Wednesday 30 September 2009

When Songs become Film Titles

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> i spy with my eyes films that got their titles from songs

With the hundreds if not thousands of bollywood movies which are released yearly, its no surprise that sometimes when directors are stuck on what to name their films, they often resort to the names of famous filmi songs, below is a huge list of some of my bollywood fan musings indeed some of them might just be coincidences, but then i doubt it

Roop Tera Mastana from Aradhana (1969) became Roop Tera Mastana (1972) starring Jeetendra & Mumtaz


Mera Sapno ki Rani
yet another song from Aradhana became a 1997 film with Anupham Kher and Urmila Matondkar


Chura Liya Hai Tumne
from Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973) became Chura Liya Hai Tumne (2003) with Esha Deol and Zayed Khan




Dil Kya Kare
from Julie (1975) became a 1999 film of the same name with Ajay Devgan & Kajol




Tere Mere Sapne from Guide (1965) became Tere mere Sapne (1971) with Dev Anand and Mumtaz and again in 1996 with Arshad Wasi, Pran and Priya Gill



Pyar Deewana Hota Hai from Kati Patang (1970) became Pyar Diwana Hota hai (2002) with Rani Mukherjee and Govinda



Raja ko Rani se Pyar Ho Gaya
from Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995) became a 2000 film of the same name starring Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala



Tirchi Topiwale
from Tridev (1989) (i love all the songs from this film, this is kalyanji Anandji at their best, this song contains a clever use of Gloria Estefans 'Rhythm's Gonna Get you')became a 1998 film starring Chunky Pandey & Monica Bedi



Hum Intezar Karenge
from Bahu Begum (1967) became Hum intezaar karenge a 1989 film with Mithun Chakraborty and Padmini Kolhapure




Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na from Aa Gale Lag Ja (1973) became a 2008 film of the same name with Imran Khan & Genelia D'souza



Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega
from Sangam (1964) became a 2000 film of the same name starring Salman Khan with Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta singing 'Piya o Piya'



Buddha Mil gaya
(ok i'm cheating a bit here, the song is called 'main kya karu ram mujhe buddha mil gaya') from Sangam (1964) ( this is the song that made me fall in love with Vyjayanthimala, even if you don't watch the others, make sure you watch this one for her funny facial expressions and superb moves) again became a 1971 film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee starrin Navin Nischol, Om Prakash & Archana




Na Tum Jaano Na Hum from kaho Naa Pyar Hai (2000) became a film of the same name starring Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan & Esha Deol


Aa Dekhen zara from Rocky (1981) became a 2009 film starring Bipasha Basu and Neil Nitin Mukesh



'Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai' one of my favourite songs from from Bobby (1973) became a 2004 film starring Tusshar Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor



Ek Hasina Thi from Karz (1980) became a 2004 film of the same name starring Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan



In yet another song from karz (1980) 'Om Shanti Om' became a 2007 Farah Khan film starring Shahrukh Khan & Deepika Padukone



In what could possibly be the most ridiculous of the bunch John Jani Janardhan a great song from Manmohan Desai's Naseeb (1981) with the who's who of 60's, 70's and 80's hindi cinema making cameos and of course this is where Farah Khan got her 'Om Shanti Om' Deewangi Deewangi idea from. Anyway the song became a 1984 film starring Rati Agnihotri, Poonam Dhillon and Rajnikanth



Kambakkht Ishq (in one of my favourite bollywood rip off picturisations, yes the picturisation of this song rips off parts of Madonna's Human Nature) from Pyar Tune Kya Kiya (2001) became a 2009 film with Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor




Tere Mere Beech main one of my favourite songs from Ek Duuje ke Liye (1981) not only became the name of a 1984 film it also became a Tv talk Show hosted by Farah Khan





Kabhi Alvida Naa kehna from Chalte Chalte (1976) became a 2006 Karan Johar film of the same name starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Muherjee, Preity Zinta and Sharukh Khan




Rab ne Bana di Jodi from Suhaag (1979) became a 2008 Aditya Chopra film with Sharukh Khan and Anushka Sharma




Hum Hain rahin Pyar Ke (1993) from Nau Do Gyrah (1957) became a 1993 film of the same name with Aamir Khan & Juhi Chawla



Bachna ae Haseeno from Hum Kisisse Kum Naheen (1977) became a 2008 film starring Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukhone, Bipsaha Basu and Minissha Lamba



And as i'm getting rather exhausted a note worthy one is 'utha se kadam' from Baton Baton mein (1979) which managed to produce two film titles in the form of Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Ta ra Rum Pum (2007)




Phew!!! That was quite exhausting, which is your favourite Bollywood song made into a movie, Can you think of any others, do let me know

Monday 28 September 2009

Khiladi (1992)

I was in the mood for some old skool Akshay plus this film is directed by one of my favourite commercial hindi film directors Abbas Mustan, as usual with a Abbas- Mustan flick i had lots of fun watching this hilarious even if a bit silly 90's masala

