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Ok it is not truly random; it is coherent but I don’t know what it is doing on this blog. Hence, the title.
Assumption : You have access to YouTube and embedded videos in Flash.
I was with a couple of friends yesterday and we were digging up Hindi songs from the 90′s and before; just to have a good laugh. I shall share some of them with reasons why I found them funny. I am not embedding the YouTube videos here, just follow the links if you are interested.
1. Yaara O Yaara from Jeet (video)
USP : Sunny Deol’s dancing. Need I say more ? It is one of those rare songs that isn’t choreographed by a choreographer; instead they used an action director. They also invented a form of dancing that was devoid of any grace whatsoever. Of course, they succeeded beyond limits.
If you want to see a song really well choreographed for Sunny Deol, there is Teri Tasveer Mil Gayi from Betaab (video).
2. Dil Deewana Bin Sajna Ke from Maine Pyaar Kiya (video)
USP : This video can be christened as the Couples’ Hall of Fame. Forget the lead pair, watch out for the other couples that appear in the song doing strange stuff. If you had a girlfriend/boyfriend in the 90′s, chances are you made an appearance in this video.
3. Dil Deewana Bin Sajna Ke from Maine Pyaar Kiya version 2 (video)
USP : Salman Khan’s dancing. The song Pappu Can’t Dance Saala might very well be a tribute to Salman. Watch around 3:20 for his best steps. The funniest part is around 4:15 when Bhagyashree gets turned on or something and tightens her dupatta to the sound of drums and heavy percussion. You expect her to go into some dancing frenzy, but all she does is one *very* lame step after the crescendo.
P.S. : Thanks for Girish, also watch out for Salman Khan moonwalking at 1:26, 3:54 and 4:03.
4. Naino Mein Sapna from Himmatwala (video)
USP : The director evidently overhead someone say that “pot” was cool and the *in* thing. So what did he do ? Shot a song with a million pots. You also have to bear an overweight Sridevi and some uber corny dialogues before the song begins.
5. Ashok Kumar dancing to Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja whilst on the death bed (video)
USP : Ashok Kumar multiplexing between dancing, dying, handling some sort of costiveness , dealing with a heart failure, singing and playing imaginary instruments among other things. So far no other Indian has risen upto this level of patriotism.
6. Dinga Dinga Dee (video)
USP : An Israeli defense company makes a Bollywood style song for its sales pitch. Countless posts have been written on this. Watch out for the cardboard missiles and framed portraits of Indian gods and goddesses in the video.
7. Jab Se Hui Hai Mohabbat from (?) (video)
USP : The lead actor whose dancing could make Michael Jackson want to kill himself (or an 8 year old boy). If you make it through this video without laughing even once, call the doctor. Ditto for this video of Sam Anderson dancing.
8. Tamma Tamma Loge [live recording (video) and music video from Thanedaar (video); both are must watch videos]
USP : In the live studio recording, a thin Bappi Lahiri maybe. In the music video from the movie, do watch Madhuri Dixit almost ending up embarrassing herself with the costume and props if not for her great dancing skills, and a helpless Sanjay Dutt matching steps with Madhuri Dixit. That is quite unfair in itself.
This list is by no means exhaustive, so please feel free to send in more links.
Couples’ Hall of Fame title by Onkar.
Disclaimer : This post isn’t politically/morally/ethically correct. I know that. Also, I, by no means, claim to be a good dancer or better than any of the above credited magaan (South Indian word for mahaan) dancers. But atleast you shall never find a video of me dancing floating on the internet. Guaranteed.
For the pseudo-intellectuals who claim actors in Bollywood lack sincerity and dedication, I can only point to this article :
Dubai : A Dubai court has fined an Indian man who said he was rehearsing for a role in a Bollywood movie for cross-dressing after he was seen applying mascara at a shopping mall, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The court found the 45-year-old property development firm manager identified only as P.K. guilty of cross-dressing in public, the English-language Gulf News said.
“I’m not guilty… I was cross-dressed because I was training to perform a woman’s role in Indian cinema,” the newspaper reported the defendant as telling the public prosecutor.
Police who apprehended the man said his outfit was glittering like “a woman’s clothes,” and that “he wore a bra, mascara, women’s perfume and a wig” at the Mall of the Emirates, the paper added.
Well take that Aamir ! But I am a little concerned about the whereabouts of Bobby Darling, for whom the above role was tailor made.
P.S. : The people of Dubai must be so glad he wasn’t rehearsing for the role of a terrorist or serial killer.
That film ‘critic’ Taran Adarsh is not the wisest man to inhabit this earth is well known (yeah the same guy who gave Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna 4 1/2 stars).
Taran’s unabashed love for Shahrukh Khan/Karan Johar movies (which I can only hope hasn’t crossed the platonic lines) has been constant fodder for the intellectual audiences and reviewers at Passion For Cinema. He has been the object of such ridicule that a few days prior to the release of the latest Shahrukh Khan starrer Rab Na Bana Di Jodi, a fake review of the movie by him surfaced on the internet, filled with ‘Taran Adarsh cliches’.
