indian heroine who walks away into the sunset with the leading man!
Clearly, mindsets have not opened up that much. Unless a Giselli or a Jacqueline play Indian characters, no firang heroine gets the man. There is always an Indian alternative, and the overseas belles either die, have to leave, or hand over their man smilingly to the Indian girl and back off! The lone exception, Dil Jo Bhi Kahey, which saw the hero marry Annabelle Wallis rather than Indian heroine Bhumika Chawla, was a complete non-starter.
When it all began
Sarah ThompsonIndian cinema, right from the silent era, had its share of foreign and Anglo-Indian artistes. In the 70s and 80s, there were more entries from across our immediate borders, like Rosina and Nutan from Bangladesh in Shakti Samanta’s Aar Paar (1985), Pakistan’s Mohammed Ali and Zeba in Manoj Kumar’s Clerk and Nadeem from Pakistan and Babita from Bangladesh in Door Desh.
And of course, the three names that gained fame of sorts in the latter decades were Mohsin Khan (J P Dutta’s Batwara and others), Zeba Bakhtiar’s (Randhir Kapoor’s Heena) and Somy Ali (who was better known as Salman Khan’s girl).
Some years ago, Mahesh Bhatt brought in Meera (Nazar) and Kaafila saw Sana as Sunny Deol’s heroine. On the Western side, Shelley Homick in Love In Canada (1979), Christine O’Neill (Dev Anand’s Swami Dada) were some foreign starlets who essayed second leads in films like Kashish and Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya.
Today, however, things are different: names like Yana Gupta and Jacqueline have graduated, like so many Indian heroines, from modelling assignments to movies. Prakash Jha and Rakesh Roshan went to meet Sarah in New York and Barbara in Mexico respectively through proper agents (Both actresses had proper careers as models and actors). And of course Denise Richards and Holly Valance came in, like Sly and Routh, as themselves in Kambakkht Ishq, where the story pivoted around Akshay Kumar as an Indian stunt duplicate of top Hollywood stars!
The globe’s getting smaller, and the Hindi film is getting bigger. Now all we are waiting for is an Indian boy to marry a foreign girl on the Hindi screen. And something tells me that the day isn’t far away.
Trends in bollywood
The foreign touch
With actors from all corners of the world stepping into Bollywood, Rajiv Vijayakar traces the history of the foreign factor in Hindi cinema.
Barbara MoriThey are all over India, especially in Hindi films. The aliens have landed, from all corners of the globe, and in 2010, both the biggest hit (American Sarah Thompson in Raajneeti) as well as the greatest flop (Brazilian Barbara Mori in Kites) have had damsels from abroad as lead stars. UK’s Sir Ben Kingsley (Teen Patti), Jacqueline Fernandez (Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai and a song in Housefull) and Miss UK Lisa Lazarus (Veer) have been the latest this year in a long line of examples over the last decade, though there definitely were sporadic cases earlier.
The foreign hand is clear, and whether they are upping the quality quotient or not, these actresses (and some actors for good measure) are decidedly raising the novelty factor of Hindi cinema: Yes, the guys are there too — Paul Blackthorne in Lagaan as the malicious British officer, Michael Maloney as the Hindi film-crazy cop in I See You, Martin Henderson in the bi-lingual Bride And Prejudice/Balle Balle Amristar Se LA, and of course Sylvester Stallone and Brandon Routh playing themselves in Kambakkht Ishq — although their scope is restricted.
What could be the reasons for this ‘female chauvinism’? They are very obvious. Firstly, it will be impossible to cast these people as Indians, which some girls, like Giselli Monteiro (as the Sardarni in Love Aaj Kal) or Miss Sri Lanka Jacqueline Fernandez (Aladin) could carry off. Secondly, it is unlikely that our heroes would like to co-star with firang heroes in equal roles. Finally, and more flippantly, the overseas heroes cannot do ‘item’ numbers! The third reason is, however, for real — in the sense that a lot of the contribution by the ladies to Hindi cinema has been in the form of ‘item’ numbers — Mariah Gomes from Italy being the latest in the sensational ‘Teri neeyat kharaab hai’ in Teen Patti.