Raj (Aksahy Kumar) and Bonny (Deepak Tijori) are pranksters who bet on numerous things with Raj winning mostly, his uncle Suresh (Shakti Kapoor) is a police officer and he urges Raj to be a more serious minded person

In college Raj meets and falls for Neelam (Ayesah Jhulka) who in typical filmi style is reluctant at first before falling head over heels for him


When Raj, Neelam, Bonny and Sheetal (all college friends) are caught in mischief Sheetal's father Kailashnath bails them out

Following this Raj the prankster whose ego needs a check comes up with a bet that he can make Sheetal's dad beg him

They pull up a prank and call Kailashnath (Prem Chopra) that Sheetal (Sabeeha) has been captured, and should he want her back alive he'd better give up 5 lakhs

Sheetal's Dad (Kailashnath) goes to the bank to get the money but the bank manager notice his nerves and he alerts the Police who somehow manage to draw a conclusion that kailashnath is being blackmailed

When Raj's uncle asks Raj about Sheetal he denies knowing anything. They get the money and on the way to get Sheeetal back to her dad, they find Sheetal's murdered body where they had left her

Who Killed Sheetal? Will Raj, Bonny & Neelam come clean and tell the cops about their pranks? How will they be punished for pulling such a prank? Will the killer ever be found?

As usual for most early '90's college set films, Khiladi is a fun, silly and enjoyable escapist fare from Abbas-Mustan in what i believe was their first major hit movie. This film had a vibrant youthful feel and energy and the comedy side plot wasn't too tedious. The suspense element is quite good too, i couldn't have guessed the killer

Other things about Khiladi i found exciting were the fun playful and sometimes romantic picturisatons

men dancing with giant ballons (one has to give a hand to bollywood for making this things look endearing)

men in minnie mouse masks

some dirty dancing style choreography

Men in Drag

Some hilarious fashion, i think i need to send this picture of Deepak Tijori in the two tone jeans to fugly bollywood


Akshay was fun in this, i find '90's Akshay so unaplogetic and so care free, although i like '00's Akshay as well i prefer 90's Akshay so much more, he just seems so manufactured now


Deepak Tijori was funny and comical too, he mostly produces movies these days, but I miss his 90's antics, he was one of my favourite things about 'Jo Jeeta Wohi sikander'


so was Ayesha Jhulka, she's so cute and endearing, does anyone have any news on her



The songs of Khiladi are indeed one of my favourite things about this movie, from the fun 'khudkho kya samajthi hai' which sounds like its inspired a bit by Nena's '99 red balloons' the joyful and highly euphoric kya khabat thi jana the romantic and sensual 'Dekha teri mast' ( check out the dirty dancing style chorography) and my favourite 'vada raha sanam' which just reminds me of how much i love Alka Yagnik



Total score: 6/10 ( Enjoyable 90's whodunnit masala)

Khiladi is available on Youtube with English Subtitles in 16 parts

Saturday 26 September 2009

Border (1997)

Hmmm so i had heard lots about this movie plus after repeated hearings of one the most haunting film songs i've heard plus a rather sexy and fresh looking Akshay i thought i'd definitely check it out. When my rental service sent me an email that it was on its way to me i couldn't contain my excitement but all this fell a bit flat after watching the film

Border is based on the 'real life events' that happened during the Indo- Pakistani war of 1971also called The battle of Longewala which up until this movie i knew nothing about and still don't know much about but you can read about in on wikipedia

Overall i found Border quite an interesting but aggravating watch I'm not one to get involved in politics & i won't pretend to be an expert on the subject of the Partition but i PERSONALLY believe India & Pakistan are one.


Border had some 'Us' versus 'Them' approach as you can see from the subtitles in the slide below which i felt uncomfortable with, that the director later seemed to create a one India, Pakistan and Bangladesh after this film seemed somewhat phony as i noted in my previous review of his film Refugee (2000) which was 3 years after Border


Also added to my annoyance was some self righteous hindu/muslim hypocrisy in the scene where Sunil Shetty rescues a pakistani's man Quran from a burning house to which the muslim then exclaims to himself "and people say Hindu's are bad" which came across in a rather hypocritical and a desperate attempt to pander to the masses kind of way




'ahhhhhhhhh' very cringeworthy

Patrotism is a good thing but belligerent patrotism seems be the point of focus a lot in border, perhaps the director knew some audiences would play up to this as the film was the highest grosser of 1997


The film ended on the note of 'beginning a lasting peace' which i felt was rather corny after all the bashing that had gone previously


Poor Sunil Shetty i usually find him quite adoarble but he seems to have been given all the bigoted dialogues


Akshay Khanna was one of the reasons i watched this fim, he was so handsome and he gave a beautiful performance eeven though the film is a bit wishy washy with me, he won the Filmfare best male newcomer Award for his role as Dharamvir Bhan



The women have small roles in border as the weeping wives and left behind girlfriends

Sharbani Mukherjee one of the wives left behind, i'd never heard of her till this film and if you are getting some Rani vibes from looking at this picture, they are indeed real life cousins