I always thought people were at times too harsh on him for being a Bollywood fanboy. It was fine that he did not have an exposure to non-Bollywood or what some people call good cinema, but he betters himself while reviewing Slumdog Millionaire :
and how towards the end they meet again, they unite and this guy, he also goes on to win the jackpot.
Okay I can live with this, Slumdog Millionaire wasn’t a suspense thriller anyway. But this :
Films like these don’t really get made every day with international names like David Boyle, which are still desi at heart. Well I think David and his writer Simon Beaufoy are basically big Bollywood fans … (note the fanboyish expression here) ….
I am envious that he is close enough to the director to refer to him on a first name basis, but after all the hype and the countless articles about the movie, the least I would expect him to know is that the director is Danny Boyle.
P.S. : More Slumdog news, the Oscar ceremony is tipped to open with a live performance of Jai Ho by A.R. Rahman and Sukhwinder Singh.
Not that I get everything related to Bollywood, but I still wouldn’t have expected the following few to show up as Bollywood’s Milestones in 2008 :
Ranbir-Deepika.
Amitabh Bachchan starts blogging.
Katrina Kaif’s birthday party.
Ramgopal Varma at the Taj. (This I could maybe live with. As long as he isn’t making self-indulgent movies, I’ll give him anything)
For me, the biggest milestone for Bollywood is the emergence of good quality entertaining independent cinema. With most of these being directed by debutantes, we can sure anticipate some good cinema.
What is the Hindi film industry called ?
A : Bollywood (B – Bombay)
What is the Telugu film industry called ?
A : Tollywood (T – Telugu)
What is the Tamil film industry called ?
A : Kollywood (K – Kodambakkam district, where the film industry is based)
What is the Kannada film industry called ?
A : Sandalwood. This is in fact true.
Oz from PassionForCinema writes about the worst choreographed song ever :
Obviously he hasn’t heard of a certain Sam Anderson :
Really tough to choose a winner between the two. On second thoughts, I would love a duel between the two !!
P.S. : If you are receiving a feed, you might not see the embedded videos.
Rahman is back. This time with a bigger orchestra, more grandeur, an Austrian ensemble and a music that is heavily western classical.
I’ll get to the point. Rahman’s albums are never about the fast paced tracks, they are about the slower tracks which we play on for years. That masterpiece is Zindagi, with some beautiful lyrics and sung equally beautifully by Srinivas. DO NOT miss this song. I was done with this album after I heard this song.
In case you are interested, the other good tracks : The first track, which is a rendition of Beethoven’s fifth symphony with a voiceover/introduction of the character Yuvraaj by Salman Khan, and it is thankfully different from this Indian version : Link @ 4:40. Apart from this, Dil Ka Rishta is nice (although sometimes Rahman’s voice is annoying, rare but true), Mastam and Tu Meri Dost Hai keep the album tight. The other 3 are okay.
.. makes for a thoughtful read, even if you are not a fan : Link
Says he,
I find we are living in such violent times that it becomes almost necessary to break the clutter, to get associated with products that can offer hope, that can offer a sense of melody…a harmony.
Every time I create a melody I wonder if there is a way this song will reach out and prevent a bloodbath.
Compare that to our leaders, who hope that a whole state burns for their cause. While using music to achieve this might seem idealistically simplistic, in Rahman’s words : It is, but you see, music is all that I know.
He sure makes a mark as a person, even if you are not influenced by his music.
Music director Pritam, after these years of honest hard work has decided to start his own band. It is going to consist of a singer, a drummer, a bassist and a lawyer.
All I can say is that if more Arabic people start listening to Bollywood music, Pritam might have to spend more time in the court than at the studio.
On that note, a nice site which chronicles all plagiarized Indian songs with original and inspired clips : Indian Inspired Film Songs
Not surprisingly, Anu Malik takes up half their webspace with Pritam fast catching up.
After a long time, there comes along this good film that is genuinely real and funny at the same time.
Brilliant writing by debutant director Abbas Tyrewala and a long overdue fresh, apt, youthful music by the ever dependable A.R.Rahman. Acting, you could feel the actors’ discomforts on screen, but this is the first time I saw music, good writing and direction actually making up for the acting in several scenes and making winners out of the scenes. To be fully honest, the acting was by no means bad and I can confidently state that Imran can turn out to be the next good star-actor in the Hindi Film Industry after Hrithik Roshan (who has been holding the position for quite a long time now). We also had the more-than-just-dependable Nasseruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak-Shah and Paresh Rawal (brilliant !!) complementing the new actors very well.
What other directors and writers can learn from this movie is that humour has moved on since where it was a decade ago and the writer gets it spot on (© Ravi Shastri) in this movie !
Finally, this movie, with all its flaws, easily beats DCH hands down (to give due credit, DCH held the bastion for 7 long years !!).
