BOLLYWOOD’S ‘DRAG QUEEN’ ACTS

 By

Sharada Iyer

 

The heroine of Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length feature film of Indian Cinema, was a male actor Anna Salunke cast in the role of Queen Taramati. Acting was a profession looked down upon in those days and the restriction was more so in case of females because of which Dadasaheb  Phalke, the father of Indian Cinema, could not get a female actress to play the heroine’s role. After searching for many days Phalke settled for an effeminate looking  Anna Salunke, to dress up as a female and thus in 1913 when the film released, technically he became Indian Cinema’s first ‘Heroine’…

From time to time the male actors of our industry have donned the female attire without any qualms to raise a few laughs and provide some change from the usual. The scripts of stories have been tailored to include situations where such scenes can be incorporated with ease, for instance to escape some bad guys or cops during chase scenes, to trick the villains in a bid to catch them, to enter a girls’ hostel stealthily, to fool the would-be father-in-law or maybe just for a lark.

Though some actors only came for a few scenes some lucky ones also got to lip-sync to a catchy number sung by a female playback singer which gave the whole get-up a really hilarious touch. Two notable exceptions have been when Amitabh Bachchan and Kishore Kumar dressed up as females, they sang their own songs.

Here’s a look at some of the popular songs picturized on our ‘Drag Queens’… 

Biswajeet in Kismet, 1968

Biswajeet’s name was immortalized in Bollywood history when he got to lip-sync to this outstanding duet along with Babita dressed up as a man. Composed by the genius O P Nayyar and sung by Asha Bhonsle and Shamshad Begum, this remains the most melodious song sung in this manner in Bollywood.

Kishore Kumar in Half-Ticket, 1965.

Anything that this genius maverick has ever done remains inimitable. Imagine singing a duet in both female and male voices- in the female voice for himself dressed as a gypsy girl and in the male voice for Pran! It is said that for some reason, Lata Mangeshkar could not reach the recording studio to record the duet and it took poor Kishore Kumar a lot of time and effort to convince music director Salil Choudhary  to allow him to sing in two voices…

Pran in Jangal Mein Mangal, 1972

This  romantic-crime thriller had veteran Pran playing a double role with aplomb. He also managed to shock his fans when he decided to masquerade as a woman along with Kiran Kumar, also dressed in drag, and sing this hilarious song.

I S Johar in Bewakoof, 1960

I S Johar dons the garb of a widow and pretends to seduce the actors Ulhas and Mukri and keep them occupied so that Kishore Kumar, his friend in the film, gets time to spend with Ulhas’s daughter Mala Sinha. He seems to be enjoying the whole experience…

Amitabh Bachchan in Lawaaris, 1981

In 1981, Amitabh Bachchan sent a shock wave with this song as nobody had expected this from the then Superstar. The song however became a rage and also became a part of every stage show he performed thereafter where Jaya Bhaduri would come on stage for the stanza ‘Jiski biwi choti…’

Kamal Hassan in Chachi 420, 1997

Kamal Hassan took up this act a step further by dressing up in drag for an entire film- Chachi 420. He dresses up like a middle-aged woman and by a quirk of circumstance gets employed as a nanny to his own daughter in his wife’s house. He has both Amrish Puri and Paresh Rawal fall for him and the ensuing love-triangle is very entertaining.

Dara Singh in Lootera, 1965

Who could have imagined our He-Man Dara Singh to don the female attire with panache and convincingly sing and dance also?  All the other ‘girls ‘also seem to be males dressed like this in an attempt to fool the ‘bad’ guys and catch them ‘red-handed’.

Sheikh Mukhtar in Hum Sab Ustaad Hain, 1965

Another huge and hefty man of his time, Sheikh Mukhtar, the ‘bad guy’ here, decides to disguise as a Parsi lady and ends up being a part of this lovely Kishore Kumar number.

Ram Kapoor, Saif Khan, Riteish Deshmukh in Humshakals,2014

These three talented artistes play triple role in Humshakals and bring the house down with their ridiculous antics. Here is a song where one set of the trio decides to become females and romance their look-alikes from another set of the triple role. While Saif romances the female Riteish and Riteish romances the female Saif, Ram Kapoor romances his own double…

Shashi Kapoor in Haseena Maan Jaayegi, 1968

Shashi Kapoor decides to have some fun by dressing up in different types of female attire in different stanzas of the same song but he does look at ease in all of them…

Shammi Kapoor in Bluff Master, 1963

Donning the female avatar for a stage show, Shammi Kapoor brings the house down in this unique type of qawaali.

Johny Walker in Choo Mantar, 1956

In this song, actress Shyama comes to his rescue by singing for him and Johny Walker can be seen to  be enjoying himself.

Govinda in Aunty No. 1, 1998

Govinda can be seeing imitating many of Madhuri Dixit’s steps from some of her popular dance numbers but sadly gives a vulgar touch to the scene.

Some actors owing to their fair skin and effeminate features actually ended up looking beautiful.

Aamir Khan in Baazi, 1995

So convincingly does he do this cabaret number that it could put seasoned ‘item’ girls to shame.

Rishi Kapoor in Rafoo Chakkar, 1975

Rishi Kapoor and his friend Paintal witness a murder and to escape the murderers, they dress up in drag and enter a female compartment and meet the heroine Neetu Singh and her friends. For a large part of the film, they keep changing between the drag character and the real character.   

All these songs became very popular. While some of the actors like Kishore Kumar and Shammi Kapoor  were really funny, some like Govinda and Dara Singh looked weird and some like Rishi Kapoor actually ended up looking cute. But all were undoubtedly entertaining. 

Whatever the audience response may have been, all these actors who dared to take the plunge deserve to be applauded for their audacity…

 

 

 

2015-In A Nutshell

As the curtain came down on 2015, one more year became part of cinematic history.

2015 was an extraordinary year in many respects and viewed from different perspectives it presents a kaleidoscope of several important achievements.

Year of Big Blockbusters

Bajrangi Bhaijan, Baahubali- the beginning, Bajirao Mastani, Baby, Piku, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, ABCD 2, Dilwale, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo– all crossed the coveted 100 crore mark. In fact the year will be remembered for two of the biggest blockbusters of Indian cinema- Bajrangi Bhaijan and Baahubali- the Beginning. Ironically the writer of both these films was the same man- K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, father of SS Rajamouli, the director of Baahubali-the Beginning.

Year of Gutsy Directors:

Neeraj Ghaywan – Masaan

Set against the backdrop of the cremation Ghats of the holy city Varanasi, the film’s unique story takes us through the events happening in the lives of two families who earn their livelihood by burning bodies in the funeral pyre.  

Pan Nalin -Angry Indian Goddesses

Angry Indian Godessess , directed by Pan Nalin, has the unique distinction of being our industry’s first full-fletched ‘female buddy’ film. He manages to extract brilliant performances from seven relatively unknown actresses and turns that into the USP of the film. The film deals on the gender inequality of the society as all women  irrespective of whether they are at home or workplace are victims of the lecherous gaze, harassment and narrow-mindedness of men-folk thereby robbing them of a sense of freedom and chaining them to a set image.

Kabir Khan -Bajrangi Bhaijan

To present superstar Salman Khan in the role of a soft-spoken golden-hearted man with literally no action scenes was in itself a challenge but director Kabir Khan went a step further by casting a mute six-year old girl as the main protagonist of  the film and also incorporated a sensitive Indo-Pak angle to the story.

 Meghna Gulzar- Talvar

Based on the real-life double murder of 14-year old Aarushi Talvar and the domestic help Hemraj , which rocked the Delhi crime scene a few years back, Talvar turned out to be a riveting thriller and unabashedly exposed the truth behind the messed up investigation procedure and the callousness of the officers involved. 

Sanjay Leela Bhansali- Bajirao Mastani

It took Sanjay Leela Bhansali eleven years to put across his dream into celluloid but when he did, it turned out to be a masterpiece. Daring  to make a historical romance without distorting any of the facts and yet cleverly incorporating cinematic creativity of the highest order on the lines of  Mughal-e-Azam,  watching Bajirao Mastani is a visually stunning  experience with strongly etched out characters and outstanding music.

Year of Action Heroines

This year many heroines attempted roles which demanded a lot of action scenes to be performed by their characters.

The felicity with which Deepika  Padukone wielded the sword in Bajirao Mastani was superb especially in the scene where she defends herself and her child and fights a dozen masked men. She also looked at ease in the battle scenes where she had to wear some heavy duty armoured clothes of a warrior.

The dexterity and rapidity with which Amy Jackson finishes off the goons in Singh is Bling was unbelievable and a real treat to watch. Surprisingly Akshay Kumar is a mute spectator in the film and director Prabhudeva has given all fight sequences to Amy Jackson.

Taapsee Pannu has a very brief role in Baby but leaves a mark because of the superb fight sequence picturized on her as she depicts how a lady police officer can overpower her enemy.

Similarly Tamannah Bhatia also has a very brief sequence in the beginning of Baahubali and it was awesome watching her kill her enemies using weapons like bow and arrow and knives.

After some stunning action scenes in Ek Tha Tiger, director Kabir Khan once again gives his heroine Katirna Kaif a well-defined, full-fletched role with a lot of action scenes in Phantom and she looked super-confident performing all those cool stunts. 

The gutsy youngster Anushka Sharma decided to turn producer and gave herself some nail-biting action scenes in her own production NH 10.    

