Bombay superstar

 BOMBAY SUPERSTAR

I always knew about the existence of a BBC documentary about Rajesh Khanna but could only watch it yesterday, ironically one day prior to the great superstar's death anniversary. Let me make it clear that this blog entry isn't about Khanna...it is about the 49.54 minutes long documentary called 'Bombay Superstar'. It was part of the BBC2's Man Alive series which ran from 1965 to 1981. This episode was presented by documentary maker and author Jack Pizzey and was aired in 1973. 

The documentary is available on youtube. It is converted from a VHS so quality is not  very good but watchable nevertheless. 

Here is the link: Bombay Superstar

           I don't understand why but the film starts with Shashi Kapoor and it is not clear what he is saying. Then there is 1.23 minutes long video montage of hindi film trailers and clippings. Again, I do not understand the purpose of it. And now the actual documentary "Bombay Superstar" begins. The documentary maker and the people behind it are either misinformed or careless. This becomes clear at the very beginning of the film when the narrator says that in India, one film is released every day. Yes, you read it correct..every day!!! Without being too harsh on the BBC reporter, he not only seems but even sounds like Jack out of the box who knows virtually little about the Bombay film industry why else would BBC air the documentary without rectifying the obvious errors like one hindi film is released daily in Bombay just as they exaggerate that stars are so popular that they don't even have their name on the posters or billboards. Surprising nobody told BBC or their journo that Rajesh Khanna was back then known as The Phenomenon and Not just a Superstar. Also, in the entire film the maker speaks to only two fans, two girls smitten by their beloved star. And that too only one question asked, "why do you want to see Rajesh Khanna?". And that's about it for a fan's perspective of the superstar. Then it is shown that Rajesh Khanna did not keep appointment for an interview with the BBC team for five times. Well that is true but even when Jack Pizzey did get an audience with Khanna, all he could extract from the superstar is 4 minutes and 8 seconds long conversation. I say not good for a 49.58 minutes long film and certainly not good for a BBC journalist because a good documentary maker should be able to present the subject in detail. It is very clear that Pizzey has not succeeded in making Khanna talk much. Also, the Mumtaz-Devyani Chaubal tiff was unnecessary and out of context as the documentary is about Rajesh Khanna. I am not trying to review this documentary but it could have been much better.

 

I fail to understand the purpose of this documentary as it neither shows the story of a boy who made it big after winning a talent hunt contest nor it depicts the phenomenon called Rajesh Khanna. Anything that the film captured is the beginning of the end of a Superstar, that too very superficially. But all said and done keeping in mind this documentary was shot in 1973 when Khanna was still at his peak and the tsunami of flops was yet to virtually drown Khanna's career. This documentary does have a lot of nostalgia and is worth viewing once even almost 40 plus years down the line. The film contains Khanna's wedding footage as well. His wedding to Dimple Kapadia that stunned the country. The film also has some masala served by Devyani Chaubal, the feisty journalist of the '70s. The documentary ends with Khanna looking out of his bedroom window at the gathered crowd of fans and then lighting a cigarette. God Give Eternal Peace to Rajesh Khanna the Bombay Superstar!!!

Star Warriors

STAR WARRIORS

Many of the world's most recognizable names and faces answered the call to serve during the World Wars. Some were servicemen before they were celebrities, but a few did put their lucrative careers on hold to moonlight as soldiers and underground resistance fighters.

Ronald Colman

Ronald Colman

One of the few stars to successfully transition from       

 the silent movie era to sound, Colman was among the

 first members of the Territorial Army fighting in 

World War I. He was seriously wounded in the 

Battle of Messines, which gave him a limp that he 

would attempt to hide throughout the rest of his

 acting career.

Sir Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness

A trained thespian, Guinness put his theatre career on hold in 1939 to join the Royal Navy. Guinness was piloting infantry landing craft  in the Mediterranean – a sound basis for training ace pilot Luke Skywalker and for playing the martinet Colonel Nicholson in the unforgettable Bridge on the River Kwai.

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Brooks is known as the writer-director behind the comedies Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. But before that, he served in 1104^th Engineer Combat Battalion, a unit that braved sniper fire to clear blocked roads and deactivate landmines in World War II.

Jimmy Stewart

Jimmy Stewart

Jimmy Stewart was a bona fide movie star before World War II. In early 1941, Stewart became one of the first Hollywood stars to enter the armed forces when he joined the Army Air Corps and eventually became a squadron commander in the 445^th Bombardment Group in England.

Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart

AFI’s greatest movie star of all time was a wild teenager who joined the US Navy, excited to be a part of World War I. According to some accounts, his iconic scar and lisp were the result of shrapnel when his ship was shelled.

Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris

He joined the United States Air Force as an Air Policeman in 1958 and was sent to Osan Air Base in South Korea. It was there that Norris acquired the nickname Chuck and began his training in Tang Soo Do (Tangsudo), an interest that led to black belts in that art and the founding of the Chun Kuk Do (Universal Way) form. When he returned to the United States, he continued to serve as an AP at March Air Force Base in California.  

Source: TImes of India

CHITRAGUPTA: the under-rated maestro of Golden Era

          Music lovers of the golden era of hindi film music (i.e. 1950s & 60s) fondly remember Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan, and S D Burman, favourite composers of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand respectively. Other popular composers of the golden age were Madan Mohan , O P Nayyar, Roshan, Salil Choudhary and C Ramachandra to name a few. Even today musical evenings and such other shows are organized in their memory. However, there were several music composers who were talented but did not get their due. Today let us talk about one such composer who was under-rated and who also remain unrewarded throughout his career.

