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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- décembre 2010 (5)
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- août 2010 (8)
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Lundi 12 avril 2010
1
12
/04
/Avr
/2010
21:49
Anupama, by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, centres around the character of Uma (Sharmila Tagore), a shy and silent girl, sole daughter of a cruel father (Tarun Bose) who lost this beloved wife when she gave birth to this daughter. He blamed her for the death of his wife, and has got stuck in this absurd hatred which has permanently traumatised Uma. But around this centre revolves other characters, especially Ashok (Dharmendra), the young teacher-poet who will open her up to herself and to love. Of course he will be attracted to her, to her mystery and her beauty, and the quintessential scene of revelation is one that takes place on a wooded hillside, to the tune of Kuch dil ne kaha: Now for me […]
Mercredi 7 avril 2010
3
07
/04
/Avr
/2010
16:04
For once I thought I’d jump back to the present and enjoy a little contemporary Bollywood. So I pored in my box of unwatched movies and saw Love aaj kal (Imtiaz Ali, 2009) with the alluring eyes of Deepika Padukone smiling at me with their healthy skin and smart brows. And well, good ol’ Saif in the bargain – couldn’t be too bad, I thought. (And what the heck!) So: verdict? Not too bad. But in fact the movie was a confirmation (and not a condemnation) of my love for goldies! This "contemporary" movie (with Rishi Kapoor's voice perhaps) seemed to tell me: "Yves, don't worry, your time isn't wasted by watching old movies"! Here’s the synopsis (thanks bollywooddeewana): Jai ( Saif Ali […]
Dimanche 21 mars 2010
7
21
/03
/Mars
/2010
23:46
Ashani Sanket, shot by Satyajit Ray in 1973 is again one of those movies people lift to the skies, but for which you have to wonder why what they find so important or interesting in it is so vague and general. Just saying things like “a scathing indictment of the 1943 government-orchestrated famine” doesn’t really underline its artistic value… It’s classified in The New York Times 1000 best films ever, not that that means very much, mind you. Other critics I’ve read here and there contend that Ray’s films are on the whole too slow, and lack “inventive” plots. And even if I’m an admirer of Ray’s works, as you shall see below, I agree with these criticisms. Only for me they aren’t […]
Mardi 16 mars 2010
2
16
/03
/Mars
/2010
23:08
T here are two « mysteries » in Rohinton Mistry’s 2002 novel Family Matters. One concerns the character of Nariman Vakeel, the 79 year old Professor suffering from Parkinson and osteoporosis, who lives with his two adult unmarried step-children, Jal and Coomy, in their large family house. His wife died some years ago, in circumstances that connect directly to the drama which starts when, because he’s a burden to his two step-children, he is sent away to live in his daughter Roxana’s minuscule flat. There he lies all day long on the sofa, unable to move because of a plastered ankle. He has to be continually looked after, especially in the most unsettling bodily functions. But what is the […]
Dimanche 7 février 2010
7
07
/02
/Fév
/2010
19:15
Strange that it was Jagmohan Mundhra (of the fame of Sexual Malice and other cheap erotic thrillers) who was fortunate enough to have been able to shoot this story, the true story of a battered Punjabi woman who after 10 years of domestic violence decided to set fire on her torturing husband, and ended up with a sentence of life imprisonment. Here’s the imdb plot summary. Because Provoked (2006) is a rather good little movie, the filmed autobiography of the heroine, played here by Aishwarya Rai, who reinforces her acting capability, demonstrating that even if she is a pretty face, she can also do the job. Some people say other actresses would have done better: well that’s a present for […]
Jeudi 14 janvier 2010
4
14
/01
/Jan
/2010
22:47
Paying guest by Subodh Mukherji (1957) is not completely worth its two and a half hours of watching: it’s just another 2nd class romantic comedy with elements of drama and thriller. It incorporates all the elements of a standard family show: good-looking actors, suspense, slapstick, disguises, family interest and whodunit courtroom mystery in the end (1). Dev Anand and Nutan lead the dance, and the charm of their acting succeeds sometimes to offset the repetitiveness of the timeworn recipes, which one might have thought were more reserved for Punch & Judy children audiences than for cinema-goers. But, after all! Comedy is eternal, is it not? The reason I’m bothering to write is a […]
Samedi 2 janvier 2010
6
02
/01
/Jan
/2010
16:40
The white tiger is a rare genetic variation of the normally ochre-skinned feline that is both feared and respected as the king of animals in Asia. But it’s also a 2008 novel by Aravind Adiga which the press has acclaimed and which I’ve just finished reading. Somebody (The publishers weekly) said about it that it was “the perfect antidote to lyrical India”. Other books and films could claim that title, but it’s true that there is, especially in the West, a tendency to lyricize India, matlab, to romanticize it by raving about the colourful and exotic surface, and ignoring the harsher reality below. I’m sure I myself have been a blind victim to this illusion. Well thanks to guys like Adiga […]
Lundi 28 décembre 2009
1
28
/12
/Déc
/2009
18:43
