Matinee Masala

No one would ever forget the scene in Bobby where Rishi Kapoor comes to Dimple Kapadia’s house and she answers the door looking very casual. Well, the scene is actually a replica of the immortalized meeting between Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Raj Kapoor went to Nargis’ house to offer the lead lady’s role in Aag. Nargis described the incident to her friends as a ‘fat pinkie’s arrival who had come to sign her’!

But the pair had an instant chemistry on screen which was extended off-screen too. They went ahead to do 15 films together including the classics Awaara and Shri 420. The two developed feelings for each other and had become the talk of the town. Knowing Raj Kapoor’s liking for the color white, Nargis wore white in her films and was known his Lady in White.  While Nargis was keen to get married to Raj Kapoor and have a family, Raj Kapoor- who already had a wife and a child, refused to break the societal norms and marry Nargis. The lady even tried to seek permission from the then Home Minister Morarji Desai for a second marriage. But Raj Kapoor was afraid of being ostracized from his family and society. The man who made films on bold and rebel themes succumbed to the norms in real life. It was during this time that Nargis was offered Mother India by her mentor Mehboob. Sunil Dutt, who played her son in the movie, saved Nargis from a fire accident on the sets of the same film. Dutt later married Nargis and soon after the that the lady retired from her film career and looked after her family and was involved in social services.

Thus ended the journey of once adored golden couple on screen. What remained were just the immortalized scenes and songs.

The longest film title in any Indian language has been of 20 words. This belongs to the Telugu film ‘Shree Shree Rajadhiraja Shree Shree Madana Kamaraja Shree Shree Vilasa Raja Shree Shree Madhubana Raja Shree Shree Krishnadeva donga Raja’ which was released in Chennai in December 1994.

Talking about the longest Hindi film title, according to me there hasn’t been any title consisting of more than 7 words, which are…

Andheri Raat Mein Diya Tere Haath Mein
Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai?
Raja Ko Rani Se Pyaar Ho Gaya

Hindi Film titles with 6 words have been plenty like…

Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli
Dulhan Wohi Jo Piya Man Bhaaye
Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain
Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon… so on and so forth.

Do you know of any Hindi film title consisting of more than 7 words?

Being a die-hard film buff I’ve always made it a point since 1990 to see the Filmfare Awards on TV. Talking about yesterday’s 52nd Filmfare Award function on Sony TV, although the winners were already announced in the Sunday (25th Feb, 2007) newspaper edition, yet I sat to watch the recorded program.

To be honest I always thought that the Filmfare jury was fair many a times and the awards would go to the most deserving candidate. For the last three or four years I feel that the awards are rigged and have lost its value. More than the jury the people’s vote thru SMS’s decide who is going to win.

I do believe Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan to an extent who have lost faith in these awards. Agreed, Rang De Basanti was a popular film but was it more popular than Lage Raho Munnabhai ? I don’t think so, then how come it walked away with all the awards, just because it got the most votes? What if I liked Lage Raho Munnabhai more than Rang De Basanti, and to enable LRM to generate more votes I buy a 1000 copies of Filmfare? Would LRM have won?

I know that King Khan loves winning awards and he would go to any extent to get one. Why is it that Filmfare dances to the tune of SRK? Is it that Filmfare only sells because he is on their cover most of the times? It’s been noticed that no matter what the show is all about, no matter who is nominated and who is not, SRK and Yash Chopra always walk away with a Filmfare award at least.

While watching the Filmfare Awards yesterday, when SRK lost out on the ‘Best Actor Award’ to Hrithik Roshan, he couldn’t believe it!!! I know he might have got paid for anchoring the show but this is the first time that he ended up walking away empty handed.

Filmfare has always obliged SRK whenever he missed out on the popular awards by creating an award for him to keep him in good humor or else how would he perform next year at the awards. The awards that were created for him were- Power House Award or Jury Recognition Award or Most Vibrant Actor Award or Filmfare Golden Award or Popular Critics Award or People’s Favorite Award and the list is endless. The same with Yash Chopra.

I am not anti-SRK or Yash Chopra but why not accept that you can’t win always and others deserve it too. Take a look at the Bachchan’s, they are so modest even after winning so many times. Finally, would like to see a better way to select the winners at the next Filmfare Awards and can we do without SRK and Yash Chopra?

