All of India celebrated Raksha Bandhan day before yesterday but while for Maharashtra and many other states it is one day festival, in Madhaya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Raksha Bandhan is celebrated for an entire week. The reason being that the sister lives far away and may not be able to reach her brother on time. The other interpretation is that the festival continues as long as the sister stays with the maiden family, which is usually a week.

For a long time, it was impossible to visualise a Hindi film without the mandatory bhaiya behna song sequences. Ever since a young Nanda played the blind sister of Rehman in Choti Behen and moved the audience to tears, the brother – sister became an integral relationship in cinema story telling.

Satyajit Ray introduced us to Durga and Appu in Pather Panchali and Raj Kapoor exposed us to street children forced into begging Boot Polish was the story of oppression and empowerment, story of a brother sister who find dignity in poverty guided by an inspiring uncle called John chacha, remember the beautiful song, ‘Nanhe munne bache teri muthi mein kya hain?’

To be continued

All of Raj Kapoor movies are underlined with a social message and his last film Ram Teri Ganga Maili as the milestone film of the eighties. It is sad that many of us could not see beyond Mandakini’s drenched body under the waterfall because the film was much more. This was the time VCD and VCR came into circulation and cinema halls suffered business. The audience was getting younger and bolder, ready to defy as in Qayamat se Qayamat Tak and ready to die for love as in Ek Duje Ke Liye.

Director Sooraj Barjatya presented a wedding story Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun in the nineties and family weddings became the big high where every bride wanted to dress in Madhuri Dixit’s purple sari.  Music boomed like never before and composers made and broke

singing careers. The new millennium brought new faces, new sounds. Hrithik Roshan with his sculpted body was the new hero, Aamir Khan with new ambition/ Lagaan, the new filmmaker and Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai the new age film.

The story is not over but the rest of the pages of changing India can wait to unfold on a more appropriate day.

Concluded

The defining film of sixties India will be K Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam made at a budget of 1.5 crore at that time and took a decade to release. Mughal–E-Azam reflected the new, ambitious India that would defy all norms to pursue passion and following in Asif’s footsteps were many maestros like Shankar Jaikishen, SD Burman, Hemant Kumar and more. A galaxy of legendary poets combined with top singers they created melodies that we are humming to this day, ‘Pyaar kiya toh darna kya’,’ Chaudvin ka chand’ or ‘Chalo ek baar phir se’.

Does society reflect cinema or is it the other way round is a thought we have debated for years without an answer but if Sholay became the iconic film of the seventies it means India was getting adventurous to appreciate Gabbar like villain and applaud Basanti type heroine, for safety there was Radha in white, allowed to dream but not allowed to remarry as yet.

Mohamad Rafi who was the voice of India now but the urban Indians were drawn to Kishore Kumar and he altered his voice depending on the words so if he sizzled with ‘Roop tera mastna’ he haunted you with ‘Chingari koi bhadke’.

To be continued

In 1940 Ashok Kumar in Kismet revealed that the hero can be flawed and KL Saigal discovered that it was alright to be different. Music composer Naushad Ali and Noor Jehan together weaved magic with ‘Awaz de kahan hain duniya meri jawan hai’ and at the fag end of the decadecame a nightingale/ Lata Mangekar ‘Aayega aayega aane wala’/ Mahal that wrote history

In the fifties many pathbreaking films were made by talented filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy and more but if I have to pick one that defines Indian mother it will be undoubtedly Mehboob Khan’s Mother India.

To be continued

We are in our seventy-fourth year of independence and our changing nation is reflected in our movies. What began as a dream for Dada Saheb Phalke in Raja Harishchandra in 1913 was taken forward by Franz Osten in the Himanshu Rai starrer Light of Asia in 1926.

A trifle nervous but full of courage we launched our first talkies Alam Ara in 1931 director Adersh Irani had the whole nation singing ‘De de khuda ke naam pe’. We loved the sound of music in our movies and the filmmakers indulged us by packing a dozen in each film.

RC Bora introduced playback singing in the year 1935 and singer Parul Ghosh recorded ‘Main khush hona chahoon’ on the shooting location, the idea worked and soon we were planning to build a sound studio even though not all songs were released as records as yet.

To be continued

Independence Day has always instigated star-wars for new releases but this year, Ajay Devgan has blocked Bhuj: The Pride of India on Disney+ Hotstar. Inspired by the story of real heroes, the film will pay tribute to the armed forces and also the civilians. Sharad Kelkar whom we last saw as a transgender in Laxmii portrays army officer RK Nair and shares that performing in uniform is a huge responsibility.

Shot in various parts of Gujarat, some crucial scenes were panned at Mandvi Airport during monsoons. It had not rained there for four years and nobody expected the downpour. Four days into the shoot however and there was a deluge to an extent that life came to a standstill! When shooting resumed a few days later, the villagers came to meet Ajay Devgan and  bless him for bringing good luck to their land.

 Bhuj has been cursed with natural calamities and the villagers believe that whenever an outsider (in this case a film unit) inhabits their land, they bring rains! Many years ago, when Abhishek was shooting for Mumbi Se Aaya Mera Dost and father Amitabh Bachchan visited the region it began to rain the minute he stepped on the location. The villagers were delighted and so was the film unit because now, everyone, including Abhishek Bachchan got to spend time with senior Bachchan since all shooting came to a standstill for a few days. 

The journey of an actor is like a merry-go-round. Initially they dream of big banners but a few years down the line, the heart aches for meaningful roles. Kiara Advani is at a stage where Jacqueline Fernandez was a few years ago bagging all the top banners. Jacqueline starred with all the top heroes but can we remember any of her characters?

Her new film Vikrant Rona with Kichcha Sudeepa and Nirup Bhandari also in 3D will release in14 languages and 55 countries. A poster of the first look is out and she insists that it is going to be a role to remember, now haven’t we heard that earlier?

Sidharth Malhotra who has seen more lows than highs in his career is grateful for another opportunity, Shareshaah and stays regularly in touch with his followers. To let them know that he cares for them, Siddharth often wears their gifts in his pictures. The actor recently arrived for shooting wearing a tee-shirt and a skull cap sent by his fans. Failure is the indeed the biggest teacher and Kiara Advani endorses it. She thought signing her debut film was the toughest job but Fugly in 2014 was the beginning of her heartbreaks.

Dhoni in 2017 got her noticed but it was Kabir Singh and Good Newwz that got her career rolling. Kalank and Indoo Ki Jawani were disasters but then 2019 and 2020 were bad for everyone. To an extent Laxmii and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 salvaged her but she is now geared for Shershaah and what makes her smile is the multi crore/ multi-language film with Ram Charan directed by Shankar.