Photo courtesy: humaraforums.com

CHITRAGUPTA, born as Chitragupta Shrivastav in Gopalganj district of Bihar on 16th November 1917 is one of the unsung heroes of the golden age. He was a lecturer in a Patna college but quit his job to make a career as a music composer. Entry to the Bombay film world was no cakewalk for him. He started off as an assistant to music director S N Tripathi who generally composed music for devotional and mythological films. So did Chitragupta at the beginning of his career. Some of the films of the genre were Shivratri, Balyogi Upmanyu, Gayatri Mahima, Sati Madalasa and Pavanputra Hanuman. Other kind of folms he got were the stunt films. Most of these films had zero  creative value The name of some of the films such as Mala the Mighty, Fighting Hero, Stunt Queen, Tigress, Lady Robinhood, Toofan Queen says it all. 

He was still struggling in the early fifties to make his mark. One fine day he was introduced to AVM productions of South by S D Burman. Burmanda knew his work through S N Tripathi. He composed music for AVM's Bhabhi (1957) and got his due break. 

In order to understand his range as a composer let us look at some gems created by him. 

v  Miss mala (1954)- Manzil kahan meri gulshan kahan mera by Kishore Kumar

v  Bhabhi (1957)- chal ud ja re panchhi by  Rafi, Chali chali re patang meri by Rafi-Lata,  Kare kare badra by Lata, Chupakar meri aankhon ko By Rafi-Lata

v  Kali topi laal rumaal (1959)- Lagi chhute na ab to sanam by Rafi-Lata, Daga daga wai wai  by Lata

v  Tel malish boot polish (1961)- Kanha ja re By Manna Dey-Lata (Classical base)

v  Bada Aadmi (1961)- Ankhiyan sang ankhiyan lagi by Rafi (Classical base)

v  Zabak (1961)- Teri duniya se dur by  Rafi-Lata

v  Main chup rahungi (1962)- Chand jane khan kho gaya by  Rafi-Lata, Tum hi ho mata pita tum hi ho by Lata

v  Main shadi karne chala (1962)- Albeli naar pritam dware by Manna Dey (Classical base)

v  Opera house (1962)- Dekho mausam kya bahar hai by  Mukesh-Lata, Balma mane na by Lata

v  Ganga ki laheren (1964)- Chhedo na meri zulfen by  Kishore-Lata

v  Akashdeep (1965)- Mujhe dard-e dil ka pata na tha by Rafi, Dil ka diya jala ke gaya by Lata

v  Oonche log (1965)- Jag dil e diwana by Rafi, Aaja re mere pyaar ke rahi by Lata-Mahendra Kapoor

v  Vasna (1967)- Ye parbaton ke daayre by  Rafi-Lata

          Apart from hindi films, he also composed music for many Bhojpuri films. Ganga Maiyya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo (1963) is the first ever film made in Bhojpuri language and the music was composed by Chitragupta, lyrics were penned by Shailendra and the songs were sung by eminent playback singers like Lata, Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur and Usha Mangeshkar. 

            An interesting observation is that Chitragupta's music rose above the films he was offered. But, in spite of creating such melodious songs he never won a Filmfare. Years later, it was won by his sons Anand-Milind for the film Qayamat se Qayamat Tak in 1989. His sons worked as his assistants for eight years before starting their own work. Chitragupta was content with his sons' success and passed away peacefully on 14th January 1991.

       The music of the fifties and sixties is a treasure which remained hidden for the next generations of music lovers but thanks to Internet that these gems are freely available to all music connoisseurs. Chitragupa will always remain one of the greats of our Golden Era of music.

Women in Cinema

Women in Cinema

It can be said with no exaggeration that without women there would be no cinema. Sadly, this is so not because the natural concerns of genuine womanhood have been addressed in film, but because from the very beginnings of cinema a woman has been made the centerpiece of attraction, an object of desire. This systematic cultivation of women as objects of desire has been akin to the gradual process of drug addiction: at first, the effects were rather mild and pleasantly stimulating - and thus considered not only harmless by both men and women, but even liberating - however, as time went on and doses increased, a feverish state of dependency set in. What has started out as a quest for liberation from convention ended up being a different form of enslavement.

Marilyn Monroe in "Seven Years' Itch"
Source:www.telegraph.co.uk

Today women can be seen to have divided themselves into roughly two groups: those, who continue to perceive this enslavement as "liberation"; and those, who vaguely sense that the real search for the true liberation of women has not even begun.

Cinema, in particular, has made a devastating contribution here. One definition of 99% of cinema would be to say that it specializes in creating beauty-substitutes. Through personality cults of stars, through promotion of escapism into fantasy, it creates images, which encourage superficiality and vanity - the two qualities that are already sufficiently developed as it is within all of us. And since women, due to their superior intuitive faculty, are more susceptible to suggestions through imagery than men, the effect on the female population has been nothing short of catastrophic. Most women are no longer able to separate vanity from beauty; to be an object of desire has become synonymous with being beautiful. During her televised funeral, Princess Diana (a role-model for millions of girls and women around the world) was eulogized (by an anchor-woman) as "an object of every man's desire".

Acknowledgement:
www.hal-pc.org/~questers/womanhood/women_in_film.html

 

Film Noir: Black Film

Film Noir: Black Film

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classical film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.

The term film noir, French for "black film," first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era.^[2] Cinema historians and critics defined the category retrospectively. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic films noirs were referred to as melodramas. Whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate.

Source:woodyhaut.blogspot.com

Acknowledgement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir