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rijutapakeezah · 3 years

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THE GREAT LEMON PICKLE

I am not an expert on pickles. My mother was. The shows like The Pickle Nation on Epic Channel helped my mother in honing her art. She could make the pickles out of anything.

Being an Indian, I am privileged with the presence of endless fruits and vegetables ready to be pickled and eaten as a side dish. Sometimes as the only dish with Rotis too. My favorite is mango pickle( aam ka achar).

“maine, ek..ek martaba na.. aur aam ka achar banaya..to main mar jaungi..main mar jaungi rakesh.”

Wailed Babli in front of Dashrath Singh in Bunty Aur Babli.

Well, if we take the cue from this movie and many others, preparing pickles is taken as an intensely domestic activity. One cannot be professional and smart if one prepares pickles. But, as my mother used to say and as I observed over the last 15-20 years, one cannot prepare really tasty and sustainable pickles, if one is not smart. But, why stereotype it?

There is a reason why some dishes are referred to as grandmother dishes because they need precision. Our generation cannot be trusted with that. My mother had inherited the art of pickling not only from her mother and grandmother, also from her neighbors’ mothers and grandmothers. This activity was very much like the one we got to see in Sasural Genda Phool song. Waheeda Rehman, Aditi Rao, Sheeba Chaddha, and others lovingly prepare spices and oils to put them together. Again, a domestic scenario.

But, what about the people who don’t have nanis and dadis with them? Thanks to Covid, many of us don’t even have mothers, to begin with. Does the tradition die here? Should it? I mean, people (primarily women) working 9-9 on their laptops or in their office cannot and honestly, should not bother themselves with these preparations. So, what should be done? Switch to Goldee, Tops, Mother’s pickles? Or simply don’t eat them. Eventually, we don’t eat them. So then what?

Then, comes the deadly viruses which push us to go inwards and start healthy and traditional eating habits. Back to desi daal, chawal, sabzi, roti, salad, and achar for the good gut bacteria. After all, we all want to live a healthy and longer life. Thus, begins the search for the recipes.

Now, if a person is like me who, thanks to her mother, knows the difference between a good achar and a badly prepared one, cannot settle for a less than a perfect recipe. We turn to Youtube. The ultimate dadi and nani of 21stcentury. If you are a Hindi-speaking Indian, you must have come across tons of channels giving you the recipe on a tap. Keep scrolling and lo behold, you find Nisha Madhulika. I tell you, this woman has literally been a savior of my life. With the wisdom imparted by my mother and her tips and tricks, one can make anything. Well, I know, she prepares only vegetarian food primarily without onions and garlic. But, I also know, that my Bengali friends have their Nisha Madhulika in Bong eats. Basically, youtube is there to save the day, if by any chance you are into cooking.

You must be thinking, why I am rambling about here. If you are a person like me who wants to have the traditional delicacies in your life, you would understand how life becomes without any magical hand with you. Because I love them and the onus of preparing them solely is on me. Obviously, because I want them. Home-made, simple, and healthy. Hence, I made one. The simplest, the healthiest, and the Digene of every lower-middle- and the lower-class person suffering from indigestion, flatulence, etc. NEEMBU KA ACHAR ( Lemon Pickle).

The recipe is really simple:

Take as many lemons as you want, depending upon the money you have and the distance between the market and your home. Distance varies according to the love for it and willpower to go there. If you are lucky, you will find a pheriwala with just as juicy and big lemons as you might find in the market.

Select the lemons which on touch tell you that they have thinner skin. In Uttar Pradesh, one finds the best and cheapest lemons in the month of December- January.

I remember how my mother used to scan the entire market in one walk and then go back to a seller who would have 3-4 mounds of lemons. She would then try to scavenge the juiciest lemons from the mound of middle-range price. Like, 8 for Rs.10, 6 for Rs.10, 4 for Rs.10.

Soak the lemons for 5-6 hours (currently, I don’t know why, but if I will come to know, I’ll surely share)

Cut the lemon into 4 pieces; before cutting, remove any trace of water present. Dry them with towels. they look cute this way and( the jar looks fuller, believe you me).

Take a bowl, add the lemons, add carom seeds ( if I take 20 lemons, I add seeds till each lemon gets coated with 7-8 seeds), add salt. MIX THEM UP.

My mother always added two salts- black salt and table salt. It really takes the taste a notch up.

For my friends who are as beginner as I am, I added 5-6 spoons of salt for 20 lemons and left the matters to god.

Now, the trickiest part is the jar selection. You might want to have a jar that displays how able and desperate you are. I took a glass jar with a wide mouth. So that I could take a pickle out without having my hands pickled every time. WASH AND DRY IT. Leave it in the sun for a few hours if you can. Not a trace of water should be left otherwise your pickle will turn into fungal vanilla ice cream.

Place the contents into the jar. Shake well and leave it in the sun.

If you live in an apartment, appoint a person to put the jar on the terrace and bring it back at dusk. Or if you want leaner legs, do it yourself. Do this for at least a month.

Shake the contents once in a while without breaking the jar.

After 25-30 days, taste it. If the salt is less, add some more; if the salt is extra, blame it on god.

If it is perfect, then what are you waiting for? EAT THE DAMN PICKLE! ( if you are a fan of simple pickles, if not, please don’t call me names, ask Nisha aunty!)

WHEN LIFE GAVE ME LEMONS, I PICKLED THEM.

As the days went by, I saw the lemons submerging into their own pulp and juice. The jar was emptying. The anaerobic fermentation process under warm sunlight took all the shine, shape, and superficial beauty of lemons away. Just the way hundreds of suns would disappear under the sea and leave bright orange radiance, the feeling of longing for love and care, and the sense of accomplishment. What was left after a month of the grueling process was their pure and unadulterated essence. Is this what hardships do to us? Are we submerging into our own essence with the constant struggle of finding ourselves? What about after struggling with grief, the pain of losing loved ones, and pieces of oneself with them? Would we know ever? I hope we do. After all, we are just small pickles in this huge jar of the universe.

