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All three sat together, perhaps for the first time ever. Another first - Gulzar providing lyrics to Ghai’s directorial venture. An interesting and engaging interview this, just by the fact of putting these three heavyweights together… though I wish Anupama Chopra could have put forth a few questions beyond the “how was it like..” types. Still this one is a real pleasure!

Video tip: Rusted Rick

If blogging was prevalent in the 90’s, there would be so many things I would write about – all the dubbbed films mesmerizing an alien audience in a way they never imagined, song dance and more, Gopi Kishan, Mohra, that oddball which changed the way I looked at Indian films called Dil Se, mid-90’s action wave, all the newbies vying for a sustainable career option in films, Mukul Anand films, and so on. If we would move a little ahead post millennium, there would be few more entries and revelations – the changing face of film music, some people making ‘NRI’ films whatever that meant, the almost death of story and innovation in Hindi cinema, and the predictable trends.

And somewhere along the early decade, I would buy a cassette of a film weirdly titled Taal, and I would log …

People fall in a situation and follow the passion generated out of this special situation called love and at that time they feel that every other thing in the life keeps less value before this passionate feeling called love. Life looks rosy and people think that it would remain rosy for ever if they follow the path of this love. That happens also with many and life becomes good as they have solved one of the biggest question of the life of human being and that is the search of a suitable life partner with whom one can share almost everything and with whom one lives with no impression of being judged.

But if this building of marriage is constructed by ignoring personal ambitions and person does not have determination to stick on his/her decisions and s/he looks for missing factors in life and complains most of the time that …

23 hours in transit! I step out of the airport with visions of my bed floating in front of my eyes. I take the cab and prepare myself for the 55 kms journey home at the crack of the dawn. The cabbie looks at me from the rear view mirror and I give him my address. That one look should have alerted me. No, he didn’t look like an RGV extra. It was the look of a man warming up to his day and intent on making me a part of the same.

No sooner had I settled down than I was made painfully aware of infinite loops (this is, after all, Bangalore) and Nietzschian eternal recurrences through the mellifluous voice of Himesh “Naak Naak Naaking on Heaven’s Doors” Reshamiyya. I understood what I had seen in the cabbie’s eyes when he had stared back at me – aural murder. Being …

Second and concluding part of the excerpts from a conversation occurred between Director Raju Hirani(RH), and Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), is presented here.

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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Raju Hirani, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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AB: How could you preserve your dream of directing the films? Advertising work was fetching you good money. Did this not distract you from your dream of filmmaking?

RH: I had not come from Nagpur with a thought that I would make documentaries or would do Ad films. I think nobody comes thinking this sort of things. I did not know about Ad films …

The word “Sound” holds a different meaning for me post interviewing K J Singh.
A little introduction is necessary because this man has been associated with all the possible positions that encompasses music and sound in India. He has worked on Films Background Score & soundtracks like Satya, Maqbool, Rage De Basanti, Omkara, Black Friday and many more. Also he has produced the greatest Indian band ‘Indian Ocean’ and Rabbi’s Shergill debut album ‘Rabbi’. I would like to congratulate Mr.Singh for winning the National Award this year for Audiography for the film “Omkara”. (A full fledged discography of K J Singh can be checked here.)

PART 1 -Straight Q&A
From Guitar Singh (you were fondly known as that - why? any story behind that) of Graffiti to K J Singh Producer/Sound Engineer - how did that all happen? Tell us about your …

Zara Aawaz ka Lehja to badlo,
Zara Maddham karo is aanch ko Sonaan
Ke jal jaate hain Kungre narm Rishton ke
Zara Alfaaz ke Nakhun tarasho
Bahot Chubhte hain jab Narazgi se baat karti ho
————————————————————-

[ Change the tone of your sayings
lower down this heat
as it may burn the soft filaments of the relationship
cut the nails of your harsh words
because they pierce a lot
when you talk in anger ]

When he recites something in his deep voice then words become more significant and they open many new meanings before us.

When he pens down something on paper and these words come across our eyes then our mind goes on a wonderful trip in all possible directions and no time machine is required then as mind can reach in any era as words cover a very broad horizon where a villager woman making Uplaas from Cow Dung or making the Bitorha …

First thing first, KHUSHBOO is a PERIOD film, based upon the story of Sharat Chandra Chatterjee. So no new definitions can be imposed on the characterisation/s. It is set in an old time and hence has to be seen in that manner only.

Once selected a story, the thing which matters is the fact how convincingly a director has shown his chosen story. Story may not look convincing in a period film because times are changed but good directors have that skill where they keep grip on the visual story telling factor and audiences are soaked deeply in to the visual watching of the film and whether story is feasible in the present circumstances or not, ceases to matter for audiences.

Practices like Childhood marriages or fixing the marriages for children are not in the fashion now a days but this absence can not stop audience to enjoy the films …

Amrita Preetam and Imroz, Amrita Preetam - Imroz and Amrita Preetam Imroz, all the three above mentioned nomenclatures are different. While first method tells names of two persons, second tells names of two people separated by a hyphen and these two methods don’t represent lovers like Amrita and Imroz and they can only be represented by Amrita Preetam Imroz or Imroz Amreeta Preetam. If there is a gap between two consecutive words then it’s a gap for the ease of reading only else they formed a united personality, different in characteristics and yet living a common loving life till the very end of Amrita’s life and perhaps afterwards also.