Year of rocking performances

We had some brilliant performances from our artistes in several films:

Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Irfaan Khan- Piku

Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka  Chopra, Tanvi Azmi- Bajirao Mastani

Harshaali Malhotra, Salman Khan, Nawazuddin Siddique- Bajrangi Bhaijan

Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Shefali Shah- Dil Dhadakne Do

Prabhas, Anushka Shetty, Rana Daggubatti, Tamannah Bhatia, Sathyaraj- Baahubali -the Beginning

Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddique- Badlapur

Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher- Baby

Nawazuddin Siddique- Maanjhi-the Mountain Man

Kangna Ranaut- Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Irfaan Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Shabana Azmi-Jazbaa

Anushka Sharma- NH10

Rise of a new Khan

With the three ageing Khans -Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir-enjoying the last leg of their super-stardom, a new Khan is  on his way to the top slowly but surely taking long strides and making a brilliant mark in the national as well as international arena with some outstanding films. This year saw the talented Irfaan Khan come up with several terrific performances. Each of the films – Talvar, Jazbaa and Piku  (Hindi), Qissa (Punjabi) and Jurassic World (Hollywood) had him attempt a unique character and give it a special touch in his own inimitable way…

Musically a good year

2015 was an excellent year with some outstanding tracks from many of the films released. Starting from Badlapur and Roy in the beginning of the year up to the recently released Baajirao Mastani and Dilwale, many songs went on to become chartbusters irrespective of whether the films ran or not. ABCD 2, Roy, Bajrangi Bhaijan, Phantom, and Bajirao Mastani were films where all the songs were enjoyable and became super-hits.’ Banno Tera Swaagger…’, ‘Afghan Jalebi…’, ‘Chitthiyan Kalaayian….’, ‘Chowk Chandni…’, ‘Selfie Le Le re…’, ‘Tukur Tukur …’, ‘Malhari…’, ‘Sooraj Dooba Hai Yaaron…’ were some of the foot-tapping hits which became very popular.

THE MAMMOTH CLASH: BAJIRAO MASTANI vs DILWALE:

By

Sharada Iyer

The countdown begins…only one week left for December 18^th…The audience waits with bated breath as two major, big-budget, star-studded films will hit the cinema halls simultaneously- director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s historical romance-Bajirao Mastani  starring Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone , and  director Rohit Shetty’s  action-romance-Dilwale  starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sannon.

Both directors are highly respected and admired for their special kind of cinema and have a commendable track-record of box-office hits. The promotional activities are in full swing and as both films have a lot at stake, the makers and artistes of both films are leaving no stone unturned to market their films and create as much hype as possible to raise the curiosity level and get that coveted record-breaking ‘first day collection’ and ‘first weekend collection’.

The trailers of both have been released a few weeks back and garnered a record number of hits within 24 hours and the songs have already become chartbusters…

Same release date invariably leads to uncalled for but unavoidable comparisons of the films in question. So here goes…

Let us look at the story first…

Bajirao Mastani is based on the real life of one of the greatest Peshwas of Maratha Empire- Peshwa Bajirao I (1700-1740), a brilliant Maratha general and one of our greatest historical war heroes who became prime minister to the fourth Maratha Chhatrapati – Shahuji Raje Bhosale when he was just 20 years of age and during his regime, he is said to have won all the 41 battles he took part in. While his first wife Kashibai was a Hindu, his second wife Mastani was half-Muslim due to which their relationship faced many a storm. The film focuses on the relationship between these three and this absorbing real-life drama has whipped up a lot of intrigue and interest in the film.

On the other hand, there doesn’t seem anything unusual about the story of Dilwale.  It  appears to be a typical Bollywood-style ‘masala’ entertainer. SRK and Varun play brothers and have their respective love-stories woven into the script. The focus is obviously more on the pairing of SRK and Kajol and seems to have a parting and reunion angle incorporated as well.

Coming to production values…

For director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bajirao  Mastani is a culmination of his eleven-year old dream. One can imagine the passion and dedication that has gone into transforming his vision into celluloid. His penchant for detailing can be seen in the spectacular sets, grand battle scenes, brilliant music and magnificently choreographed dance-sequences which would be a visual treat on the big screen. The colourful costumes have been designed after a lot of painstaking research and utmost care has gone into every weave and design of the fabrics in order to recreate the authenticity of the era in question.

On the other hand, everything about the scenes of  Dilwale in the trailer gives us a feeling of ‘deja-vu’ -awesome picture-perfect foreign locales of Bulgaria and Iceland, fast-paced chase sequences replete with cars flying and blown apart typical of all Rohit Shetty kind of films. Song sequences have nothing unique save for some imaginatively used VFX  shots.

Preparation for the role…

To get to play historical characters of 18^th century and be part of such a lavishly mounted film is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any actor. It not only becomes a challenge to test his/her acting prowess but also entails a lot of patience, dedication and special preparation-both emotional and physical-to get under the skin of the character in terms of thought process, body language and dialogues apart from getting used to wearing those heavy costumes. All the actors have put in tremendous amount of hard work especially Ranveer(Bajirao I), Priyanka(Kashibai) and Deepika (Mastani).

For Dilwale, all the actors are just being themselves playing to the gallery by highlighting their plus points and taking care of their star-image. Nothing really challenging there for the actors involved.

Songs and their Picturization…

After Ram-Leela, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali once again dons the hat of a music director for Bajirao Mastani  as well and has come up with an incredible variety of splendid songs and all of them have been picturized in a beautiful manner. I am posting a link to the video of the song ‘Pinga’ from the film, which is a ‘twin dance’ sequence featuring both the heroines dancing to a magnificently choreographed ‘lavani’ number.

This is probably the first time that such a dance sequence has two top heroines dancing together. Both Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone not only look stunning but have danced like a dream. Incidentally, such ‘twin dance’ numbers are a very rare feature in today’s films (refer to my earlier blog-post https://myviewsonbollywood.wordpress.com/2015/07/ ). The director definitely deserves to be applauded for attempting something so different and difficult and coming up with an unforgettable number.

The second song ‘Deewaani Mastaani’ picturized on the lovely Deepika is also a beautifully shot dance number with a set designed on the lines of Mughal-e-Azam.

The third song- ‘Malhari’ comes across as a victory dance after perhaps one of Bajirao’s war triumphs. The drum beats, the tune, the lyrics and the pulsating choreography capture the joy and triumphant fervour that usually follows the aftermath of a war victory.

Two more songs- ‘Aayat’ -a mesmerizing romantic number with a little bit of qawaali, and ‘Gajanana’ a resonating prayer song, have had only the audio of the song released so far and are brilliant compositions.

Coming to Dilwale, here is the link to the most popular number from the film titled ‘Gerua’. Though melodious in tune, the director seems to have concentrated more on the stunning locales and made the duo stand in awkward poses behind waterfalls and atop dangerous mountains and even a broken plane to give us picture-perfect backdrops . Instead, if he had only focussed more on the lead pair’s chemistry, the result would have been magical. And pray, why is SRK wearing those blue shades? It looks as if he doesn’t want to look into his lady-love’s eyes…

Maybe everyone involved is trying too hard to recreate the Raj-Simran magic of DDLJ. Let us hope that the film’s biggest USP does not end up being its biggest limitation…after all, 20 years is a long time and expecting to whip up the same magic could be really difficult…

Similar is the case with the other song –a duet ‘Janam Janam’- again picturized on SRK and Kajol. Sadly in some articles, this song is even being advertised as a tribute to Raj Kapoor-Nargis. Wish we could refrain from even mentioning any of our classics in a bid to catch the viewer’s attention… 

The third song-‘Manma Emotion Jaage Re’ is not only a very ordinary number but also has a very irritating female voice  singing a few lines for Kriti Sannon.

Curiosity factor…

Bajirao Mastani has three of our current top stars Priyanka, Ranveer and Deepika –all charismatic and brilliant actors coming together for the first time and thereby lending an enigmatic appeal to this triangular love story.

On the other hand, Dilwale  has the industry’s most loved iconic couple Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol coming together for the seventh time . Since their last outing was five years back ,the curiosity factor riding here is phenomenal.

Though the pre-release buzz in the media is tilted more towards Dilwale thanks to ShahRukh Khan’s magical charisma and enormous fan-following, I feel everything about Bajirao Mastani is so novel and different that it scores in every respect over Dilwale.  Only time will tell who will emerge as the winner…

On another note, one can’t help wondering as to why such big-budget films must compete with each other by releasing on the same day when there are 52 weeks in a year giving them ample time to space out their release. At times such clashes take a nasty turn because all this ruthless clamour for good cinema halls and vantage show timings only seem to give rise to unseemly bad blood between stars/producers/directors as well as unnecessary monetary losses for all parties involved. Even the audience is thrown in a quandary to choose between films.

Earlier clashes down the years have seen one of the two films suffer because of this unhealthy competition. Take the case of director Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om (OSO) vs director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya in 2007. While the former was the launch-pad for Deepika  Padukone and the latter the launch-pad for Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam, the presence of superstar  SRK tilted  the scales heavily in favour of OSO resulting in heavy losses for Saawariya. As a result both the directors stopped talking to each other for a long time.

Similarly in 2006, the SRK starrer Don, albeit being a shoddy remake of the classic original emerged the clear winner as compared to the Salman-Akshay-Preity Zinta starrer Jaaneman.

In 2012, the clash between YRF’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Devgn Films’ Son Of Sardar became quite ugly  as Ajay Devgn dragged producer Aditya Chopra to court claiming that the latter had used his power and position to take away all the important cinema halls and show timings. Needless to say he not only lost the case but also incurred heavy losses.

But here the story goes deeper. In this case Aditya Chopra is said to have got even with Ajay Devgn because back in 1991, Ajay Devgn had won the battle when as a mere newcomer his debut film Phool Aur Kaante had met with resounding success while veteran Yash Copra’s Lamhe,which released on the same day had turned out to be a total washout.

But the ‘baap’ of all clashes will be witnessed during Eid in 2016 when SRK’s Raees will clash with Salman Khan’s Sultan. This would really be an interesting clash to watch out for…

No longer is anyone talking about who acted well because the only question doing the rounds is who made how many crores…

 

 

 

TO KISS OR NOT TO KISS ?

By

Sharada Iyer

There has been so much brouhaha in the past few days over the censored kiss in the latest James Bond film Spectre, which released on Friday, 20^th November 2015. While many people have criticized the Censor Board Chief Mr Pahlaj Nihalani calling him a ‘sanskari’ Chief, there are others who endorse his views and stand by the decision.

But the debate reached ridiculous proportion and assumed unnecessary importance when Mr Arnab Goswami of Times Now channel decided to devote one whole hour of his show , trying to corner Mr Nihalani asking him repeatedly throughout the interview as to why was the kissing scene between Daniel Craig and Monica Belluci watered down to a mere few seconds…Honestly was it such a big issue to discuss on prime time television?

The censor board chief remained unperturbed by all the accusations hurled at him and had an answer for all the questions. He insisted that the makers had no issues relating to the cuts as they wanted a ‘U/A’ certificate . He also clarified that had the makers agreed for an ‘A’ certificate, he would not have edited the scene.

