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Top articles
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Kaagaz ke phool, Guru Dutt's creative laser-beam
There are many reasons why the spectators might not have liked Guru Dutt’s opus, Kaagaz ke phool back in 1959. First its badly-humoured despondency (why go to the cinema and see sad things, life is sad enough as it is), then its flaunting of proper morals...
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Manzil (1960), a photographer's camera obscura
Manzil (Mandi Burman, 1960) was a partial disappointment. Not that I had so much to expect from a film that I didn’t know before, and that I just got hold of because of Nutan. But it starts pleasantly, with two childhood friends meeting again now that...
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Pardes - (Bad Bollywood)
This 1997 film, compared to the one I’ve spoken about previously, will be my example of what is NOT so good about Bollywood. Careful: there are many films in Bolly, but well, I’ve just seen that one again. It starts rather well, with Alok Nath, Amrish...
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Nutan film posters
Hello, well, it seems that only Nutan ki janmadin can rouse me from my silence these days! Sorry to say, but there's just too much OTHER stuff to do, sigh! Anyway, I had been collecting these for the day, so even if you know most of them (true lovers...
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Those movies that shaped my beginnings and which I never reviewed
This is going to be ABSOLUTE INDULGENCE. Veer-Zaara . Ah, lieutenant Veer, Zaara… and miss Saamiya! I think this is the movie I watched most, perhaps 4 times… Not a lot compared to some, but for me, yes! This is for me the “foundation movie”. Why did...
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Swami and friends
This is a lovely, very readable, and at the same time, a rather unusual little book. Unusual because it doesn’t follow the common pattern of what might be expected from such entertainers. It gears itself towards an all-important cricket match, which the...
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The vendor of sweets
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...
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The said and the unsaid: Rajnigandha
First the story for those who don’t remember Basu Chatterji’s Rajnigandha (1974): it’s based on Mannu Bhandari ’s book Yahi Sach Hai. Deepa (Vidya Sinha) and Sanjay (Amol Patekar) are a young, aspiring couple living in Delhi. He’s a jolly, outspoken civil...
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Punashcha, the poetry of Love and Life
Here's a beautiful and poignant little movie (2014) by Souvik Mitra featuring Soumitra Chatterjeee and Roopa Ganguly (above; I had seen her - much younger, it was 1989 - in Ek din achanak ); but what makes its beauty? Probably its story, its poetic charm,...
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Seema: 3,2,1, Ignition! Nutan's launching pad
Seema (1955, Amiya Chakrabarty ) has been hailed as Nutan Samarth’s cinematographical revelation. In this story of a wronged young girl, she shows a sensitivity and a maturity which are striking for one so young. At only 19, she effortlessly steals the...
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Pather Panchali, Satyajit Ray's little Song
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,...
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Nutan's birthday (she'd be an old lady now!)
Hallo all Nutan lovers (Harvey and Bollywooddeewana, especially!) I have been reminded by the above Nutan afficionadoes (like tornadoes?!) that aaj yeh Nutan ki janmadin hai (check Harvey's correction of my hindi in the messages section!!), so I thought:...
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A nutty Nutan!
Hello all, It's been some time I wanted to share with you some of the clownish photos of Nutan that I've been collecting, and well, why not the occasion of her death anniversary coming up this Feb 21st? Nutan passed away 22 years ago on that date. I know...
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Bombay rose
The great value of animation movie Bombay Rose (Gitanjali Rao, 2019) is multifaceted. The pleasure to watch it is constantly multiplied by such techniques as colour and black & white shift, eye-dimming, mythological or religious symbolism, dream sequences,...
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Nuts about Nutan!
Basant (1960) is a loony movie where what you see is more important than what you understand. There is a story, sort of, (tolerably interesting in the first half but totally zany in the second!) but you must forget about it, because the chief interest...
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Baarish (1957) no rain, but drenched in beauty and fun
I’d been wanting to watch Baarish (1957, Shankar Mukherjee) for a long time, but as there were no subtitles, I knew I was in for a more strenuous viewing than usual. Still, this film was a little like the missing link in my Nutan experience! It’s a pleasant...
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Their hands can see: Sparsh
In the Mahābhārata, Gandhar i voluntarily blindfolded herself throughout her married life. Her husband Dhritarashtra was born blind, and on meeting him and realizing this, she decided to protest silently by blindfolding herself. (source: Wikipedia – Jatland.com...
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Woman to woman
Woman to woman is the first book I read by Madhulika Liddle. She’s written more, of which I had been aware, since I read her blog where she had mentioned them, but for some reason I had relented until now. It’s a quickly read collection of 12 short stories,...
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Arranged Marriage
This blog has already reviewed collections of short stories ( here and here ) and rather similarly, this volume contains stories which revolve loosely around the theme of femininity and motherhood of desi women abroad. To be more precise, the 11 stories...
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Sex and Bollywood
I have already slightly touched upon this question (see article “What I like about Bollywood”), but I would like to come back to it because it is in fact quite an important question, and I think I now have a somewhat different perspective. The other day,...
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Unaccustomed Earth
The 2008 collection of short stories entitled « Unaccustomed Earth » by author Jhumpa Lahiri, well-known for her novel The namesake, which Mira Nair shot in 2006, has the unusual quality of being (in fact) a collection of little novels, rather than actual...
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An interview with Mohnish Bahl
Alas, I was not the person who interviewed Nutan's son! But thanks to Seema, my desi Nutan-collaborator, I would like to indicate the recent interview which appeared in Filmfare. You'll find it here . It's by Farhana Farook, whom I'll thank in advance...
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Who's afraid of Mira Nair?
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:...
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Subarnarekha, Ritwick Ghatak's ode to Life
What is the soul of poetry? Isn’t it a kind of universal music which, universal as it is, springs fresh and clear from a homely and unique source of inspiration? When Tagore writes: Nahin kisi ko pata kahaan mere raja ka rajmahal Agar jaante log, mahal...
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Aag (1948): Raj Kapoor's burning idealism
Aag: fire. In this Early Raj Kapoor Movie, fire is a symbol of love, naturally, but also creation and destruction. It is fit that this film stands at the beginning of Raj Kapoor’s career (his first movie as an adult was in 1943), since there is a strong...