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 22 juillet 2008
2
22
/07
/Juil
/2008
23:06
Of all the commentaries I have read about Kamal Amrohi’s 1972 movie Pakeezah, this one (Upperstall.com) corresponds most to what I thought of it : “Pakeezah is a stylized, larger than life mythicization of the familiar tale of the prostitute with the heart of gold (…)In the film Amrohi turns to the milieu and culture he is a product of - Uttar Pradesh's feudal elite, its life of ease and elegance, of romantic love, poetry and mujras. Its decadence is not without a touch of class and has sometimes resulted in much creative upsurge. Pakeezah inherits that legacy. There is grandeur in Amrohi's filmmaking - an epic magnitude of treatment. The evocative songs and the background music create […]
Jeudi 10 juillet 2008
4
10
/07
/Juil
/2008
17:24
Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, 1977. Nanda Kaul, an old solitary lady lives in her house on the mountainside. Something depressing about her presence there, as if she was hiding away from some family secret. The house: a witness of generations of Colonial time residents, when British gentlemen and ladies used to entertain soldiers and organise parties for the rich expatriates there. Then came Independence. 1947. Everything stopped, and the house was vacated. That old lady bought it probably in the sixties, to settle away from her previous life. She appreciates the emptiness of the place, its solitude, the parched hillsides. She feels pacified when listening to “the scented sibilance of the […]
Jeudi 3 juillet 2008
4
03
/07
/Juil
/2008
22:27
It’s become a recurrent syndrome: I need a second viewing or reading to appreciate some of India’s prominent masterpieces! (For it has been recognised as such, see this link, or this one for example). This has been very true for Charulata (charu = attractive, beautiful), Satyajit Ray’s 1964 shooting of the Tagore novel (Nashta Neer, the broken nest). On first viewing, I was only fairly moved towards the story of this “lonely wife”. The fact that, for example, her attraction towards her brother in law is shown purely through her beautiful black eyes: - I was telling myself that this story-telling had the immense quality of real life, where love happens mostly via little signs which the […]
Jeudi 26 juin 2008
4
26
/06
/Juin
/2008
12:54
It took me a long time to finish The Inheritance of Loss. Not only because there has been so many things to do in the past months, but also because somehow the novel didn’t correspond to what I am at ease with, a real storyline evolving around recognisable characters, or perhaps actual characters making the story move, something like that (you can also have a look at this (negative) review). Instead, the story is brought forward through a series of touches, short chapters one after the other, none having more importance than the preceding, and the more important ones almost indistinguishable among the less important. The book starts with the “attack” of the house where all the action […]
Dimanche 22 juin 2008
7
22
/06
/Juin
/2008
00:36
I watched Calcutta Mail on Jaman (Jaman.com) because of Sudhir Mishra and the good memories I had of Dharavi, Main zinda hoon and Chameli. All three movies are urban movies, and deal with the impact that cities have on the individual, or perhaps rather on the consequences on the individual of the urban dimension within him. What sort of individual is the Indian urbanite, asks Sudhir Mishra; what does the fact of having an urban environment, urban pressure, urban possibilities mean, in terms of living together today in India? Well, Calcutta mail also deals with urban matters, and in fact describes the life of an ordinary man who was going to the metropolis for a job, and who gets […]
Mercredi 18 juin 2008
3
18
/06
/Juin
/2008
00:53
Hi everyone… Here’s that detailed observation of the dream-sequence in Raj Kapoor’s Awara which I had promised you! I’m in fact quite pleased I had set that aside, because there is so much in it, and even more than what my Western perspective can divine, I presume, because of the Indian references I don’t know. First the context: the scene takes place as Raj, who has spent the day out with his sweetheart Rita (the boat scene), walks home that night, and is stopped by a blade pointed at him: his guru Jagga was waiting for him. The latter suspects him of softening and forgetting his old “friends”. Raj lies to him, and assures him he has a plan: he’s only visiting Rita’s rich household to […]
Mardi 3 juin 2008
2
03
/06
/Juin
/2008
23:29
Like perhaps a number of you, I discovered Manisha Koirala in Dil se, by Mani Ratnam, and was attracted by that irritating mousy character of the terrorised terrorist, who with her distant but intense eyes tries to escape Shahrukh’s advances, but not the spectators’. She’s great in that movie, she has a presence, which is at the same time a distance; she teases, she annoys, she leaves you panting. I remember wowing! And a woman terrorist! So tragic… So all that sadness, that drama: that was my first taste of the Nepali beauty seen later in a number of other films, and sufficiently good ones too, to make me wonder recently how come I hadn’t yet contemplated writing something about her. […]
