DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

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 !’

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’

Though I’m not big on Bollywood, I am big on Fashion - and the 53rd Annual Filmfare awards is as big as it gets when it comes to spotting all the Bollywood biggies in their black tie best all under one roof (this time, it was the Yash Raj Studios roof!).

The awards which are being telecast tonight on Sony Entertainment, saw most actors & actresses in their finery, doing no wrong. From Kangana Raut in full flowing white to Preity Zinta (who imo, always comes out tops) in velvety deep purple, most of the celebs played it safe whether western or Indian and came out looking brilliant.

Except perhaps Deepika Padukone - who won for “Fresh Face” - perhaps you can’t make out in all the long shots, but the close ups will show you her face was anything but fresh - in face she was more made up than a Matryoshka doll! Seriously girl, you are so pretty, you don’t need to put on so many layers of make up, it’ll just make you look old!

Continue reading ‘Fashion @ Filmfare’

It is shocking to see the number of advertisements floating around these days which portray women as desired objects and man as consumer, directly or in-directly. According to these advertisements the Man is the hunter, woman the hunted. Man the voyeur, woman the victim. At times some of these women advertisements are so over the top, that it makes it hard for the whole family to sit together and watch television. And sadly, there is no one to question the present market-and-media ethics that turns women’s bodies into consumer objects?

Consumerism talks about manipulating people’s desires. It’s basic and founding ideology is that one should be able to acquire all one wants. In other words, desired objects become commodities - available to the highest bidder. Bodies (commodities) are for sale, in “representation” and in “reality”. Modelling, be it nude or semi-nude is not considered a big deal in today’s society. It is considered as one of the few ways for women qua women to make money. Male desire is aroused by this display of titillating female bodies. This results in passive viewing to active buying. And this is where Consumerism meets Sexism. This however is not where the relationship ends; it at times further leads to “Sexual Violence”.

Continue reading ‘Consumerism And Sex’

The other day I was watching a cookery show in one of the regional channels- the presenter was the director of a catering college and a well known chef too. Armed with my pad and pen I eagerly looked forward to adding yet another recipe to my collection. At the very start when he announced he was going to prepare suraa ( a type of fish ) kuzhambu (or sambar), my enthusiasm took a beating. Being a veggie, the very name put me off ! To kill a lazy afternoon I anyway decided to watch ( curiosity got the better of me, I guess !).

The host - a man of generous proportions (khathey peethey type – like Obelix of Asterix fame !)- set about the task of preparing the dish while giving a running commentary.

Continue reading ‘Haath Ka Kamaal‘