Video of the Day: “Pardah Hai Pardah” from Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), we’ve got 4 versions for you here!

Dosto, today I present you with the song “Pardah Hai Pardah“ from the 1977 film, Amar Akbar Anthony. I enjoyed this song so much I added 4 versions for you. At the Bollywood Food Club, we don’t really do true film reviews; why bother when there are already so many great bloggers out there doing it so well? So I refer you to Bollywood 501, Filmiholic, Filmi Geek, and Philip’sfil-ums for some great insights into Amar Akbar Anthony. I will simply deal with the more superfical and say that any movie that starts out with Pran and a suffering Nirupa Roy instantly wins my heart. I have to add that I liked the patches Anthony wore on his clothing and Akbar’s array of sheer colorful shirts. Amitabh’s Anthony made me proud to be a Catholic, and Vinood’s Amar made me yearn to be a Hindu, while Rishi’s Akbar had me praising Allah. I LOVED this movie. And in particular I loved Rishi Kapoor‘s performance in “Pardah Hai Pardah” as well as the voice of its playback singer, Mohammed Rafi.

This is the kind of suffering I’m talking about! A blinded mother, not realizing she’s touching her very own son! Nirupa Roy suffers so well.

 

Amar Akbar Anthony (Devnagari: अमर अकबर एन्थोनी) is a 1977 Bollywood film about three brothers separated during their childhood who grew up in three different homes, adopting three different religions. The film was directed by Manmohan Desai and starred three actors, of them included Amitabh Bachchan (as Anthony Gonsalves), Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor. Each of the three heroes had an affilitian with a heroine, which included Parveen Babi, Shabana Azmi and Neetu Singh. Nirupa Roy, Pran and Jeevan were supporting actors. The music was written by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Kishore Kumar sang for Amitabh Bachchan, and Mohammed Rafi sang for Rishi Kapoor. The soundtrack was one of Mukesh‘s last soundtracks with Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Anand Bakshi was the was the lyricist. A ex-convict must flee his mob boss, leaving his family to fend for themselves. The ex-convicts wife in a fit of bad luck turns blind and inevitably his children are abandoned. They are adopted by a Hindu policeman (Amar), a Muslim tailor (Akbar), and a Catholic priest (Anthony). The Hindu raised son becomes a policeman in his turn; his Muslim-raised brother becomes a singer; and the last brother, played by Amitabh Bachchan, becomes a happy-go-lucky Catholic who lives on the edge of law. The boys meet again and their lives become entangled in an incredible twist of unlikely coincidences and furious action sequences interspersed with songs. (wikipedia)

So here are the video clips of the addicting tune, “Pardah Hai Pardah“:

 

1. Original version starring Rishi Kapoor, with playback singer Mohammed Rafi. It’s fun to know that he’s singing to Neetu Singh, who he married a couple years after this movie. I mean who wouldn’t marry him after this performance, hain na?:

Thanks to sikkbreman for the video. Makes me want to rush to a mosque!

 

2. Here’s a crowd favorite, from SaReGaMaPa Challenge, Amanat Ali. I especially like how he substitutes his own name in the “Akbar” part of the song:

I’ve already posted about my favoritism for the Indian singing talent search shows, so click here to see that and some more of Amanat. Thanks to shesthebest for the YouTube video.

3. Here’s Vinit Singh, another contestant from SaReGaMaPa Challenge:

Thanks to sachinscs for the YouTube video.

4. Here’s Irfan, from Star Voice of India. Not only is he great but how fun to see the movie’s real stars, Rishi Kapoor & Neetu Singh (I think that’s her) judging along with playback singers Alka Yagnik & Abhijeet:

Thanks to AmulStarVoiceOfIndia for the video.

 

 

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Ever wondered about those huge homes in Bollywood movies?