Indeed, this is a topic which will always be debated and it is very difficult to take sides because down the years, the guidelines laid down in the Indian Cinematographic Act, 1952, are being interpreted in different ways by the members who are part of the Censor Board for that particular period.

In today’s age when all kinds of material is available for people who have access to the internet and all kinds of  foreign TV shows with a lot of gore, sex and violence can easily be watched/downloaded without any restriction, the whole concept of censorship for movies is losing its purpose. But as long as a Government body exists and rules are laid out, there will be a check and certain scenes are bound to be censored.

That makes me wonder as to why we go completely berserk when it comes to kissing scenes in our films. Though the new-age producers, directors, actors, actresses and even the audience claim to be very modern, we never treat it in a casual manner. Instead the film-makers go all out to highlight and publicize a kissing scene in any film to raise the curiosity level of the audience. Such scenes always find their way into the trailer of the film, get publicized and analysed during all the promotional events and even find their way into You Tube videos later.

As a society we have always been very uncomfortable with any public display of affection. Here eyebrows are raised even if a boy and a girl are seen holding hands or even sitting too close to each other. The moral policing really goes overboard and there have been incidents in the past especially around Valentine’s Day when the moral brigade has turned violent.  As our stand on this certainly seems very conservative, it may take a long while before we are comfortable seeing a couple kissing on the big screen.  In this scenario, the censor board has the tough and unpleasant task of cutting down scenes which the members find objectionable and even though they have become lenient regarding many aspects, there are times when certain objections are raised keeping in tune with the societal norms prevalent.

All that talk  by our producers and directors that such censorship  results  in curbing their ‘creativity’ and ‘freedom of expression’ is really absurd  and reeks of hypocrisy because everybody knows why such scenes are incorporated in films and how ‘essential’ they really are to the plot of the kind of films we make !

After all, the greatest love-stories told so far in Bollywood  never needed intimate scenes nor did the most romantic-pairs or ‘jodis’ of our cinema like Raj Kapoor-Nargis, Dilip Kumar-Madhubala,  Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz or ShahRukh Khan-Kajol ever needed to resort to such acts to scorch the screen with their on-screen chemistry. For if that had been the case then Emraan Hashmi who was given the title of ‘serial kisser’ should have been a superstar by now…

Having said that let us examine this issue from another angle. Our Censor Board whose members turn all prudish when it comes to kissing scenes, surprisingly seem to turn a blind eye when it comes to graphic rape sequences or gory killings or scenes showing violence against women in our cinema.  These are passed off without much ado.

Films with ‘U’ or ‘U/A’ certificate sometimes have violent scenes hidden in their narrative and catch the audience off-guard.

Our biggest blockbuster Sholay (1975) had violent killing scenes when Gabbar Singh decides to finish off Thakur’s entire family as part of revenge for getting him arrested…

The recently released film Hero, had a very disturbing scene wherein the heroine’s father, playing the role of Inspector-General of Mumbai Police, slaps his young daughter across the face for going against his wishes. To punish her further, he then gets her kidnapped by four young hoodlums and even has her mobile phone taken away to prevent her from communicating.  At a time when crime against women is at an all-time high in our society, this kind of violence from a girl’s father and that too a policeman, sends an utterly regressive and warped message to the male-dominated society of ours which could have dangerous repercussions on all womenfolk…

In the 2013 film Goliyon Ki Raasleela –Ram Leela, Deepika Padukone’s mother Supriya Pathak plays a very evil character. In one scene, she ruthlessly cuts off her daughter’s finger for falling in love with a man she doesn’t approve of. That scene was so cold-blooded and disgusting…

In the 2007 blockbuster Om Shanti Om, there is a prolonged and horrific sequence wherein Arjun Rampal purposely locks his pregnant wife Deepika Padukone inside a specially designed huge hall, then sets it ablaze and leaves her to die a slow and agonizing death. He does this because her presence was creating an obstacle on his path to success. He also sends goons to kill Shah Rukh Khan to prevent him from rescuing her and what ensues is a violent fight sequence followed by a car accident which results in his death. This whole act was quite terrifying.

In the 2006 murder-cum-comedy film Bhaagam Bhag, there is a scene in which Arbaaz Khan murders his wife by first throwing petrol all over her and then setting her on fire.  This scene leaves a terrible impact.

How do these scenes get passed? Is it because we feel it is okay to torture girls –whether daughter, daughter-in-law or wife- because men have the right to do whatever they want? Is that the message being conveyed?

In the past few years, more and more movies are including ‘item’ numbers with nauseating lyrics and vulgar choreography which end up projecting women as objects of titillation. How come the censors don’t seem to have a problem with this?

The latest trend of including repulsive ‘Loo’ scenes in all films on some pretext or the other has our so-called heroes indulging in cringe-worthy acts. How come the censor board members have no objection to all such scenes? What exactly is ‘sanskari’ about these?

Does this mean a negative thing like violence is more acceptable in our society than a mere kiss which is but a gesture of love…?

I am reminded of this beautiful and apt quote by John Lennon, one of the greatest musicians of our time:

“We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight.”           

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LOVABLE CHILD ARTISTES OF HINDI CINEMA- I

By   

Sharada Iyer

Our film industry has been very fortunate to have had some of the most brilliant child artistes who have given memorable performances in scores of films. These child-stars have endeared themselves to us with their spontaneity and natural acting. Coupled with their innate innocence and amazing confidence, they have effortlessly stolen the show from their seasoned co-stars on screen.

Daisy Irani and Baby Naaz

Daisy Irani, Honey Irani, Baby Naaz, Baby Tabassum, Baby Farida, Baby Gowri, Wonder child-Bobby, Baby Guddu, Master Raju, Master Ratan, Master Sachin, Master Satyajeet, Master Alankar, Master Shahid, Master Tito,  Junior Mehmood, etc., are some of the names which immediately come to our mind though there are many more who have been associated with our films. It is really difficult to comprehend how such small children could memorize such long dialogues and bring such perfect expressions and emote with so much feeling and understanding…

They have been an integral part of many of our popular social films and family dramas of the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties. Often entire films have revolved around the character of the child artiste, for instance Pyaar Ki Pyaas revolved around Honey Irani, Nanha Farishta had Baby Rani in the title role, Mastana was all about ‘wonder child Bobby’, Boot Polish was the story of Baby Naaz and Master Ratan, Do Kaliyan had Baby Sonia in a classic double role, Majhli Didi had Master Sachin in a pivotal role, and more recently Bajrangi Bhaijan centred entirely around little Harshaali Malhotra.

Sometimes films started  with or showed in flashback  the childhood scenes of our heroes and heroines like Awaara, Sangam, Deedar, Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Afsana, Haathi Mere Saathi, and more recently Dhoom 3, etc. Some films have many children coming together as part of an ensemble cast in Brahmachari, Chillar Party, Parichay, Koi Mil Gaya, Jaagriti, Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke, Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani, Bachpan, Raju Chacha, Mr India, etc., with all of them putting up a brilliant act due to perfect team work and unbelievable tuning and timing.

At times, they have not been given too much screen time yet were important to the plot thereby contributing to the whole film, eg., Mrinal Jadhav in the recent Drishyam, Sana Saeed in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Sarika in Satyakam, Daisy Irani in Dhool Ka Phool and Duniya Jhukta Nahin, Master Raju in Woh Saat Din, Junior Mehmood in Do Raaste, Master Alankar in Deewaar, ‘wonder child Bobby’ in Amar Prem, Sweeni Khera in Cheeni Kum,etc.
Most of the popular child artistes became big stars of their time with a round-the-clock shooting schedule. Daisy Irani and Honey Irani with their wide innocent eyes and curly mop of hair were much in demand. Baby Naaz was the highest paid child actress of her time and even got international recognition when she was awarded a special merit certificate for her role in Boot Polish at the Cannes Festival that year. Similarly Junior Mehmood reached such dizzying heights of fame and popularity that at the height of his success he is said to have owned many imported cars like the big stars of his time. Some like Jugal Hansraj and Parzan Dastur became popular with just one film, viz., Masoom  and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, respectively.

Many big stars of our industry started their career as child artistes and worked in a few films before moving on to adult roles like Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Nargis, Aruna Irani, Mumtaz, Mehmood, Jagdeep, Shashi Kapoor, etc. Some like Rishi Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt, etc., acted in just one or two films.

Sadly, all was not hunky-dory with the lives of all the successful child artistes. Some child-stars had a sad story of an overambitious mother or father who exploited them mercilessly and they were forced to become bread winners of their family. Baby Naaz is one such example. Her mother made her sign so many films that she could not attend school because of which she was rusticated and she was very bitter about it. Sarika also was a victim of an over-ambitious mother. Meena Kumari and Madhubala were exploited by their fathers and forced to work as their families depended on their income. Daisy Irani in one of her interviews has mentioned that sometimes she had been slapped or pinched on the sets so that she would be able to get natural tears for the required scene…

But a vast majority of our writers and directors have been very patient with the child artistes and had an uncanny knack of extracting superb performances from them. Director Chetan Anand deserves a special mention for capturing some touching and poignant moments of a one and a half year old child in his film Aakhri Khat, which remains a rare and unbeatable experiment by any director.

Honestly there are so many terrific performances by various child artistes in a variety of films, that it is a really difficult task to list all of them at one go. This blog is just an attempt to highlight some outstanding acts which are my personal favourites:

Baby Naaz and Master Ratan in Boot Polish (1954)

It is said that Raj Kapoor scouted at least twelve schools in Mumbai before zeroing in on Baby Naaz to get the perfect child actress to play the main role and what a find she turned out to be! Her outstanding act as the little orphan slum girl ill-treated by her aunt is heart-rending and remains a classic act to this day. Master Ratan as her elder brother also gives an equally brilliant performance.

Daisy Irani in Bandish (1955)

This is a very unusual film and basically revolves around Ashok Kumar and Daisy Irani. Daisy Irani plays a boy in the film and after a chance encounter with Ashok Kumar in a park one evening the child refuses to leave him as he firmly believes that Ashok Kumar is his Dad. Ashok on the other hand tries his best to dump him and get rid of him .This results in many interesting confrontation scenes between them which are both funny and poignant. Meena Kumari breezes through in a small but light-hearted role. Little Daisy Irani is simply brilliant in the film and gives an equal ‘takkar’ to veteran Ashok Kumar .

