My Bollywood loving fans-ji. I think you’ll appreciate this funny podcast from BBC Radio’s Adil Ray regarding what he’s experiencing from theSlumdog Millionaire Academy Award’s win fallout, not to mention the SAG and Golden Globe awards as well. It’s a slumfest! As a Bollywood fan I bet you’re experiencing Slumdog fallout too. Mahesh Manjrekarand Anil Kapoor are both interviewed in this clip and are a lot of fun to hear. Anil-ji speaks of his mustache and stubble being his only real contribution to the Indian Film Industry.
Adil becomes a Slumdog Millionaire expert and tracks down actors Mahesh Manjrekar and Anil Kapoor from the film. Pablo from Love Bollywood gets the wind up treatment and even Akon gets in on the Slumdog action. (podcast)
Remember fans, we were on the Indian bandwagon first. 😀 I suppose I can’t say that, since it makes me sound like a jerk, but you’ll understand, right? How many people come up to you at work or out and about, knowing you like Bollywood and say, Now YOU must have seen Slumdog Millionaire? This is what I want to say:
Hey but it’s not really Bollywood. It’s only taking the best ingredients of Bollywood and that’s why you like it hai! If you liked Anil in that you’d love him in a real Bollywood film. What about those 2 littlest ones from the slums? Yeah Fox or whoever is going to pay for school and apartments of the wee slumdogs and family, but then will people in their home be kidnapped and held ransom for $? Will those tikes seeing Disney Land warp them? I mean to see Disney Land and then get dropped back into Mumbai, everyone knowing you’re a star now…won’t they be continually harassed for money, even though they’re like 5 or 6? And A.R. Rahman is fantastic, but he’s done so much more and so many songs I like so much more! I mean that sound track to Bombay is so beautiful. Jai Ho is cool, but I mean come on, he’s so much more! Rahman himself even says that’s not his best work in THIS ARTICLE. And did you know when A.R. Rahman got his award and quoted and Indian movie saying Ma mere pas hai, that it was from Deewaar ? (Thanks theBollywoodFan for letting me know what movie it was from in his post HERE.) I mean if you wanna see real Bollywood, you ought see Deewaar! Plus the dancing at the end was OK, but I thought it was sort of making fun of Bollywood. I wanted to see more gusto in the dancing! And Irfan Khan! Did you even notice how HOT he is? And, and, and…
I don’t say that though, I only smile an say stuff like, “Yeah it was great!” Sometimes I manage to work in, “Well if you liked that then you’d love real Bollywood films.” Yet then I hear, “But isn’t that Bollywood?”
On a more positive note, I predict that Bollywood will soon no longer be highlighted in spell check with the popularity of Slumdog, even though it’s not Bollywood.
When I saw Dil Hi Dil Mein (2000), I felt like a genius, or an idiot, or both. I kept thinking that since this was originally a Tamil movie titled Kadhalar Dhinam (1999), that is was probably dubbed into Hindi. But then I’d see scenes where the lips were completely synching up with the Hindi, and Bollywood actors like Anupan Kher and Johnny Lever. These guys don’t do Tamil movies, right? I felt like I did when I was a kid seeing dubbing for the first time in some Godzilla film on TV some Saturday afternoon. As a 5 year old watching that, I knew there was something off with the voices; adult women pretending to talk like kids for the children’s parts, and lips not matching up with the voices. Well here’s the genius part, when doing my post movie internet research I read this:
The film’s success prompted Hindi Distributors to dub the film in Hindi as“Dil Hi Dil Mein”. However, director Kathir had actually reshot scenes in Hindi featuring actor Kunal and Anupam Kher [Replacing the Kunal-Manivannan tracks] conversing in Hindi while Johnny Lever’s scenes replaced the Goundamani Tracks [Even though he appeared briefly for the Chand Aaya Haisong] with the same Titanic hairdo. Even the tracks dubbed from the Tamil version were re shot with Hindi synchronization sans for the first line of Roja Roja. Actor Nasser, though dubbed in Hindi, had given his Hindi synching in the song “Sawar Gayee”. Though actors Kunal and Sonali Bendre had synched their dialogues in Hindi, the rest of the film was dubbed and became a flop at box office. (wikipedia)
So there! It’s not completely dubbed over, since some portions were actually re shot in Hindi, so those no-dubbing lips were completely synchronized, since they were speaking Hindi after all. So this is what I will now term a hybrid dubbing film, since I don’t know what else to call it. Do you? Here’s a bit about the film:
Kadhalar Dhinammeaning Lover’s Day (English) is a 1999 Tamil film directed by Kathir. This film is based upon love which started upon an internet chatroom and how it developed. The movie stars Kunal, Sonali Bendre, Nassar, Manivannan, Goundamani, Rambha, Visu and Chinni Jayanth. This film was also known as the transition film between the 20th Century and the 21st Century.Produced by A.M. Rathnam and the music was composed by A.R. Rahman. The film was released April 1999 and was a box-office record breaker.(wikipedia)
What I enjoyed most in this movie is the story of how Rosa’s wealthy, accomplished father, played by the very handsome Nassar, once was an orphan. Who doesn’t love a good orphan story? With his orphan background, he’s naturally drawn to help out Raja, who he has no idea is in love with his very own daughter!