I recently read Motiba’s Tattoos, a memoir by Mira Kamdar. Kamdar is an American born Jain woman and her book traces the life of her grandmother. I was reading along, not expecting anything Bollywood, but when describing her time spent in Mumbai as a kid Kamdar served up some spicy Bollywood dish:

The slum was still cloaked in darkness, but on the other side of the street, the mansions of stars were lit up here and there with the garish florescence of hundreds of high-voltage projector lights illuminating the last of the nightlong marathon of shooting. ‘Bollywood’ movie stars are rich people in a poor country. Their real-life homes provide ready-made back-drops for the improbable lives of the wealthy heroes, heroines, and villains they play in their films. We children would often go up to the rooftop terrace of our Jehu apartment building after dark and pick out the homes of the stars where scenes were being filmed. ‘Look! Over there. Tonight they are shooting at Amitabh Bachchan’s house over on Tenth Road. You know who is starring, Hema Malini.’ Star struck teenagers in the neighborhoods waited patiently outside the gates of these villas for hours hoping to capture a glimpse of a favorite actor. When shooting was going on late into the night at Meena Cottage, directly behind our apartment it was hard to sleep. The bright lights and the knowledge that just yards away from where we slumbered, one famous star or another was breathing, walking, sitting, or drinking tea was simply too enervating.(p.150)

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Now everytime I see Bollywood movies, I’m going to wonder if the homes featured are possibly some star’s actual home. How exciting! Want to learn more about where Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Rekha, Aishwarya Rai, Aamir Khan, and John Abraham live? Click HERE, though it’s a bit dated, it’s still interesting. Remember what you see, because it could show up in a movie. I wonder if SRK’s home, Mannat, pictured here will or has ever been in a film?  For a thrilling and humorous account of seeing Mannat first hand, check out In Praise of All Things Dharmendra related.

In addition to writing about Amitabh, Kamdar also writes about Rekha’s romantic involvement with her cousin on page 165. Wow!  I also like Kamdar’s description of Bombay:

Bombay has been called a whore, a temptress, a slut. The city is a woman, enticing, betraying, extricating great sacrifice, sucking one dry. Indian speakers of Marathi, Gujarati, and Hindi call the city ‘Mumbai’ after a local female deity, Mumbadevi, whose distinguishing characteristic is the lack of a mouth. (p.131.)

Until I read this, I didn’t know anything about the Mumbadevi and that she has no mouth. Of course I this made me think of Hello Kitty, who also has no mouth. I fell in love with as a kid, and as a much older kid, and Bollywood is my adult Barbie-Hello Kitty. Now I feel more justified in this hobby, because the Mumbadevi has no mouth.

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Bollywood Insider: Arnie and Beyonce join Akki? Salman body wax!

Bollywood chugli from 1/17/08 from our favorite correspondent, Suzi Mann:   Latest Bollywood chugli – Salman get’s full body wax! Arnie and Beyonce to join Akki in screen outing? Ash tipped for Asterix

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Bollywood Insider: from 1/11/08 The chugli on Bipasha Basu, Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham, Aishwarya Rai, Benazir Bhutto, Saif Ali Khan, and Kareena Kapoor

Bollywood chugli from 1/11/08 from our favorite correspondent, Suzi Mann:  

Latest Bollywood chugli: Bips’ birthday, Hrithik on a high as Jodhaa Akbar arrives, Bollywood to mark Bhutto legacy, Bebo and Saif get serious.” 

I was glad to see in this clip that Shabana Azmi is going to play the role of Benazir Bhutto and NOT someone like Katrina Kaif.

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Video of the Day: “Main Jaadugar” from Jaadugar (1989)

Today’s video is the song “Main Jaadugar” from Jaadugar(1989), starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Prada, Amrita Singh, Aditya Pancholi, Amrish Puri, Johnny Lever, and Pran.

American-returned Shankar Narayan is baffled to witness his former businessman and jailbird dad posing as a soothsayer by the name of Mahaprabhu Janak Sagar Jagat Narayan in a small town called Dharampur. He comes to know that his dad has learned a few magician’s tricks from a fellow-inmate, and is able to fool the entire township with his “divine” powers. Shankar enlists the assistance of noted magician Goga, and brings him to Dharampur. Goga challenges the Mahaprabhu; is able to dethrone him; oust him from his temple, and takes over. His task over, Shankar asks Goga to leave, but power-hungry Goga, who now calls himself Gogeshwar, refuses to let go of his new-found position. Written by rAjOo (IMDB)

