One By Two- Film Review

This is a good mystery film (!) The hero does not know what he wants. The heroine does not know what she wants. The hero's friends don't know what he wants. It's all mysterious. For the first half,  we don't know what the director wants.

The only people who know what they want are a generation older. The heroine's mom (Lilette) wants to booze- and does it in style. The hero's mom (Rati Agnihotri) wants him married, and that leads to a predictable but funny song and dance sequence with the hero (Abhay Deol) trying to wriggle out of it. Sadly, the funniness does not last.

The heroine (Preeti Desai) makes a good attempt, but the script and pace let her down. Avoidable. 

Bollywood Nation- Book Review

Vamsee Juluri, the author, is a prof. at an American University, and cannot therefore be taken lightly! He does not disappoint, in this take on Bollywood and the role it plays in the life of an average Indian. I have always been a watcher of Hindi (and some Telugu and Marathi) films, and I could relate to what he was talking about in the whole book. Some of my favourite films figure in his discussions, including the Telugu film Maya Bazaar, which I loved as a child, mainly for the role played by Ghatotkacha in the movie.

This is a serious look at Bollywood from Dadasaheb Phalke's times to the fairly recent films. The analysis of an alternative reality that seems to exist in Indian films (mainstream) is done well, and the relationship between Gods and us mortals in the context of film portrayals also seems plausible.

His argument that films as made here uphold some things that we still hold dear in spite of modern life- feelings, relationships, and morality (the good and the ethical), is one I would like to believe. I sincerely hope that is the case.

A good read if life, and Bollywood portrayals of it, interest you in any way at all.

Saxophone by Manohari Singh

This is inspired by an interview of Manohari Singh I heard on Vividh Bharat, the radio channel. Manohari Singh was a musician who played the saxophone and assisted most of the yesteryear music directors in Hindi films. One of his favourites for the use of his instrument was this song (Main aaya hoon, sung by Kishore Kumar) from the Dev Anand film Amir Garib. He also was part of the duo of Basu Manohari who gave music to Mehmood's film Sabse Bada Rupaiah, if I remember correctly. That had some good songs like "Wada karo jaanam na chhodoge yeh daaman" and the title song, "Na biwi na bachcha...the whole thing is that ke bhaiya sabse bada rupaiah". Enjoy the sax in the Amir Garib number-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r383lNO-yvM

Being Interviewed by AG

I can imagine a certain someone who is about to be interviewed by Arnab Goswami (AG, with almost the same firepower as the CAG). If I were to be that one, I'd be quivering in my boots (just a turn of phrase, it could be chappals too). If I may let my imagination loose, it might go something like this-

AG: So, Mr. Nargundkar, you teach marketing, eh?
Me: Uh, (stammer, stammer),..

AG: The nation wants to know, how does marketing as a function contribute to society? If you look at the huge wastage of resources spent in making useless products that nobody wants to buy, and then spending huge amounts of rupees in advertising those, and the rage among the unwashed masses that it unleashes, spilling over into countless,...
Me: (stammer), ...Uh, ..I agree. It's a total waste.

AG: Oh, you do, do you? And what do you propose to do about it? The nation...
Me: ..would want to know, obviously.

AG: And what do you propose to do exactly, Mr. Nargundkar?
Me: (visibly shaken): Mr. Goswami, I will immediately buy a muffler.

AG (surprised): How does that help anything? The nation wants to..
Me: ..know, I know. Brand identity..I will become AAP, just as a cap made me Anna, so a muffler would make me Kejri, and I can drive all the marketing guys up the wall, by staging protest dharnas outside their offices. And through your channel, the nation will know that I mean business, not 'marketing.' What more does the nation want to know?

Jai Ho- Film Review

Actually there is not much to review. Better not to view it is a one-line review.

But there are a couple of minor pluses, one of whom is Tabu. After quite some time, she is a pleasant surprise. A couple of minor actors - Mahesh Manjrekar as the auto driver and his portly passenger- act  well.

The kid has some cheeky one-liners. But on the whole, the good idea of pay-forward gets diluted by the violence and stupid song and dance. Daisy Shah is atrocious, and Salman just about Ok.

Avoid, is my suggestion. Or at least, don't pay to see it.

Jail Bharo Andolan (Fill the Jail Revolution)

Sometimes I get  the idea after watching the mainstream media (or is it 'mainSCREAM'  media?) that our national objective is to jail as many people as possible. So, in line with this new objective, I propose that we invent new 'crimes' that will be treated as non-bailable offences. We can then cancel all mid-day meal and employment guarantee programs, because everyone (eventually) will be in jail either as a criminal or as a jailer watching over that criminal. The new list of crimes would include (the list is suggestive, not exhaustive)-

1. Being unemployed
2. Being sick
3. Having a terminal disease
4. Not being able to afford medicines
5. Being married
6. Having children
7. Being a journalist (ha, ha)
8. Being unmarried
9. Being a Facebook user
and
10. Being a blogger.

Chow. See you at lunch in a jail near you.

Enchanting Songs 2

Continuing on my pet theme, here is a sequel of selections.

'Hawaon pe likh do hawaon ke naam' by Kishore Kumar...from the movie Do Duni Char (old). Music by Hemant Kumar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ITslFEtHc

'Koi humdum na raha koi sahara na raha from Jhumroo,' sung and composed by Kishore Kumar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDPb2ShfjHo


'Hai apna dil to awara na jaane kis pe aayega' by Hemant Kumar in Solva Saal, picturised on Dev Anand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax0gD5lCEgg

'Zara nazron se kehdo ji nishaana chook na jaaye' sung by Hemant Kumar in Bees Saal Baad. A unique feature is dialogue interspersed within the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_m-b_75OSY

Jai ho for now.