#foodstagram #foodphotography #mr pickles #when life gives you lemons

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dweemeister · 4 years

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Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Almost a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, globalization has pierced the remotest corners of the planet. The examples academics and politicians cite demonstrating this globalization are almost always economic, but the most profound examples are cultural. Once known only in South Asia, Indian cinema has burst onto a global stage. Its stars and its most popular directors seem larger than life. Reading on some of modern Bollywood’s (Hindi-language cinema) personalities, I find few of their biographies compelling beyond their unquestionable status as South Asian and international celebrities – I won’t name names here because that is for another time. That is partly a result of not watching enough Bollywood films. It is also because I am making unconscious comparisons between those modern actors to actor-director Guru Dutt. Dutt was a tragic romantic – off- and on-screen – to the point where those personas can become indistinguishable.

As an actor, Dutt can be as charming a romantic male lead as anyone, as well as lend a film the dramatic gravitas it needs. As a director, he refined his sweeping visuals and theatrical flairs over time. That artistic development culminated with Pyaasa (1957) and his final directorial effort, Kaagaz Ke Phool (“Paper Flowers” in English). The latter film is the subject of this piece. Both films elevate themselves to a cinematic altitude few movies anywhere, anytime ever accomplish. They are, for lack of a better word, operatic* – in aesthetic, emotion, storytelling, tone. In Kaagaz Ke Phool, Dutt once again lays bare his artistic soul in what will be his final directed work.

An old man enters a film studio’s empty soundstage, climbs onto the rafters, and gazes wistfully at the darkened workspace below. We learn that this is Suresh Sinha (Dutt), a film director whose illustrious past exists only in old film stock. The film is told in flashback, transporting to a time when his marriage to Bina (Veena) is endangered – the parents-in-law disdain his film work as disreputable to their social class – and he is embarking upon an ambitious production of Devdas (a Bengali romance novel that is among the most adapted pieces of Indian literature to film, the stage, and television). He is having difficulty finding someone to play Paro, the female lead. Due to this conflict, Bima has also forbidden their teenage daughter, Pammi (Kumari Naaz), from seeing Suresh. Pammi is sent to a boarding school far from Delhi (where Bima and her parents reside) and further from Mumbai (where Suresh works), without any sufficient explanations of the spousal strife.

One rainy evening, Suresh generously provides his coat to a woman, Shanti (an excellent Waheeda Rehman). The next day, Shanti arrives at the film studio looking to return the coat. Not knowing anything about film production, she accidentally steps in front of the camera while it is rolling – angering the crew who are tiring of yet another production mishap. Later, while viewing the day’s rushes, Suresh casts Shanti as Paro after witnessing her accidental, but remarkable, screen presence. She achieves cinematic stardom; Suresh and Shanti become intimate. When the tabloid gossip eventually reaches Mumbai and Pammi’s boarding school, it leads to the ruin of all.

What did you expect from an operatic film – a happy ending?

Also starring in the film are Johnny Walker (as Suresh’s brother-in-law, “Rocky”) and Minoo Mumtaz (as a veterinarian). Walker and Mumtaz’s roles are vestigial to Kaagaz Ke Phool. Their romantic subplot is rife with the potential for suggestive humor (she is a horse doctor), but the screenplay never justifies their inclusion in the film.

Shot on CinemaScope lens licensed by 20th Century Fox to Dutt’s production company, Kaagaz Ke Phool is Dutt’s only film shot in letterboxed widescreen. From the onset of his directorial career and his close collaboration with cinematographer V.K. Murthy, Dutt exemplifies an awesome command of tonal transition and control. Murthy’s dollying cameras intensify emotion upon approach: anguish, contempt, sober realization. These techniques render these emotions painfully personal, eliminating the necessity of a few lines of dialogue or supplemental motion from the actor. The effect can be uncomfortable to those who have not fully suspended their disbelief in the plot or the songs that are sung at the time. But to the viewers that have accepted that Dutt’s films exist in a reality where songs about infatuation, love, loss, and regret are sung spontaneously (and where revelations are heard in stillness), this is part of the appeal. Dutt and Murthy’s lighting also assists in directing the narrative and setting mood: a lashing rainstorm signaling a chance meeting that seals the protagonists’ fates, the uncharacteristically film noir atmosphere of the soundstage paints moviemaking as unglamorous, and a beam of light during a love melody evokes unspoken attraction. That final example represents the pinnacle of Dutt and Murthy’s teamwork (more on this later).

As brilliant as his films (including this) may be, Dutt suffered during mightily during Kaagaz Ke Phool’s production. In writings about Dutt, one invariably encounters individuals who believe Dutt’s life confirms that suffering leads to great art. Though I think it best to retire that aphorism so as not to romanticize pain, I believe that the reverse is true with Guru Dutt – his later directing career contributed to his personal tribulations. In some ways, that suffering informed his approach to what I consider an informal semiautobiographical trilogy of his films: Mr. & Mrs. ’55 (1955), Pyaasa, and Kaagaz Ke Phool. Dutt directed and starred in each of these films. In each film he plays an artist (a cartoonist, poet, and film director, respectively); with each successive film his character begins with a greater reputation, only to fall further than the last. The three Dutt protagonists encounter hardship that do not discriminate by caste, professional success, or wealth.

For Dutt’s Suresh, he is unable to consummate his love for Shanti because the specters of his failed marriage haunt him still. He never speaks to his de facto ex, but marital disappointment lingers. Why does he bother visiting his stuffy in-laws when he knows they will never change their opinions about him? Abrar Alvi’s (the other films in the aforementioned informal Dutt-directed trilogy, 1962’s Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam) screenplay is silent on the matter. Also factoring into Suresh’s hesitation is his daughter, Pammi. Pammi is young, looks up to both her parents, and cannot fathom a parent being torn from her life. Her reaction to learning about Shanti implies that neither of her parents have ever truly talked to her about their separation. Pammi does not appear to blame herself, but it seems that her parents – intent on protecting their child, perhaps speaking to her not as a soon-to-be young adult – are loath to maturely talk about the other. In a sense, Pammi has never mourned her parents’ marriage as we see her deny the tabloid reports about Suresh’s affair and express anger towards her father when she learns the truth.

