This edition of Bollywood fashion Showdown takes place between three Bollywood startlets in 3 different era's all wearing the Iconic Orange draped sari first showcased by Mumtaz in the Aaj kal tere mere pyar song from the 1968 film Brahmachari, thus let the battle commence
Mumtaz in Bramachari(1968)
First up is Mumtaz as already noted above, when she wore the Iconic Orange draped Sari in the groovy Aaj kal tere mere pyar song from Bramachari (1968)
see her in action below
Forgive the grainy pictures, i took them off the Youtube video
Next came Leena Chandavarkar who wore a very similar Sari (in what looks like a parody of the Aaj Kal tere mere pyar song above) for the 'Hal dil laga' dance number in the 1971 film Preetam, see her in action below
Sonam Kapoor as Mumtaz
Rounding off the battle is Sonam Kapoor who wore a very similar sari for a December 2010 photo shoot with Filmfare Magazine where she dressed up as Mumtaz in the Aaj kal tere pyar song as discussed above
So dear fellow readers, bloggers, etc. Who do you think wore the Orange Sari best, sound off in the comments below or vote in the poll on the right hand side of this Post (Voting Closes on Sunday Midnight) and the Winner shall be announced in due course!
There are so many bollywood actors and actresses i have major love for in a big way but for some reason i haven't written up about them on this blog yet, this is mostly because others have written extensively about them. I usually hate writing about movies others have written on, except i really have something to say but even then, i'll just make it known on the comments section of whoever wrote it up. Now as a big Shammi kapoor fan, I'm surprised as to why I'm picking this as my first Shammi Kapoor in a central role film to review on here, as it doesn't have all the charm and the appeal from the usual Shammi movies like Junglee, Teesri Manzil etc. but i was curious and as a fan i'd watch him in anything
Childless Laxmi (Lalita Pawar) while praying for a child of her own miraculously finds an abandoned baby, she picks him up to raise him as her own
the child's real birth mother Shobha (Sulochana Latkar) had given him up after the death of her husband which she had married in secret (her izzat (honour) just had to be intact) she remarries and gives birth to a son 'Hemant'
Laxmi is particular about Ramu's education but her husband Shankar (Jayant) has other plans and sets about raising Ramu as a gambler
Thus Ramu grows up with no education and ends up being a robber while his half brother from his actual birth mother Hemant (Vinod Khanna) is educated and becomes a Policeman who is hot on the tails of his notorious brother Ramu. However both brothers are unaware of their blood ties
Ramu meets and falls for Mala (Leena Chandavarkar) who urges him to go on the straight and narrow, Ramu does this but when Laxmi his adoptive mother is killed accidentally by Hemant during a gun chase, Ramu promises to exact revenge which leads him back to his previous ways
Shobha eventually realises Ramu is her long lost son and what follows, is a 'Mother India/Deewaar' style action of two brothers on opposite sides of the law with their mother trying to bring them together in peace
Jane Anjaane (Friends and Strangers) ends up being nothing much more than an average entertainer, at the heart of the film is the idea that Love (romantic or nurturing) would turn the most hardened of criminals into good citizens.
It was quite hard to watch Shammi in this, he was really sloppy and sweaty in his action scences and let's just say he was past his prime here, no surprise that this was his last leading role before he started playing father and uncle type roles, that spark that made one excited about Shammi was gone in this and needless to say a pal of mine a bollywood novice whom i was watching with quipped 'Why is that man the hero', at which i wasted no time in explaining his iconic status. All hope is not lost though, as traces of the old energetic Shammi pop up in the musical numbers
More Eyecandy
Vinod rocking the ultimate sideburns
Beautiful Leena
Suave Shammi
Vinod and Helen Sizzle up the screen
the songs by Shanjkar Jaikishen not their best are pretty decent, i love kishore's vocal on the title track 'jane anjaane log mile' other highlights are Manna Dey's lovely 'cham cham baaje', the flirty 'chahe tum pyar karo', and the sweet 'tere nilee nilee' my favourite of the whole bunch though is the fab 'jane anjaane yahaan' pictuised on Helen, i just love the way she commands attention and the way her male dancers fawn over her
First of all a round of applause to the costume designer of this film, never have i seen anyone pull off a Jack and Queen of Hearts outfit, it's so well made and a lot of attention has been paid to detail. Secondly apologies for my quick end to my 7 day Jeetendra Extravaganza i was dragged by my friends for a weekend in Manchester, I'm back home now so i shall i continue blogging properly
Prabhakar (Satyendra Kapoor) leaves his struggling family behind in the village to relocate to the city, left behind are his mother Parvati (Durga Khote) his younger brother Sudhakar and his sister Gauri
years later when his family are being hounded by Mangal for rent, a grown up Sudhakar (Jeetendra) moves to the city where he takes up a job as a cab driver to make ends meet
While working as a cab driver he meets a wealthy girl Padma (Leena Chandavarkar) and the two fall in love, they get married and they move back to the village to live with Sudhakar's mother
Rich Padma however finds life in the village very hard to bear and demands they move back to the city, she also becomes jealous of the immense attention Sudhakar pays to his mother and nags him endlesssly
Parvati eventually decides Sudhakar move back to the city much to his dislike, he agrees reluctantly, not wanting to disobey her
Upon getting to the city he sets out to teach Parvati a lesson on the importance of a mother's greatness following the birth of their baby. I've captured the hilarious dialogues that ensue between Padma & Sudhakar in the screencaps below
Really?? LOL
So will Sudhakar allow Padma to breastfeed their baby? Will she learn the importance of motherhood?
