Archive for the ‘Retro’

  • 21
    Return to Innocence
    Xi from The Gods must be crazy Raindrops, raindrops fall upon my window Sparkle of the leaves of the thirsty apple tree Raindrops, raindrops down the hill and through the meadow No time to stop on the journey to the sea   A leisurely and loving look at life can bring a smile that can last a long, long time, and that affects us more deeply than the loudest guffaw. Raindrops...
    by Jyoti Rayaprol at November 15th, 2009 at 03:11 pm
  • 26
    Aakhri Khat : Chetan Anand’s unique cinematic experiment with a toddler
    Chetan Anand showed a brave attempt by making Aakhri Khat . He tried to set different boundaries with this film. He had a 15 months old toddler as the lead actor in his film and elder actors had supporting roles in a story revolving around the kid. Aakhri Khat reveals that cinema can be so powerful that it may force an audience to wriggle to enter the screen to influence...
    by Rk at November 5th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
  • 10
    The Cutting of ‘The 400 Blows’
    Note: This post contains spoilers! François Truffaut’s first feature ‘The 400 Blows’ is not an editorial gold mine like that of his friend and colleague Jean-Luc Godard, whose debut film ‘Breathless’, made a year later in 1960, is sprinkled with jump cuts, heralding in a new style of cutting. However, ‘The 400 Blows’ does have...
    by ArSENik at November 4th, 2009 at 07:11 am
  • 81
    Rishi Kapoor : Mein ab bachcha nahin hoon!
    First part of Mera Naam Joker was heavily dependent on the acting skills of a young boy Rishi Kapoor, who had made his debut with this film. There is a scene in MNJ and any teenager actor has yet to supersede or even match the performance given by Rishi Kapoor in that particular scene. Raju, a young boy is confessing before the statue of Jesus in a church and his teacher,...
    by Rk at October 21st, 2009 at 07:10 pm
  • 4
    Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – We the People
    Abraham Lincoln had once prescribed a government for this nation as one, of the people, by the people and for the people. Frank Capra seems to center this idea as the focal point of his 1939 political film ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’. Apart from using the Lincoln Memorial twice in the narrative – the first time as a set-up in the guise of a structure of...
    by ArSENik at October 15th, 2009 at 09:10 pm
  • 20
    Rui Ka Bojh : Pankaj Kapur’s another milestone performance
    Centuries ago in India, sages, who acted as social leaders also, had divided the life of a person into four equal parts, each part consisted of 25 years. A person was supposed to follow the education till he turned 25 and next 25 years were devoted to the family life where he would follow the occupation, would marry and raise his children and once his son is ready to...
    by Rk at October 8th, 2009 at 07:10 pm
  • 141
    Doordarshan Ki Aatmakatha
    Kal Jahaan Basti Thi Khushiyaan, Aaj Hai Maatam Wahaan, Waqt Laaya Tha Bahaarein, Waqt Laaya Hai Khizaan… Namashkaar, Aadab, Sat Shri Akaal, Hello… My name is Doordarshan. Naam Toh Sunaa Hoga… After a prolonged stoic silence, I have finally decided to vent my frustration in front of all of you, the discerning public, who have grown up with me, and have subsequently...
    by Satyendra Jha at October 5th, 2009 at 07:10 am
  • 13
    Mirch Masala (1985) – Sonbai walks tall
    Sonbai walks in the lanes of an unnamed village with a ghada (metal matka, water container) on her head.  She is in the middle of her hen-party, with all members skillfully balancing the ghadas on their heads, and you know that Sonbai is a leader. As the group of these exotically dressed women pass through a gang of by-sitters loitering around the quintessential banyan-tree-chowraha...
    by tejas at September 9th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
  • 5
    Classic Revisited – Papillon (1973)
    Papillon (1973) Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman “We are not going to reform you. We are not priests, we are processors. We process dangerous men into harmless ones. We will break you physically, spiritually and up here!” With this brutal philosophy the French ran their penal colony in ‘Guiane’ (French Guiana, South America). Insensitive, inhuman and...
    by Dr. Mandar V. Bichu at September 2nd, 2009 at 12:09 am
  • 1
    azadi:the bollywood way
    Azadi:The bollywood way Bollywood has its own ways to salute Freedom ..they make films to salute The nation.Freedom has been a regular theme in Bollywood 1957 Mother India( celebrate womanhood) –This is one of the few classics of the fifties. Its central character is a peasant woman; Radha (Nargis), whose determination to weather all forms of social and personal...
    by dilnawaz at August 27th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
  • 23
    Teesri Kasam: An Underrated Classic
    I have been going through some tough times these days, mainly at the professional level, and that has kept me busy in more ways than one. Long hours in the office, not much opportunity to talk to friends or family, thinking about work much after office-hours and generally feeling low have been some of the symptoms. And then I talked to the doctor in me, and I prescribed...
    by Satyendra Jha at August 17th, 2009 at 01:08 pm
  • 17
    More anecdotes on Ray
    I feel encouraged by reader’s comments to recollect and write more anecdotes on Satyajit Ray. I still remember Satyajit Ray’s Oscar acceptance speech of 1992 Academy Awards. My generation will; forever!!! I was studying in Class XI . Satyajit Ray was very ill then. He was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic in Calcutta. The Academy members came to Calcutta to give away...
    by Biswa Prasun Chatterji at August 6th, 2009 at 11:08 am
  • 24
    Two anecdotes on Ray
    These are two anecdotes on Satyajit Ray. Professor Subodh Chandra Sengupta was a famous professor of English literature of Calcutta’s hallowed institution , the Presidency College. From his autobiography “Te hi no dibasa gota” in Bangla I got this gem. One evening, in the early 1950’s Professor Sengupta was taking a walk in Maidan, Calcutta’s lungs. He met his...
    by Biswa Prasun Chatterji at August 5th, 2009 at 08:08 am
  • 19
    Blast From The Past: Meeting O.P. Nayyar!
    June 6, 2003. It’s almost 9.30 p.m. The goal is simple. We want to meet O.P.Nayyar – the legendary music maestro, the creator of some of the most scintillating tunes in Hindi film music. The setting is extremely informal. We have gathered in the drawing room of Shobhana and Chandramohan-Dubai-based singers-cum-event organizers. Me, my dear friend Shekhar (Dr.Chandrashekhar)...
    by Dr. Mandar V. Bichu at August 4th, 2009 at 09:08 am
  • 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
  • 45
    Gimme Shelter-The not-nearly-definitive guide to music documentaries
    Keep the camera away from the guitar. They tend to create legends a little too often. And sabotage the microphone, it lends company to hearsay. YEAR OF THE HORSE – NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE(1997) Jim Jarmusch Relatively lesser-known and inaccessible Jarmusch, it still rates high on obscurity. And a little influence never hurts. Ebert’s take on it is a classic...
    by Tushar at July 23rd, 2009 at 02:07 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
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