 

Daisy Irani and Honey Irani in Zameen Ke Taare (1960)

In this Chandulal Shah production both the sisters play the role of boys who are friends. While Daisy Irani is very rich and has a stepmother, Honey loses his mother because the father beats her everyday. Both of them set out in search of God to request him to give back Honey’s mother. Thereafter the movie basically deals with the various incidents that happen during the course of their eventful journey. Both of them come up with a commendable performance.

Honey Irani in Pyaar Ki Pyaas (1961)

Honey Irani plays a little orphan girl who is adopted by a childless couple. Initially life is like a fairy-tale for the little girl but trouble starts brewing when the  mother gives birth to her own child after which Honey Irani is completely ignored. Her performance is top-notch and the character leaves a deep impression in the minds of the audience.

Master Babloo in Main Chup Rahoongi (1962)

This is the Hindi version of the Tamil film Kalathoor Kannamma  with which superstar Kamal Haasan  had made his debut in films at the tender age of four. Well! The Hindi version had Master Babloo as a child artiste and his performance was simply outstanding. His natural expressions and dialogue delivery outmatched all his adult co-stars- Sunil Dutt, Meena Kumari, Nana Palsikar, Raj Mehra, etc.

(An interesting trivia about the film is that it also had a Telugu version. In all the three versions there is a prayer which is sung in the orphanage by the children. The tune is the same and the meaning of the words is also more or less the same. However, the deity in front of whom they are singing changes in accordance with the language/region they represent. In the Hindi version it is Lord Krishna, in the Tamil version it is Lord Kartikeya (also called Lord Murugan) and in the Telugu version it is Lord Balaji. For readers who are interested here are the links to the three versions:

Hindi

Tamil

Telugu

Master Sachin in Majhli Didi (1967)

Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee manages to extract an unbelievably brilliant performance from a very young Master Sachin. In the film, the child first loses his mother tragically and later ends up being ill-treated by his step-sister- Lailta Pawar (in one of her most venomous screen avatars ever). His yearning for maternal love and his unique bonding with Meena Kumari (in the title role) tugs our heart and forms the crux of the film

Baby Sonia in Do Kaliyaan (1968)

I remember seeing this film on big screen when I was very small yet it left such a powerful impact that to this day it remains one of my favourite films and personally I feel one of the finest children’s film made in our industry. Baby Sonia (Neetu Singh) is outstanding in a double role and brings about the subtle differences in the mannerism and demeanour of the two sisters. After the divorce of their parents, one grows up with the father and one with the mother. Initially they fight a lot in school but later become friends and decide to interchange places to get to know the other parent and experience the love they had been missing. There is a scene in which the interchanged Baby Sonia meets her mother for the first time. The way she calls out ‘Maa’ with so much emotion and expression and runs to Mala Sinha to hug her is just amazing . The tone in the child’s voice not only conveys the sheer joy of the child meeting her mother for the first time but also the sadness that she had been away from this love for so long…

Master Mahesh Kothare in Raja aur Runk (1968)

This is a colourful costume drama based on Mark Twain’s ‘The Prince and The Pauper’. Two look-alike children  are born on the same day and at the same time but into different families –one is a prince and the other a poor commoner. They meet each other by chance and decide to have some adventure by exchanging places. Master Mahesh is a delight to watch in both the roles and delivers a heart-warming performance.

Baby Rani in Nanha Farishta (1969)

A small child is kidnapped by three dacoits after killing her rich parents and looting their wealth. How the child’s innocence and her friendship with the dacoits bring about a transformation in their characters forms the crux of the film. Baby Rani delivers a remarkable performance.

Bobby in Mastana (1970)

The story revolves around the unique friendship between Mehmood -an illiterate poor man and Bobby-a rich child neglected by her parents and ill-treated by her governess. Her effortless expressions and natural dialogue-delivery rightfully won her the title of ‘wonder child’.

Master Sachin, Junior Mehmood and Master Shahid in Bachpan (1970)

The story revolves around three children yearning for parental love in a village who become emotionally attached to a toy-seller because he is kind to them and also because he has lost his own children in a flood. When he is accused of a murder he has not committed, these three kids come to his rescue as they had inadvertently witnessed the real murderer committing the crime. The story had enough juice to extract terrific performances from the child artistes.

Master Mahesh and Junior Mehmood in Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1970)

One of the really good children’s films to have been made, the film teaches the value of hard-earned money and how important it is to spend it wisely. While Master Mahesh comes up with an outstanding performance and gives tough competition to veteran Balraj Sahni, Junior Mehmood is brilliant in a role which has a comical touch.

Master Jugal Hansraj in Masoom (1983)

With his wide innocent eyes and a beautiful face, there could not have been a better choice for the role of the child who is hated by Shabana as he reminds her of her husband’s one-night stand with another woman. For no fault of his, he is treated badly and the pain and anguish he brings to his eyes are just too good and have left an indelible mark in every cine-goer’s heart.

Ayesha Kapoor in Black (2005)

The 11-year old child actor Ayesha Kapur came up with a stunning performance as the blind Michelle McNally – playing the younger version of Rani Mukherjee in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black. She effortlessly brings out the frustration and anger of having to cope up with blindness as well as the joy when she finds a ray of hope with her new teacher Amitabh Bachchan.

Master Darsheel Saffrey in Taare Zameen Par (2007)

Little Darsheel Saffrey plays the role of a dyslexic boy and comes up with a heart-tugging  brilliant performance. The subtle nuances in his expressions are top-class and will remain one of the most challenging roles written for a child artiste.

Master Harsh Mayar in I Am Kalam (2010)

A superb film dealing with poverty, illiteracy, child-labour, self-belief,  and survival of the human spirit is brought to life by the earnest and winning performance of the child artiste Harsh Mayar, who won several awards for this film.

Parth Balerao in Bhootnath Returns (2014)

This youngster is so confident in the film that he makes Superstar Amitabh Bachchan look like an ordinary actor. His dialogue delivery is very natural and he also gets to mouth some great one-liner jokes. In the film the child doesn’t realize Amitabh is a ghost and treats him as some magician friend and their scenes together are superb. It is indeed admirable how this young child artiste is so unaffected by the presence of a towering actor like Amitabh…

 

Harshaali Malhotra in Bajrangi Bhaijan (2015)

Released in July this year, this movie created a sensation by breaking every box-office record. As the mute girl separated from her mother by a quirk of fate and left behind in a new country, she puts up an outstanding performance. Her expressions take us through a gamut of emotions from helplessness and fear to joy and excitement which spoke volumes of the talent of this little girl. To share screen space with Salman Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and yet manage to be the scene-stealer and that too without uttering any dialogues is not a small thing at all.

Irrespective of whether it is a mega-budget film with big stars or a small budget Children’s film, they always leave an indelible mark in the role allotted to them. Hats off to all the writers and directors who gave them ample scope to display their skill which is why each one of them is remembered to this day for his/her outstanding work…

Here are links to some more popular numbers picturized on our child artistes:

Deedar

Do Kaliyaan

Taare Zameen Par

Here is the link to Part II of the post :

(https://myviewsonbollywood.wordpress.com/2016/11/17/the-lovable-child-artistes-of-hindi-cinema-ii/)

 

‘TWIN DANCES’ OF BOLLYWOOD

By Sharada Iyer

This post is a walk down memory lane to visit some songs belonging to a unique category in our films, which can be referred to as- ‘Twin Dances’. The dance sequences usually involved two or more female dancers performing more or less the same dance-movements side-by-side in unison.

This trend not only gave us some very melodious numbers but visually also it was a treat to watch the perfectly synchronized dance steps of the artistes involved. One cannot help but salute the makers who came up with such an idea, the lyricists who wrote those lovely lyrics, the music composers who gave us priceless compositions, the dance directors for the enjoyable choreography and finally the dancers themselves for putting so much life into their dances…

It was in the fifties and sixties that ‘Twin Dancing’ numbers became very popular. Apart from bringing together the singing giants Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle in many of these priceless numbers we also had the good fortune of listening to some unique combinations like Lata -Minoo Purushottam, Lata-Geeta Dutt, Asha-Usha, Asha-Shamshad Begum,etc.

It is not possible to list all such dances in one blog. However, I have tried to include many of the important ones and some for their unique aspects.

In 1955 came a film Azaad  starring Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari. It was a remake of the 1954 Tamil film Malaikallan. The Tamil version had a synchronised dance number by two sisters, Sai and Subbulakshmi  which became very popular and the makers may have decided to retain the dancing sisters in the Hindi version also. They were very popular for their sheer exuberance, expression, speed, precision, body control, grace and effortlessness. They danced in perfect synchronization and seemed to merge effortlessly with the song and were referred to as ‘pambara sahodarigal’ or ‘spinning-top’ sisters.

Though they started in Tamil films, they have a string of hit songs in Hindi films as well. The famous songs ‘Aplam Chaplam …’ and ‘Balliye Ni Balliye…’,  both from Azaad featured the dancing duo for the first time in Hindi films. While the first song has them dressed similarly, in the second song, one of them is dressed as a male and the other a female. As far as melody is concerned, these songs composed by maestro C Ramchandra  and sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle remain unbeatable till date in this genre. Enjoy both these numbers:

In 1956, the duo were back again, this time dancing to a classic Lata-Asha number from Chori-Chori -‘Man Bhavan Ke Sang Jaaye Gori…’. The song is picturised during the wedding sequence of Nargis when she is thinking of Raj Kapoor but getting ready to marry Pran.

The 1956 film Halaaku starring Ajit, Pran and Meena Kumari had a lovely number again by Lata Mangeshkar and Asha  Bhonsle, ‘Aji Chale Aao…’, this time picturised on Helen and Minoo Mumtaz. Lyrics by Shailendra are set to tune by Shankar Jaikishen.

In the 1958 costume drama Yahudi  directed by Bimal Roy, Geeta Dutt joins Lata Mangeshkar to sing the lovely number ‘Bechain Dil Khoi Si Nazar…’  picturized on the two dancing divas of our film industry – Cuckoo and Helen. The two of them look great together and dance with perfect understanding to make this Shailendra-Shankar Jaikishen song a memorable one.