Orphans unite! Here are some images to show the rough start Roja’s daddy had before winning his hard earned success.
Well one of the things wrong with begging in this case was that they didn’t give the little girl milk, so she’d cry with passion and get more money from begging. But they went too far and she died.
As an young orphan boy, Roja’s dad, aka son of the eclipse, was blamed for his sister’s death, since her begging money went to pay his tuition and satisfy his lust for education.
Well it sounds to me like his mom was projecting her guilt over her beti’s death onto her son. I hope he eventually grew to understand this. I do love these neglected orphan tales though. All the suffering!
I found the Dorthy Hammil hair of the lead star, Kunal, distracting. For those who aren’t old enough to recall, Dorthy Hammil was the gold medel winning figure skating darling of the 1975 Olympics, who stormed the world with her sassy hairdo.
Even Johnny Lever’s character wore the Dorthy Hammil hair:
“…and your tresses look like those of Dorthy Hammil.”
When I tried to find out more about Kunal, I was saddened to see that he committed suicide on Feburary 7, 2008, which is incidentally my birthday. I heard Dorthy Hammil interviewed on the radio recently and she spoke of her struggles with depression, which must have been what Kunul suffered from, since untreated depression is the cause of suicide. So sad. But we have this nice movie to remember him by.
Now on a lighter note, who doesn’t like dancing with sticks? Do you know if there’s an official name for this style of stick dancing? You can see it here in “Daandiya Aattam,” fromDHDM, with music by A.R. Rahman:
Thanks to memsaabfor coming through with the answer to my question. The dancing with sticks is called dandiya raas which has an interesting history you can read about at Dandiya: The Great Indian Social Dance. Look! The type of dance is right there in the title of the song, “Daandiya Aattam.”
Right from childhood Kundavi has been brought up in a small village called Ambasamudram. She has two good friends right from school and one day both of her friends got married and leave. Kundavi’s father then fixes up her marriage with Goutham (Surya). Both look gloomy and dull during the wedding. Then the scene drifts to a period after six years in Bombay where they have 5 year old daughter and live as a happily married couple. Goutham works as a chief mechanic and he designs a new function for the car and he gets to go to New York for a short period. During this time, Jyothika somehow catches hold of Goutham’s old diary during his college days and the story goes back showing Goutham as a college wiz kid. In college, he was the popular guy who gets attracted to Aishu (Bhoomika Chawla), a local MP‘s daughter. Gautham and Aishu fall in love and they decided to get married. At the registrar’s office after Gautham ties the thali, Aishu’s father and his men beat him up and takes Aishu away. At the end of the diary, Goutham had written a note that basically said “if I have one wish, it would be to live with Aishu happily at least for one day.”From flashback, the scene now turns to the present as Goutham comes back from New York and finds his wife changed. She works late and avoids him. At this point, Kundavi goes and finds out Gautham’s lost love Aishu. Aishu has changed to a western clad modern girl in contrast to the salwar kameez girl in college. Kundavi tells Aishu to come over to her house and she tells her husband that he should live happily with Aishu for a day. Half heartedly though, Kundavi leaves her husband and goes. What happens in this one day forms the rest of the story. (wikipedia)
I’d sure love to see this movie! Any English subtitles? This is my Christmas wish:Tamil speaking people of Kollywood, I beg you, please subtitle your movies in English, like the kind people of Bollywood do!Must I learn Tamil to partake of your movies? (Yes, I know some of the Tamil movies DO have English subtitles, but not as many as Bollywood.)
Thanks to rajhanish for the YouTube video. Lyrics in Tamil, sorry no English translation yet. Here’s a good blog about the movie.
p.s. It’s August 30, 2008, and I finally watched Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, and of course easily found an English subtitled version at Netflix. I really enjoyed it!
Set in modern India, it’s a classical tale of a widowed mother and her three daughters: Saumya and Meenakshi who are grown-up and beautiful, and Kamla who is still at school. They live with the widow’s father in his grand country house. The father, who is ill, dies unable to communicate that he wants to change his will. Everything is left to his son, Sam, and Sam’s mean wife. The family of women, who have spent years looking after the father, are evicted by Sam and his wife and are forced to move to Madras. Before this, both elder daughters have developed a romantic interest: Saumya with Manohar, a budding filmmaker returned from America who wants to make his mark in Tamil cinema; and Meenakshi with Srikanth, a young businessman who is involved in some dodgy investments. Major Bala (who is disabled) and his uncle befriend the girls and their mother. Bala, who was a commando major in the Indian army, is shown in the first scene being blown up, resulting in the loss of his leg. He drinks too much as he feels sorry for himself….(wikipedia)
The USA release is titled “I Have Found It.”
