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Lights, sound vibes & Bollywood bytes
And so for the festive season, a few snippets of irony and sarcasm,
to be taken in the right spirit.
Question: What to say to make Big B a more angry old man?
Answer: Say that Bollywood must be re-named Hollywood Jr. (Junior).
Bachchan is always annoyed at the Hindi film industry being called
Bollywood, as it is a secondary version. The fact is that it has
always walked in the foot-steps of Hollywood, like a mentally blank
child.
 Big
B is still called Super Sexy and all that, Karan's latest KANK has
made the most of his old patron. But what has really sustained him
are his voice, height and lovable attitude. When he was at the peak,
I had asked him in an on-camera interview for Swiss TV, why he did
not aim to be an international star like Omar Sharif.
He said: "Better to remain a king in one's own territory rather
than play second fiddle outside". So he threw in his lot with nonsensical
Manmohan Desai or commercial Prakash Mehra, which brought his hero's
career to an end. Due credit to him tha the managed to stand on
his own two elderly lanky feet, as an entertainer.
He also steered sonny Abhishek to follow his shadow. So much so
that 'bacccha' is competing with another 'King' …… Khan Shah Rukh.
Poor Karan Johar had to juggle the limelight by putting a merry
song-dance to shift the focus away from S. R. K. in "Kabhi Alvida
Na Kehna". Pam Chopra or Kiron Kher beware. The title was a brain-child
of gems showman Bappi Lahiri's hit song. So no false claims, please.
 Karisma
Kapoor (or Lolo to use her infancy name given by Babita) has been
so much in and out of marriage that people are now not bothering
if she is married, legally separated, briefly united, divorced or
just plain single, with ma's surname again. The way she talks about
some coming films, like Maduri Dixit, signals that being housewife
and mother are on the back-burner. Why can't these actresses… sorry
actors (the new word)… withdraw gracefully or avoid marriage like
chickungunya?. Lolo may send her bio to old man M. F. Husain who
wants a muse for his Raja Ravi Verma… preferably semi-nude.
Hrithik Roshan is literally flying high after "Krrish". Another
papa's boy, he followed Rakesh's dictates in the film, conceived
in a juvenile way, matching the footsteps of the old Superman series.
The film's real trick was to sign the foreign wizard, who could
do special flying effects just as in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon",
which had even dazzled Hollywood. The spectacular stunts pulled
the average formula stuff of "Krrish", ignoring event the bad songs.
By the way it has led to a rift in the Roshan khandaan, with father
and son distancing from composer Rajesh who is not in form these
days. There were heated voice vibes from the usually gentle Hrithik
to his uncle, who is surely not doing the next sequel of the E.
T-Jadoo stuff, which could be Batman, Spiderman, or even Matrix.
But to give the devil his due, "Krrish" attained 11th rank among
top 20 hits in U. K. It collected ten lakh pounds in three weeks.
And it was rated better than the sloppily made new "Superman Returns"
with Brandon Routh. Now India is bringing it own Desi "Krrishwoman"
called India's first Superwoman.
Jackie Shroff, who was once the rowdy Jaggu Dada himself, plays
a gentleman teacher of mischief-bound boys and girls. It is the
recent release "We r Friends" which has new youngsters showing off
their "stuff" in both senses. The film on the lines of the hit "Style"
carries a statutory warning for elders. It is captioned as a "wake-up
call to parents". Why? Bikini-clad girls and jeans-trousered boys
use slang lingo like: "Hot babe dance with me tonight ---- we are
fully loaded ---- I am home alone ----- she is not my type ----
you make my day ----- come close ---- but no fun, fandu', etc.
Bollywood's latest status symbol seems to be breaking up marriages
and having extra-marital affairs. Is this the signal to prepare
our society for becoming immoral and amorous? Or, is it some plan
to cover up the industry's insider stories, of real marriages gone
splitsway, due to love affairs with stars? Karan's KANK seems an
apology for one of Yash Raj's scions to desert a non-film old marriage.
And coincidence or not, Rani Mukherji's name was dragged into it
as the home-breaker.
Seeing the
film now, people realize that Rani is actually playing such a role,
ditching hubby Abhishek to link up with S. R. K., who too says "alvida"
to wife Zinta. So was the real-life case an advance publicity stunt
for the film? Or, was it a justifying of the leading producer's
actions? The film being based in New York adds to the theory of
foreign ideas being foisted on average Indian couples, who can face
disasters after divorce. And the Americans will have a big laugh
at the film, because divorces there are taken for the filmisiest
of reasons, like husband and wife disagreeing on a TVC programme.
 On
the one hand Hindi films are promoting wedlocks on the rocks. The
other hand shows four coming films built around honeymoon. The sex
comedies have a merry mess of wedded bliss. "Salaam-e-Ishq" has
six couples, Pritish Nandy's new film has eight, Humayun Rangeela
has picked five from TV's Laughter-Champion show and Ritesh Sidhwani
has twisted the same story with as many as dozen couples. All will
tamely go back to their own spouses without divorce, as per tradition.
Seeing all this, Meghna Gulzar has changed her earlier title "Honeymoon"
and re-named the film as "Baat Pakki". Keep guessing if the 'baat'
is for marriage or divorce, looking to Gulzan Sahab's own past of
not getting along with Raakhee Gulzar.
'Saigal'
Film revives golden eraReviewed
by: P. V. G. (F. T. I. I.)
In
his series of Anthology films, the famous film author and historian
Firoze Rangoonwalla has just added one more gift connecting past
and future. It is "Saigal, Actor & Singer", an audio-visual delight
in video format, for old and new generations.
Kundal Lal Saigal belonged to the 30's and 40's with films as old
as 60 to 70 years from 1934 onwards. To obtain the rare footage,
Firoze and his team tapped their sources in Kolkata, for getting
some really amazing and forgotten films. The anthology in 2 V.C.D.'s
and 1 D.V.D. runs into two and a half hours. Our films are live
and institutes are also collaborating.
Haunting the memory and jerking tears are scenes from "Devdas",
"Chandidas", "President", "Meri Bahen", "Dushman", "Street Signer",
"Shah Jehan", and others down to his last film "Parwana" in 1947
when Saigal passed away. The most eye-opening is "Lagan" where the
tragedian and good soul plays a wholly negative character, later
done by other stars.
As per his belief not linking songs to Cinema, Firoze in his spotting
and editing has highlighted dramatic scenes of the natural actor
in Saigal. The songs of course come in snatches, like "Jab dil hi
toot gaya" of "Kateeb-e-Taqdir".
A fitting tribute to the golden era of Indian Cinema, "Saigal" is
being lapped up by old-timers and vintage collectors to preserve
the career of a star cum singer who became a national idol.
(Inquiries on Cell: 98921 07502.)
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