When Suresh’s film after Devdas flops, his film career is in tatters. But Shanti’s popularity is ascendant, creating a dynamic reminiscent of A Star is Born. In a faint reference to Devdas, Kaagaz Ke Phool’s final act contains anxieties about falling into lower classes. If Kaagaz Ke Phool is contemporaneous to its release date, one could also interpret this as concerns about falling within India’s caste system (reformist India in the late 1950s was dipping its toes into criminalizing caste discrimination, which remains prevalent). Suresh’s fall is stratospheric and, in his caste-conscious, masculine pride, he rejects Shanti’s overtures to help him rebuild his life and film career. This tragedy deepens because Shanti’s offer is in response to the contractual exploitation she is enduring. We do not see what becomes of Shanti after her last encounter with Suresh, but his final scenes remind me, again, of opera: the male lead summoning the strength to sing (non-diegetically in Suresh’s case) his parting, epitaphic thoughts moments before the curtain lowers.

Suresh’s and Shanti’s respective suffering was preventable. Whether love may have assuaged his self-pity and alcoholism and her professional disputes is debatable, but one suspects it only could have helped.

Composer S.D. Burman (Pyaasa, 1965’s Guide) and lyricist Kaifi Azmi (1970’s Herr Raanjha, 1974’s Garm Hava) compose seven songs for Kaagaz Ke Phool – all of which elevate the dramatics, but none are as poetic as numbers in previous Dutt films. Comments on two of the most effective songs follow; I did not find myself nearly as moved by the others.

“Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari” (roughly, “I Have Seen How Deeply Friendship Lies”) appears just after the opening credits, as an older Suresh ascends the soundstage’s stairs to look down on his former domain. The song starts with and is later backed by organ (this is an educated guess, as many classic Indian films could benefit with extensive audio restorations as trying to figure out their orchestrations can be difficult) and is sung non-diegetically by Mohammed Rafi (dubbing for Dutt). A beautiful dissolve during this number smooths the transition into the flashback that will frame the entire film. That technique, combined with “Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari”, prepares the audience for what could be a somber recollection. However, this is only the first half of a bifurcated song. The melodic and thematic ideas of “Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari” are completed in the film’s final minutes, “Bichhde Sabhi Baari Baari” (“They All Fall Apart, One by One”; considered by some as a separate song). Together, the musical and narrative arc of this song/these songs form the film’s soul. For such an important musical number, it may have been ideal to incorporate it more into the film’s score, but now I am being picky.

Just over the one-hour mark, “Waqt Ne Kiya Haseen Sitam” (“Time Has Inflicted Such Sweet Cruelty On Us”; non-diegetically sung by Shanti, dubbed by Geeta Dutt, Guru’s wife) heralds the film’s second act – Suresh and Shanti’s simultaneous realization of their unspoken love, and how they are changed irrevocably for having met each other. Murthy’s floating cameras and that piercing beam of light are revelatory. A double exposure during this sequence shows the two characters walking toward each other as their inhibitions stay in place, a breathtaking mise en scène (the arrangement of a set and placement of actors to empower a narrative/visual idea) foreshadowing the rest of the film.

Dutt’s perfectionist approach to Kaagaz Ke Phool fueled a public perception that the film was an indulgent vanity exercise with a tragic ending no one could stomach viewing. Paralleling Suresh and Shanti’s romantic interest in each other in this film, the Indian tabloids were printing stories claiming that Dutt was intimate with co-star Waheeda Rehman and cheating on Geeta Dutt. These factors – perhaps some more than others (I’m not versed on what Bollywood celebrity culture was like in the 1950s, and Pyaasa’s tragic ending didn’t stop audiences from flocking to that film) – led to Kaagaz Ke Phool’s bombing at the box office. Blowing an unfixable financial hole into his production company, Guru Dutt, a man who, “couldn’t digest failure,” never directed another film. Like the character he portrays here, Dutt became an alcoholic and succumbed to depression in the wake of this film’s release. Having dedicated himself entirely to his films, he interpreted any professional failure as a personal failure.

Kaagaz Ke Phool haunts from its opening seconds. Beyond his home country, Dutt would not live to see his final directorial effort become a landmark Bollywood film and his international reputation growing still as cinematic globalization marches forth. Dutt’s most visually refined films, including Kaagaz Ke Phool, are films of subtraction. The cinematography and music make less movement and dialogue preferable. Kaagaz Ke Phool is a film defined about actions that are not taken and scenes that are never shown. The result is not narrative emptiness, but a receptacle of Dutt’s empathy and regrets. Exploring these once-discarded, partially biographic ideas is not for faint hearts.

My rating: 9/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

* I use this adjective not to reference operatic music, but as an intangible feeling that courses over me when watching a film. Examples of what I would consider to be operatic cinema include: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan); Greed (1924); The Red Shoes (1948); and The Wind (1928). Some level of melodrama and emotional unpackaging is necessary, but the film need not be large in scope or have musical elements for me to consider it “operatic”.

#Kaagaz Ke Phool #Guru Dutt #Waheeda Rehman #Kumari Naaz #Bollywood #Mehmood #Johnny Walker #Mahesh Kaul #Veena Sapru #Abrar Alvi #V.K. Murthy #S.D. Burman #Mohammad Rafi #Geeta Dutt #Asha Bhosle #My Movie Odyssey

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bollywoodirect · 5 years

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44 years of Kabhi Kabhie. (27/02/1976)

Kabhi Kabhie is a 1976 Hindi romantic drama film, produced and directed by Yash Chopra, starring an ensemble cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Shashi Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi Kapoor, and Neetu Singh.

This was Yash Chopra's second directorial film with Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor in the lead roles after Deewaar and was particularly noted for its soundtrack compositions by Khayyam, who won Filmfare Award for Best Music, while film lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi won the Best Lyricist Award for "Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein," the song which also got singer Mukesh the Best Male Playback Singer award.