The two dancing divas get together again in the 1958 laugh-riot Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. This time they dance to a lovely mujra ‘Hum Tumhare Hain…’ displaying their prowess in Kathak . The song is written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, composed by S D Burman and sung by a unique combination of AshaBhonsle and Sudha Malhotra.

Here is a song in this category shot outdoors for a change and this beautiful number sung by Lata and Asha is from Shammi Kapoor’s hit film in 1962-Professor. Shot in the picturesque backdrop of Kashmir, it has the heroine Kalpana and a starlet Praveen Chaudhary dancing joyfully to the song, ‘Koi Aayega Aayega Aayega…’, composed by Shankar Jaikishen and written by Hasrat Jaipuri.

If the 1963 costume drama Shikari is still remembered today it is because of the immortal music and memorable songs composed by G S Kohli, an unsung composer of our industry. The scintillating choreography and the energetic and effortless dancing by Helen and Ragini in the number ‘Tumko Piya , Dil Diya…’ makes it one of the all-time best dance songs of Hindi Cinema.

The same film Shikari had another beautiful composition by G S Kohli sung by Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar and picturized on Madhumati and an unknown dancer. Though the dance is not as energetic as the more popular Helen-Ragini number, this song has a charm of its own.

Another film in 1963 which had a popular ‘twin dance’ number was the super-hit Parasmani. Written by Asad Bhopali, the musical duo of Laxmikant Pyarelal came up with a fast-paced and catchy number ‘Hansta Hua Noorani Chehra…’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Kamal Barot. Picturized on two unknown dancers, the song remains a veritable treat to watch even today . Incidentally, “Parasmani” was the first released movie for music directors Laxmikant Pyarelal and proved to be very lucky for them.

In 1963, Sai-Subbulakshmi had another fabulous dance number in Bharosa, ‘Dhadka O Dil Dhadka…’set to a superb composition by Ravi and sung once again by Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle

Chitralekha in 1964 had a unique number. While the heroine Meena Kumari is sitting in her  special quarters and playfully singing to her lover Pradeep Kumar sitting next to her, there are four dancers-two sets of ‘Twin Dancers’- who are dancing in the background and the effect is beautiful The lilting composition ‘Ae Ri Jaane Na Doongi…’ penned by Sahir Ludhyanavi and set to music by Roshan is sung by Lataji.

In 1964 we had another superb musical film Jahanara which had a ‘Twin Damce’ number- ‘Jab Jab Tumhe Bhulaya Tum Aur Yaad Aaye…’. Penned by Rajendra Kishen the music was by Madan Mohan. Sung by Lata and Asha this was picturized on a grand scale in the court of Empress Jahanara played by Mala Sinha. The dancers were Minoo Mumtaz and a very young Aruna Irani.

Here is a unique dance in this category. This song ‘Jab do dil ho bechain natija pyar nikalta hai…’  is from the 1966 film Akalmand directed by Roop Shorey and has Kishore Kumar and I S Johar dressed up as women and actually doing a synchronized dance number!!! The song composed by O P Nayyar is sung by Asha Bhonsle and Shamshad Begum. Only Kishore Kumar is capable of pulling off a stunt like this and actually have Ashaji sing for him. Though the video quality is not very good, it is a must-watch for all Kishore Kumar fans…

1966 had another Lata- Asha gem this time from the film Dulhan Ek Raat Ki and picturised on Helen and Lakshmi Chaya- ‘Hamaar Kaha Maano,Rajaji…’ . Written by Raja Mehndi Ali Khan the music here is by Madan Mohan.

‘Huzurewaala, jo ho ijaazat, toh hum yeh saare jahan se keh de…’ is another brilliant song composed by O P Nayyar in 1967 for the film Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi . Here Helen is joined by her look-alike Madhumati and for a change the song is set in a club that gives a chance for the dancers to wear western outfit and the viewers get to enjoy a completely different kind of dance.  The beginning tune of this song is superb and Asha Bhonsle’ s vocals have a haunting quality in this song…

O P Nayyar created magic again in the 1967 film CID 909 for a song penned by Aziz Kashmiri. The song ‘Dhadka Toh Hoga Dil Zaroor…’ is sung by Asha Bhonsle and Kamal Barot and picturized on Mumtaz and a dancer Meenaxi. They are joined for a stanza by Feroz Khan. Here the ‘Twin’dancers are joined by a third dancer for a while.

This is a song from the 1972 Rajesh Khanna-Sadhna starrer Dil Daulat Duniya which had Sadhna, Helen and Bela Bose teaming together to give us this catchy number ‘Deep Jale Dekho…’.Written by  Verma Malik and composed by Shankar Jaikishen the song is sung by Asha Bhonsle, Usha Mangeshkar and Rekha Jaikar.

In 1973, came a gem of a song form the film Daag, the first film under the Yash-Raj banner. Written by Sahir and set to tune by ever dependable duo of Laxmikant-Pyarelal the song is sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Minoo Purushottam. This ‘twin dance’ like the one in Professor, is a rare number as it is shot outdoors. Some energetic dancing by Padma Khanna and an unknown dancer make this song unique and memorable.

After a long gap, in 1989 came the super-hit film Tridev which had a scintillating number – ‘Gajar ne kiya hai Ishaara…’ and was picturized on all three heroines- Madhuri Dixit, Sonam and Sangeeta Bijlani. The song was a big hit and the fast-paced choreography remains a treat to watch even today. The music is by Kalyanji-Anandji –Viju Shah and sung by Sadhna Sargam, Sapna Muukherjee and Alka Yagnik. This is again a rare instance of a synchronized dance number in a climax sequence…

In 2002, director Sanjay Leela Bansali got Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai for a fabulous dance number in Devdas. Written by Nusrat Badr and composed by Ismail Durbar the song-‘Dola Re, Dola Re…’ picturised on a lavish scale and having lots of background dancers as well, formed a major highlight of the film.

If rumours are to be believed, Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) has done it again after 13 years. In his upcoming magnum opus Bajirao Mastani expected to be released on 18^th December 2015, a special  ‘Lavani’ dance number with a mix of folk and classical dance is being picturized on both the heroines Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra. Both the actresses are putting in tremendous hard work and long hours of practice to come up with perfect synchronisation.

SLB needs to be lauded for this effort and knowing the director’s penchant for majestic song sequences involving grandiose sets, colourful costumes and foot-tapping music this song is sure to be a winner.

Today’s films do not offer much scope for different genres of music like ‘Lori’ (lullaby), ‘Bhajan’ (prayer), qawwaali (a special type of group number), etc. But we do have ‘Item Number’. At least once in a while our film-makers can think of including a ‘Twin Dancing’  ‘Item Number’ with well-choreographed dances instead of the vulgar ones in vogue and have them picturized on top actresses. Not only would this be a novel idea, it would also bring together some of current lot of  top singers and top stars.

At least this way this genre could be kept alive otherwise it seems to be on the brink of extinction…

 

 

IT IS RAINING BIOPICS IN BOLLYWOOD

By  Sharada Iyer

The box-office success as well as critical acclaim of recent biopics Paan Singh Tomar, Bhaag Milka Bhaag and Mary Kom celebrating the spirit and determination of our sportspersons seems to have spawned a plethora of biopics in our industry. We are attacking this genre with a new found vigour and enthusiasm.

In fact this year on 23^rd October, 2015, the biopic on our very own Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian Cricket Captain is going to hit the theatres. Titled M S Dhoni: The Untold Story, the film is directed by Neeraj Pandey and young Sushant Singh Rajput will be essaying the role of the Indian Captain while Alia Bhatt will play his wife Sakshi. The link below shows the stars who will be playing the other members of the Indian squad.

13^th May 2016 will see the release of Azhar, the biopic on cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin and will have Emran Hashmi in the title role. The film is being produced by Ekta Kapoor and directed by Tony D’Souza. The film also stars Prachi Desai.

On 14^th August, 2015, a biopic on the life of a freedom fighter Gour Hari Das is releasing. After fighting against the British rule six decades ago, Gaur Hari Das, 80, fought with the Indian government for 32 years to get his freedom fighter’s certificate. Now, his struggle to get recognised as a freedom fighter has been caught on celluloid. The film titled Gour Hari Dastan has been directed by Ananth Mahadevan and will have Vinay Pathak essaying the role of this octogenarian.

On August 21^st,2015, Ketan Mehta’s Manjhi – The Mountain Man will hit the theatres. It tells  the incredible story of a poor labourer Dashrath Manjhi, who took 22 years to carve a path out of a mountain in the Gehlour hills, Bihar, to lay a road. In 1959, Manjhi’s wife, Falguni Devi, was grievously hurt when a boulder from the mountain crashed on her, and despite best efforts she could not be given medical treatment in time to save her as the road from Gehlaur to Wazirganj,where the nearest hospital lay, was 80 km long. When he finished the task, the distance had reduced to 13 km. The brilliant actor Nawazuddin Siddique will be essaying the role and from the looks of the trailer, the film promises to be deserving tribute to this amazing son of the soil.

 In the biopic titled Neerja  Bhanot, actress Sonam Kapoor  brings to life the incredible courage and gallantry displayed by the 23-year old air-hostess Neerja Bhanot , who died while saving the passengers on board Pan Am 73 flight (Bombay-Karachi-Frankfurt-New York). Neerja was killed in the shootout following the hijack at Karachi International Airport on September 5, 1986. Posthumously, she became the youngest recipient of India’s highest civilian award for bravery, the Ashok Chakra. While Shabana Azmi will be seen playing the role of Neerja’s mother, music composer cum singer Shekhar Ravjiani (of Vishal and Shekhar fame) has been roped in to play the lead opposite Sonam. This film is also slated to release later this year or early next year.

18^th December will see the release of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s lavishly mounted Indian historical Bajirao Mastani.  The film narrates the story of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I and his second wife Mastani with Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone portraying the main protagonists. Priyanka Chopra in the role of Kashibai, Bajirao’s first wife, forms the third angle of the triangle.

DANGAL– is a biopic where Aamir Khan plays the role of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, the father of two female wrestlers Geeta and Babita  who won gold and silver medals, respectively, at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, 2010. Mahavir also happened to be their coach. The movie directed by Nitesh Tiwari proposes to capture the story of the struggle, determination and success of Mahavir, who dared to chase his dream to see his daughters as champion wrestlers despite inhibitions from society.

