On July 26, 1982, while filming Coolie in Bangalore, Amitabh Bachchan suffered a near fatal intestinal injury, while filming a fight scene with co-actor Puneet Issar. Bachchan was required to fall onto a table. As he jumped towards the table, the corner struck his abdomen. He required an emergency splenectomy. He remained critical ill in hospital, at times close to death. The national hysteria included prayers in temples, offers to sacrifice limbs to save him. And there were long queues of well – wishing fans outside the Breach Candy hospital where he was recuperating.

Two years later Bachchan was faced with another challenge. In 1984, Amitabh Bachchan took a break from acting and briefly entered politics in support of longtime family friend, Rajiv Gandhi. He contested the Allahabad seat of 8^th Lok Sabha against HN Bahunguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and won by one of the highest victory margins in election history 68.2% of the votes.  Disillusioned, he resigned after three years but his problems were far from over. Plagued by a court case Bachchan was eventually found not guilty by the concerned judicial authorities.

The parallel film movement started by filmmakers like Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt  in the 50’s and flourished by Benegal brigade in the 70’s, art cinema blossomed in the 80’s providing opportunities to filmmakers and actors for immortal films and roles. Directors Shekhar Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt, Gulzar , Shyam Benegal, Sudhir Mishra, Ketan Mehta, Basu Chatterjee, Basu Bhattacharya and Govind Nihalani made memorable films with memorable performances from  Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Deepti Naval,Amol Palekar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and more actors and technicians.

.

Every decade conjures new images and new sounds.  While Amitabh Bachchan was busy with politics and every young actor was aiming at the throne, Mithun Chakraborty defined a new space for himself. He worked with B list directors at his own terms and made them popular with Biddu and Bappi Lahiri, the flavour of the decade music .From ‘Aap jaisa koi hume…’ and ‘Laila o…’ from Qurbani  to‘Hari Om Hari…’ and ‘Ramba ho Samba…’ there was no stopping the frenzy.

@bhawanasomaaya

My previous posts can be visited on the following link:

http://bhawanasomaaya.blogspot.in

.

The seventies was a turbulent decade for the country and the anxiety was evident in the films. The cinegoer whose life was going through many changes was no more attracted to fairy tale romances. The paradigm shift reflected at the box office when the action hero Amitabh Bachchan gradually elbowed space from the romantic hero, Rajesh Khanna.

The transition from Rajesh Khanna to Amitabh Bachchan changed the way movies were made and more important, what the country was going through. The country was going through recession. The youth was unemployed and frustrated therefore the present hero was anti establishment. The creators of this new hero were dynamic writers like Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar and directors who projected the new image were Manmohan Desai/ Amar Akbar Anthony, Prakash Mehra/ Zanjeer and Yash Chopra/ Deewar, Trishul in mainstream cinema.

This was a phase of multistarrers, of music and entertainment. Simultaneously there was a parallel movement called art cinema pioneered by filmmakers like Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani and ushering a host of new talent from theate and acting schools like Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Grish Karnad, Om Puri, Amol Palekar and Smita Patil from the Doordarshan.

Playback singer Kishore Kumar who began as Dev Anand’s voice, then Rajesh Khanna’s now came to be identified as Amitabh Bachchan’s voice though Mukesh and Mohammad Rafi also sang for Bachchan.

@bhawanasomaaya

My previous posts can be visited on the following link:

http://bhawanasomaaya.blogspot.in

.

The sixties was an important decade for India. The country had healed the scars of partition and in a mood for celebration and this reflected in our cinema. The youth all over the world including India was addicted to Elvis Presley and Beatles.

Colour had come into cinema and our films gradually became more glamarous. Filmmakers reserved a separate budget for costumes and sets and our leading ladies with the help of hair/ makeup and costume experts were modeled into fashion icons.While lighting was the focus in the Black and White era, the cinematographer now encouraged filmmakers to extend boundaries and shoot on foreign locations.

Shooting outside India began under the RK Films banner in 1964, when Raj Kapoor took Sangam to Switzerland to shoot his and Vyajantimala’s honeymoon scenes in Europe.  This began a trend with other filmmakers like Pacchi shooting Around the World with Raj Kapoor and Rajshri and Shakti Samanta acquainting Indian audiences with Paris in of An Evening in Paris and later Yash Chopra ofcourse decade’s later familiarized cinegoers with all the locales of Switzerland.