#kabhie kabhie #yash chopra #amitabh bachchan #raakhee #shashi kapoor #waheeda rehman #rishi kapoor #neetu singh #bollywood #bollywoodirect

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waheedarehman-infinitelylovable · 6 years

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“GURUJI AND I”. By Waheeda Rehman.

I could not have accepted a more difficult and delicate role than writing an article on Mr. Guru Dutt. Difficult because he was a much misunderstood man; and delicate because----------well, because Waheeda Rehman is writing about Guru Dutt.

An extremely sensitive, quiet and complex person like him could not but be misunderstood. He was so quiet that his modesty or rather shyness, could be misinterpreted as arrogance. He hardly spoke a sentence or two when I met him for the first time in 1955. That meeting appeared to be just a coincidence; but destiny must have known that my days were changed.

“Days are changed” translated in Telugu, the language of my first movie, would be “Rojula Maraie”, my first film. It had completed it’s 100th day run in Hyderabad. Mr. Guru Dutt happened to be in Hyderabad at that time and had seen a big crowd outside the theatre. He was probably told that one of the artistes of the movie, who had only given a dance in the film, spoke to the audience in the theatre in Urdu. Later at a party given by the exhibitor he was also present there and I was introduced to him. I had not seen his movies or even heard his name till then; I did not know who he was. In fact I did not give any importance to that meeting and forgot all about it. But he did not.

About two or three months later, one afternoon a fat man who called himself Manubhai Patel wanted to meet me at my residence. He said that Mr. Guru Dutt would like to see me and I should go to Bombay for two or three days.

SECOND MEETING

I met him in Bombay at his office in Famous Cine Building in June 1955. He was quietly sitting and watching me while most of the talking was done by director Raj Khosla, production-controller Guruswamy and writer Abrar Alvi. That was my second meeting with him.

The result of that meeting was a contract for three years. For the first year I was to be paid Rs. 1,200/- per month. While the contract was being typed he asked me, “Are you not happy”?

“I will be happy when I am satisfied with my costumes” I said.

“Don’t worry, all the costumes will be to your satisfaction and you won’t be forced to put on the dress which you don’t like. Is it all right”? he asked.

“It will be alright, if it is mentioned in the contract” I said.

“Don’t you believe me”? he asked.

“Well it is not that. But don’t you think it would be better if you put this in the agreement?” I suggested.

A clause stating that the costumes will be to the liking of the artiste was included in the agreement; and I told my mother “Yes they are nice people”.

Later Raj Khosla, Abrar Alvi and Guruswamy congratulated me for being signed by such a “big director-producer and a very nice man” but warned me not to be disturbed when he sometimes loses his temper.

“Do you mean he loses his temper also?” I asked them.

“Yes” they said.

“Without any reason”?

“Well sometimes; but he does not mean anything. He is a very good man”.

“If he does that with me, I won’t work and would go back to Hyderabad” I also warned them.

Some persons are of an aggressive type; they are always talking about whatever they intend to do or seem to think. It is very easy to understand them, to describe them. But Guruji was extremely introvert. There would be a turmoil going on inside him but he won’t express it. In fact the more he worked or thought the less he spoke. As a result, so little was known about him and what went on inside his mind that he could be understood only by studying his reactions to particular situations----if at all those reactions could be observed.

That is why in this article when I want to describe him, his reactions to particular situations, I happen to be writing more about me and the problems I created for him.

Yes I did create quite a few problems for him and perhaps any other producer would have never tolerated it. But he was a different man; another like him I haven’t met again.

Once I refused to put on a particular dress in “C.I.D.”, my first film with Guru Dutt Films. The shot was ready, the artistes were waiting and one by one, Guruswamy, Raj Khosla and others were trying to convince me that there was nothing bad in the dress; but I said only one thing, “I don’t like this dress”.

One of them said, “Listen, this is your first movie, if you start objecting to these minor things no other producer will sign you”.

“Then let them not sign me; but I will not put on this dress. Get me another” I said.

Two or three days later, when Guruji returned to Bombay, he was informed that he had signed a very difficult girl.

“I am told that you created some trouble about that dress”, he asked me.

“Yes. It was not decent”, I said. That was all we talked about it. He did not like to argue unnecessarily about anything. However I did see him losing his temper sometimes.

Both “C.I.D.” and “Pyaasa” were being shot simultaneously at Kardar Studios; and he had advised me to come and sit on the sets and watch the shooting when I had nothing else to do. One day I saw him losing his temper on a senior artiste and I was really shocked. That day I told him, “You don’t shout at me like this, otherwise I will quit, I can’t face it.

“I have told you I won’t lose my temper with you. Now don’t worry” he said.

“Yes you better don’t “I insisted and explained, “I don’t know acting. You teach me, tell me what to do and I will try to do my best; but don’t get angry with me”.

He did not get angry with me, even in the most trying circumstances.

The shot of “Pyaasa”, when I come running down the staircase and speak a dialogue was taken twenty times, and every time I failed. By the time I came running down the staircase I was too exhausted to speak the dialogue. He noticed it, came and told me that I should take rest for some time; but I was not prepared to admit that I was tired and the shot could not be okayed till lunch break. But he did not seem to be angry at all.

After the lunch I had to give 14 more takes, till the 34th take was okayed. Perhaps a record for me; and also a record of the patience of Guruji.

He was a very complicated and contradictory person. He would lose his temper, particularly on the set, if anything went wrong; and at the same time he did not lose his temper on me, even if things went wrong. He was extremely impatient and yet he had shown extra-ordinary patience in many matters. He was a man who enjoyed every moment of the work of creation and yet at the same time he admired death, loved it, idolised it and wanted to destroy himself. That was Guruji.

Like all great directors he had a keen sence of observation; he knew his artistes very well and also knew how to take the best work from them.