Director Omung Kumar ,who directed Mary Kom last year will be starting work on his next biopic titled Sarabjit , which will trace the struggles of Dalbir Kaur (to be played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) who runs from pillar to post to get her younger brother Sarabjit  (to be played by Randeep Hooda) out of the Pakistani jail. Sarabjit Singh was an Indian National who was convicted and sentenced to death by a court in Pakistan in 1991 for his alleged involvement in the 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people. Sarabjit claimed that he was a farmer and a victim of mistaken identity, who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border, three months after the bombings. After languishing in the Pakistani jail for 23 years, he was finally killed by his prison inmates on 26^th April, 2013.

In Ketan Mehta’s Indo-British production Jhansi Ki Rani, Kangna Ranaut will be essaying the role of the warrior queen and actor Hugh Grant is being considered for the character of General Hugh Rose who witnessed her legendary bravery in 1858.

Charles Aur Main  is a movie that revolves around Charles Shobraj, a French serial killer of Indian origin, who preyed on Western tourists throughout Southeast Asia during the 1970s.  Randeep Hooda will be seen in the title role of the enigmatic con man and vicious killer.

In the pipeline:

Director Rohit Jugraj has approached Dara Singh’s son Vindoo with a project with Akshay Kumar playing Dara Singh. Interestingly there is another Dara Singh bio-pic in the pipeline, this one in Punjabi. The final decision has yet to be taken.

Filmmaker Karan Johar has bought the rights to make a biopic on hockey legend Dhyan Chand. The producer-director took to Twitter to announce that he has the rights to depict the story of the greatest hockey star Dhyan Chand. Though there were rumours of Shah Rukh Khan bring roped in to play the lead, no official announcement regarding the cast has been made.

Arjun Rampal will be seen in a film titled Daddy which will be produced by Mandar Dalvi. The actor is said to portray the role inspired from gangster turned politician Arun Gawli in the film.

Director Raj Kumar Hirani is all set to make a biopic on the actor Sanjay Dutt and is keen to cast Ranbir Kapoor in the title role. This idea does seem very strange – Firstly what is so inspiring about Sanjay Dutt to make a biopic on him at this stage of his life and secondly Ranbir being a star in his own right, would he manage to look convincing as Sunjay Dutt!!!
Ranbir Kapoor is also being roped in to play the title role in the Kishore Kumar biopic being planned by director Anurag Basu.  Ranbir’s physique is nowhere close to Kishore Kumar’s and just putting on weight is not enough to reprise the enigmatic personality of the one and only Kishore Kumar.

There are also talks of Vidya Balan being offered three biopics – M S Subbalakshmi, Suchitra Sen and Benazir Bhutto.

Kangna Ranaut is being considered by director Tigmanshu Dhulia for a biopic on the late actress Meena Kumari and the film would be an adaptation of Vinod Mehta’s book  ‘Meena Kumari: The Classic Biography’. She has also reportedly been signed by director Hansal Mehta for a biopic rumoured to be based on a mountaineer.

Actress Sonakshi Sinha is all set to shed her glamorous avatar to essay the role of Amrita Pritam- a biopic being planned on the poetess.

Actress Rani Mukherjee is all set to bring to life the character of Begum Samru, an 18^th century nautch girl who went on to become the ruler of Sardhana.

Tennis star Sania Mirza has expressed that she would like actress Deepika Padukone to play her in her biopic whenever it will be made.

Biopics require tremendous research and authenticity to bring to life the spirit and essence of the character. Too much cinematic liberty may kill the very motive behind such ambitious projects. Too much emphasis on the bold scenes between Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen in the publicity posters kept the audience away from Rang Rasiya, the brilliantly made biopic on our great genius Raja Ravi Verma.  Hawaaizada, biopic on Shivkar Bapuji Talpade  starring Ayushman Khurrana in the lead also could not catch the audience interest. The coming months will reveal as to which of these gets made without hassles and what is the audience reaction…

THE TRAGIC SIDE OF SHOWBIZ…

By Sharada Iyer

Indeed, the strains and pressures of being in showbiz are best understood only by those deeply immersed in it. Being public figures in the world of glamour does not mean their personal lives are perfect. They have their own share of weaknesses and handling the pressures of public scrutiny and heart-breaks can take its toll…

Recently when Deepika Padukone went public with her own struggles and battle with depression, it sent a shock wave in the industry as well as among her countless fans. It was difficult to imagine how such a beautiful actress with all top banners, endorsements, plum roles, hit films and numerous awards have depressing thoughts!!!

If we look back, the 100-year history of this great industry is dotted with tragic deaths of many artistes who after tasting enormous success became victims of depression and sorrow and turned to alcohol or drugs for succour. Some attempted suicide while some preferred to become a recluse in their twilight years opting for a life of obscurity and died lonely deaths. There are stories of those who blew away all their money in gambling and alcohol and died in penury and some like music director Vasant Desai died a brutal death at the hands of fate.

Sometimes the other side of glamour can  be pain and tragedy…

Perhaps the most well-known of all tragedies in our industry is that of actress Meena Kumari. A failed marriage, absence of children, and any will to further her career made her an alcoholic and eventually she died of cirrhosis of liver at the young age of 39 years. Exploited by her father from the time she started her career as a child artiste, and later by her husband, the love and understanding that she yearned for kept eluding her till the end. At the time of her death, there was no money to pay her hospital bills or for her cremation.

The great actor-director Guru Dutt who is remembered for classics like Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam cut short his own life by taking an overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills. His cameraman V K Murthy stated in an interview that he had earlier made two attempts at suicide. Who would have thought that such a genius director married to a sensational singer Geeta Dutt had such deep disturbing personal and professional problems which made him resort to this drastic step! Towards the end, his wife had left him and walked out with their kids and he was living alone in a rented flat.

The dulcet voice of singer Geeta Dutt gave so much meaning to the music of the Golden Era of Hindi films. When she married Guru Dutt everybody felt it was a wonderful ‘Jodi’ of talents coming together. Unfortunately their happiness was short-lived. She did not take kindly to her husband’s rumoured affair with his muse Waheeda Rehman and after Guru Dutt’s suicide she turned to alcohol resulting in her death at the age of 42.

This song from Kaagaz Ke Phool best sums up their relationship…

Nalini Jaywant was an important leading actress through mid-fifties known for some classic films like Sangram, Anokha pyar, Kaala Paani, Munimji, Shikast, Hum Sab Chor Hain, etc. There was a time when a Filmfare cameraman’s poll voted her the most photogenic Indian actress ever. In the end, her long years of film stardom did not matter and no one seemed to care. She died of heart attack at the age of 84, alone and forgotten in a small bungalow in Mumbai’s Chembur suburb, where she had been living in seclusion for more than two decades. She was taken to the hospital in a municipal ambulance summoned by neighbours. Someone claiming to be her distant relative had her cremated.

In 1950, she wore a swimsuit for a song in Sangram opposite Ashok Kumar and the song created a sensation at that time…

The name Bhagwan immediately brings to mind the short and stocky comic actor and his famous dancing steps which is said to have inspired later actors including superstar Amitabh Bachchan. He courted sensational success with ‘Albela,’ owned bungalows, cars, race horses but was surrounded by sychophants who ate and drank at his expense. During his peak time, Bhagwan Dada had a lavish lifestyle. However, the films after ‘Albela’ were not that successful and with money running out and roles becoming scarce, he had to sell off all his luxuries. He lived in a chawl in Dadar, Mumbai, during his last days

Cuckoo is considered by many as the first of the well-known dancing queens of Indian Cinema and it was with her that “cabaret” became an important aspect of Hindi cinema. When she made her debut in 1944, her seductive and graceful screen presence became an instant hit and in the space of just the next five years, she had appeared in an incredible 49 films. It was she who introduced Helen into films. She lived ostentatiously, spent extravagantly but when she died on September 30, 1981 at the age of 53, she was penniless, homeless and uncared for in a municipal hospital with no one to claim her body.

Master Nissar, star of the silent era as well as early talkies who acted in hit films like Shakuntala, Laila Majnu, Shirin Farhad and Indrasabha was a product of the Madan Theatres, Calcutta. His ability to speak fluent Urdu and sing songs contributed to his instant success. However, in the wake of the Saigal wave of the mid-thirties, Nissar switched to character roles. It is said that there was a time when the Viceroy of British India had to change his route when thousands of Nissar’s fans ran out to greet him.…And yet this star of our industry, became a pauper and died near Haji Ali Dargah, Mumbai, begging.

Considered to be one of the most natural actors to have entered the industry, Motilal is said to have struck a perfect balance between theatrical acting and loud dialogue delivery and paved the path for natural acting. He made his debut in1934 and is remembered for his roles in Mr Sampat, Taqdeer, Paigham, Anari, Parakh, etc.  Though he was very suave and polished, and moved in high society, towards the end of his life he was in financial difficulty. He enjoyed gambling and races, and died almost penniless in 1965.

The first superstar of Hindi cinema Kundan Lal Saigal who is credited with bringing Hindi film music into every home unfortunately ended his glorious innings by becoming addicted to alcohol. He is believed to have recorded every song only after taking a few drinks and died at he age of 44 leaving behind a vast repertoire of mindblowing songs.

Even seven decades after its release this Saigal song from My Sister remains evergreen…

Khan Mastana was an eminent playback singer of the industry in the forties and also composed some songs as music director for a few films. He sang many hit numbers including evergreen songs like ‘Door Hato Ae Duniya Waalon Hindustan Hamara Hai…’ with Amirbai Karnataki in the 1942 super-hit Kismet  and the brilliant patriotic number ‘Watan ki Raah Mein Watan Ke Naujawan Shaheed Ho…’ with Mohd Rafi in the 1948 blockbuster Shaheed. Sadly when work started dwindling, he fell in bad times and finally died begging at the Mahim Dargah, Mumbai.

This brilliant actor Chandramohan famous for his big fiery eyes and great dialogue delivery left a great impression as Emperor Jahangir in Sohrab Modi’s Pukar. His confrontation scenes with Dilip Kumar in Shaheed (1948) formed a major highlight of the film. He had been the original choice of Salim in K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam but his untimely death led to a complete change in the cast of this film. The first actor to charge Rs one lakh in 1940, he spent all his earnings in alcohol and gambling and is said to have died almost penniless at the age of 44.

