Images of Leela Naidu from Anuradha (1960) and Trikaal (1885)

She was known as one of the most beautiful women in the world:

Last month while checking my blog dashboard, I noticed skyrocketing hits searching a post I’d done a while back on The Householder (1963). Closer inspection revealed to me that the  search engine term that referred people to the blog was Leela Naidu.  It was then I read the news that she had died on July 28, 2009. Since I posted a few pictures of Naidu in The Householder post, people were coming to look at her.  Then I went ahead to look for more images of Naidu online and  I noticed that there weren’t too many, though Pitu Sultan has a few great ones HERE.   So as a public service, I went ahead to take some screen caps of this lovely woman from two more of her films.  I saw Anuradha (1960) from the beginning of her career and Trikaal (1985) from the end of her career.  In each of these films she played the suffering wife and looked and acted equally beautiful in both.

Here are a few images of Leela Naidu from Anuradha.  She begins the film as a famous singer:

Anuradha Roy (Leela Naidu), a noted radio singer and daughter of a rich man, falls in love with an idealistic doctor, Dr. Nirmal Chowdhary (Balraj Sahni), who serves the poor in the distant village Nanda gaon. After the marriage and a daughter, she realizes the gravity of the choice of living in a village, it is then she has to decide between her love and her love for city life. (source)

After marriage to a doctor (Balraj Sahni) assigned to work in a rural village, Anuradha (Naidu) loses here fame and stands around looking gorgeous, waiting for her husband to pay some attention to her:

Extra credit in Anuradha:

There’s  a brief apperance by David, who is looking very young here.

Twenty five years after making Arunadha (1960), Leela Naidu starred in Trikaal (1985) , where she continued to look glamorous.

Trikaal (1985) (Past, Present and Future) is an Indian movie written and directed by Shyam Benegal, setin Goa during the early 1960’s (pre liberation) Period. The film starred yester years actress, Leela Naidu, in a comeback role after many decades. Set in 1961 Goa, when colonial rule of Portuguese was on its last gasp,  the movie revolves around the life and tribulations of a fictional Goan Christian family called “Souza Soares”. (source)

Extra credit in Trikaal: You get to see Naseeruddin Shahas well as Kunal Kapoor. No not that Kunal Kapoor, but the Kunal Kapoor who is Shashi Kapoor’s son, playing Captain Rebeiro.  Can you see a resemblance? I believe I can.

There were also some great subtitles.  I like seeing the use of “paining”:

Anti European comments are always a pleasure:

And, best of all, the use of the term spinster always makes me smile, since I am a spinster myself! Jai spinsters!

Naidu is pictured here above with Neena Gupta and Anita Kanwar.  There was also an appearance by playback singer Alisha Chinai, who played a singer of all things. 

The song performed was a nice love ballad in what I thought might be Portuguese, but is more likely in Konkani, but I couldn’t find it online, so allow me to substitute a completely unrelated Alisha Chinai song since I admit I love it, and I know you probably will too. So here’s the interval to this post:

~ INTERVAL ~

Teekay, the interval is finished, back to Trikaal. Naidu’s Dona Maria Souza-Soares  raises Milagrenia as her own child, even though she’s the child her husband fathers in one of his many affairs.  Kuta! The classy Dona Maria shares both her grief and wisdom over the loss of her husband with Milagrenia.

The two women share seances and finally have a mystic vision leaving them at peace with their grief and confusion:

I was able to find some prophetic images from both films where we can imagine Naidu is speaking on the end of her own life on this earth:

And perhaps talking about what’s going on with her now:

And if you’d still like to see more of Leela Naidu…

Rest in peace Leela Naidu.

◊ ◊ ◊

For a more in depth look into Naidu’s life, read Leela: A Patchwork Life, by Naidu along with Jerry Pinto, reviewed here by G Sampath in his article The importance of being Leela Naidu for  DNA.