My acting in “C.I.D.” was not good and my work done on the first set of “Pyaasa” was also disappointing. Everybody said that I was a wrong choice and had no future. Moreover I was a difficult person, also extremely stubborn, who would not put on this or that dress. But the only one person who seemed to have faith in my abilities was Guruji. But for him I would not have been what I am today. After hearing the remarks of everybody he said only one thing, “Let us try her once again”.

The next schedule of “Pyaasa” was fixed outdoors at Calcutta where he shot for about 20 days. That song of “Jane Kya Toone Kahi, Jane Kya Maine Suni” was picturised there.

He was very happy when he saw the rushes of that shooting.

Everyone had liked my work and said so. They had changed their opinions.

Like Guruji most of the persons around him were very frank. No one ever had to praise him for taking a good shot or picturising a sequence, as appears to be a fashion in quite a few units. When they did not like something they said so without any fear or hesitation and he always listened to them, whether he followed their suggestions or not. Most of the time he did whatever he wanted, whatever he liked. If he did not like a scene or a song picturisation he would scrap and re-shoot it.

Sometimes he did not like himself and just wanted to be dead, to scrap himself off. He used to say “What is there in life except success or failure; one of the two must happen and I have seen both : there is no charm in living any more”. A song of “Pyaasa” (”Yeh duniya agar milbhi jaye o kya hai?”) was so typical of his thinking.

Usually people who are fed up with life are fed up with work also; but not Guru Dutt. He was an extremely devoted film-maker till his last days. Either he was trying to create something or talking of those who wanted to create something or else he was brooding and thinking of death. He seemed to enjoy the very thought of it.

Very little could really be known about him, about what went on in his mind, only a fraction of it could be seen outside.

PRAY FOR “KANOON”.

He had faith in God, he believed Him; but I don’t remember that he ever visited a temple or any other place to worship or pray for something. Only once in his life he had asked me to pray for the success of a movie. It was neither “Pyaasa” nor “Kaagaz Ke Phool” nor any other of his own movies. It was B.R.Films’ “Kanoon”.

“But why do you want me to pray for the success of “Kanoon”? You have nothing to do with it”. I asked him.

“At least someone is trying to make a movie without songs, which I could not. If he is successful, someone else could be inspired to go a step ahead. You must pray for the success of this film without songs”, said Guruji, who was considered one of the best directors for picturising songs.

He was not a man who would be jealous of anybody’s success or prosperity. On the contrary he enjoyed their success, he loved his fellow beings, wanted to do his best for them.

He was a great lover, he loved his work, he loved his fellow-beings, he loved his creations and loved death too.

Why did he love death, why did he eulogise it, considered it to be the most pleasant thing of the world? God had given him everything except contentment. He was never satisfied and I think he knew that he would never be satisfied and that life will remain for him nothing more than a chain of successes and failures. Perhaps that is why he tried to find in death whatever he could not find in life, an end, a perfection, a contentment where he will not feel the pain of discontentment.

I do not know whether his death was an accident or something else. But I had a feeling that nothing could have saved him, he did not want to be saved.

Many times I explained to him that no one could ever get everything in life------for that even death is not a solution; but he was a perfectionist, who could not be easily satisfied. Perhaps he refused to accept that life can never be perfect. He wanted to get everything.

Sometimes you want to do something for someone; but with all your best intentions and sincerity you just cannot do it. There are things that are destined, there are some patterns of life that cannot be broken, you simply cannot change them. We must accept them or else destroy ourselves.

He refused to accept those patterns drawn by Destiny and destroyed himself. His death may have been just an accident; but I know that he had always wished for it, longed for it............and he got it.

In his death the film industry has lost a great director, humanity has lost a man of compassion and I have lost a great friend who had made the first and the greatest contribution to my success as a film artiste. I will always be grateful to him for this. I could not save him; but I sincerely wished that I could............or at least that someone else could.

But who can say that even if he was saved, his life would not have been more painful than death for him? Whatever God does is for our good only. He knows what is best for us. As Rabindranath Tagore has said:

“We cannot choose the best,

The best chooses us”.

His death has been a great loss to us; but whatever happened was perhaps best for him! That is the only consolation left.

(The above article was published in a special issue of “JOURNAL OF FILM INDUSTRY” dated November 17th, 1967.)

Source: “Guru Dutt, A Monograph” by Firoze Rangoonwalla, National Film Archive of India, 1973

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lucknowite · 1 year

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Best Songs of Waheeda Rehman I वाहिदा रहमान के बेहतरीन गीत

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common-man · 3 years

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Tribute 703.

Tribute 703.Tribute to Late Director RajKhosla. 703.

Tribute to Late Director RajKhosla. To day Iam going to pen another Wonderful Director from Bolly wood isnone other than late Director Rajkhosla.Started his careerwith Late Gurudutt,heis one of the Talked Directors from 50-80.is important.He has givem many Memorable films which won Box office hit.I have seen few films of this Stalwart.Those are Excellent CID,Do Raaste,,Meragaon mera deshDo preme,Kuchhe Daage,and Chirag.All the Top class actors Like Sunil dutt,Waheeda rehman,,Dharmendra,Vinod Khanna and Rajesh Khanna participated in this Doyen’s films.Istill remember cid,song,Aanko mein ,Chirag’s,Mere ankon,Kuchkuch kahathahai sawan,from Mera GaonMera desh and Bindya chamke from Do raashte is memorable.Known for his Song Picturaisation and Cinemotography.He had a Excellent Cinemotographer Ramachandra.His wonderful workin Mera gaon mera Desh i still remember.Do raaste he got award as Best Director from Film fare.To day i am Very Happy to Tribute this Director Known for Women Subject and still remembered by bollywood film fraternity and fans. Regards. K.Ragavan. See you next week 7-3-22 www.ragavan-creativity.blogspot.com write2ragavan.wordpress.com www.tumblr.comCommonman

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bollywoodproduct · 4 years

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Lyrics Piya Sang Khelo Hori

Lyrics in English | Piya Sang Khelo Hori | Phagun (1973) | Waheed Rehman | Dharmendra O Piya Sang Khelo HoriPiya Sang KheloPiya Sang Khelo HoriPhagun Aayo ReHo Phagun Aayo ReChunariya Bhigo Le GoriPhagun Aayo ReHo Phagun Aayo ReDhinna Tinak DhinDhi Dhin Tinak Dhin (3)Taa (4)Dhinna Tinak DhinDhi Dhin Tinak Dhin (3)………… Antakshari Songs from “P” Dekho Jis OrMach Raha ShorGali Me Abeer UdeHawa Me…

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dweemeister · 4 years

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2020 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (final round)

(Yet again, tumblr has not fixed bullet indentations. So this post doesn’t look as clean on your dashboards.)

