Nutan mania
I've decided to become a full-fledged promoter of Nutan! Below you'll find pictures of her I've collected since I've started watching films with her. For those who are fed up with her, you can go here (for example!)
Practical Info
About me
I'm a French lover of Indian cinema, but I'm also interested in literature, science, art, and reflection in general. This blog will reflect these tastes more or less!
Categories
- letstalkaboutbollywood (47)
- film reviews (93)
- practical info (1)
- Book reviews (18)
- miscellaneous (3)
- Trip to India (8)
Nutan photos
Bolly blogs I visit
- Greta's Memsaabstory
- Madhulika's Dustedoff
- Bollyviewer's Old is gold
- Sharmi's old films and me
- Bollywooddeewana
- Carla's blog Filmigeek
- Beth loves Bollywood
- A2line's Bollyblog
- Amodini's movie reviews
- Anu's conversations over chai
- Daddy's girl's Dharmendra praise blog
- The fabulous Pitu
- Harvey's blog
- Satyam's blog
- Shweta's Apni EA Company
- Julie and Jenny's Diablog
- Post-punk CC
- Nida's Bitten by Bollywood
- Sanni's So they dance
- Stephen 's Bollywood banter
- Blissful Nirvana
- Maria's Filmiholic
- Philip Lutgendorf 's fil-ums
- Darshit's dunkdaft
- Ajnabi's Paisa Vasool - or not
- Shell's Bollyworld
- The BollywoodFan
- Alan's Bellevue to Bollywood
- Pessimisissimo's Exotic entertainment
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Latest posts
- Their hands can see: Sparsh
- Peepli live: long live the media!
- Subarnarekha, Ritwick Ghatak's ode to Life
- Chhalia, Nutan's contribution to the Indo-pakistani peace process
- Mera Naam Joker: too big? Too much?
- Kanchanjungha, the moment of revelation
- Dhobi ghat, looking for a new centre
- Yeh raate, yeh mausam
- Ram teri Ganga maili, RK's last opus
- Abhijan, a remarkable moral fable
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Mardi 11 mars 2008
2
11
/03
/Mars
/2008
13:49
Kaala Patthar (“Black stone”) is a grandiose epic movie by Yash Chopra which is at the same time a political and social weapon against reckless capitalism and the exploitation of workers, a story of redemption and sacrifice, and a suspense-full entertainer, with action, love and fighting. There is in Kaala Patthar a power which comes from the outstanding performances of the great number of star-level actors. Amitabh is leading the list, but Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Shatrughan Sinha, Neetu Singh, Rakhee Gulzar, Prem Chopra, all have good roles to defend. But I’d say they would be less interesting if it wasn’t for another actor which transcends individual roles, and that’s the […]
Mercredi 5 mars 2008
3
05
/03
/Mars
/2008
23:11
R.K. Narayan’s novel, The Guide, written in 1958, is recognised as one of the author’s best. (It’s selected within a collection of “1000 books to read during your lifetime” collection which some French publishers were selling over Christmas). It tells the story of Raju, whose father was lucky to own a shop near a spot where a railway station was going to be built. Raju was then a boy who enjoyed his life outside, and when the tracks and station were built, the shop in the station was entrusted to his father. The boy soon started helping him, pleased at not having to be sent to school any more. But the father died accidentally, and Raju who must have been 12 or so, took over, and over […]
Dimanche 2 mars 2008
7
02
/03
/Mars
/2008
12:18
With his title “The dark prince” I am not referring to Ajay’s skin colour of course, even though there are only few among the best-known Bollywood stars that do have a dark skin, but more to his character, what I can guess of it. I’ve always felt in him a sort of broodiness, a mystery, which his marriage to Kajol – pretty much the opposite I would say – hasn’t dispelled. I didn’t know before calling him like that that Amitabh Bachchan had done so before, almost: “the dark horse of Bollywood”! (here) There is something intense and powerful in Ajay’s personality, something commanding, and not without its own charm. This charm is made of a very masculine style, proud chin, strong bones, […]
Jeudi 14 février 2008
4
14
/02
/Fév
/2008
16:14