Jeudi 22 mai 2008
4
22
/05
/Mai
/2008
22:19
“Oh World, I am a wanderer in your puzzle!” So sings Awaara, Raj the vagabond, as he leaves the prison, and winds his way through village streets and benevolent humanity, his newly found freedom and his good nature hiding the deep wounds of a wrecked childhood. “Don’t sin any more!” the warden had said, as he was sent out of jail. But his tragic fate is fixed: once a thief, always a thief. There’s no way out of crime for him, says Jagga his evil guru. Raj is thrown into the world only to wander from one misery to the next, from one loss to another: why is he thus chosen as God’s toy? He was born with a good heart, but is slave to the torment and horror of evil. Why is there no escape […]
Mercredi 14 mai 2008
3
14
/05
/Mai
/2008
00:29
I’ve been longing to write that LetsTalkAboutBollywood article about Naseeruddin Shah for a long time. He’s one of my favourite Indian actors, if not my favourite. Okay, let’s say he is my favourite actor (alive). I suppose it’s natural to take sides, so there, I prefer the fox to the lion. The lion’s beauty is a treat to watch, you stand straight when you watch him. But the fox’s cunning makes you duck and dodge, to see what’s behind, or inside, and that’s more my style. Everybody will agree that Amitabh is the lion: he’s the old king of Bollywood, as yet uncrowned. But Naseer is Foxy Loxy, the clever charmer, the unassuming jester, the cunning fooler. Naseer can do what he likes, the […]
Dimanche 27 avril 2008
7
27
/04
/Avr
/2008
22:23
Some of you might remember that I had promised to watch Guide, by Vijay Anand, the movie based on R.K. Narayan’s novel which I had reviewed here. I had been encouraged by a number of blog reviews, but I must say that I have been rather disappointed. I had already been slightly critical of the book, and suggested that the end was a little unsatisfactory, because it was ambiguous; but watching the film brought out all the strengths of the novel, and these in turn highlighted the simplified and romanticised defects of the movie. As Mohit Verma from IMDb says, “There are two perspectives you can have about this film: firstly if you're an R.K. Narayan buff and had read "The Guide" before […]
Dimanche 20 avril 2008
7
20
/04
/Avr
/2008
20:07
« This is one of the worst Bollywood films ever made. It tells the sickening story of a 15 year old boy who loves a 26 year old women. Its weird, cos the boy is just so annoying and looks stupid. He spends long hours just spying on her with his telescope. Thats right, 50% of this movie, is the boy spying on her. Who is this film aimed at and what kind of people will enjoy this kind of trap. Its like gazing at a security camera hidden in someones room. With respect i would like to add that if the actress was beautiful and sexy, maybe the film would of had a reason to watch it. Manisha Koirala looks old, scruffy and ugly. There are little scenes of sex which is rare in Bollywood. Even […]
Mercredi 16 avril 2008
3
16
/04
/Avr
/2008
15:28
As soon as one pronounces the name “Akshaye Khanna”, a picture springs up, and one sees that curvy mouth, that dimpled chin, those square jaws and above all, the dark cunning eyes that half-smile, half gauge, as if to make sure the track is clear. Hmm, says one, he must be a warm, interesting fellow! He looks intelligent, reserved, unassuming, and…SEXY! (It’s the half-open, dark eyes that do the trick, they never miss). Then there’s that negligently unbuttoned shirt with lots of bushy hair cropping out… probably for the ladies, or am I wrong? With Akshaye, there’s a style, a very carefully studied mixture of naturalness and sophistication, which works wonders. He’s selected a pose, a […]
Mercredi 2 avril 2008
3
02
/04
/Avr
/2008
23:44
For a long time now I have been wanting to actually speak about Rani Mukherjee: suspicious, no? I had been doing these comments about all these books and films, which have nothing to do with her, and at the back, there had always been that lingering need to bask in that light, the light of her smile. I suppose it’s more than that: it’s really exposing myself in the act of dealing with her, baring my interest in her… Anyway, here goes: what I Reeeeaaallly like about her is that SMILE (and that Voice)! When I think of her, that’s what come to my mind immediately. It’s silly, because I know it’s false, but isn’t she ALWAYS smiling in her movies? (well anyway, she always has that amazing […]
Jeudi 27 mars 2008
4
27
/03
/Mars
/2008
21:35
Satyajit Ray’s 1955 “Song of the little road” is a quiet picture of little big events within a rural Bengali family, where the little happenings of childhood occur, and form that most profound event of any life: growing up. The film is part of a trilogy, the Apu trilogy; but I haven’t (yet) seen the other two films. Still, you can of course see Pather Panchali independently. I hadn’t yet seen anything like it before. It’s a sort of haiku, those short Japanese poems famous for their purity and density. As one watches it, one is struck by the timelessness, the unfathomable simplicity and emptiness of what is shown. The impression is that the action is “so long ago”, in a time when […]
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 […]