TAGGING (among others): @addaellis, @cokwong, @emilylime5, @halfwaythruthedark, @idontknowmuchaboutmovies, @introspectivemeltdown, @maximiliani, @memetoilet, @monkeysmadeofcheese, @myluckyerror, @plus-low-overthrow, @shootingstarvenator, @themusicmoviesportsguy, @theybecomestories, @umgeschrieben, @underblackwings, @voicetalentbrendan, @thewolfofelectricavenue, and @yellanimal.

I would also like to tag some followers/previous participants as well who I also would welcome to participate in this final round: @birdsongvelvet, @bitch-genius, @dog-of-ulthar, @loveless422, @lvl9gay, @mehetibel, @phendranaedge, @poncho-honcho, @sayaf, @shadesofhappy, @thethirdman8, @uncoolforelimb, and @wehadfacesthen. Regardless of whether you were tagged or not, all of my followers can participate if they wish.

Happy Holidays to all! After a fascinating preliminary round, now begins the final round to 2020's Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (MOABOS). This is the eighth time it has been contested and the seventh year it has been open to involvement from family, friends, and tumblr followers. I begin every new year not knowing whether I will be able to share with all of you these songs and the movies they come from around November/December. So on the day that MOABOS becomes viable (usually around mid-year), it's a long stretch of anticipation to this point.

For those who have never participated in this before, my classic movie blog traditionally ends the year by honoring some of the best achievements from movies that I saw for the first time this calendar year (the "Movie Odyssey"; rewatches do not count) with an Oscar-like ceremony. I choose all the nominees and winners from each category, save one: Best Original Song. It is the only category I can think of that does not require you to watch several movies in their entirety. I know some of you wonder why I bother with this quixotic social experiment. But I have always considered it a sort of cinematic-musical thank-you for your moral support in various ways - in the hopes of introducing to all of you films and music you may not have otherwise encountered or sought. A small slice of the 2020 Movie Odyssey, so to speak.

This final will be contested by sixteen songs. As I've mentioned before, for the first time ever, there are no MOABOS entries originating from this year that made the competition - a MOABOS first. I have seen one 2020 film since the prelim (Wolfwalkers... at a drive-in mind you), but this entire final is one of yesteryear. Even without any 1930s songs, this year's final is probably the oldest on average. There are some very recognizable songs that made it straight to the final, bypassing the preliminary; those songs are contained within. Among them, a city anthem and a song that should be a city's anthem. Elsewhere, this is the first final to ever feature two classic Bollywood songs - but no classic Bollywood song has ever cracked the top ten. Elvis has three songs in this final, a MOABOS joint record along with Prince and the Bee Gees (both in 2016). But also appearing in multiple entries are Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. With five non-English-language songs in the final, this year’s final ties 2017 with the largest contingent of finalists not in the English language.

INSTRUCTIONS Please rank (#1-16) your choices in order. The top ten songs will receive nominations. The tabulation method used in the preliminary round is being used for the final only as the second tiebreaker (the tabulation method that will be used principally for the final - aka "single transferable vote" - is described in the “read more” at the bottom). There is no minimum or maximum amount of songs you can rank, but because of the nature of single transferable vote, it is highly recommended to rank as many songs as possible, rather than only one or two. Those who rank fewer songs run a greater risk of their ballots being discarded in the later rounds of tabulation. Again, this is all described in the “read more”.

Please consider to the best of your ability: how musically interesting the song is (incl. and not limited to musical phrasing and orchestration); its lyrics; context within the film (contextual blurbs provided for every entry for those who haven't seen the films); choreography/dance direction (if applicable); and the song's cultural impact/life outside the film (if applicable, and, in my opinion, least important factor). Imperfections in audio and video quality may not be used against any song. I encourage you to send in comments and reactions with your rankings - it makes the process more enjoyable for you and myself!

The deadline for submission is Thursday, December 31 at 8 PM Pacific Time. That is 6 PM Hawaii/Aleutian Time / 10 PM Central / 11 PM Eastern. That deadline is also Friday, January 1 at 2 AM GMT / 3 AM CET / 4 AM EET. This deadline has been pushed back two consecutive times due to a sizable non-response rate - but I very much do not want to do so again.

I have compiled most of this final round's songs into this YouTube playlist. Please note that neither of Kaagaz Ke Phool’s two songs are contained in the playlist. You will need to access them using their respective links.

Enjoy the music! Feel free to listen as many times as you need, and I hope you discover music and movies you may have never otherwise heard of that you find fascinating. The following is formatted... ("Song title", composer and lyricist, film title):

2020 MOVIE ODYSSEY AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG – FINAL ROUND

“Angela”, music and lyrics by José Feliciano and Janna Merlyn Feliciano, Aaron Loves Angela (1975)

Performed by José Feliciano

(English-language version) / (Spanish single version)

Played over the opening credits to this teenage drama that is partly a blaxploitation film, partly an interracial coming-of-age romance. The movie wasn't a hit, but the Spanish-language version of this song was received well in Latin America.

“Blue Shadows on the Trail”, music and lyrics by Eliot Daniel and Johnny Lange, Melody Time (1948)

Performed by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers

This is the introductory song to the final segment of Melody Time. That segment is dedicated to the legend of Pecos Bill, and this atmospheric song leads into the telling of that story.