3 Dewaarein by Nagesh Kukunoor is a very good entertainer. Its construction is very clever, its rhythm flawless, the actors are truly first class, the suspense is exciting, the photography is excellent… One spends a very rewarding 120 minutes. But…it’s only entertainment. Now you’re going to tell me, what more do you expect from films? That’s what they’re for! Yes, but I have been used, at that level of excellence, to find a little bit more than entertainment. Let’s say, a certain amount of moral or social reflection, or a political statement, the director’s commitment to something else, precisely, than pure virtuosity and emotionality. Instead, I have that strange (even if enjoyable!) […]
Lundi 11 février 2008
1
11
/02
/Fév
/2008
00:08
One might say the 21 year old glamgirl called Ayesha Takia is rather young to be commented upon at great depth; one would be wrong, because there is a great deal to be said about and around her. Let’s start with the beginning: a few months ago, I wrote this article about Sex and Bollywood. And two of the photos I found to illustrate what I had to say on the subject were (perhaps a hasty choice?) of Ayesha Takia in very suggestive poses (little voice: nothing hasty there! Lots of preparation). No nudity, mind, but we all know that sexiness goes much beyond skin exposure. In fact, true eroticism needs clothes to suggest what an exposed body can’t do, because it doesn’t hide anything […]
Mercredi 6 février 2008
3
06
/02
/Fév
/2008
00:32
As boy-meets-girl Bollywood stories go, well, I don’t know whether I’ve not seen the best so far (1)… Socha na tha, directed by novice director Imtiaz Ali in 2005 (he’s done Jab we met since), and starring beginners Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia shows that you can walk in among your peers, be influenced only by the good things, and beat them in terms of result! What’s rather nice about this photo-story (it’s still a photo-story) is that it has a good realistic plot, which no absurd coincidences are going to solve, and even if I did tell myself: “they’re bound to find some sort of a solution to extract themselves from the mess they’ve put themselves in”, I actually was pleasantly surprised […]
Samedi 2 février 2008
6
02
/02
/Fév
/2008
10:23
To inattentive spectators this 1956 film starring Raj Kapoor will probably seem a little naïve and perhaps shoddy, for it has enough imperfections to justify a less than perfect opinion about it. Some inconsistencies here, some lengthy bits there, a humour that sometimes annoys, and a rather surprising ending, halfway between reality and fantasy. I must say that I was, and still am, determined to explore films with and by Raj Kapoor, and this one (not directed by him, but by Amit and Sombhu Mitra) did strain my patience at first. Even if Raj Kapoor does a hell of a job. The storyline is very simple: one night, Mohan, a villager, arrives in town in search of work, and he’s thirsty. […]
Mercredi 30 janvier 2008
3
30
/01
/Jan
/2008
00:28
Mulk Raj Anand’s small fiction volume « Untouchable », which dates back to 1935, evokes the life of a young sweeper called Bakha, through the description of a day’s happenings, from the morning when, only half awake, and after a cold night (due to his love of British clothes, he despises ordinary sleeping rags), he has to rush to clean the latrines before anybody can use them, down to the evening throng that he joins in the nearby city, where a rally in support of Gandhi has been organised. In between, we follow him and his thoughts, and we are made to understand the joys and frustrations of his dalit condition. Joys, because he is a young and strong lad, whose lively and gentle nature […]
Jeudi 17 janvier 2008
4
17
/01
/Jan
/2008
15:41
Of Arundhati Roy’s very personal novel, no doubt much has been said. In the edition that I have, reviews have been put on the first pages, celebrating its magic, its mystery, its powerful rhythm, its innovative structure. Well, I must say I was slow at accepting all this as true [1]. But I couldn’t escape the vivid lavish texture. Story? I asked. But style, Sure. While I was reading the novel, I kept marvelling at some of the “tour de force” crafted by the young authoress (when I say young, it’s because the novel is her first, and so far only one). I relished in her language, an amazingly versatile tool under her pen, that is almost like a living organism, a glowing dough that she can […]
Lundi 7 janvier 2008
1
07
/01
/Jan
/2008
10:52
