Monday 4 June 2012

Janam Din Mubarako to me and Nutan

As usual this blog must always have a wall post on the 4th of June for two reasons

1. Its my Birthday

2. Its always an opportunity to post something related to Nutan who shares the same birthday with me (I'm  aware she is no longer alive, but I can't help but get a bit of an ego trip that such a renowned bollywood actress shares the same birthday as me)

On previous years (see here, here and here) I have either posted a movie review or a magazine article. I was hoping to post a movie review but that would have to be another time, I do however have a lovely gift for all you Nutan lovers, its a lovely vintage poster print of  Baarish (1957)

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Happy 3rd Blogthday to me

Wow I can't believe its been 3 years since I started this blog, I haven't updated as much as I would have loved to in the last year, but I'm glad to still be in touch whenever it is that I do blog. I hope to post a bit more regularly, even if its with short brief posts.

Writing this blog has changed my life in so many ways than i can count, and I'd like to thank you all my readers, followers, visitors and admirers etc. who make it all worthwhile, here's to many more blogging years ahead!!

Now join me in singing one of my favourite bollywood numbers 'Main hoon khush rang henna, pyari khush rang henna'

Monday 27 February 2012

Chalte Chalte (1976)

Rounding off the segment of significant films maybe not so much for their content but their soundtrack is this cult classic movie with a much sought after pre-disco Bappi Lahiri soundtrack. I love Bappi Lahiri in whatever shape or form and I know many tend to prefer this pre-disco era of Bappi, but I love the man in all forms, both in his pre and post disco era.

Our story begins with Gita (Simi Garewal) who confronts a young man whom she calls Anil claiming to be his wife. However the young man who she claims to be Anil is adamant he's not her husband, and states he is Ravi Kapoor (Vishal Anand)


She persuades him to come home with her, where she claims she has pictures of both of them as a married couple. Ravi (or should I say Anil) reluctantly agrees to go home with her and true to fact, right there in her home is a picture of  Gita and a doppelganger of Anil


Despite all of her claims as well as proof of a picture taken of both of them, Anil still insists he's Ravi Kapoor


Gita later finds out her beloved Anil is also in a relationship with Asha (Nazneen)


Not one to take no for an answer, Gita breaks into Anil's house & continues pestering him, he eventually declares furiously that he's not Anil and never will be, Gita is shattered and embarks upon committing suicide


She's rescued on time but cops keep Anil in custody till they get a statement from Gita who's awaking from a coma, He's eventually bailed out by Asha his girlfreind and Gita is diagnosed as mentally ill


During treatment by psychoanalysis, she reveals how she had met a young man named Anil, fell in love, and then got married, only for him to be murdered on their wedding night



Did Anil really die? If not why is Ravi who looks exactly like Anil claiming he's not Anil? Are they Related?Will Gita recover from her mental illness? For this and many more reasons, feel free to dip into Chalte Chalte

To call this film camp or campy  would be paying it way too much of a compliment, this is a badly directed and badly written film with plot holes aplenty and a very incoherent story line, generally I don't seek after well rounded characters or good scripts when I'm selecting my movies as I love escapist fares, but this film just felt shoddy and lacked the finesse that might have made the plot holes and other mishaps forgiveable.

That said there are numerous things i enjoyed, like Simi Garewal's wacky and hammy act as Gita, her act as the deranged obsessive lover really puts Sharukh's act in Darr in the shade, her hammy acting actually helped me enjoy this film, plus she wore some interesting outfits which you can find over at my other fashion blog here


Nazneen the supporting actress was rather restrained in this amidst all the hammy performances, very little is known about her as I could barely find out anything about her from my research. She had some lovely clothes too which you can see here

And as for Vishal Anand who played the hero in this, I felt his resemblance to Dev Anand was uncanny and true enough when I did some research, I found out he is indeed Dev Anand's cousin, he even has some of his uncle's mannerisms (see images below) but alas he lacks the acting skills of Dev Anand.
Notice their identical hand gestures
His act as Anil/Ravi was extremely wooden  but one thing I'm grateful to him for, is for having one of the
 snazziest collection of shirts I've ever seen on a bollywood hero, see them over at my fashion blog here

Also quite impressive was the Art direction in some scenes like those I'e screen capped below, J'adore!!!!
I love the design on that door

And of course what really makes this film memorable is Bappi Lahiri's unforgettable score from the popular title track 'Chalte Chalte' which is mostly wrongly titled as Kabhi alvida na kehna to the fun 'pyar mein kabhi kabhi' to my two favourites the seductive 'Door door tum an rahe'


and the breezy 'Jana kahan hai'



Now head over to Veen's blog to get the music of this film

Paisa Vasool rating: 5/10

My Favourite Bollywood Songs of 2011

Yes, Its that time of the year again, where I round up the top 10 11 songs that kept me excited, warm and had me feeling a whole lot of different emotions in 2011. I barely blogged as much as I'd have liked to, but my music channels as well as the bollywood  blogosphere helped me keep in touch with all the latest tunes, now without further ado, here are my favourite songs of 2011

11. 'Shake it Saiyaan' from Rascals I love Sunidhi , I really do, and this bouncy R'n'B number despite coming from what i hear is an awful film, almost makes me want to watch it.


10. Dance like Punjabi from Love Express This lovely dancey number from this small scaled film always made me shake a bone, it reminds me of one of my favourite dance floor classics 'Rock this party' by Bob Sinclair (Can you hear the similarities?)


9. Jalebi Bai from Double Dhamaal Asides from being a Malik Sherawat lover, how could I not just love a song that comes with a dance move that actually mimics making a Jalebi, 'hmmm, jalebi bai' it is indeed


8. 'Subha Hone Na De' from Desi Boyz  What shall we call this song, is it Bollywood Euro-pop or Bollywood trance, whatever it is i loved it and I couldn't stop myself from going 'tu mera hero oh oh oh, hero oh'


7. 'Mekhi Mekhi' from Game Game was one of those movies I caught on the big screen last year, not a masterpiece by any means but i quite enjoyed it and a major highlight from the film was this lovely number picturised in a slightly S&M style (what with all the scantily dressed dancers, leather and chains)


6. 'Bekaraan' from Saat Khoon Maaf One of my favourite thing to do on my days off is put on easy listening cds and just unwind, this song from Saat Khoon Maaf helps me do just that.


5. 'Senorita' from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Its no surprise that a song from one of my favourite movies from last year would be in the top 5, I had a hard choice on what song to pick as it was between this and the breezy 'Khwabon ke Parindey' but alas  Senorita won me over for its blend of Spandi (Did I just coin that term?  In case you're wondering what Spandi is, its a belend of Spanish & Hindi)


4. 'Aadat se Majboor' from Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl Here's one song I couldn't help but sing along to, i loved it so much that after a certain point I could sing the chorus word for word without even looking up the lyrics on the internet. My favourite bit is when the lyrics go 'huzoor huzoor main hoon aadat se majboor'


3. 'Mallo Malli' from Mausam What's not to love here, from Shahid in a fitted suit to his awesome dance moves and Tochi Raina's slick vocals, J'adore!


2. 'Chammak Challo' from Ra.One Despite this movie being a dud of sorts, this one song made it all worthwhile. I love everything from Akon & Hamsika's vocals to the groovy dance moves, which i couldn't help but recreate on the dance floor of my local bollywood joint


1. 'Ooh la la tu hai meri fantasy' from The Dirty Picture Of course this song just had to be number one didn't it, as a lover of all things 80's bollywood plus Bappi Lahiri, I just couldn't help but be delighted by this song