“Can’t Help Falling in Love”, music and lyrics by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss, Blue Hawaii (1961)

Performed by Elvis Presley

(film version) / (single version)

Chadwick "Chad" Gates (Elvis) has just returned to his home state of Hawai'i after a stint in the Army. Not wanting to work on his father's pineapple plantation (seriously), he rekindles his relationship with his girlfriend, Maile (Joan Blackman). This song is sung as an accompaniment to a music box he gives to Maile's grandmother (Flora Kaai Hayes, a former Hawaiian Territorial Representative to the U.S. House). This song is among Elvis' best-known and most widely-covered.

“Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaari / Bichhde Sabhi Baari Baari”, music by S.D. Burman, lyrics by Kaifi Azmi, Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Performed by Mohammad Rafi (dubbing Guru Dutt)

Lyrics in Hindi - roughly, "I Have Seen How Deeply Friendship Lies / I Have Seen People Abandon Me One by One"

Part 1 (3:44-8:27) / Part 2 (2:16:29-2:20:42)

Make sure to turn on the video’s English captions

In this romantic tragedy, Suresh Sinha (Dutt) is a washed-up director looking back on his life. In the first part, the song leads into the rest of the film - which is almost entirely a flashback. In brief, Suresh is unhappily married to a woman whose in-laws look down on him because, to them, working in films is contemptible to their social class. Suresh meets a woman, Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), on accident and she is soon cast as the lead for his next film. They fall in love, but it is never consummated for various reasons. Eventually, his career crashes after a box office bomb and her career is ascendant. Leading into the second part of the song, Suresh is penniless and working as an extra at the movie studio. Shanti recognizes him, wants to help, but he refuses to revive his career on the back of her success. Kaagaz Ke Phool has elements of autobiography, and Suresh's fate has parallels with what happened to Dutt after this film was released.

“(Do You Know What It Means to Miss) New Orleans”, music by Louis Alter, lyrics by Edgar De Lange, New Orleans (1947)

Initially performed by Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong and his band; reprised by various

(initial film performance) / (Louis Armstrong single version)

Endie (Holiday in her only appearance in a feature film) is a maid to the affluent Smith family, whose matriarch looks down on jazz as a disreputable genre of music. In secret, Endie frequents a gambling and jazz establishment in the historic Storyville district of New Orleans and performs here with Louis Armstrong (playing himself) and others when she gets the chance. The matriarch's daughter (Dorothy Patrick), an classical operatic soprano, is transfixed by this new music she has never heard before.

“ Exsultate Justi”, music and lyrics by John Williams, Empire of the Sun (1987)

Performed by orchestra and chorus under the direction of Williams

Lyrics in Latin

In this historical epic, affluent British school boy Jamie Graham (a young Christian Bale) is living with his parents in Shanghai when the Japanese invade. Jamie is separated from his parents and placed in an internment camp. Soon before the end of WWII, the prisoners are moved elsewhere, but Jamie hides and stays put. This song plays as Jamie bikes around the empty camp and continues to play as he encounters liberating U.S. troops. Jamie is dirty and malnourished when found; one can argue that this song is used ironically. It plays once more over the end credits. "Exsultate Justi" is a variation on a theme John Williams develops over the course of the film and harkens back to Jamie's past, attending Anglican services with parents.

“Farewell to Storyville", music by Louis Alter, lyrics by Edgar De Lange, New Orleans (1947)

Performed by Louis Armstrong and his band, Billie Holiday, and company

In New Orleans, the Storyville district was a den of drinking, gambling, jazz, and prostitution. The district was the home to a heavily black populace. The U.S. military, about to establish a Naval base nearby, forces the city to close the district for good. This song is a swinging dirge to a center of jazz - a musical genre looked down upon by many of the city's upper-class whites due to its ties (real and imagined) to crime.

“Happy Endings", music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, New York, New York (1977)

Performed by Liza Minnelli and company (that's Jack Haley - who played the Tin Man and was, at the time, Minnelli's father-in-law - roughly seven minutes in)

(use in film) / (soundtrack version)

It is highly recommended one sees how this song is used in the film. Bear with me: this song is part of a movie within a movie. Within that movie within a movie, there is another movie. "Happy Endings" is the title end song to a film called Happy Endings within New York, New York. Singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) has made it big as a recording artist and caps off her hit film, Happy Endings, with this song. We see Francine's ex, played by Robert De Niro, in the audience as the film ends. "Happy Endings" is a homage/deconstruction to midcentury Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) musicals. It serves the film as "The Broadway Melody" does to Singin' in the Rain (1952) or the 17-minute ballet does to conclude An American in Paris (1951).

“Here They Come (From All Over the World)", music and lyrics by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

Performed by Jan and Dean

The link above provides the entire film. You only need to watch from 0:00-4:11. If you like music from this era or want to hear more, this film is highly, highly recommended.

This is the opening credits song to a concert film recorded over two days in Santa Monica, California on October 28 and 29, 1964. The Teenage Awards Music International (T.A.M.I. - yes, I know it's an awkward name) Show included many of the most popular musical stars of that time - almost all of them name-dropped in this song. Jan and Dean, a surf music duo, served as hosts (and performed during) the show. You folks are lucky that this is the only original song from this film!

“Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do?", music and lyrics by Yôjirô Noda, Weathering with You (2019, Japan)

Performed by RADWIMPS

Lyrics in Japanese (translation)

Weathering with You is a romantic fantasy anime about a high school boy who runs away from his rural home to Tokyo, where he meets a girl who can manipulate the weather. It has been inexplicably raining for weeks without interruption in Tokyo, so they form a business to help clear the inclement weather for special events. The melody of this song is heard throughout the film's score. It does not appear with lyrics until late in the film. The song is played under the boy's seemingly impossible attempt to save her from an unwilling human sacrifice.

There is so much plot in this damn film (it's all Makoto Shinkai's fault) - I can't explain the context of the song or this movie in a reasonable amount of space.

“Moonlight Swim”, music by Ben Weisman, lyrics by Sylvia Dee, Blue Hawaii (1961)

Performed by Elvis Presley

In a musical packed end-to-end with songs, Chadwick "Chad" Gates (Elvis) has taken a job with a tour guide agency. On his first day, he drives his first clients - a school teacher (who not so secretly is attracted to Chad) and four teenagers (one of whom becomes smitten) - to their destination.