Those who have read this blog for some time know that I had loved Monsoon wedding, that little gem of a film, and well, I’ve recently watched Salaam Bombay and The Namesake, along with Mira Nair’s 1985 documentary on women strippers, Indian Cabaret: all this made me wonder: what sort of woman is Mira Nair? Looking though websites about her, one is rapidly confronted with a few that show her very much at ease in public, expressing herself with an intelligence and a strength that are a real treat. “So that’s where it all comes from”, I thought. “It” for me meant a combination of qualities rarely seen in Indian cinema (and rewarded by many international awards). First of course, an […]
Mercredi 19 décembre 2007
3
19
/12
/Déc
/2007
20:40
Another classic ! Raj Kapoor (actor and director) and Nargis are once again at the top of their art, and create a masterful, a superb story of love and temptation, of self-deception and redemption. Not only is the story a moving and profound parable on ambition and success, but the way the film is done is inventive, touching, funny, symbolical… It has everything. These black and white movies had the cardinal virtue of presenting moral issues in a contrast that our modern pictures cannot rival. Were B & W directors conscious that they had one foot further in Art? And wouldn’t you say the realism of colours and digital rendition tends to blur the ethical questions? I particularly […]
Mardi 11 décembre 2007
2
11
/12
/Déc
/2007
22:31
Rakesh Mehra’s cult movie left me in two minds. I certainly appreciated the fact that for Indians in today’s society, something urgent and drastic has to be done if the democracy must move away from the scourge of corruption and nepotism. We’ll come back to that. But somehow I was a little annoyed by the systematic parallel made between the young Delhi students and the XXth century Freedom fighters. I don’t criticise it in principle, but I thought that the nail was hammered down too far. To the point that the modern corruption fighters were deprived of some of their freedom, perhaps, and the film became somewhat a demonstration. Anyway, I liked the film’s pretext, the arrival of […]
Jeudi 6 décembre 2007
4
06
/12
/Déc
/2007
22:50
Let's start by saying I don’t like Aamir Khan. I don’t like him because he’s bossy, because he’s arrogant, because he’s superior. Somehow I never feel at ease with him. He makes me tense; he obliges me to rise to his level, whereas I prefer actors who descend to my level. I have the feeling that I’m always asked to notice how good he is. Perhaps this is due to his reputation: he’s famous for concentrating on one film at a time, refusing scenarios that don’t have any content, involving himself in his roles totally, and even if this attitude should normally speak in his favour, it still doesn’t work. He’s too elitist, probably, too proud. And the fact that this superiority goes along with […]
Lundi 26 novembre 2007
1
26
/11
/Nov
/2007
11:28
At the bottom of page 511 [1] of Rohinton Mistry’s novel “A Fine Balance”, one can read the sentence: “the lives of the poor are rich with symbols”. One might just as well say: the book of the poor, not forgetting the fact that the book is indeed about the poor, who remain poor throughout, even if their lives is made richer by symbols. But this 600 page volume enriches us with more than symbols; this is what I would like to speak about. The story would be very long to tell in detail, but here it is in the broad outlines: 4 people from varying origins converge in a Mumbai flat in the mid-70s, and learn to live together and appreciate one another: Dina Dalal, a head-strong, middle-class […]
Vendredi 16 novembre 2007
5
16
/11
/Nov
/2007
00:03
Here’s an unassumingly important little film. Shonali Bose's Amu is a kind of a detective-story, with young Indian expat Kajju coming back to the country she’d left when she was 3, and discovering about her past. We follow her as she little by little unearth facts about herself and about her foster family, along with a history lesson, situated around the time of the 1984 Indira Gandhi assassination riots (See what the author says about them here: www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/bose-o06.shtml). What’s artistically very pleasant about Amu is the film’s realism - New Delhi, its crowds, its noisy streets, its colourful atmosphere (somehow I come out of the film bathed in that soft […]