Dream Girl (New)- Film Review

I am quite happy that the "middle-of-the-road" cinema is still alive. Rather tired of the hyped other stuff (signs that I am old?)- maybe due to an overdose of bad films in recent times. The plot is king here-a deftly arranged and directed one.

This film has shades of Gol Maal by Hrishikesh Mukherjee with switched identities-only, here the confusion is much more. Many people simultaneously loving a "girl" at the other end of a phone line is the basic plot. The dialogue is clever, and raises quite a few laughs.

Mostly depending on Ayushmaan (he has gone places, from Dum Laga Ke Haisha onwards till here) and Annu Kapoor, some of the other characters- like the poet-policeman (Vijay Raaz?), Dadi, and the Sardar friend, have done very well. Nushrat Bharucha is adequate in a male-dominated story. But then, Gol Maal was also male-dominated, with Utpal Dutt and Amol Palekar stealing the show.

Go watch it for fun. The music is bad, but inconsequential to the film. The lecture at the end was also unnecessary, I thought..got too may lectures in life, maybe?

Golden Voice and More

Once upon a time, there was a golden voice on radio. It was that of Ameen Sayani, who was a host of a countdown of the week's hit songs-usually film songs. Starting with sales figures for records (LP or EP), those old-fashioned things, he moved on to using opinions of fan clubs around the country also. The program began as Binaca Geet Mala after the toothpaste brand, from Radio Ceylon, and morphed into Cibaca Geet Mala after a rebranding exercise. The country was also 'rebranded' so it was Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation which broadcast the show. Anyway, this popular hit parade had countless fans including me. Now, I am listening to some CDs by him (Ameen Sayani) called Geetmala ki chhaon mein that recount the glory days. Makes for fantastic listening. It is interwoven with interviews with various luminaries, and comes in yearwise volumes. One of the gems was listening to RD Burman talk about his inspiration- jazz, brass instruments and the cabaret format- for his songs from Teesri Manzil.

I am also listening to/viewing a show on Mastii channel called Golden Era, hosted by Annu Kapoor, of Antakshari fame. It is also similar, and pertains to the songs of my times. Very enjoyable!