I don’t like magic (jaadu) or magicians, and this is a silly movie, but it’s Amitabh, so I love it! The movie is goofy, but the cast is spectacular. I start watching and there’s Amrish Puri right off, so that’s a plus, a tight slap to the face within 15 minutes, Johnny Lever as the wacky side man and even Pran! Then there’s the sensible girl who marries well from Dil Aashna Hai, Amrita Singh, who I didn’t know until my internet research was Saif Ali Khan‘s wife! It’s all part of Bollywood’s charm; learning stuff way after the fact that probably most people from Indian have known for decades. There’s even one of my most favorite things in Bollywood movies: the drinking of Johnnie Walker; in this case by Amitabh, and it’s the Black Label. It’s not quite Bollywood to me until I see a tight slap to the face and a bottle of Johnnie Walker. Jaadugar even includes the chopping off of limbs, reminiscent of other Bollywood classics, like Mother India and Sholay. Amitabh doesn’t appear until at least 30 minutes into the movie and when he does THIS is what you see:

Please note the puppet in the video. Kumar Sanu is the playback singer. Video from erosentertainment (which means it won’t be yanked from YouTube, right?)

Did you want to see more? Watch Goga tell the young starlet’s fortune.

Did I just say I didn’t like magicians? Goga!

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Video of the Day: “Kal Ho Naa Ho” from Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)

I explained about this movie the other day in the post “How Kal Ho Naa Ho changed my life,”  so let’s watch a bit more with today’s video: “Kal Ho Naa Ho” from Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003). This tune has a nice dhol beat.

The music is conducted by the award-winning trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, with playback singer Sonu Nigam, picturised on Shahrukh Khan, singing to co-stars Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan. (wikipedia)

Thanks to CodenameSynth  for the video with English subtitles.

Click HERE for Hindi and English translation of the song.

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Video of the Day: “Pretty Woman” from Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) or “How Kal Ho Naa Ho changed my life!”

Today’s video is “Pretty Woman” with music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, by playback singer Shankar Mahadevan, picturized on King Khan from the movie Kal Ho Naa Ho.  I’ll get to that later but let me give you a little background first.

This is a pivotal Bollywood movie for me because it’s partly responsible for my current addiction to the genre. I had seen Devdas along with Nandini and other dosto at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis back in September 2003; the seed was planted. In the following years I saw Monsoon Wedding, Bend It Like Beckham, and Kandukondain Kandukondain. These Indian related movies swirled in my head a few years. Skip forward to August of 2006 and I’m looking at a Netflix page thinking, “Hey, I’d like to see that guy from Devdas in something.” I figure “that guy” is Shah Rukh Khan and put Kal Ho Naa Ho in the queue because it’s recommended. So I watch this movie and am stunned by how LONG it is! I’m disappointed that it’s set in what is supposed to be New York. Hey! This isn’t right, I wanted a real Indian movie set in India. Then I see this “Pretty Woman” scene and get that feeling you get when you’re embarrassed by someone, even worse that being embarrassed for yourself. But THEN the movie takes this turn that I never expect. Shah Rukh Khan is so dramatic that I’m sucked in. It has a love triangle, self sacrifice, and an emotionally wrenching hospital scene. So half way through, I accept it as a good movie and all I know is I want more! Then I saw Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, followed by Main Hoon Na. Then I watch Main Hoon Na again with Nandini and I sense another Bollywood junkie. It’s like SRK was a gateway drug to Bollywood. Next discovery is the pure cocaine of Amitabh, and the angry young man movies. HOOKED! I pick up a Hindi street naam of Sita-ji after watching Dance Dance, to keep it real. So the addiction begins! I stay with Bollywood, because it’s what I know, it’s safe. I believe that if I slip into Tollywood and Kollywood, and I’ve had a taste of the Telugu and Tamil scene people, it would be like taking crack, possibly meth. I have to stay away from Rajinikanth for now. And Lollywood would be like heroin, unmanageable. I need to stay as clean as I can, so it’s mostly Bollywood for now. I saw Nandini the other night, and we whispered a bit about Nollywood, careful to not let too many people hear, but knew to back off, it was just too dangerous. And we know that kal ho naa ho, but it’s still good to play it safe.

