Nivedita Ramakrishnan

 

Nivedita Ramakrishnan's Blog

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    The music of Kamal Dasgupta
    Kamal Dasgupta (1912-1974) In the Hindi film Jawab (1942), singer-actress Kanan Devi lulls a restless, and rather childlike, P. C. Barua into sweet sleep. The song is “Ay chand chup na jaana,” and it is great for frayed nerves. Given my own battles with sleep—the activity that consumes nearly a half of our lives—I feel compelled to attest to the wonder of this...
    by Nivedita Ramakrishnan at October 24th, 2009 at 05:10 pm
  • 2
    Of sudden realizations: Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (1966)
    Václav Neckář as Miloš Hrma in Closely Watched Trains (1966) TIME magazine described Closely Watched Trains (1966) as one of the 100 best films ever. Set in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during the last days of World War II, the film, directed by Jiří Menzel, powerfully documents a young Czech boy’s aching—and poignant—personal crisis—in this case, a not-so-easy...
    by Nivedita Ramakrishnan at September 20th, 2009 at 06:09 pm
  • 8
    Black Narcissus (1947) and the colors of chaos, with a touch of E. M. Forster
    Black Narcissus (1947) No one really knows what exactly happened to Adela Quested inside the Marabar Caves, in E. M. Forster’s novel A Passage to India (1924)—except that she came out of the caves disheveled and nutty, in an accusatory mood, and enveloped in a horrible confusion that was at the heart of this Forsterian narrative. The enigma of the Marabar Caves—and...
    by Nivedita Ramakrishnan at August 13th, 2009 at 06:08 pm
  • 14
    Remembering Mohammed Rafi
    Mohammed Rafi Come July 31, and it is Mohammed Rafi’s death anniversary. So much is written about Rafi (1924-1980) that I don’t quite know where to begin and what new to say really. I am stumped. It should just suffice if I say that Rafi was one of the most versatile singers in the history of Hindi film music. His pan-Indian (and beyond) appeal seems to get only stronger...
    by Nivedita Ramakrishnan at July 29th, 2009 at 08:07 am
  • 5
    The enduring power of certain old Hindi film songs
    Raichand Boral Of all the Raichand Boral (1903-1981) songs I have listened to—not that many, given how rare these songs are—my favorite has to be Binota Roy’s rendering of “Manwa kaahey phir tadpaayey” from Calcutta-based New Theatres’ Wapas (1943). The world of old Hindi films is full of so many beautiful songs that make it very difficult, if not plain impossible,...
    by Nivedita Ramakrishnan at July 15th, 2009 at 04:07 pm
  • 9
    A page from Indian film history: The Court Dancer (1941)
    1941: World War II was raging on in Europe and, back home in India, Tagore passed away. The year also saw the first trilingual production of an Indian film—Wadia Movietone’s The Court Dancer or Raj Nartaki, directed by Modhu Bose (1900-1969), which was released in English, Hindi, and Bengali. According to the film credits, The Court Dancer was “the first Indian...
    by Nivedita Ramakrishnan at June 21st, 2009 at 10:06 pm
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