Read Full Post »

On behalf of the USA, mujhe maaf kardo Shah Rukh Khan-ji

In case you didn’t already know…

Shah Rukh Khan, 43, known here as the King of Bollywood, was on his way to Chicago for a parade later Saturday to mark India’s Independence Day when immigration officials at Newark pulled him aside and interrogated him. The star of scores of top-grossing films was released after Indian consular officials vouched for him. “I was really hassled — perhaps because of my name being Khan,” he said in a text message to reporters in India. “These guys just wouldn’t let me through.” ….(source)

Forgive them SRK, for they know not what they do. Sorry bhaisahib, on behalf of America, mujhe maaf kardo Shah Rukh Khan-ji. I apologize for the USA detaining you at the airport, and sorry for the buzz kill to your Indian Independence Day.

On a related note…

And another…

And this is WHO he was going to see!

Read Full Post »

Happy Independence Day 2009

Happy Independence Day India!

Here are Shashi Kapoor and Kader Khan from Ghar Ek Mandir (1984) wishing you you the same:

While playing on the internet I came across the South Asia Citizens Web and a set of resources on the partition which brought me to this set of photos from the BBC  News below.

And thanks to my Mumbaikar dost, Vaibhav, for sending the lovely images of prosperity of India, as he tells me, “these are the most beautiful words (Sanskrit) which all Indians are aware of.”  Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Chocolate (2007) & Malayalam subtitle fun

Dosto, with the help of my seasoned VCR, I traveled down south to the tip of mother India to watch a Malayalam film titled Chocolate (2007).  I love the description here, which must have come from some review:

Chocolateis a Malayalam movie released in 2007, directed by Shafi. This is a campus story entertainer. Main actors are Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Roma, Samvrutha Sunil, and Remya Nabeeshan. Music by Alex Paul and lyrics by Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma and Singers are M.G. Sreekumar and Rimi Tomy. With Prithviraj playing the Casanova, director Shafi’s new offering Chocolate — with its sweet smelling aroma is indeed delicious. Easy on the eyes, soft on the ears, this pure comedy entertainer, which centers on a gallivanting gadabout, being the lone male in an all women’s college, is chock-a-block with hilarity as Prithiviraj plays protagonist Shyam to the hilt. Playing perfect foil to him are Roma, Samvritha Sunil and Remya Nabeeshan as Ann, Nandana and Susanna – the trio who are against a male entering into their kingdom. Debutants Sachi and Sethu’s screenplay sparkles with laugh-a-minute scenes. (source)

You get the idea now of the whimsical plot: lone male student at an all women’s college. Wacky! Also HOT!  Now I know some people assume that south Indian films are a tad bit violent and perhaps misogynistic. I think that’s a stereotype about Mollywood, right?

Damn!

Also, of course all the men had moustaches since this was a Southie film.  Now that I think of it, I don’t recall ever seeing a man without the moustache in the film. Now to the subtitle fun.  There were quite a few times that I saw some great nonsensical subtitles.  Here are a few from one on the dance numbers:

Other times I saw subtitles that on the surface made no sense, but for some reason, I really understood what they were trying to say, since I now understand that I lived in Kochi in a previous life.  Like these…perfectly sensible to me:

As in many movies, in Chocolate there are a lot of misunderstanding stacked upon misunderstanding which drive the plot.

Now take a look at this series regarding the “improper behavior”  news that even made the paper and I will translate the translations:

The message above means that since there was only information given over the phone, it can’t be confirmed as reliable…

Yes, this means even in India there are haters, just jealous of carefree youth and their masti.

This means so what if a young man and women were in a room together unchaperoned for a short time, it doesn’t mean they had relations of a sexual nature.  If this was true, Prithviraj’s character is trying to say that it would follow that 2 men in a room together unchaperoned would then be guilty of homosexuality.

I really liked Roma Asrani and Prithviraj, first time seeing them both and they were adorable.  OK, Prithviraj was HOT, but I don’t feel right saying that since he’s so my junior, hai na?  The supporting costars Samvrutha Sunil and Jayasurya also did a nice job and I’d like to see more of their work.  Well let’s see all four actors in a song from the film, shall we? This isn’t a flashy song, but I did like the simple dancing, since I think I could easily join them if I were an understudy suddenly called to action. “Where’s that gori?  Roma broke her ankle! Find the gori extra, stat! We need her to fill in for the item number now!” I also thought that Briyanshu would enjoy the first 20 seconds of this scene and the song  Ishtamalle Ishtamalle:

Lyrics in Malayalam, but I don’t know what they mean.