B S Shinde was the editor of more than 100 films including Ramesh Sippy’s historic blockbuster Sholay. In fact, at the 23rd Filmfare Awards held on March 30, 1976,  Sholay could win just one award out of nine nominations which was for ‘Best Editing’ and it went to B S Shinde.…And yet, towards the end, he lived in a chawl. His house came crashing down and he had no money to pay his hospital bills. No one from the industry came to help and only cinesanstha of MNS collected Rupees 51,000/- and gave him.

Bharat Bhushan remains evergreen in public memory because of films like Baiju Bawra and Barsaat Ki Raat. He even wrote screenplay for the latter film which despite its excellent music did not do too well at the box office. He had loads of money but he lost all of it to gambling. Finally he sold off his bungalow and his wonderful collection of books to clear his debt and lived in a chawl during the last days of his life.

Vimi who attained instant stardom with her very first film as the heroine in BR Film’s ‘Humraaz’, was also seen in films like Vachan, Aabroo, Patanga etc. and had lovely songs picturised on her. However in the absence of any great talent, not many roles came her way. Added to that was the grief of separation from her husband which made her turn to alcohol. She spent her final days alone in the general ward of Nanavati Hospital and died broken hearted and penniless.

The young and bubbly 19 year old Divya Bharti achieved stardom in her short career of three years and delivered hits in Telugu and Tamil industry before her entry in Hindi films. She made her Bollywood debut with Vishwatma in 1992 and appeared in more than 14 Hindi films within a year which remains a record till date for any actor let alone a newcomer. She was SRK’s co-star in his debut film Deewana. The Industry was shocked when she fell to her mysterious death from her 5th floor apartment building in Mumbai. It was never made clear whether it was accidental death, suicide under influence of alcohol or murder where her own husband Sajid Nadiadwala was suspected.

Writer director Manmohan Desai who gave us stupendous hits like Amar Akbar Anthony, Sachcha Jhoota, Aa Gale Lag Ja, Dharamveer, Chacha Bhatija, Bluffmaster, Coolie, etc., also died under mysterious circumstances when he fell off from the balcony of his house. Though reports claimed it was because the railing gave way, suicide could not be ruled out. At the time of his death, he was suffering from acute back pain and his last three films had been major disasters at the box-office. After giving 15 super-hits in his career spanning 29 years, he probably could not take his failure which might have led to his suicide.

Vasant Desai, the music maestro who gave us gems like ‘Ae Maalik tere Bande Hum…, ‘Bole Re Papi Hara..’, ‘Yeh Kahaani Hai Diye Ki Aur Toofan Ki…’, ‘Akhiyan bhool Gayi Hai Sona…’, ‘Nain So Nain…’, ‘Ek Tha Bachpan..’,  started off his career in silent films as a hero in Khooni Khanjar in 1930. He also started singing his own songs but in 1939, when he did not get the hero’s role, he gave up acting and started learning music. He got his big break with V Shantaram’s Shakuntala and thereafter he became a permanent fixture in this director’s films. On the fateful day of 22nd December 1975, after a full day recording of a special musical programme at HMV Studios in praise of Indira Gandhi, when he stepped into the elevator of his own apartment building, unfortunately he was unaware of the technical problem with the lift and when it began to move he was tragically crushed to death.

Priya Rajvansh

The pretty actress who made her debut with the 1963 war film Haqeeqat, and went on to star only in her mentor Chetan Anand’s films Heer-Ranjha, Kudrat, Hanste Zakhm, etc., became involved with him personally also. Though she was 20 years younger to him they became very close and when he died he left her some property. Her gruesome end came in 2000, when she was found murdered in her house in Chembur, Mumbai.  Sadly it was Chetan Anand’s own sons Ketan and Vivek along with her maid and another accomplice who had murdered her and all four accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.

A K Hangal was a freedom fighter who became a stage actor and much later entered the industry when he was almost 50 years old. A natural actor who played every role with a rare conviction and added life to all his characters like Sholay, Baawarchi, Avatar, Shaukeen, Namak Haraam, etc. Towards the end of his life he was found living in penury. Though he was amongst the lucky few whose condition caught the attention of the industry and soon contributions poured in from all quarters to support him, yet when this veteran died at the age of 98, there were hardly any stars of the industry who came to pay their last respects.

Raj Kiran,the handsome star of Arth, Karz, etc.,had gone missing with no clue of his whereabouts but a couple of years back,  was spotted in a mental home in USA.

Parveen Babi is remembered for her glamorous roles alongside top heroes of the 1970s and early 1980s in blockbusters like Deewar, Namak Halaal, Amar Akbar Anthony and Shaan. Along with Zeenat Aman she was responsible for the westernization of the Hindi film heroine. However her mental state had become so fragile in the 90’s that the once beautiful star with a svelte body turned puffy and unrecognizable towards the end. Some attributed it to depression, others insisted she was schizophrenic. Eventually abandoned by all she battled her mental demons on her own without any emotional support systems to fall back on and died alone, locked inside her apartment in Juhu. Her body was found three days after her death.

Currently Bipasha Basu is in that phase when there are no good roles coming her way. She is desperately trying to cling on to the tag of ‘sexy actress’ and is signing weird horror movies opposite much younger heroes. Preity Zinta has no films and has turned to judging a reality show. These actresses refuse to accept their age and move on to mature roles. They need to step back and introspect before it is too late.  Hrithik Roshan underwent a personal trauma of separation from his wife and kids. He may be the dream man for many of his fans but in real life things turned awry and there were reports of him turning to alcohol and becoming a chain smoker. But he managed to quit before things got out of hand.

Fans will always associate these dream merchants with their screen images and larger than life roles they play often forgetting that under the facade of glamour and stardom, there beats a human heart craving for love and affection..

BOLLYWOOD: THE NAME CHANGERS -Part- I (Heroes, character artistes, lyricists)

By Sharada Iyer

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;”…

              —Shakespeare

 

Does this hold true for our industry? A peep into our film industry’s history reveals a fascinating number of artistes of the early era who changed their name to try their luck and write their destiny in the industry. Some chose the names on their own, some were rechristened to suit their personalities, some had to change to avoid confusion with already existing similar name…Well! Whatever the reason, they are now part of our cinematic consciousness and today we cannot imagine them by their original names…

The most famous change of name that comes to our mind is that of Dilip Kumar who did not hesitate in giving up his original name Yusuf Khan and take on the screen name of Dilip Kumar thus establishing the fact that film industry is a place where religion and language would never act as barriers. Born to a fruit merchant, the young Mohammed Yusuf Khan, had no qualms adopting a Hindu name before embarking on an extraordinary film career. In 1942, Devika Rani who was on the lookout to launch a fresh face for her studio Bombay Talkies, took a liking to the young Pathan and wanted to give him a break in her new film Jwar Bhata, but did not like the name Yusuf Khan. He was given a choice of three names to choose from- Jehangir, Vasudev and Dilip Kumar, and the rest as they say, is history.

Here’s a song from his film  Ganga Jamuna that remains an eternal favourite:

The music genius A R Rahman was born as A S Dilip Kumar to parents Kasthuri and Shekhar in 1966, but  had his name changed to Allah Rakha Rahman or A R Rahman after the family embraced Islam and converted to Muslims.

Then we have the country’s first superstar Rajesh Khanna who was born Jatinder Khanna with the nickname of Jatin. When he signed his first film, there happened to be another newcomer named Jatin who was making rounds of the studios. So to avoid confusion his uncle K K Talwar suggested the name ‘Rajesh’ and blessed him saying that one day his nephew would rule the industry and become ‘king among kings’ .Indeed the name proved to be extremely lucky for him and the unprecedented success he saw and the kind of frenzy he whipped up remain unmatched till date.

This song from Safar shows how effortlessly he added simplicity and sincerity to his sex appeal which gave him his unmatched charisma…

While Kumudlal Ganguly  born in Bhagalpur went on to become Ashok Kumar, one of the most the iconic and natural actors of our country, his youngest brother Abhas Kumar Ganguly also changed his name and became the inimitable genius Kishore Kumar. It was by a quirk of fate and due to an unexpected turn of events, that the lab assistant of Bombay Talkies Kumudlal Ganguly, was made the hero of their production Jeevan Naiyya  by the producer Himanshu Rai and given the screen name Ashok Kumar.

Here he shows his prowess as a singer too…

They had another brother Kalyan Kumar Ganguly who changed his name to Anoop Kumar and tried his luck in the industry but did not meet with the success he had hoped for.

This absolutely fabulous song with both Kishore and Anoop is really unique and Kishore’s dancing and acting is simply brilliant…

The Kapoor brothers Ranbir Raj, Shamsher Raj and Balbir Raj, sons of legendary Prithviraj Kapoor took on their nicknames and combined them with their surnames and became Raj Kapoor , Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, respectively. The three brothers in spite of an uncanny resemblance to each other developed their own style of acting and never copied each other.

Here is a song from Bluffmaster, in which many of Shammi Kapoor’s gestures remind us of both Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, and yet he retains an original style..

Not to be confused by the surname Kapoor, the young entrant Ravi Kapoor adopted the screen name Jeetendra and made a debut as hero in 1964 with Geet Gaya Pathron Ne. In 1959, he had been cast as actress Sandhya’s double in Navrang. He and Rajesh Khanna were childhood friends and went to the same school in Girgaum.

A lovely song from Parichay...

‘Saara Shehar Mujhe Loin ke Naam Se Jaanta Hai’, a dialogue made immortal by the villain Ajit, who actually started his career as a hero. Born as Hamid Ali Khan, it was film director K. Amarnath, who suggested that the actor change his long name of Hamid Ali Khan to something shorter, and Hamid zeroed in on “Ajit”.

In this lovely duet, he can be seen romancing Saroja Devi…

Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone was the eldest of five children born to Vasanti and Shivkumar Padukone, Kannadiga Saraswats from Karwar, a beautiful coastal town in Karnataka and spent more than a decade in Bhawanipore in Calcutta. Not surprisingly he spoke fluent Bengali, carried a distinct stamp of Bengali culture in his work and even decided to adopt a Bengali name Guru Dutt before embarking on a film career. Starting as a choreographer, he went on to make many classics in the golden era.