“Personality”, music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke, Road to Utopia (1946)

Performed by Dorothy Lamour

(in-film performance) / (live radio performance)

In the fourth film of the Road to... comedy series, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby's characters have just overpowered two Alaskan thugs with a history of murderous violence. As they enter a saloon dressed up as those two thugs, all of the patrons - in a town that only knows the thugs by reputation - shut up in terror. They are treated to a performance by Sal (Lamour), who is trying to find a map of a gold mine that the real outlaws supposedly have. A visual narrator (Robert Benchley) interrupts the scene before the song briefly.

“Please Don’t Stop Loving Me”, music and lyrics by Joy Byers, Frankie and Johnny (1966)

Performed by Elvis Presley

(in-film performance) / (single version)

Johnny (Elvis) and girlfriend Frankie (Donna Douglas) work on a Mississippi River riverboat as performers. Johnny is addicted to gambling and believes that another woman is spurring on his recent run of good luck. During a fit of jealousy-as-acting, Frankie accidentally shoots Johnny during a bit of musical theater (someone switched out the blanks for real bullets). This song occurs after Johnny has recovered from the accident.

“Theme from New York, New York”, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, New York, New York (1977)

Performed by Liza Minnelli

(in-film performance) / (Frank Sinatra single)

For most of the film, saxophone player Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) is trying to compose a song but cannot figure out the lyrics (this plays out as a subplot). His eventual girlfriend/later ex, Francine Evans (Minnelli) provides said lyrics. Some time well after they have broken up, he finds her singing this song - which he previously brought to the top of the jazz charts - in the nightclub where they first met. This film flopped (musical movies were out of fashion by the mid-'70s, and a musical didn't seem "on brand" for director Martin Scorsese). But the Frank Sinatra single popularized this song, and it has been used in many venues of popular culture.

“Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam”, music and lyrics by S.D. Burman, Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Performed by Geeta Dutt (dubbing Waheeda Rehman)

Lyrics in Hindi - roughly, "Time Has Inflicted Such Sweet Cruelty On Us"

Song begins at 1:03:31 and ends at 1:07:51

Make sure to turn on the video’s English captions

In this romantic tragedy told in flashback, Suresh Sinha (Guru Dutt) is a director looking back on his life. Suresh is unhappily married to a woman whose in-laws look down on him because, to them, working in films is contemptible to their social class. Suresh meets a woman, Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), on accident and she is soon cast as the lead for his next film. They fall in love, but it is never consummated for various reasons. This song is the most explicit statement of that love in this film. How much of the scene's set-up is observable by the characters is up to the viewer's interpretation.

“You Make Me Feel So Young”, music by Josef Myrow, lyrics by Mack Gordon, Three Little Girls in Blue (1946)

Performed by Del Porter (dubbing Charles Smith) and Carol Stewart (dubbing Vera-Ellen)

(use in film) / (Frank Sinatra cover)

In this rarely-seen musical (*insert plea to Disney to restore the massive 20th Century Fox catalogue they now own and are almost certainly neglecting*), three chicken farmer sisters decide to travel to Atlantic City in hopes of marrying a rich husband when they learn their aunt's inheritance is not nearly as much as they want. There, youngest sister Myra (Vera-Ellen) - despite the sisters' original intentions of marrying men of wealth - becomes involved with a waiter named Mike (Charles Smith). They go on a date, and they sing this song. A somewhat overly-literal fantastical dancing sequence ensues, complete with Vera-Ellen's dancing skills. This song was popularized by Frank Sinatra years later and has long enjoyed status as a big band/jazz standard.

Contact me however you wish if you have questions or comments regarding MOABOS' processes or something specific about a song or a few. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are having difficulty accessing one of the songs (especially if it is region-locked) or if there is an error in the playlist.

Once more, I thank you all for your support for the Movie Odyssey, the blog, and for me personally - no matter how long I’ve known you or in what capacity. There are no hard feelings if you cannot get to this, although I will be checking in as the deadlines get close. Please wear a mask. Practice social distancing. We'll see each other again on the other side of this pandemic.

TABULATION The winner is determined by a process distinct from the preliminary round. For the final, the winner is chosen by the process known as single transferable vote (the Academy Awards uses this method to choose a Best Picture winner, visually represented here - you should really watch this video if the below doesn’t make sense… which it probably won’t):

All #1 picks from all voters are tabulated. A song needs more than half of all aggregate votes to win (50% of all votes plus one… i.e. if there are thirty respondents, sixteen #1 votes are needed to win on the first count).

If there is no winner after the first count (as is most likely), the song(s) with the fewest #1 votes or points is/are eliminated. Placement will be determined by the tiebreakers described below. Then, we look at the ballots of those who voted for the most recently-eliminated song(s). Their votes then go to the highest-remaining and non-eliminated song on their ballot.

The process described in step #2 repeats until one song has secured 50% plus one of all votes. We keep eliminating nominees and transfer votes to the highest-ranked, non-eliminated song on each ballot. NOTE: It is possible after several rounds of counting that respondents who did not entirely fill in their ballots will have wasted their votes at the end of the process. For example, if a person voted the second-to-last place song as their #1, ranked no other songs, and the count has exceeded two rounds, their ballot is discarded (lowering the vote threshold needed to win), and they have no say in which song ultimately is the winner.

A song wins when it reaches more than fifty percent of all #1 and re-distributed votes.

Tiebreakers: 1) first song to receive 50% plus one of all #1 and transferred votes; 2) total points earned (this was the first tiebreaker in the preliminary round); 3) total #1 votes; 4) average placement on my ballot and my sister’s ballot; 5) tie declared

Previous years’ results for reference: 2013 final 2014 final (input from family and friends began this year) 2015 final 2016 prelim / final 2017 prelim / final 2018 prelim / final 2019 prelim / final

#2020 Movie Odyssey Awards

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