Chhaya 1962 - Nirupa Roy in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie

In almost all movies of the great director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, there is a naatak (playact) within a story. In Khoobsurat (1980), Manju (Rekha) and the other family members are playacting and ‘making fool’ of the house matriarch Nirmala Devi (Dina Pathak). In Golmaal (1979), Ramprasad (Amol Palekar) is playfully duping Bhavani Shankar (Utpal Dutt ) into believing there are twin brothers. And who can ever forget the evergreen Chupke Chupke, the master of comical errors?


Chaaya is one of the earliest movies of Hrishikesh Mukherjee on naataking within a story. The movie, primarily a romantic tale of a poor boy and rich girl, is more importantly the portrayal of mother and daughter and of sacrifice and devotion.

                


Manorma (NR) , widowed, homeless and helpless with an infant daughter, goes to Lucknow in search of her relatives. Unable to find them and in a moment of desperation, she ends up leaving her baby in the footsteps of a large house. The house belongs to Seth Jagatnarayan (Nazir Hussain) and he happily adopts her, having lost his wife earlier. Manorma, missing her child and regretting her decision, goes back to the mansion and begs for a job, but hides her relationship with the child. The merciful Seth, appoints her as the aaya/ nanny of Saritha.

 

They all move to Bombay and at this point the story includes the ever trustworthy character actor, Lalita Pawar as Seth Jagatnarayan's sister Rukmani Chaudhary. Ofcourse, she is the nosy, chatty and gossipy aunt, albeit harmless. It's a Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie and you cannot have any more negativity than eavesdropping ladies and evil eyebrows raised! There is a reason why generations of Indians have turned to HM movies for comfort and genius storytelling.


Enter Sunil Dutt. Oh what a handsome face and personality to behold! Not just as an actor, but to give a delightful unique blend of theraav (depth) and glamour to the role, Dutt sir is perfect. In the movie playing the secret role of Rahee, a poor shaayar (poet) and as Arun, a teacher, (see the layers of naatak within naatak here! ), he is playful, cheery, romantic, pleading, sorrowful and serious as and when the characters’ needs arise. Firstly as a shy and serious teacher, Arun is aware of his status difference and does not chase after the girl. The romance also develops through constant tuition classes and the delightful lilting songs of the master composer Salil Chowdhary. Then when he knows of Saritha’s infatuation with Rahee, his playful mischievous persona comes out. Fooling her with invitations to his home and to the beach under starry nights, play acting while tempting her with his voice and poems, he hums the beautiful "Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyaar Badha" by Talat Mehmood & Lata Mangeshkar.

The romance is also not without a deep sense of culture and traditions as is the watermark of all Hrishida’s movies. Throughout his lessons, the teacher Arun also teaches Saritha of the Indian culture, freedom fighters and of the love of literature and poetry.


Since this is not a movie of only romance and boy meets girl, the maternal love so perfectly performed by Nirupa Roy - the true Mother India - of course has to be discussed too. Manorma, by this point of time in the movie, has assumed a quiet, behind the scenes caretaker of Saritha and is happy to do so - serving and loving her from a distance. But as the marriage proposals start coming in for the young girl, she realises that Saritha loves Arun.


Then after a lot of push and pull and the usual tug of war of parents vs children in matters of marriage, Saritha and Arun marry. Manorma is recognised as her true mother after Seth Jagatnarayan discovers an old photograph from her bag.


What I love about HM’s movie making is that he has the solitary gift of blending human emotions with the plot and presenting a pleasant, light experience of movie watching. It is like in his great mind he has a vision of how a movie should be watched, how a relationship should be presented, without it being weighed down by melodrama, unnecessary dialogues, tedious songs and long roped expressions.


I enjoyed Chhaya so much that I have already bookmarked it in my favourite movies folder, which is a sign for me that I will probably watch it many times more. And in that folder are almost all of Hrishida’s movies!

Asli Naqli - The faceoff with life

Hrishida - the creator of happy movies

To say that Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s movies are both entertaining and charming, is an understatement. He can combine the quintessence of home, feel of a city, values of family, romance of two individuals and a quiet suspense all thrown in a wonderful plot. He has the masterly talent of showing  thought, charm and joie de vivre to help us think and live through his movies. Like a companion for life, Hrishida’s movies stay with us always.