The decade is memorable for some pathbreaking films. K Asif’s Mughal- E- Azam conceived in the forties with Chandramohan as Salim, Sapru as Akbar and Nargis in the role of Anarkali. Dev Anand produced Guide a film about women empowerment was shot in Hindi and English simultaneously, while the Hindi was screenplay written and directed by Vijay Anand, the English was written by Pearl S Buck and directed by American director Tad Danielewski.

@bhawanasomaaya

My previous posts can be visited on the following link:

http://bhawanasomaaya.blogspot.in

The fifties are often referred to as the golden period of Indian cinema. Filmmakers until now preoccupied with patriotism now had other pressing issues to address. Raj Kapoor’s Awara and Shree 420 addressed socialism that struck a chord in Soviet nations too.

Dancer turned filmmaker Guru Dutt films Pyaasa and Kaagaz ke Phool spoke against social injustice and the common man was the hero.

Bimal Roy was the man from Bengal and deeply influenced by Italian neo classicism, especially De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves reflected in Do Bigha Zamin about the plight of farmers who mortgage their land and become victim of the viscious cycle.

Kundanlal Saigal is technically our first superstar who sang his own songs on the big screen followed by Ashok Kumar who debuted as a reluctant hero in the 30s and ruled the roost in the 40s till younger actors like Dilip kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor began their careers in the latter half of the 40s and blossomed in the 50s.

The trimutive stars had distinctive styles and method of acting that made them into superstars. Dilip Kumar was restrained and a natural. Dev Anand was the stylish hero western hero looked upon as a fashion icon. Raj Kapoor modelled himself on Charlie Chaplin and excelled in roles highlighting the social issues of the youth.

Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand ruled for almost two decades.  The other hero’s popularly described as actors included Balraj Sahni whose commitment to his characters particularly Do Bigha Zamin is legendary. Also Ashok Kumar who had graduated from playing lead to playing character artiste and Rehman who never played the lead but remained the first choice of all filmmakers.

@bhawanasomaaya

My previous posts can be visited on the following link:

http://bhawanasomaaya.blogspot.in

Film Review: Kahaani 2

Date: 02 December 2016

Director: Sujoy Ghosh

Writers: Suresh Nair/ story, Ritesh Shah/ dialogues

Cast: Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal, Naisha Khanna, Jugal Hansraj

Rating: 3.5 stars

The film opens to an engaging routine involving a single mother and her disabled daughter who are happy to spend a lazy Sunday doing mundane activities. The next morning Vidya Sinha is a regular housewife rushing with domestic chores and grasping for breath to reach her office on time. By the time she grabs some sweet from a local shop to celebrate the good news with Mini, her daughter; the film has you on the edge of your seat.

In 2012 filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh and his team presented Kahaani, the story of a heavily pregnant Vidya Bagchi who arrives in India looking for her missing husband! This time Vidya Sinha is looking for her missing daughter!! Last time Vidya Balan ended the story in the middle of the street amidst celebrations of Goddess Durga festival. This time she is manifested into Durga Rani to fight for her daughter.

The filmmaker has gone out of his way to emphasize that Kahaani 2 is not a sequel but an installment which is another way of saying that it should not be compare with the original. The fact is it is the same brand and comparisons are inevitable. In storytelling and content the former is way superior to the latter.

This time the plot gets predictable post interval and the climax is exaggeratedly simple. It is verbose without any visual/ musical relief. Some questions remain unanswered: Strange that Vidya’s sensitive boyfriend never tries to contact her in all these years. Strange that she has an attendant for her daughter but no tutor coming home to pursue her education?

The advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages. The pace is fast and gripping, the script responsible and detailed. There are other unforgettable moments significant to the story like the accident expertly captured by cinematographer Tapan Basu.

Director Sujoy Ghosh visits his locations like characters and creates magical moments out of silences. The sequence where Vidya Balan visits Dewan mansion looking for clues is mesmerizing, her interactions with the senior and junior Dewan moments to remember.

Kahaani 2 addresses the single working mother, child abuse, disability and cracks the whip on the growing negligence and irresponsibility of General Hospitals and Police Station to society. Arjun Rampal as sub inspector Inder is reassured while Jugal Hansraj seen on screen after ages is the surprise packet of the film.

Kahaani 2 unlike Kahaani is not a one point agenda, there are layers and explores other characters who comes into contact with Durga Rani but it is Durga/ Vidya Balan who travels you from Kalimpong to Kolkatta and Chandapur, without letting you down a single moment and a single scene.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya