Dancing Dudes and Divas

Bollywood has produced many great lyricists and music composers. But it has also given us a number of good dances, in movies across decades. Some actors, actresses and dance numbers stay with you years after the movie. Here is an attempt to list some of my favourites. I am excluding Helen, because she was a legend, and would have to be in a whole post by herself.

Kalpana Iyer with Mithun, in Wardaat. And Koi yahaan naache naache in Disco Dancer.

Karisma with Govinda- What is mobile number, what is your style number? Techno-cool song.

Bindu- Mera naam hai shabnam..in Kati Patang..musicless, almost.

Simple Kapadia- Jab chhaye, mera Jaadu..in Lootmaar

Kamal Hasan and Reena Roy---ahaha..ahaha..nisha, in Sanam Teri Kasam

Disco Deewane..not a film song (originally), but swinging song, by Nazia Hasan.

Zeenat Aman in Laila main Laila, Qurbani

Rishi Kapoor- Hum Kisise Kam Nahin - the competition song, and Bachna ai haseeno

Tariq- Yaadon Ki baarat. He was fab. Lekar hum deewana dil..

Aruna Irani in Bobby- a, a, a, a, phasaa.

Raveena in Tu cheez badi hai mast mast, with Akshay and Paresh Rawal..Mohra

Raveena and Govinda in - Kisi Disco mein jaaye..was it Bade Miya Chhote Miya?

Mumtaz..Zindagi, ittefaq hai, in Admi aur Insaan

Mumtaz in Aaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charche, with Shammi Kapoor in Brahmachari

Shammi Kapoor- aaja aaja, main hoon pyaar tera, in Teesri Manzil, with Asha Parekh

Padma Khanna- the seduction song in Johny Mera Naam- Husn ke laakhon rang, kaunsa rang dekhoge

Shilpa Shetty- Chura ke dil mera, goriya chali, in Tu Anari Main Khiladi, with Akshay Kumar

Kishore Kumar- Meri pyaari Bindu in Padosan, with a gang of comedians (and Paanch rupaiya baara aana in Chalti ka naam gaadi, with Madhubala)

Saif - Jab bhi koi ladki dekhun mera dil diwana bole ole ole..

And my favourite..Prabhu Deva in Mukkala muqabla, with Naghma, (Hindi version of movie called Humse Hai Muqabla, Telugu version called Premikudu and Tamil original was Kaathalan)

Malwada Days

If this sounds similar to Malgudi days, it was intended. Only, this was a lot quieter. We went, around 15 of us-cousins and family- to a place known as Malwada, off the Ahmedabad highway from Mumbai. It is in Thane district, and generally not known to anyone. That’s because Thane district is much bigger than the suburban station everybody knows. Sort of like New York City and the state of New York.

Anyway, what happens there is remarkable-nothing. And therefore, it is an ideal place to get away to. You can walk, or hear the birds twitter, or take even longer walks. A river dip is a possibility, with one nearby  (I think the river is called Pinjal, though I wouldn’t swear to it). Otherwise, you have your own company. 

The views are magnificient (it was a friend’s bungalow, on a small hill), and the soul feels refreshed. Sunrises, moonrises, and the corresponding 'sets' create excitement, and so do the clear views of the stars. Before you think I am raving (crazy), let me stop by saying, we had a great time. There was also a garden containing some vegetables, for us to potter around in, and eat fresh stuff from. There were a few pakodas from the weekly market to add to the variety on the menu, and some fresh-looking fish that we also fried. Of course, there was singing and telling of jokes to keep the late evenings engaging.

Not having lived in such idyllic surroundings for a decade or two, we were naturally thrilled. A tractor ride of the huge surrounding property was an added attraction. We stopped to watch the threshing of rice in progress, and some kids joined in to get a first-hand experience.

Malwada days, edition 2012, came to an end with the weekend, but now we have some good memories to carry forward into 2013. And we could always return.

Pickles From Home- Book Review

An excellent collection of essays, compiled by an Outlook journo called Sugata Srinivasaraju. I happened to pick it up recently. It is edited by a Kannadiga, and some essays are his too. The reason I am going into this is because his explanation is a bit like Think Global, Act Local or to reverse its logic, one way to be global in outlook (pun unintended) is to understand the local immensely well.

Excellent essays on many things I wanted to know but was afraid to ask (not really, but sounds good). For instance, why Dharwad produces so many musical geniuses, like Mallikarjun Mansur, Gangubai Hangal and Bhimsen Joshi. Bhimsen's guru Sawai Gandharva is from Kundagol near Dharwad.

From the Mangalore pub attack (and poems about it by two Kannada women poets), to the Baghdad war, many topics are covered-intelligently. Like land acquisition and the imminent decline of agriculture as a way of life. Rarely have I enjoyed reading essays that are contemporary but deal with such varied Indian themes. Ramayana and its controversial withdrawal from the Delhi Univ. syllabus is the subject of one essay. No holds barred, is how I would describe it, on the whole.