Asli Naqli 

Asli Naqli made in 1962 was a memorable movie starring Dev Anand and Sadhna. In the movie, Anand played by Dev Anand is a rich man’s grandson. Unlike a rich, pompous baron he is a man who thinks and contemplates on his existence, questioning his everyday life and of the golden cage he lives in. Lying on a velvety chaise with a shining glass of whisky from a ludicrous bar of his drawing room which has his photo on a silver frame, Anand is dazzled but is aware of his hollow life.

 This cognizant and discerning nature of Anand provokes a series of arguments with his grandpa in the following days with regard to a marriage deal for better business and managing the vast property. Anand runs away from home. 

Mansion vs Mohalla

He ends up meeting Mohan who takes him to his home which is in an impoverished locality. Mohan’s sister and friends welcome him with open arms and in their limited means they share their home. The stark difference of not just the status in living and conditions of Anand's past and his new residence is apparent but also the independent, carefree spirit of Mohan’s family and neighbors is juxtaposed with Anand’s overbearing, withdrawn Grandpa, dry with money and rank only. 

The romance

Anand soon meets Renu and the innocence of the two good humans bring them closer to each other. Renu’s mother is unaware of her husband’s death and is made to believe so because Renu believes she doesn't have the mental capacity to bear it. When Anand’s grandfather learns of this, he uses it to blackmail Renu into breaking off their relationship. Sinister scheme but still innocent because it's a Hrishida movie after all!

No muscle men or cabaret dances to fool the villains here. Hrishida uses intrinsic human values to show good over hollowness. Renu’s mother displays courage and tolerance on hearing the reality of her husband and conquers Anand’s father’s evil plan. 

Happily Anands after!

Leaving on a musical note

The song ‘tujhe jeevan ki dor se’ is an everlasting song and always memorable. Every movie of Hrishida has atleast two songs which are beautifully rendered. The music, setting, homely scenes and unpretentious acting speak of his simplistic vision of life and cinema. That's why Asli Naqli remains a treasure to watch and rewatch.

Bahurani 1989

I saw Bahurani (inspite of seeing it multiple times before) after watching the Rendezvous with Simi episode featuring actress Rekha. Its a pretty predictable story but of course enriched by the legendary actress' performance and a couple more amazing classic actors.

  Rekha and Sridevi are among the fabulous club of fine actresses who have held up so many movies singularly on their shoulders.

Amit played by Rakesh Roshan is a modern city man who detests villagers and village life. When his comically dominating father played by the delightful Utpal Dutt, forces him to marry the village girl Madhuri, played by Rekha,he starts finding ways and means to break off the marriage. On getting a perfect excuse, he storms off the mandap without seeing her face.

Carrying the weight of this insult, Rekha grooms herself and becomes his secretary. If Utpal Dutt wasn't enough for the comic tones, we have the unforgettable Deven Verma who adds only his special brand of humor.

After  a lot of hide and seek, Amit and Madhuri fall in love. The ending is ofcourse a moral lesson in Indian marriage, the meaning of wedding vows and the continuous chasing spirit of an injured Indian wife!

 A scene from the movie where Madhuri becomes Amit's secretary.

Director - Manik Chatterjee

Khalnayak 1993 - the good Ghais,bad Ghais and mirrorwork cholis.

Khalnayak is a story of Rakhee's two sons (not), who got separated at birth at Kumbh Mela (not) and grew up to polish Pran's shoes (not) and then story moves to whether he is their real father (not). Also there is a locker full of gold biscuits in some godown somewhere (not).

Ok fine, so this is that Subhash Guy movie ,yes you read that right. And since all his movies are different (?), Khalnayak was too so this was one of the biggest blockbusters of 1993.
A good boy turned bad is wanted by the police and Madhuri takes up the sacrifice to bring him to line. Indian women always make sacrifices and one of these includes drinking with the bad guys and dancing to romantic, educational, school girl songs like 'choli ke peeche'.

We all know that  Sanjay Dutt was the villain and Shroff is the good guy and Mads' the lass and there's almost forms the triangle. But since I love classics so much, I try to bring them back to our recall list so that you can opinionate on them differently and luk,luk,luk,luk again.