Amrita Preetam Imroz, were the lovers who never said “I love You” to each other. What was the need? How could they say this when every moment of their life …

iView Author:Bhavesh Purohit
(Mumbai, India)
EMAIL:b_star87 [at] hotmail [dot] com

Title: Searching Hrishikesh�

About me, I have been a very silent reader of PFC but I liked it throughout and was just searching time to write in it.

I have seen all kinds of discussion here on PFC about world cinema where people praise directors like kurosawa, kielowski and tarantino, lynch. Of course they are brilliant and I love few of them too. But somewhere I also noticed that a lot of great Indian directors are ignored and discussed mostly in comments section. I thought about one of my favourite directors Late. Hrishikesh Mukherjee and even here where people are so passionate about films forget this passionate director. Maybe he have been discussed but I am sure not much.

Infact Hrishida, don�t know why is always ignored when great directors from Indian cinema are counted. He made so …

Ram Maheshwari made four films, namely Kaajal, Neelkamal, Karmayogi and Chambal Ki kasam, having Raaj Kumar, either in lead roles or in a substantial role and Kaajal was his first directorial venture and for any new and that too first time director, star cast consisting of big names like Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar, Padmini, Durga Khote and Mehmood should have been a matter of proud. Dharmendra too had become a rising star by then, riding over the success of films like Anpadh, Bandini, Neela Akash, Ayi Milan Ki bela and Haqiqat. Thoughh he had not played there main lead but a side hero but in all the films he had got open praises from audience and critics alike.

Kaajal�s story written by famous novelist Gulshan Nanda and it was quite a circular story and plot consisted of many rounded twists.

Song - Tora man darpan kahlaye…

[Caution � readers searching serious material may skip this as its more like swant sukhay (self satisfaction) activity but if anyone can connect then may revive similar kind of memories]

We read some times in the newspapers that somebody got a letter after 20-25 years. All of us may have some childhood memories and often visual memories which remain there in the mind but we can�t connect them with something because we don�t come across that thing again.

And sometimes it happens that we come across something and all the threads of the past memories join their branches and we feel happy on getting the whole package.

First memory : -

Till some years ago I used to hum following lines in the moments of sadness or whenever I felt dejected. Rather these lines used to come automatically out from my lips.

First line goes like this

Jab bhi ye dil udas …

He was trembling, no shivering– no, no quivering– no,no shaking !..�Moss, I am leaving ! Moley toh, idhar bahut risk ho gaya hai!! Mete, ye shahar ab rehne kay liye theek nahin!!!�

I was wondering at his nervousness but wondered more about the gibberish he was mumbling..And then he expressed his real fears..He was earlier scared by Raj Thackeray�s tirade against North Indians especially UPites and Biharis..But now he was completely terrorized after Uddhav Thackeray joined in the turf war by blasting anything and everything pronounced with letter B ! Then it dawned upon me what he meant actually ( Boss, I am leaving! Boley toh, idhar bahut risk ho gaya hai!! Bete, ye shehar ab rehne kay liye theek nahin !!!) .

Though he was from Punjab he was paranoid..He had this nagging feeling that the virus could spread..I tried to allay his apprehensions but he was unmoved.

Like a subprime …

iView Author:
ANIRUDH JAYARAM
(NAVI MUMBAI, INDIA)

EMAIL:
WITHHELD

Books to CINEMA - A Journey through Mediums

Dear fellow bloggers, today I read an article on PFC about Guide. This set me thinking about movies based on books.

Hollywood has a grand tradition of movies made on books. From “To kill a mocking bird”, “Ben Hur”, “The Wizard Of Oz”, and so many great films to the Star Wars series, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and the Harry potter series, all of them have been based on books. Just for reference, the LOTR books were written by J.R.R.Tolkien and the Harry Potter books by J.K.Rowling. Now you have movies based on the “Inheritance Trilogy” by Christopher Paolini, the first of which was Eragon, and a movie on C.S.Lewis’s “The Chronicles Of Narnia”, the second movie of which is scheduled to be released soon. Even Roald …

Sanjeev Kumars house was strictly vegetarian. So whenever SK visited Gulzar, SK would ask for one of his favorite foods - paaya to be made and thus he would satisfy his non-veggie palate. And there were strict instructions given to Gulzar to keep a bottle of Black Label at all times at his house. SK only drank Black Label and Gulzar would ensure that a bottle of it was always available whenever SK dropped in.

According to Because He Is, a look into Gulzars life by his daughter, theres an incident where one of Gulzars friends was rushed to fly to Delhi to get paaya made from one of their, I guess, favorite places, and flown back on time, for SK to enjoy his paaya meal at Gulzars house.

That is one of the reasons SK shines in each of Gulzars cinematic gems. The off screen camaraderie efficiently brings in two …