Ultimately the film has a happy ending:  the hero carrying off his love interest, in caveman style:

and uplifting message of equality:

Plus, I love seeing the word enemity used in subtitles:

If you’re interested in watching the movie,  it has been uploaded at Daily Motion in several segments with English subtitles HERE.

Now, I wonder why the movie was titled Chocolate, and also wonder what the term “chocolate boy” means in India?  I’ve both heard and read “chocolate boy” and don’t know what it means.  Chocolate boy matlab? Is it like a metrosexual? Could that have something to then do with the film’s title?

Read Full Post »

On what Bollywood star would you tie a rakhi?

It’s Raksha Bandham time dosto.  Since I’m a full throttle cultural pirate of all things Indian due to my Bollywood addiction, I thought of this question for us all:  On what Bollywood star would you tie a rakhi?

Raksha Bandhan (the bond of protection in Hindi and Panjabi) is a Hindu festival, which celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters. It is celebrated on the full moon of the month of Shraavana. The festival is marked by the tying of a rakhi, or holy thread by the sister on the wrist of her brother. The elder brother in return offers a gift to his sister and vows to look after her same while an elder sister returns offers to her younger brother. The brother and sister traditionally feed each other sweets. It is not necessary that the rakhi can be given only to a brother by birth; any male can be “adopted” as a brother by tying a rakhi on the person, that is “blood brothers and sisters”, whether they are cousins or a good friend. Indian history is replete with women asking for protection, through rakhi, from men who were neither their brothers, nor Hindus themselves. (source-ji)

I recall the first time I saw this done in a movie and someone tied a super big fancy one on  Amitabh in some film.  Fancy like this:

It was Angry young man Amitabh, so perhaps it was in Zanjeer?  I can’t recall.  Tell me if you can.  Anyway, this got me thinking about what star could offer me imaginary brotherly protection.  It was a toss up between Anupam Kher and Amrish Puri, with Paresh Rawal as third runner up for next year.  So this year I have a tie (get it, a tie? ) and tie my imaginary rakhi on Anupam Kher AND Amrish Puri.

I choose the sacred bond with Anupam for his intelligence and ability to work in a wide range of films. He offers wisdom and humor which are qualities I’d like in a brother, plus I love his bibi, Kirron Kher, so it’s like a 2 for one. Then, I’d tie the other rakhi on Amrish Puri.  I figure since he’s dead that would be some supernatural rakhi power and protection from the other side. Who wouldn’t like Amrish Puri on their good side? Imagine if someone dared to cross you and Amrish stepping on to the scene and starting one of his outrageous villain rants on your behalf. Now that would be the limit! Yeah do you know who my brother is? I’d mention his name, and there would be no trouble.

Now tell me the Bollywood star on whom you would you tie the sacred knot and why? You can think about your answer while you watch this rakhi scene from  Hum Saath-Saath Hain  (1999) which I haven’t seen but must:

Read Full Post »

Sonu! Please reschedule the Minneapolis “Explosion 2009” show bhai!

Thanks to some comments left on THIS POST I found out some bad news. NAHIN!!!!!!!! Right now it looks like some of the Explosion 2009 tour dates have changed and I no longer see my fair city of Minneapolis listed as a stop.  I hope the show gets rescheduled, and if not I hope I can get my money back for my tickets.   Here’s the latest  on the remaining tour dates from his site:

Sonu Niigaam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Hard Kaur live in Concert…With pleasure we announce the schedule for the tour.. Be there to witness and experience the biggest explosion of 2009..It will be one you will remember all your lives!!

7th August 2009 – Houston

8th August 2009 – San Fransisco/Oakland

9th August 2009 – Denver

15th August 2009 – Phoenix – but not confirmed til now

16th August 2009 – Los Angeles – NEW DATE

25th September 2009 – Boston –  NEW DATE – but not confirmed til now

I went over to the Explosion 2009 tour site and personally asked him to come.  It can’t hurt, right?  Maybe this will help too:

♥  ♥  ♥

UPDATE!  as of 8/5/09

It’s now back on!

22nd 23rd August 2009 – Minneapolis – NEW DATE

Read Full Post »