Tabu as the teary wife

Pooja Bhatt as the left behind wife


And my beloved Raakhee was there as the mother of the ill fated army general

The music of this film is perhaps another reason that stopped me from hating it completely. Anu Malik was as always on top form with the beautiful strings and romantic sounds of 'hamen jab se mohabbat' (watch to see a super gorgeous Akshay) to the quiet soothing ballad sounds of 'To chalun' to my favourie 'sandese hate hain' which is the major reason or rather the first song i saw from the film that made me watch it, this was also the song that made Sonu Nigam a huge star and also got him the Filmfare best male playback singer award, now Sonu fans and lovers of good music hit the play button below


Total Score: 5/10 (extra points for the sake of Anu Malik's music)

Sunday 20 September 2009

Refugee (2000)

While many bollywood stars hide and shriek when asked about their debut film, Kareena and Abhishek need not worry as their debut movie is a pretty impressive one

The backstory of the film is set in 1971 with the Bihar who had settled in East Bengal (a part of Pakistan) for a better life, things take a change when East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh, thus resulting in the these Muslims from Bihar seeking a new Refuge once more

Manzoor Khan (Kulbushan Kharbanda) happens to be one of the Bihars who lands in India wanting to cross the border into Pakistan with his family

They're led to Jaan Mohammed (Anupham Kher) the village senator who introduces them to Refugee (Abhishek Bachchan) who helps people across the border

Refugee helps take Manzoor Khan and his family across the border into Pakistan to meet his brother Atta Mohammed (Avtar Gill)

Refugee is a stand-offish & quite cold individual who doesn't get personally involved with the strangers he helps across the border, things change when he sets eyes on Manzur Ahmed's daughter Naaz (Kareena Kapoor)


Following his love for Naaz (Kareena Kapoor), Refugee keeps making the journey to Pakistan to see her


Ashraf (Suni Shetty) a Pakistani ranger falls for Naaz as well, he asks her hand in marriage from Manzoor Khan who is only glad to give her away unknown to Manzoor however is his daughter's love for Refugee

On the other side of the border in India Raghuvir Singh (Jackie Shroff) is suspicious about people crossing the border, he gets Jaan Mohammed to do regular headcounts to keep the population in check

Things take a turn when Refugee unknowingly helps Makka a terrorist into India.
Makka (Ashis Vidyathi) aware of the headcounts kills a villager and then takes upon his identity


On the other side of the border in Pakistan during a headcount search for a terrorist Manzoor's family are outed as Bangladeshi


Manzur Khan reasons and pleads his case, he explains a catch 22 situation where he explains how they're seen as traitors who had helped Pakistani and over here they're considered aliens

Events take another turn when Naaz tells her parents of her plans to marry Refugee and not Ashraf who her parents had promised her in marriage to


Refugee on the other hand faces hardship on the otherside when he's trapped in a terror foil


Will Refugee and Naaz get to see each other again? How will Naaz's parents handle her decision to marry Refugee and not Ashraf? Will Ashraf backoff or be a gentleman and respect Naaz' wishes?

Overall Refugee is an enjoyable watch and at just under 3hours 30minuto it kept my attention which i guess is due to the interesting storyline and amazing cinematography, its beautifully shot with great views of the Rann desert



At the heart of the film is that Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are all one which on its own is a great message, however as i watched this movie after previously viewing the director J.P. Dutta's Border, which was somewhat anti Pakistani i can't help but feel the director was trying to right some wrongs

I liked Sunil in this, his character as Ashraf could have become the atypical film villain out to avenge his broken heart


Very natural performances from Kareena and Abhishek as well, given this was their first film Kareena and Abhishek were utterly impressive, they seemed natural and tended not to overact which i believe is a combination of their talents as well as the director's sternness



I was also delighted to see my beloved Reena Roy in a small role as Jaan Mohammed's wife, Reena is one of my favourite actress from 70's-80's bollywood


Excellent Music from Anu Malik, if i had to Pick my top five Music directors both old and new Anu Malik would definitely be there. The music of this film is utterly beautiful and is one of the reasons i can watch this film over and over again, from the joyful 'Aisa lagta hai' which celebrates the joys of young love, the awesome Rhythms and chorus of 'Jise tu na mila', the wonderful lyrics of 'Panchi Nadiya' which explores the freedom and borderless nature of birds a metaphor for restrictions on human immigration, the romantic 'taal pe jab yeh' (watch as kareena and Abhishek do a cute dance very similar to Masakali towards the end) but my favourite and the one song that kept lingering in my head after watching this film is 'Mere Humsafar mere paas aa' sang by the wonderful Alka Yagnik (i love this woman her voice invokes so much emotions in me)



Total Score: 7/10 (A well packaged commercial socio-political entertainer)

Kareena and Abhishelk should really be proud of this film as their debut. In the Yash Raj films dvd extras we get to see proud parents in the form of Big B and Jaya supporting their son of course

And Randhir Kapoor and Babita supporting their Bebo