DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

Way back in the 60s Tamil films were dominated by the big three namely Sivaji Ganesan, MGRamachandran (or MGR as he was called ) and Gemini Ganesan (known in the north more as Film actress Rekha’s father ). Each had his own style and also his own fan following. Film related activities being predominant in Kodambakkam ( a Chennai Suburb ), Tamil Film industry came to be referred as Kollywood .

Even today Tamil Nadu is associated with film crazy crowds who make giant cutouts of their favourite filmstars and sometimes even build temples dedicated to these actors ! As a young girl, during the family’s annual trip to meet all the relatives down south (all the way from Delhi ), I used to be fascinated by these giant cutouts so prominently displayed on Beach Road - the Big three smiling down at the population crowding Marina beach.

Continue reading ‘The Big Three - Kollywood (Tamil film Industry) Movies’

Like all fellow Indians (well , the majority of them anyway! ) I am also a fan of Bollywood movies. If one has been a regular watcher of Hindi movies (my reference here is to commercial or mainstram cinema ) over the years, one would be familiar by now, with certain situations and certain traits in characters, which are constantly repeated in most of these movies.

The Chase- Talking of movies of 60s and 70s , one very common scene would be the car chase and the arrival of police at the end of the movie when the hero would have (what the police should have done ! ) chased and caught the culprits ! The car chase would invariably have all the important characters bundled into several vehicles (cars, trucks,motorcycles, jeeps, & sometimes even a tonga ! )and following the hero’s car who in turn would be chasing the villians ! The background music would be one of 100s of violins screeching ! ( not playing !) to give the desired climax effect ! The cops would arrive on the scene just in time to wrap up the movie , with the inspector ordering “ inke haath me hathkadi pehna do “- needless to say ,the actor in the role of the officer would have only this dialogue ,which, he would deliver to the best of his ability (in the hope that some director would notice him and offer him the hero’s role in his next movie !).

Continue reading ‘Bollywood Movies - Ever So Predictable !’

Allah duhaai hai, kaisee picture banayee hai.

                           [Courtesy: Mr. Hunk of da World]

Well the above line pretty much sums up what I thought of director duo, Abbas-Mustan’s (so-called) ultra stylish thriller, Race.

Reasons as to why sexy Saifee’s Racee flick failed to impress me are plenty. But since I am pressed with time, I shall state only the top three. And then again I also believe in fairness and other such garb, so I will be starting off with the not-so-bad bits.

Continue reading ‘Review Race : Not Twisted Enough’

The advantage of having a set top box is the choice available to the viewer of not only multiple movie channels, but also , thanks to Zee network, various categories of movie channels e.g. Zee Premier , Zee cinema , Zee Classics. Indeed the viewer is really and truly spoilt for choice !

Watching Zee Network’s different movie channels last week I was fascinated with the evolution of the heroine’s crowning glory over the years in Bollywood movies ( a trait which I share with members of my sex, and one that is totally alien to men!).

Indeed we have come a long way since the time when one important physical asset of the Indian woman was her long and lustrous thick black hair- the heroine (of movies of 40s & 50s) would be portrayed as the true Bharatiya Nari sporting a long and thick plait (which would have put fairy tale character Rapunzel of long locks fame to shame!).

Continue reading ‘Bollywood Evolution - Plaits to Buffont to Silky Tresses’

My excitement knew no bounds when ,at the annual general body meeting of our society it was decided to install set top boxes in all the flats .Visions of viewing multiple channels in multiple languages floated in my mind .With my better half viewing all those gory action movies for a couple of hours after he returned from office (mostly late ! ) and my daughter virtually ignoring the idiot box during the week except on weekends , to watch some DVD , the idiot box was virtually mine almost for the entire day during the week!

Zee Classic being a favourite channel, watching movies of sixties & seventies was like reliving life as a carefree teenager. Indeed movies those days portrayed even emotions in a very subtle manner. The Indian audience were for years subjected to generous doses of discreet symbolism, and sometimes blatant uniform code portrayal. just by looking at the characters one could make out who was who and just by the setting one could decipher the situation on hand.

Continue reading ‘Vintage Movies - Norms Of The Day’