("Make way for Queen Victoria!") Shatranj ke Khilari (1977, The chess players) shows how close Satyajit Ray has come to Shakespearian inspiration. In this story of two gentlemen of Lucknow we have the dilemma of the good king, made powerless by a power stronger than his own; we have the Realpolitik of History and Conquest magnified to the dimension of lyrical drama, we have - on the backdrop of a nostalgic XIXth century society of servants and breathtaking outdoor scenery - the subplot of loud-spoken and often clownish compeers who bring their conventional comic relief. The two stories intertwine superbly, and create a rich pattern of symbolical and psychological truth which deserves […]
Mercredi 23 décembre 2009
3
23
/12
/Déc
/2009
14:54
I was first informed of Saudagar (« the trader » 1973), by Sudhendu Roy, through Carla and given my unruly interest for Nutan, and my unabated appreciation of Big B, I decided that I couldn’t wait any more, and I got that disc. It’s a very simple story, that of Moti (Amitabh), a village palm sap collector, who falls under the charm of a sexy but expensive country belle (“vamp” Padma Khanna). And in order to buy her, he offers to marry his business partner, a widow called Mahjubi (Nutan), with whom he successfully produces gur, a sort a sugary cake made from the boiling of palm sap. Marrying her (for one season) means he no longer needs to give her half the price for her work, and so he […]
Lundi 7 décembre 2009
1
07
/12
/Déc
/2009
22:27
Sagina (1974), a hindi remake of the bengali Sagina Mahato, shot by the same director (Tapan Sinha) four years before, is a reflexion on work exploitation, oppression and revolution. The story is set in the “tea gardens” of North-East India, in the forties, and centres around the charismatic figure of a local worker, Sagina Mahato (Dilip Kumar), who is the acknowledged leader of the exploited bunch of mountain villagers toiling away for the benefit of the British. As expected, the capitalistic manager is a ruthless heartless racist, whereas Sagina, who has the guts to confront the boss, manages to make him understand that the coolies are human and cannot be simply beaten and used like […]
Mardi 1 décembre 2009
2
01
/12
/Déc
/2009
23:02
Sagar Sarhadi has only directed one movie, and otherwise is known for having worked as Yash Chopra’s screenplay writer. This movie, Bazaar, (1982) supposedly belongs to “New Indian Cinema”, and it feels like it wanted to belong. It isn’t a bad film, but its defects show rather too much. Still, let’s say it has enough interest to be watched. Its quality comes from its story, and the interaction of complex character roles. Najma (Smita Patil) belongs to an impoverished Nawab family from Hyderabad who expects a lot from her in terms of social advancement, and so she cannot answer Salim’s (Naseeruddin Shah) advances on the grounds that the man, a poet, is too poor. One day her mother asks […]
Samedi 21 novembre 2009
6
21
/11
/Nov
/2009
23:48
In Sujata (The well-born, 1959), Bimal Roy has made the untouchable touching, adorable an object of disgust, and visible a pit of darkness. I’m not saying that he has made THE unique Dalit movie (I don’t know which one this would be… Ankur? ), but for me the character he’s cast as the untouchable in the film, Nutan, is his attempt at visualising on the screen what he thought about any human being: Bimal Roy could have signed this famous Shakespearian verse: O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in't! (The Tempest, V,2) Man, this divine creature, possesses a beauty which testifies to its origin, and all men, […]
Mercredi 11 novembre 2009
3
11
/11
/Nov
/2009
22:08
Anari (1959), by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, in spite of its numerous defects, represents a compromise between the quality cinema strain started by Raj Kapoor, and its commercial exploitation. The movie is clearly inspired by SD Narang’s Dilli ka thug, which came out a year before, with Kishore Kumar instead of Raj Kapoor, but Nutan is again faced with a lover who blunders into her world, and there is the same poisoned medicine story, with a masked villain pulling the strings dangerously close to her. The story is rather simple: Aarti (Nutan) is a rich girl who lives with her uncle, the pharmaceutical tycoon Ramnath (Motilal), and who one day decides to escape from the absurd college of good […]
Samedi 7 novembre 2009
6
07
/11
/Nov
/2009
15:32
Taare zameen par (2007) was Aamir Khan’s début movie as director; and for a “beginner’s” movie, it’s a rather good one. Does this sound rather bland? Yes, I admit, from the point of view of universal cinema quality. It’s probably because the story is just too predictable, and the perspective too well-known. An ill-adapted schoolboy who faces exclusion because of his difference, and who finds a defender in the person of an open-eyed teacher. Nothing we’ve not seen a number of times! But in fact, the film surprises because of its continuous attention to detail, and that’s something I’ve rarely seen in Indian cinema, where a lot of what is filmed doesn’t cost much in terms of […]
Dimanche 18 octobre 2009
7
18
/10
/Oct
/2009
23:25
R.K. Narayan’s short novel The vendor of sweets (1967) is the story of a wise man, called Jagan, who lives in the narayanian town of Malgudi and prospers by selling quality sweetmeats appreciated because they aren’t overpriced or watered down with cheap ingredients. He’s a believer in honest practises, and a living proof that free enterprise when practised within the rules not only brings money and satisfaction to its initiator, but also satisfaction and development in a community. At a certain level of entrepreneurship and provided the adequate circuits of supply and demand are long-lasting enough to enable investment to pay off, people can flourish and their individual interests […]