Bendre and Kuvempu, the well-known Kannada poets are also talked about. So are some civil servants like Sharda Prasad who worked closely with Indira Gandhi. Shamlal, a former editor of Times of India, is the subject of another one. And V.K. Murthy, the cinematographer of all the Guru Dutt classics in black and white, such as Pyaasa, Kagaz ke Phool, and Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam.

Highly recommended!

2012- What Was and Was Not

2012 started off with a New Year's party, and will probably end with an end-of-the year party at a remote location one day before the last day. Some highlights of the year were-

My older daughter Prarthana graduated and went in for an M.A. in English, and now she speaks Tolstoyese at times. Frightening.

My younger, Pooja, continues getting daunting assignments as part of her B. Arch. We hope she builds things (or is it designs?) which are joy-giving.

My book was launched in the retail space from the virtual-alone. Twice. I had to add a Nagpur section to it as I moved out to Dilli, the place which controls India, so many years after independence. Not counting renegades such as Bangalore, who acquired a life of their own.

Mukesh Ambani came to our party-I mean convocation- at Nagpur.

Anna Hazare and Kejriwal happened, and Modi did better than the Indian cricket stars.

The Delhi gang rape and the Connecticut shooting proved that beasts among men are still around, and we may or may not have a solution.

I read a lot of books, and some good ones among them. The Etymologicon may be a highlight.

My Brand Mgt. book with Bhagyalakshmi did not get published. Well, you need something for 2013, too. Can't afford to leave blanks in the CV of life.

My blog (just) crossed 25,000 views, many of them inexplicably from countries that don't have an English-speaking populace. IT world screw-ups in counting is a plausible explanation, as suggested by a reader.

I saw some good films, and one was a ghost from 1983 called Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro.

Played a little bit of golf, but in general, less than 2011. Hope that will improve with time and age. The slower your reflexes, the righter you get your shots in this game. Like wine in a way.

Single malts. Made a discovery that Amrut single malt is as good as some Scotch malts, and made in Namma Bengaluru.

Met a few friends and students after years- it was lovely. As some wise guy sang- What a feeling! His next line was, I believe, dancing on the ceiling. Not recommended unless you are practising for bungee-jumping.

Cheers.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Search for the killer in a serial murder situation. Countless books and films have done the honours before 'The Girl...', but this book has certain pluses going for it.

One, the setting is corporate (and journalistic) battles. One can identify with those shenanigans, as they are universal. Second, the locale is Sweden, an exotic land to most of us. Even within Sweden, the isolated village-island makes it even more interesting, with a cast of characters who are fairly weird. Most belong to the Vanger family, one of the corporates involved. The hero is an outsider hired to solve a disappearance from among the family, and how he does it is the story.

Then of course, the heroine. This is a singular (Holmesian terminology, but it fits in this case) character, well-developed by the author. And I think finally she makes it all different from the rest of the books in the genre. Rightfully, the title is based on her character. In a way, she is the hero too, or as much of one as the male lead, a journalist who is set up by a corporate rival whose shady secrets he tries to unravel.

Found it a good read, and might end up watching the film one day.

Indus Pride Beers

I got to taste a newly relaunched beer in four different flavours recently. The brand is called Indus Pride, and is produced by SAB-Miller in India. It is flavoured with spices such as cardamom, coriander, cinnamon and so on. There are more variants, which are seasonal and available only at certain times. It was at the house of a friend who works there, so it was a great experience learning first-hand about the relaunch at a premium price. A first for an India-based brand? Maybe, at least for a product such as this.

But I also had the opportunity to taste an Indian Single Malt that has made waves internationally. The Jagdale group makes it near Bangalore. It is called Amrut single malt, and one of their creations has been ranked among the top ten malts by a respected critic/ranker. I liked it, and it is 'duty-free' to Indians, and therefore significantly cheaper than the malts from Scotland. A good option to have, apart from the Laphroaigs and the Ardbegs and the like, which one can pick up at the duty free shops. Also found some imported (read French) brandy that is of high quality and sold in Goa, during a recent survey.

Round of Some IIMs

I was out on a mission (possible?) of meeting potential faculty candidates for the IMT group. My quest took me to IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore this week. Shreyashi, an alum of IMT Nagpur from 2010, is doing her FPM (PhD, coded in language that Pakistan can't understand) from IIMC. Through her, met a lot of her colleagues doing their FPM, while enjoying the campus ambience of theirs-had not been for a while, since my faculty days at IIMK and IIML. Managed to generate some interest in applying to IMT group among them.

I then moved to my alma mater for a similar meet with FPM students there. Had a fruitful meeting with half-a-dozen budding Fellows. Not as in 'He's a jolly good, fellow', but a 'Fellow' Fellow. Anyway, there is a huge shortage of good faculty members in management, and it is going to be there for a while. Industry folks are interested, at times, but don't always have the skills-or the will to acquire a PhD. Anyone listening, interested, please apply.

By the way, Santa must be around the corner,waiting to shower presents on us. Merry Christmas, to anyone who believes in him. You should, if he brings you gifts.