Mads was known to hold her own in almost all her movies. She was the man, the  muscle and the spine of any film she took on. This was no different. I can safely say she is the real villain in this. Not in character but the chameleon speed of her roles. Sanjay melts at her thumkas and is soon discovered as an exploited youth so can hardly be called a villain. But Mads with  her tough policewoman role, her flippant attitude to dance to a rusty number, her cowboy nature with the gang and her Durga avatar as one who saves her would-be's reputation is enough to hail her as the true actor in this movie and otherwise too.

Watch it for :

Sanju baba's long hair.

Madhuri,in a ghaghra choli and enjoying happy hours with Sanjay's gang.

Rakhee as a non-mother of two separated sons. (Yes please, you should just watch if she cries any different from her usual role)

And this is for the chic girls - Mirrorwork cholis.

Half Ticket 1962

'Tumhe pyaar ki acting karni hogi.

- Acting tum karo, pyaar main karoonga'

Not a Sajid Khan movie or Rohit Shetty car crashing comedy. This is a 1962 Bollywood classic comic saga.
From never having seen a Kishore Kumar movie to Half Ticket is like being struck by a cool breeze on a hot,dry summery day. Pure,unadulterated performance. Especially when it's my first Madhubala movie.

I always assumed (Gen Y problem) that he is a singer who did acting as time pass. Watch Half Ticket and KK will make you fall of your chair/bed/floor with his antics,expressions and that never-serious face throughout the movie. Inspired (oh!) by You're Never Too Young, it's a goner one,beats every formula that Bollywood has,yet not a bird brain kinda movie.

'After all I'm the mental doctor of your whole family' is just one of the lines in this classic roller-coaster which is basically a cat and mouse game where Pran is the villian but completely overshadowed by KK's part childishness-part prankster character. There are no overt emotions and behind-the-trees romance so you can safely sit back and enjoy with your post lunch dessert which you probably wont need ! :)

Takeaway  / non-formulaic scenes

 KK prevents the vamp from checking his pocket. And this happens with the music on and them dancing. You can't decide whether to dance or laugh! So much cha-cha and ja-ja! (go go) :D

Helen in a non cabaret dance.

Pran and KK singing O sawariya, O gujariya to each other.

 

Classics are classics because they take you to a beautiful mellow time when everything was unhurried or untainted. There are glimpses of Murphy Radio, old Coca Cola,jalopies occasionally on empty Bombay streets and ofcourse the ubiquitous Parsi uncles strutting by.

Need I mention Madhubala's bone china look and splitting performance inspite KK's brilliance? We all know her and love her,dont we?

Directed by - Kalidas

Supporting actors make the most noise - An ode.

Iftikar,Deven Verma,Asrani (Bollywood)

Sreenivasan, Mukesh, Laalu Alex,Jagadish,Siddique, Innocent,Oduvil Unnkrishnan (Malayalam)

Some names we know but probably Sony Max may never promote a movie by saying 'watch blockbuster Don - starring Iftikar, Sunday 9pm' will they?

 Iftikar

Asrani

So do supporting actors remain supporting actors without  being supported? (ok don't support me in my puns!) Well I don't think so. Whoever coined the term did a fab job because its true. They truly do support the actor and not just that. They actually do carry the movie when the script is weakened by the over imposition of the 'superstar' and one man shows kind of movies.

Can you think of Don without Iftikar's balanced,quiet and evolved acting compared to Amitabh's aggressive AYM role? ( that's angry young man in case you didnt know...haww!! ) Iftikar has always been so and probably why he features in most of these AYM roles as the still water to the tsunami which AB's roles were meant to be. Similarily Sanjeev Kumar in Sholay and Utpal Dutt in,well,all his movies.

Utpal Dutt 

Imagine Naadodikaatu without Sreenivasan ( actually I still cannot see Lal without him) such is the affect of those golden stuff. Think how Godfather would be without Jagadish's nervous,comical antics which scaffolded Mukesh's attempts to bring Kanika down. What about Shubhayatra where Siddique is like a bookend to Jayaram?