Watch the distraught Aishwarya Rai, as Meenakshi, achieveing her dream as a singer, but it means NOTHING because the man she loves is marrying another. But things aren’t so bad, for Mammootty, as Bala, is about to step in and make things right.
Thanks to youtuber guru8537 for the video that includes an English translation. Look what BollyWhat? has to say about it. Lyrics in Tamil.
And if you’re interested in my favorite new internet obsession, it’s watching contestants on “Idea Star Singer 2007,” the Malayalam version of the Idols show. I particularly like Vani Jayaram. Check out her version of today’s video:“Engae Enathu Kavithai”
With a heavy heart I dedicate these videos to Roscoe, a great cat who is now in a better place, if there is a better place than sitting comfortably on a couch watching great movies. I was lucky to have the company of Roscoe while watching many Bollywood movies and will miss him a lot, as will his keeper, mere dost, Tim. Tim provided Roscoe with a lavish lifestyle, usually reserved only for human royality. The videos today are from movies I watched with Roscoe. He will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.
And if you want to cry some more, this ought to help. Here’s a lovely song from a sad scene from the movie Guru (2007), which Roscoe also saw. In this scene are Aishwarya Rai , Vidya Balan and Abhishek Bachchan and the song is “Shauk Hai” by plack singer Sowmya Raoh written by A. R. Rahman, so get a tissue before watching.
Thanks to hyderabadiyt for the youtube video. To hear full song click HERE. Lyrics posted by nevil .
Ok, this isn’t from a Bollywood movie, but I just think it’s a pretty song. I know it’s kind of cheesy and has a super “We Are the World” feel to it, but it drew me in. I am emotional putty in the musical hands of A. R. Rahman. Approximately 65% of his songs bring me to tears. Damn him!
“One Love” (2007) Composed for Campaign to include Taj Mahal among the Seven Wonders of the World. (wikepedia) Rahman has composed an ‘anthem’ to help gather support for the voting campaign to nominate the Taj Mahal as one of the seven wonders of the world. His song worked: The New 7 Wonders of the World.
Shahrukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, and Preity Zinta star in Dil Se, worth watching if only for its fantastic song “Chaiyya Chaiyya,” byA. R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar! I remember reading somewhere that this was filmed without the use of safety harnesses, which makes it all the more impressive if it’s true. Once again, a Bollywood film without a train scene? Never!
“Chaiyya Chaiyya“not only reached the charts in India, but also became popular in England. The song is sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi, with lyrics by Gulzar. It is featured in the opening of the second act of the musical Bombay Dreams. Remixes of the song were used in the opening and closing credits of the 2006 film, Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee and produced by Brian Grazer. The opening credits have the original version by A.R. Rahman with additional trumpet accompaniment and the closing credits feature a hip-hop-inflected remix featuring Punjabi MC (Chaiyya Chaiyya Bollywood Joint). The song was also featured in the pilot episode of the television show Smith. A cover of this song was performed in episode 5 of season 5 of CSI: Miami. The video was filmed on top of the Ooty train in mountainous southern India while actor Shah Rukh Khan dances with Malaika Arora and other dancers. Along with the thrill of dancing atop a moving train, the scenery around the train is equally stunning and beautiful. This music video also started a popular dance called the “Bombay Clap”. The cinematography of the film was handled by Santosh Sivan. The choreography by Farah Khan is considered among the most difficult ever done; a few dancers sustained minor injuries. The film was shot in Kashmir, Assam, Delhi and other parts of India and Bhutan over a period of 55 days. Its cinematography won a National Film Award for cinematographer Santosh Sivan. The film’s score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman. A. R. Rahman received a Filmfare Award for the music. The film became the first Indian film to reach the Top 10 in the UK Box Office Charts, when released in 1998. (wikipedia)
In the Malayalam original, Shobhanaenacted the role and it was a National Award winning performance for the Best Actress. In the Kannada version (Apthamitra), Soundarya one of the top South Indian actresses, played the key role, unfortunately, her last film before her fatal accident. In the Tamil version (Chandramukhi), Jyothikadonned the role and was awarded best actress award by Tamil nadu Government. (wikipedia)
I like the Malayalam version for Shobhana’s dancing. I like the tragic dramatic aspect that the actress in Aaptamitradied, so this was her last role. And I like the crazy head rolling end of Chandramukhi. I like the production values of the Bhool Bhulaiyaa version. Which do you like the best?
Bollywood Food Club 