Ambitious girls from Western/Far Eastern and other non-Indian cultures have little inhibition about showing skin and bold camera angles. And with censors getting more lenient, filmmakers are literally pushing the ‘erotic’ envelope, as in Dus where no one came to know the names of the girls who did the ‘item’ song and Brazil’s Bruna Abdullah doing ‘Rehem kare’ in another Anubhav Sinha film named Cash. Saif Ali Khan’s ex-girlfriend, Rosa Catalano, showed up in several films too, just as many more non-featured names from places as varied as Ukraine, the Scandinavian countries and Ireland have been playing similar roles.
Ben KingsleySetting the trend was Czechoslovakian Yana Gupta, then married to an Indian, who came in with the chartbuster ‘Babuji zara dheere chalo’ (Dum in 2003) and since then went on to several films as a dancer, along with Negar Khan of Scandinavian descent, who took off with ‘Shaadi Ka Laddoo’ and ‘Rudraaksh’ in 2004.
Having said that, talent does count, and so does range, hard work and professionalism. With the exceptions of USA-based Linda Arsenio (Kabul Express, Mumbai Salsa, Aloo Chaat) and Jacqueline Fernandez, no foreign actress until now, despite enjoying the tenure in India and also wanting to work more, has succeeded in getting a second Hindi film.
“That may be as much or more because most films with foreign actors flop, and exceptions like Raajneeti, in which Sarah’s role was very small, ditto Love Aaj Kal with Giselle and Florence Brudenell-Bruce, only prove this rule!” confides a trade analyst. “Two more exceptions were Lagaan with Rachel Shelley and Rang De Basanti with Alice Patten. These two scripts demanded Britishers and in all four cases, the films worked, and they were certainly not hits only because there was a foreign artiste in the cast.”
This brings to the fore two more issues — first, that films pivoting around foreign heroines (like Kisna with Antonia Bermath) have never worked, and second, that in no film does the overseas heroine get the hero. So come Barbara or Sarah, Antonia or Rachel or even Baywatch babe Brande Rodericks (Out Of Control, in which the Indian hero is even unfaithful and caddish towards her), it is the Indian heroine who walks away into the sunset with the leading man!
Clearly, mindsets have not opened up that much. Unless a Giselli or a Jacqueline play Indian characters, no firang heroine gets the man. There is always an Indian alternative, and the overseas belles either die, have to leave, or hand over their man smilingly to the Indian girl and back off! The lone exception, Dil Jo Bhi Kahey, which saw the hero marry Annabelle Wallis rather than Indian heroine Bhumika Chawla, was a complete non-starter.
When it all began
Sarah ThompsonIndian cinema, right from the silent era, had its share of foreign and Anglo-Indian artistes. In the 70s and 80s, there were more entries from across our immediate borders, like Rosina and Nutan from Bangladesh in Shakti Samanta’s Aar Paar (1985), Pakistan’s Mohammed Ali and Zeba in Manoj Kumar’s Clerk and Nadeem from Pakistan and Babita from Bangladesh in Door Desh.
And of course, the three names that gained fame of sorts in the latter decades were Mohsin Khan (J P Dutta’s Batwara and others), Zeba Bakhtiar’s (Randhir Kapoor’s Heena) and Somy Ali (who was better known as Salman Khan’s girl).
Some years ago, Mahesh Bhatt brought in Meera (Nazar) and Kaafila saw Sana as Sunny Deol’s heroine. On the Western side, Shelley Homick in Love In Canada (1979), Christine O’Neill (Dev Anand’s Swami Dada) were some foreign starlets who essayed second leads in films like Kashish and Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya.
Today, however, things are different: names like Yana Gupta and Jacqueline have graduated, like so many Indian heroines, from modelling assignments to movies. Prakash Jha and Rakesh Roshan went to meet Sarah in New York and Barbara in Mexico respectively through proper agents (Both actresses had proper careers as models and actors). And of course Denise Richards and Holly Valance came in, like Sly and Routh, as themselves in Kambakkht Ishq, where the story pivoted around Akshay Kumar as an Indian stunt duplicate of top Hollywood stars!
The globe’s getting smaller, and the Hindi film is getting bigger. Now all we are waiting for is an Indian boy to marry a foreign girl on the Hindi screen. And something tells me that the day isn’t far away.
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