Godfather  

In Harihar Nagar

Innocent  

Laalu Alex

Oduvil Unnikrishnan

All said and done, the brilliance of such actors is so much that I'm not comfortable calling them supporting. They have carved their identity in singular lead roles too. Vadakku Nokki Yanthram can never be better performed by anyone else other than Sreeni.( imagine Mammootty in front of the mirror applying powder). In Harihar Nagar was an ensemble cast of actors who started out with secondary roles. Saath Saath, Chashme Baddoor and Kisi Se Na Kehna were all better off without the big shots of that time and moreover, needed the calm of actors like Farooque Shiekh.

Naadodikaatu

Just few examples of popular cinema but the shine of these stars are bright like Venus in the evening sky,not overwhelming but you can spot them nevertheless,

Khiladi

I saw Khiladi when I was in the 7th standard and was head over heels in love with Akki. Madly in love. But as his chest hair grew in proportion to his stunts and equally 'stuntic' emotions I moved over to a certain Rahul who impressed NRIs among mustard fields.

But the thrill of Khiladi movies stays on. The kind of suspense which made people throng to the theatres in early 90s, it was a sure crowd drawer.

The story is about a bet which started as a fun thing but goes on to a rude shocker of a murder of an innocent. And the suspense is brought in also in a wonderful way with lots of romance before it so that you just a get a picture of a romcom and not the murder mystery it actually is.

The hero is not the usual all knowing genious with 7th sense of brilliance or a Bruce Lee action boy or the beta of a worshipping maa who prays for wisdom and all solutions. Just happy-go-lucky 90s college kids,a Mr.Weatherbee kind of principal, some romance and then a lot of thrilling 2nd half.

Watch it for :

- that 90s college life glimpse when wearing a laugh was more important than wearing branded tees.

 - fun meant innocent pranks on friends and not rude ones on strangers.

 - Shakti Kapoor as an aadarshwaadi serious policeman and not a sleazy birdwatcher.

 - another musical hit by Jatin Lalit

 Oh that time when Akki used to act and not jump from hills on the back of villians. Maybe its the Kseries of movies. Maybe its the chesthair. Maybe ts Maybelline. Uhhh...

Umrao Jaan - the original and the 'best' one

If Sanjay Bhansaali had to make a movie without long saaris, long drama and long actors, then it would be Umrao Jaan of 1981. I'm referring to his genious of mixing art and aesthetics with cinema minus the above factors.

I'm firstly thankful to that anonymous seeder who uploaded the movie in crystal clear quality so that I could stare at Rekha's jewels,silk,chiffon,georgette,long hair and ofcourse the wonderful decorative mehfil. Also all credit goes to Subhashini Ali, the costume designer for the movie.

Yes,the movie is all about aesthetics. Rekha's beauty, the courtyards, the costumes, jewellery: everything delights you.So much so, that it takes away your focus from the story.

Whats it all about

The story is simple. In the period of 1840,a girl is kidnapped and sold to a  famous brothel in Lucknow (all brothels are famous,who am I kidding?!)She grows upto be a famous(again!) courtesan falls in love with a visitor Nawab and they fall in love. But zimedaariyaan and majbooriyan makes Nawab marry elsewhere and this is where the drama unfolds.

Rekha's best performance ever,she portrays a range of aspects in just one character : as the lover to Farooq,the girl who is eager to learn shayari,the suffering woman in rejection, the seductress, the innocence when wooed by Naseeruddin Shah, the lost woman when wooed by Raj Babbar,the dancer ,the shayari and ofcourse adayein when singing the popular evergreen songs of the movie. She carries the movie thruoghout. There is metaphorically no Farooq Shiekh,no Shah and definitely no Babbar.

One cannot forget the evergreen lines - ' Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye...' . Every song in the movie depicts the situation and the actor's emotions well. There isn't more than necessary tears but there is sorrow,there isn't more drama of proclaiming love but there is the sensitivity. The emotions are controlled and maybe the viewer is left to ponder on it.

Surprise factor 

While watching the movie I wondered were the people of Lucknow at that period, controlled in their emotions? Or is just a particular clan or race or group? Nevertheless the movie is different from the 1980s Bollywood we have grown up with.

Thus for the brilliance of the movie making of Muzaffar Ali and music by Khayyam, I could not help but portray them too for this fantastic piece of poem on celluloid.

 Muzaffar Ali 

      



   Khayyam