A to Z of Kishore Kumar

I will try and list songs sung by Kishore Kumar that start with each letter or have it in the first word.

A- Are yaar meri tum bhi ho ghazab
B- Bhanwre ki gunjan hai mera dil
C- Chingari, koi bhadke..
D- Deewana leke aaya hai dil ka taraana
E- Ek main aur ek tu dono mile is tarah
F- Maaf karo o baba maaf karo
G- Guni jano re bhakt jano
H- Hum the woh thi aur sama rangeen samajh gaye na..mannu, tera hua ab mera kya hoga?
I - Is mod se jaate hain.
J- Jaane kya soch kar nahin guzra
K- Kuchh to log kahenge
L- Lekar hum deewana dil
M- Main hoon jhum jhum jhum jhum jhumroo
N- Nakhrewali, dekhne mein dekhlo yeh kaisi bholi bhali
O- O mere dil ke chain
P- Phoolon ke rang se
Q- Beqaraar dil tu gaaye ja
R- Raatkali ek khwab mein aayi aur gale ka haar hui
S- Saamne yeh kaun aaya dil mein hui hulchul
T- Teri duniya se hoke majboor chala
U- Ulfat mein zamaane ki har rasm ko thukrao
V- Vaada tera vaada..
W- Woh shaam kuchh ajeeb thee
X- (From Mr. X in Bombay)- Mere mehboob qayamat hogi..
Y- Yeh dil na hota bechara
Z- Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hai jo makaam woh phir nahin aate..

Remembering Sanjeev Kumar

This hero was unlike any other. He acted much beyond his age, and also played heroes who were older, like in Aandhi (with Suchitra Sen, with some great songs penned by Gulzar and tuned by R.D. Burman), and in younger roles, romanced Hema Malini (Seeta aur Geeta) and Leena Chandavarkar (Manchali was a delight).

Comedy? Angoor was a classic, with two Sanjeevs and two Deven Vermas. Tragedy? Khilona, where he played a tragically ill man. Nine roles? No problem- Naya Din Nayi Raat was the film.

Father of the hero? Trishul... of the Heroine? Parichay. College kid? Devata (this film had the song Chal baithen church ke peechey). Dashing inspector and then the village thakur who is the centrepiece of the blockbuster Sholay.

Manoranjan was another delightful film where he played a cop who tries to rescue a prostitute because he is in love with her- a remake of Irma La Douce.

Another memorable film of his was Koshish, where he and Jaya Bhaduri played a deaf and dumb couple.

Discovering Indian Culture

I came across, thanks to Padmapriya, a former student and an actor with a conscience (and a National Award to boot), a novel organisation that she joined recently. It is called Sahapedia, on the lines of a wiki, and is about discovering various facets of culture.

It is an open online forum that relates to Indian culture and heritage. This is the link if it interests you, to find out more-  https://www.sahapedia.org/aboutus
Heritage walks are one way they do it, but there are many other dimensions to their activities such as writings, videos etc.

I found the idea very interesting, and hope to engage a little more when possible.

Om Puri Obituary

He proved that good looks are not mandatory for an actor to succeed. He was far from good-looking, but played many memorable roles. Some films that I can remember are Aakrosh, Jaane bhi do yaaro, Ardh-satya, Gupt. He had an excellent voice, and emoted well on screen, whether it was as a hero or any other character. He had a hilarious role in Janne bhi do yaaro, along with Satish Shah and others. I still remember a few of his scenes and dialogues..

Along with Naseeruddin Shah, he brought many themes to life in the so-called parallel cinema of Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal and so on. He also starred in commercial cinema, and some Hollywood productions, though I did not watch any of those.

His personal life was mired in some controversies, but professionally he was one of the best. I remember watching him on the Anupam Kher show along with Naseer, his classmate at the film institute, and they were fun to watch, quite candid about things they did. There is also a fond mention of him in Naseer's autobiography that I read a couple of years ago.

Will miss him.

Naseeruddin Shah's Autobiography- A Review

I was excited when I heard this (And Then One Day) had been published, and even more when I found it  in a bookstore sometime ago- and this time, the excitement was justified.