Best Film
Rang De Basanti

Best Actor
Hrithik Roshan - Dhoom 2

Best Actress
Kajol - Fanaa

Best Director
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra - Rang De Basanti

Critics Award
Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Critics Award for best actor
Aamir Khan - Rang De Basanti

Critics Award for best actress
Kareena Kapoor - Omkara

Lifetime Achievement Award
Jaya Bachchan, Javed Akhtar

Special jury recognition
Deepak Dobriyal - Omkara

Best Dialogue
Abhijit Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Best art direction
Sameer Chanda - Omkara

Best editing
P S Bharati - Rang De Basanti

Best Screenplay
Jaideep Sahni - Khosla Ka Ghosla

Best Story
Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)
Abhishek Bachchan - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Konkona Sen Sharma - Omkara

Best Actor in a Comic Role
Arshad Warsi - Lage Raho Munnabhai

Best Actor in a Negative Role
Saif Ali Khan - Omkara

Best Music
A R Rahman - Rang De Basanti

Best Lyrics
Prasoon Joshi - Chand Sifarish (Fanaa)

Best Playback (Male)
Shaan and Kailash Kher (Fanaa)

Best Playback (Female)
Sunidhi Chauhan - Beedi (Omkara)

Best Cinematography
Binod Pradhan - Rang De Basanti

Best Costumes
Dolly Ahluwalia - Omkara

Best Sound Design
Subhash Sahu , K J Singh (Omkara)

Best Background Score Award
Salim-Sulaiman (Krrish)

Best Debut (Female)
Kangana Ranaut - Gangster

Powerhouse Awards
Yash Chopra

R D Burman Award
Naresh Iyer

Sony - Fair One face of the year
Kangana Ranaut

Best Choreography
Ganesh Acharya - Beedi Jalayle (Omkara)

Best Special FX
Krrish

Best action
Siu Tung Ching, Sham Kaushal (Krrish)

Best Costumes Award
Omkara

Listing out the ten longest duration films of Hindi cinema wasn’t a difficult task. Making a film stretching over three hours and keeping the audience glued to their seats is no mean feat. It was only Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker that had two intervals as it was the showman’s most ambitious project which unfortunately bombed. Respect to the box-office collections it has been a mixed bag for the ten lengthiest films mentioned below-

1. LOC: Kargil (2003)- 4hrs 15mins, Director- JP Dutta
2. Sangam (1963)- 3hrs 52mins, Director- Raj Kapoor
3. Mera Naam Joker (1970)- 3hrs 44mins, Director- Raj Kapoor
4. Lagaan (2001)- 3hrs 44mins, Director- Ashutosh Gowarikar
5. Salaam-E- Ishq (2007)- 3hrs 36mins, Director- Nikhil Advani
6. Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001)- 3hrs 30mins, Director- Karan Johar
7. Swades (2004)- 3hrs 30mins, Director- Ashutosh Gowarikar
8. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005)- 3hrs 28mins, Director- Shyam Benegal
9. Waqt (1965)- 3hrs 26mins, Director- Yash Chopra
10.Hum Aapke Hai Kaun (1994)- 3hrs 26mins, Director- Sooraj Barjatya

My belated wishes comes a day late for my favorite all time villain Pran who turned 87 yesterday. Pran Sikand was born on the 12th February 1920 in Delhi. He was educated at places like Meerut, Dehradun and Rampur and was a son of a Government Civil Contractor.

He started his film career as a villain in Yamla Jat (1941) which was a huge hit. Since then he starred in many block busters and got paid more than the hero’s those days. He was the most dreaded villain of the 50’s and 60’s when no mother would name her son Pran. The turning point came when he was casted as Malang Baba in Manoj Kumar’s Upkaar (1967).

In his whole career spanning more than five decades, he has done nearly 300 films and enacted all types of roles with almost every generation. His other notable films have been Half Ticket, Brahamchari, Zanjeer, Majboor, Warrant, Dharam-Veer, Amar Akbar Anthony, Don, Des Pardes, Naseeb, Souten, Sohni Mahiwal, Raaj Tilak, Love and God, Shahenshah, Sanam Bewafa, Tere Mere Sapne and many more.

Here’s wishing Pran Sahab many happy returns of the day with good health prosperity and peace.

