Chaalbaaz 1989

Put some Sridevi and a bit of Rajnikanth and you get masala. Imagine double of Sridevi then...Especially where you forget she is doing double role. Acidity!

Chaalbaaz is a movie about twins but Sridevi's acting will make you forget that it's the same person portrayed as a shy touch-me-not and another ,a whip wielding slick girl.

One doesn't dissect a cult movie like this and if you haven't watched it then .....whip!!

Yet another movie with women as focus. Dont tell me the movie ran because of Rajnikanth!

Poles Apart





















Director - Pankaj Parashar
Cast - Anupam Kher, Sridevi , Sunny Deol, Rajnikanth, Rohini Hattangadi, Annu Kapoor

Oru Sayahnathinte Swapnam 1989

A breezy movie about  elders,a girl and many human bonds.

There is an elder care house run by Madhu and along comes Suhasini. A happy girl who only knows to care. She shows how elderly care should be done. Soon she creates bonds with the oldies.

Oru Sayahnathinte Swapnam focuses on woman's ability other than cooking,crying etc ,the latter,shown usually in malayalam movies. Also its another movies which an actress wholly owns with sheer brilliance.

Not a muscle wrenching hero but a lady who rules hearts.

A scene where the oldies put up a hunger fast for the girl. In a country and an era where men are were given importance.






Watch it for a twist in the story where romance goes on a different track and a very touching ending.

Director - Bharthan
Cast : Mukesh, Suhasini, Madhu, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Thikkurisi Sukumaran Nair, Sankaradi, Bahadur.

Thenum Vayambum 1981

' Education is not just to teach good children but make bad children good' A dialogue by the great Sankaradi in the movie Thenum Vayambum.

 Sankaradi

With such dialogues and lovely acting comes the movie which has a three storylines entwined. A man's love for a woman, child's love for a motherly figure and a father's love for his son. All three has a woman actor as the pivot so basically Thenum Vayambum is carried by a lady ! A movie on a woman's shoulders?.and that also in 1981, a still unknown era for woman's lib.

The movie has many other firsts, according to me, and probably why it makes a good watch :

- One of the earliest movies of MohanLal where he isn't the main lead and where you will see the shy ,unsure acting bit he had before he ruled the cinema hearts of mallus. :)

- Where Nedumudi Venu is the main lead or hero!

 - A lot of English being said by the actors Prem Nazir, Sumalatha and even the children. 'Oh Shuvarr!' :)

 - Thenum Vayambum focuses more on emotions and the story rather than star material of Prem Nazir and overtly drama of women. You know women can do a whole lot of other things than crying,breaking bangles,cooking and stripping!

- Also catch Prem Nazir playing golf! :D

- And watch rather than hear the heart rending song 'thenum vayambum' against the backdrop of Ooty.

Director - Ashok Kumar
Cast - Prem Nazir, Sumalatha , Nedumudi venu, Mohanlal, Sankaradi

Abhinetri 1970

A geeky scientist (does Shashi seem like one? ) meets a dancer Hema and fall in love.

A very quick romance though  they do not run around trees much.

Shashi is a Nirupa Roy ka ladla and

a considerable amount of movie time goes in showing that.

The lovebirds get married and Hema leaves her nach gaana and I wait to see what happens that the

movie takes its name.

Still a lot of songs and ghar grahasthi happens. And I wait.

Then Hema's uncle asks her to dance one more time as he was her manager and he is running in losses.

The susheel girl agrees much to the gussa of her patidev. Gussa continues till the day Maa come

s to visit them.

Ok so Hema now becomes abhinetri.Patidev and patni act like a happy couple.I think so now movie

will run even longer.

Coz Bollywood movie names have to be significantly depicted in the fillum.

Hey but what...in like some minutes pol khul jaata hai and Hema's saheli says that Maa sab jaanti thi,

so she is the Abhinetri!

Honestly I felt ripped!

But then I enjoy oldies and I'm partial to them. Nevertheless this is one forgettable Hema movie.

Nevertheless Shashi is as adorable as ever. And Nirupa to maa hi hoti hai.

I love the painted original poster. Glee!

Pic courtesy from the site of desitunes desibantu

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