It is like no other autobiography I have read (including my own, one that I like a lot). Particularly in the kind of self-deprecation it indulges in. Most autobiographies start out with the premise of the protagonist as hero, but this one rarely gets into that mode, if at all. It is honest, brutally so at times, and though initially he comes from a privileged family background, it takes you through tribulations of the worst kind that he suffers-mostly cheerfully.

The feeling of being perceived as utterly useless by parents, schools, and teachers is all-pervasive through most of his early life, and makes you wonder at our schooling system. But then, the same system provides him opportunities to watch some wonderful Hollywood films (in boarding school), and nurtures his interest. And guardian angels do appear when he needs them, like Purveen, his first wife, and teachers like Ebrahim Alkazi at National School of Drama, and Shyam Benegal, who gives him a break in films when he is not at all sure of how to step into them after his acting course at Pune's Film Institute.

His takes on popular films, actors and directors are absolutely hilarious, and his frank admission that he did not know how to act in them rings true. He is critical about most of his films, actually. Even the good ones.

His imitation of a Bengali director (of Sunaina, a re-make of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights)- 'Breeng me the shit (bring me the sheet)', asking his assistant to get him some working sheet, is also worth recounting as are his observations about Indian theatre (both Hindi and English). He sometimes performed his plays for audiences of ten or twenty, for the sheer love of it.

I will heartily recommend this book to anyone at all. Film buffs will find it even more enjoyable and enriching, no doubt. If you are considering writing an autobiography, do read it before you do. I wish I had!

Sanjeev Kumar- An Actor Par Excellence

This is a random tribute to a great actor I grew up watching. In roles that needed him to do a variety of things. Scream at Gabbar Singh with rage in Sholay (his voice was one of the highlights), act mentally ill and dependent on his caretaker in Khilona, act playful on roller-skates in Seeta aur Geeta (hawa ke saath saath, ghata ke sung sung...maybe the only song on roller skates), act coy in Manchali, but also mischievous (O manchali, kahan chali ..was one of my favourites for its energy).

His nawab who says Shabba Khair (good night in Urdu) in a particular style, in Manoranjan, a comedy based on Irma La Douce, his nine roles in Naya Din Nayi Raat, his tortured self in Trishul, his deaf and dumb act in Koshish, his song in half-pants in Devata (chal baithe church ke peeche), his boss wooing multiple scretaries in office with the same sad story in Pati, Patni aur Woh, were some more memorable roles. I think he also was the bride-killing monster in Jaani Dushman.

And his double role in Angoor, along with Deven Varma in a double role, was one of his best.

He could bring romantic roles to life just as easily as tense ones with gravitas, and his acting was very natural in any situation he played out. In real life, he was Haribhai Jariwala, from Gujarat. One of the truly great actors we have had in Hindi movies.

If I Ever Start A Business

If I ever start a business, these would be my top choices-

1. A retail store at Pune. Do nothing all the time, turn customers away half the time, a siesta from 1 pm to 4 pm. And still make enough sales to make a living. Marketing theory can go to hell.

2. A real estate agent. Do nothing most of the time, show a couple of houses to a customer once in a while, and make money because the guys are desperate to live somewhere, so they have to rent/buy

3. A sharebroker. This is my top choice, because there is greed all over the world, and it will make me (the share broker) rich. I would have said a dealer in fancy derivatives, but that game has now been overdone, and I might go to jail. Guys ahead of me on the curve got away with it.

4. Sell biryani (and kababs on the side) with a fail-safe recipe, preferably Hyderabadi or Lucknowi, in a place where they eat tons of it, like Hyderabad, or Lucknow. Having your cake and eating it too. I would enjoy dying with the aroma surrounding me. The stuff is God's gift to mankind (effect of a recent visit to Hyderabad).

5. Be a film star, preferably a Khan or a Kapoor or a Bachchan. Even with zero talent, producers will sign me on for at least five films, and if they all flop, I can still make merry with my grandpa's earnings.

Maybe you can think of a few more for me and you. We have time....