Kal Ho Naa Ho (Devanagari कल हो ना हो, Nastaliq: کل ہو نہ ہو, English: Tomorrow May or May Not Be) is a 2003 Bollywood film set in New York City. It stars Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, and Saif Ali Khan. The film was directed by first-timer Nikhil Advani; it was produced and co-written by Karan Johar, better known as the director of the hit films Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). This movie resembles Dil Chahta Hai (2001) in blending Bollywood and Hollywoodconventions with high production values. While copyright violation has long run rampant in the Bollywood film industry, Kal Ho Naa Ho is notable for having licensed the rights to Roy Orbison‘s “Oh, Pretty Woman” for an extended musical sequence taking place in the streets in New York. Because of its familiar setting and music, accessibility to non-Indians, good production values, and respect for copyright, Kal Ho Naa Ho has been used to introduce Bollywood to markets where Indian films have been rare. Naina Catherine Kapur (Preity Zinta) is an angry young woman, for more than one reason. Her father committed suicide when she needed him the most, leaving Jennifer (Jaya Bachchan), his wife, to raise their children all alone. Lajjo (Sushma Seth), Jennifer’s mother-in-law, blames Jennifer for the suicide. Furthermore, Jennifer is unhappy because Lajjo refuses to accept Gia, a six-year-old girl whom Jennifer adopted, as her granddaughter. In addition, the restaurant Jennifer operates is faltering. The only factors that redeem Naina’s life are the toiling and tolerant Jennifer and Naina’s bumbling MBA classmate Rohit (Saif Ali Khan). Aman Mathur (Shah Rukh Khan), a happy-go-lucky man, arrives in Naina’s neighbourhood and soon changes everything with his contagious joviality and zest for life…(wikipedia)

And speaking of New York and India, our friend Brahmanandam, a.k.a. Tim, sent a great link to Indian restaurants in New York City; “A Passage to India,” by Matthew Fishbane. Click here to check it out the article published in the January 13, 2008 in the New York Times.

So here it is, “Pretty Woman”:

Thanks to nacromanser for providing the video.

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Halla Bol!

 

I saw Halla Bol this weekend and of course I don’t want to write a review, but do want to point out what I liked:

• The brooding, angry, simmering, seething Ajay Devgan. I couldn’t get enough!
• Pankaj Kapoor‘s character Siddhu. (Dosto, I didn’t know he was Shahid Kapoor‘s dad!)
• Darshan Jariwala’s character Gaekwad
• Ajay’s giant watch
• Giving a kidney to pay for a good lawyer
• Many angry mobs, so much to protest, and so often!
• Pool party den of sin scene, ala playboy mansion. Many goris around the pool representing decadence. Yaaro, it gives me hope that I could be an extra.
• Sikhs come out looking very cool throughout & ultra Sikh sword fight was great!
• Ajay’s (Sameer) room of awards and its destruction
• The The Big Lebowski moment
• Jackie Shroff’s special appearance, so commanding!
• Sridevi’s special appearance. She was so tentative. Come on Sridevi! Own it!
• Glimpses of Rishi Kapoor, Shilpa and Abhishek. Was Abhishek there in the awards show section, or did I imagine it?

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I think Ajay looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger here:

 

I left the theater shouting “Halla Bol!”

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Video of the Day: “Main To Hoon Sab Ka” from Hatya (1988)

To honor Nandini’s commitment to more Govinda in 2008, today’s video is “Main To Hoon Sab Ka,” from Hatya (1988).

Hatya is a 1988 Bollywood thriller film directed by Kirti Kumar and starring Govinda, Neelam, and Anupam Kher. Govinda stars as Sagar, a wealthy but idle young man. Following a night of consuming much alcohol he finds a homeless and parentless young boy. He takes the boy home and learns that he is deaf and attempts to nurture him and names him Raja. Durin this time he meets neelam and they fall in love. However soon enough it appears that the mother of the boy now in his occupation was brutally murdered and Sagar is the suspect. It is now up to Sagar and his new love to prove his innocence.(wikipedia)

“Main To Hoon Sab Ka,” and thanks to commenter jay, I now can tell you that the playback singer is the film’s producer and Govinda’s brother, Kirti Kumar, and the music is by Bappi Lahiri.

 

Thanks to Genelia01 for the video.

And for a great collection of Govinda and more, check out texanqueen at YouTube.

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Video of the Day: “First Day First Show of Halla Bol”

Yaaro, click HERE to see “First Day First Show of Halla Bol,”

starring: Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan, Pankaj Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Ishteyak, Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Ruby Bhatia, Pahlaj Nihalani, Neeraj Vora, Tusshar Kapoor, Ranjit Kapoor, Mukesh Tiwari, Lekh Tandon, and Sayali Bhagat.

The movie goers say some of the following: “Very good movie.” “Pankaj Kapoor, was too good.” “Good.” “It was a good movie.” “Five star movie.” “Trust me it’s awesome!” But I don’t hear my favorite thing I so often hear them say in India: “Superb!”

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