Hindi films being dubbed in English for the overseas market makes sense. Changing titles may or may not make sense. What if the film titles would have exactly been translated into English, would it have sounded better? Have a look at a few titles that may sound funny but what to do, that’s the way it is.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge- Lovers will take the Bride
Dil To Paagal Hai- The Heart Is Crazy
Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin- The Heart Doesn’t Agree
Maang Bharo Sajana- Fill my parting, Beloved!
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak- From Doomsday to Doomsday
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar- He who Wins is Alexander
Aap To Aiyse Na They- You Weren’t Like This
Kaho Na Pyaar Hai- Tell Me- It’s Love
Yeh Ishq Nahin Aasaan- Love ain’t Easy
Ek Jaan Hai Hum- We Are One Soul
Dard Ka Rishta- A Painful Relation
Bandhan Kachche Dhaagon Ka- A relation of raw threads
Kyun! Ho Gaya Naa- Why! Didn’t it happen
Ek Raat Shaitaan Ke Saath- A Night with the Devil
Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha- When the heart called you mine
Thoda Tum Badlo Thoda Hum- You change a bit, We change a bit
Haseeno Ka Dalaal- Beauties Broker
Tu Ladki Hai Budnaam Gali Ki- You’re a woman of a degraded street
Pran Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye- Life may go but Pride shouldn’t
Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon- I am crazy about Love
Kaash Aap Hamaare Hote- Wish you were mine
Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke- We are Love Travelers
…Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya- …And Love happened
Bhoot Ke Peechhe Bhoot- Ghost behind Ghost
Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai- I’ve seen you somewhere earlier
Ab Tak Chappan- So far 56
Kyunki Main Jhooth Nahin Bolta- Because I don’t lie
Raja Hindustani- King Indian

More to follow.

Before a films release the director and producer praise it to the skies but as it releases and bites the dust the comments turn into reasons. Many give the same old excuses for their films failure, many confess that they made a bad film, many don’t know what hit them.

Here are a few comments that one hears many a times:

1. I think the length of the film and too many songs marred the narration; a little trimming could have done wonders for the film at the box-office.
2. **** gave a lot of problem during the making of the film and the sudden demise of **** contributed to the film not getting a decent opening.
3. My films storyline resembled the last month released ****, I guess that could’ve been the reason…
4. I had signed **** when he was a star but due to his last three films failing at the box-office couldn’t save my film.
5. We went all out to make a good film but because it was released during the India- Pakistan one-day series, it didn’t find any takers.
6. The incessant rains in Mumbai didn’t get the audience to the theatres.
7. Pirated CD’s were already out the day my film released.
8. My film didn’t work because it was ahead of its times…
9. They were demonstrations by some miscreants which resulted in my film flopping.
10.The producer didn’t market and package the film well.
11.We should have killed the heroine before the interval to make it a hit.
12.I think the audience couldn’t accept **** playing a negative character.

Siblings’ coming together is common in Hindi films. Three brothers coming together in a film has however been rare. It was in 1982 when Feroz Khan launched Janbaaz with himself and his brothers Sanjay Khan and Akbar Khan. However due to delay the script underwent many changes and ultimately Feroz Khan signed on Anil Kapoor and released it under the same title in 1986.

In Raj Kapoor’s Shree 420 (1955) during the song Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua…, there’s a shot which had all three children of Raj Kapoor walking in the rain wearing raincoats.

The three instances where all three brothers came together on screen were-

1. Ashok, Anup, Kishore Kumar- Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)
2. Chetan, Dev and Vijay Anand- Kala Bazaar (1960)
3. Salman, Arbaaz, Sohail Khan- Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (2005)

Know of a similar film which I’ve missed out on, let me know.

Aamir Khan’s Lagaan was the Indian official entry for ‘The Best Foreign Language Film’ at the 2002 Oscars. There were many reasons that flashed the headlines the next day but in retrospect I felt that the following 4 reasons could’ve contributed to Lagaan loosing out to ‘No Man’s Land’.

1. The length of the Film- 3hrs 45 mins (equal to the duration of two Hollywood flicks)

2. The game ‘Cricket’ (Americans don’t follow it)

3. Songs (hamper the narration)

4. White bashing (or at least that’s what they thought)