Overall Bidaai is quite an enjoyable movie, the whole importance of motherhood the film advocates is done with so much melodrama and is a bit too much over the top to be taken seriously, but you do get the message
Bidaai also earned Durga Khote her only Filmfare award as the Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Parvati, which i would describe as the self sacrificial; all suffering mother
Jeetendra was fun to watch, hearing him deliver the breastfeeding dialogues had me cackling, and of course i have nothing but pyar (love) for Leena, she is undeniably cute, any recommendations on what films to look out for her in
And great work from the costume designer,none other but the great Bhanu Athaiya, i have never seen anyone pull off the Queen of hearts and Jack outfit as much as they did
Good music from Laxmikant Pyarelal, my favourites are the fun 'mera sasura bada paisewala''maine tum sang' & the superb 'Dekho dekhoji' picturised on a giant card sets with Jeetendra and Leena in the King of spades and Queen of hearts outfit
Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10
If you're into fashion or costume designing, I'd recommend Bhanu Athaiya's The Art of Costume Design book, based on her experiences as a costume designer for numerous bollywood films like Teesri Manzil, Reshma aur Shera, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam amongst others, unfortuantely it seems to be only available in India though (why is this?) its definitely worth collecting
The third film in line for Dharmendra week is one where we get to see him as a Zakhmi Aadmi (Wounded Man), if you like your melodrama in gigantic soap opera size proportions, you'll love this film
Vishal (Dharmendra) is a talented poet but he's also a slacker , his girlfriend Aruna (Sharmila Tagore) wants him to get and stay in a steady Job but he's content leaving off the profts of two small business he runs
When Aruna is almost raped by a work colleague, Vishal is afraid of her safety and urges her to stop working, promising he would get a job and ensure she never lacks anything
When Aruna learns she'll be losing her sight in 6-7 months due to an eye disease, she starts avoiding Vishal, hoping not to become a future burden on him
She even tries committing suicide and is saved by her boss Anand (Ashok Kumar)who admonishes her, she had planned her suicide to avoid being a burden on Vishal as he already has a handicapped mother to look after
Aruna reveals that she wants Vishal to hate her so the pain/burden will be less harsh on him when she goes totally blind. Anand comes up with a plan for a false marriage with him, saying 'only the two of them and a few friends would know its a fake one
Aruna agrees and she breaks up with Vishal on the fact that he's a slacker and how she needs a rich man to take care of her, all this is put up of course and she succeeds in making him angry and broken hearted
Following his break up with Aruna, Vishal becomes a misognist and a wild playboy
Mr Anand's daughter Sonia (Leena Chandavarkar) arrives from America where she had been studying Journalism she is shocked to find Aruna as his new wife but he explains to the situation to her
While out in town one night, Vishal offers her a lift thinking she's a slut, when he gives out details of his Hotel and how much he would pay her she threatens to jump out of the car and commit suicide. Vishal calms her down and drops her at home
She attends a Mushaira (Poetry Recital) the next day and is surprised to see him there, she's told he's a famous poet
She's taken aback by his talent and sets out to know more about him, she offers him a lift and soon finds out his attitude to women and his debauched lifestyle stems from a bitter break up with a woman he loved so much
He forgets his book of poems in her car, Sonia takes it home and reads the entire book, she falls deeply in love with him. When she goes to his house the next day to hand over his book, his mother tells her Vishal wasn't this way before and a bad relationship experience had embittered him
Sonia becomes even more determined to get him back on the straight and narrow
She confronts him about his attitudes and self destructive ways but Vishal doesn't want to hear a word but with time Sonia's words start having an effect and he falls in love with her too
Aruna on the other hand (or should i say Miss Self Sacrifice) discovers her blindness was a false alarm, delighted she rushes to reveal the truth to Vishal
She finds him in the arm of Sonia and is deeply hurt. She later approaches Vishal asking him to marry Sonia, Vishal is bitter towards her and sends her away
Sonia hears their conversation and confronts Aruna who begs her not to reveal what she's heard to Vishal
She begs Mr Anand to get them married but Anand too had become aware of her past with Vishal and refuses to allow Sonia marry him asking her to stop her unnecessary self sacrifice listen to him Aruna Listen
She is adamant and after a car crash leaves Mr Anand dead and Aruna with minor injuries she asks the doctor to lie that the accident had caused her to lose her sight, just so Vishal and Sonia can get married
Will her fake blindness be discovered? Will Vishal realise the real reason behind her decision to break up their relationship? Who will win Vishal's heart or rather whowill Vishal go for between Sonia and Aruna?
Overall Ek Mahal Ho Sapnon Ka (mansion of dreams) is an enjoyable film of kingsized soap opera melodramatic proportions, the ending left me a bit disappointed, i wished the ending was more thought out and they had emphasised more on the importance of being honest as seen through Aruna's deceit to deflect Vishal's affections for her.
I also wished they had honed in on the importance of holding onto and appreciating what you have, all in all i wanted a strong moral message considering the way the whole storyline had been set
Dharmendra is on fine from here as the Zakhmi aadmi (wounded man) you feel his emotions and sympathise with his heart break over Aruna
A big shout out to Leena Chandarvarkar for a standout performance which was partly due to the script and dialogues she was given as the feist Sonia, i loved the way she delivered her dialogues with gutso albeit in a campy soap opera kind of way, she was refreshing as opposed to Sharmila's self sacrificial act which got tiring and rather annoying
I love Sharmila but her character in this film was rather annoying, the picture below best sums up how i felt about her
She was gorgeous as usual though
loved some of the interiors too, especially this fab windy staircase and the two tone sofa
Good muscic from Ravi as well all the songs here are all romantic and heartbreak type melodies there's the sweet title track 'ek mahal ho sapno ka' and the heartbreak song 'dekha hai zindagi ko' the spoof y jovila paisa paisa paisa
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