Here’s a classic song from Pyaasa …

It was in the year 1952 that a sub-inspector of Mumbai Police Kulbhushan Pandit decided to try his luck in films at the insistence of his friend and went on to become the legendary Raj Kumar. It is sad that the actor known for his deep baritone, excellent Urdu diction and a unique style of dialogue delivery was afflicted with throat cancer and lost his voice months before succumbing to the dreaded disease.

Here are two dialogues from the films Bulundi and Marte Dum Tak  in that powerful baritone…

When Yudhishtir Sahni, an MA in English literature and teacher in Shanti Niketan, decided to act in films he changed his name to Balraj Sahni and went on to become one of the giants of hindi cinema. He brought a rare dignity to all his characters whether it was serious cinema like Garam Hawa and Do Bigha Zameen or commercial cinema like Lajwanti and Ek Phool do Maali.

This evergreen song picturised on him in Waqt, retains its freshness even today and is loved by both the young and old alike.

Interestingly, Balraj Dutt not to get confused with Balraj Sahni chose the screen name Sunil Dutt.  He worked as a radio show host and celebrity interviewer for some time and even got to interview actress Nargis for the radio station little knowing he would end up marrying her one day. Today our heroes boast of having started the trend of anti-hero roles, but Sunil Dutt ‘s Birju from Mother India remains unique and influenced many writers to delve further into Birju’s psyche to create characters with repressed anger and negative shades in the years to come.

In this lovely song from Aaj Aur Kal, see him romance Nanda

It is said that once while Balraj Sahni was travelling by the BEST bus in Mumbai, he was very impressed with the entertaining antics of the conductor Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi. He asked the conductor to drop in at the studios the next day to meet the director, Guru Dutt. At that time Balraj Sahni was writing the script of Baazi; so impressed was Guru Dutt with Badruddin’s demonstration of a drunkard that he changed his name to Johny Walker as that was the director’s favourite brand of whiskey and thereafter, Johny Walker became a permanent fixture in all Guru Dutt films.

He had many lovely songs picturised on him…

Naeem Sayyed was one of the six children born to an engine driver in Mumbai and used to stay in the railway quarters in Antop Hill. Spotted during the shooting of a film, little Naeem embarked on a career in acting through a stroke of luck. In 1966, during the shooting of the film Suhaag Raat, little Naeem requested actor Mehmood to invite him also to his daughter’s birthday where he promised to entertain the guests. Mehmood was so impressed with little Naeem Sayyed’s imitation of his own antics, that he immediately made him his disciple and gave him the name Junior Mehmood. The name really transformed the child’s career and he went on to become a highly successful child star who acted in 265 movies in 7 different languages throughout sixties and early seventies.

This song from Brahmachari where he apes his Guru  is really entertaining…

Harihar Jariwala,a.k.a, Sanjeev Kumar remains till date one of the most versatile actors the industry has ever seen. It is said that it was producer-director Saawan Kumar Tak who suggested the name Sanjeev Kumar. On February 14,2014, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated a state-of-the-art  Sanjeev Kumar auditorium in Surat, as a tribute to this son of Gujarat.

Here we can see Sanjeev Kumar in a romantic mood…

Born as Tshering Phintso Denzongpa,  Danny Denzongpa belonged to a family who had been Buddhist Monks for 14 generations.  He chose not to be a monk and though initially he wanted to join the Indian Army, fate intervened and he enrolled himself in FTII’s acting course. Starting from B-grade films he rose to the ranks of one of the most respected actors of our industry. He decided to change his name to a simpler sounding “Danny” as his original name was tough to be pronounced by other students at the institute and the name remained since then.

Being a good singer, he has sung this song from Kala Sona picturised on himself and Farida Jalal…

Film Industry’s ratified rapist Ranjeet’s original name was Gopal Singh Bedi. It was Sunil Dutt who changed his name to suit his character in his early film Reshma Aur Shera and later recommended him for the villain’s role in Sharmeelee after which Ranjeet’s career as a villain took off in a big way and of the 200 odd films he did , his character was called Ranjeet in about 25 of them.

Another industry villain who  underwent a name change was Jeevan. Born as  Omkar Nath Dhar he made his debut as a hero in 1935 with the film Fashionable India but soon shifted to character roles and made his mark as a villain with a nasal tinge in his dialogue delivery. some of his famous roles are in Kanoon, Mela, Johny Mera Naam, Amar Akbar Anthony,etc.

Manoj Kumar was born in Abbottabad as Harikishen Giri Goswami. When he was 10 years old,his family had to flee to Delhi due to partition and they had to stay in a refugee camp. After graduation,  he decided to enter the film industry. He had always been an admirer of Dilip Kumar and decided to change his name to Manoj Kumar after Dilip Kumar’s character in the 1949 film, Shabnam. He went on to make some classic patriotic films.

Here’s a romantic song from one of his early films Hariyali Aur Raasta

Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia’s transformation from a waiter in Bangkok to superstar Akshay Kumar in Bollywood is the stuff dreams are made of. His talent and expertise in martial arts first led him to become a teacher and then a model and finally without the help of any Godfather to back him in the industry, changed his name, made a quiet entry and wrote an incredible success story for himself which remains an inspiration to all the outsiders who want to make a mark in tinsel town.

This song from Mohra was a craze when it was released and remains enjoyable even today…

Many lyricists of the early era took on the names of their cities and rechristened themselves-

Lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri was born Iqbal Hussain and started writing poetry from the age of 20. He worked as a bus conductor in Mumbai for eight years . He was a die-hard romantic and his association with Shankar –Jaikishen and Raj Kapoor remains legendary. When he was living in Jaipur he fell in love with a Hindu girl Radha, he wrote a lovely poem for her in a letter. Whether the letter actually reached Radha or not is not clear, but years later Raj Kapoor made it public by using the song in his film Sangam and it remains a classic till date.

Enjoy this super song- Yeh mera prem patra  padhkar…

Not many are aware that Sampooran Singh Kalra is the real name of poet, lyricist and writer-director Gulzar. Initially his father was not happy with his interest in writing, so he took on the pen name  Gulzar Deenvi and later simply Gulzar. Starting his career as a lyricist for the song ‘ Mora Gora Ang Lai Le’ in the 1963  Bimal Roy film Bandini, he gave the industry some iconic films as a storywriter (Anand,), as a lyricist (Khamoshi, Guddi, Mere Apne,) as a dialogue writer ( Aashirwad, Anand) and as a director ( Mausam, Aandhi ). For his outstanding contribution to the film industry he was bestowed with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2014.

Here is a song he wrote for Guddi  in 1972 which continues to be a prayer in many schools even today

Sahir Ludhianavi was born Abdul Hayee in 1921. He had a dysfunctional childhood filled with bitter memories of hatred for his father’s  immoral ways and the ill-treatment of his mother by the father. the parting of his parents and the subsequent hardships she endured left permanent scars in his heart and mind. Wanting to escape this and carve out a new identity for himself, he chose the pen-name Sahir (magician) and added his birth city Ludhiana to become the legendary Sahir Ludhianavi.

In the history of Hindi cinema, Sahir remains the only poet-lyricist who became successful because of his lyrics and not because of the tune or the singer. It was due to his unrelenting battle for self-respect and equality for lyricists that resulted in the name of the lyricist getting mentioned on AIR along with the singer and music director. It was one of his biggest contributions. Though he was an atheist, he never let his feelings come in the way of writing some of the greatest devotional songs of Hindi Cinema.

Here’s a bhajan from Hum Dono which remains an all-time favourite…

Om Prakash Bhandari started writing at the tender age of seven but found no support from his family. A wandering minstrel Amar however encouraged him and gave him the name Qamar (moon) to which was added his hometown Jalalabad and thus was born one of the very popular lyricists of the golden era Qamar Jalalabadi. In a career spanning four decades he was associated with some great musicals- Rustom Sohrab, Howrah Bridge, Upkar, Pyar Ki Jeet, Phagun, Himalay Ki God Mein etc.

Here is a very popular song written by him from Chhalia

Do watch out for Part-II of the topic which would cover the heroines and female character artistes who changed their names …

https://myviewsonbollywood.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/bollywood-the-name-changers-part-i-i-heroines-female-character-artistes-music-director-singer/

HELEN: THE UNRIVALLED DANCING QUEEN OF HINDI CINEMA

By  

Sharada Iyer

At a time when all the heroines are vying with each other to perform ‘item numbers’ in our films, let us take a look at the intriguing, inspiring and incredible journey of Helen, the original ‘Dancing Diva’ of Bollywood, who danced her way into our hearts years before the term ‘item number’ was even coined…

Helen, the original Dancing Diva of Bollywood, occupies a unique position in the history of our film industry. Till date no one has come even close to her where ‘sizzle’ is concerned.  In fact, the very mention of her name immediately brings to our mind her lively dance numbers with outstanding music like-‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja…’, ‘Aaa Jaane Jaan…’, ‘Aao Na Gale Laga Lo Na…’, ‘Yeh Mera Dil Pyar Ka Deewana…’, ‘Oh Haseena Zulfon Waali …’, ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba…’, ‘Mera Naam ChinChin Choo…’, ‘Aaj Ki Raat…’, etc.

Helen danced her way into the hearts of millions with her sensual and graceful moves and such was her hold over the audience that she continued to cast her charismatic and alluring spell for more than three decades. Even when she turned to playing character roles as in Ram Balram, Mohabbatein, Khamoshi-the musical , Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Heroine, etc., one could see that her charisma was intact and that she had not lost touch with her special dancing moves.

THE INSCRUTABLE ‘X-FACTOR’

Helen’s fascinating cinematic journey is embellished with precious and priceless song-and-dance moments. The sheer exuberance, enthusiasm ,energy and spontaneity with which she danced gave her a distinct identity and an instant connection with the audience and her exotic costumes, unusual accessories and remarkable make-up only added to her mystique. Not only were the men enchanted with her attractive face, enticing eyes and pulsating dances, women and children too loved her equally thus giving her an unmatched fan following.

Producers and directors went out of the way to incorporate an enjoyable Helen number irrespective of whether it was integral to the plot or not. A lot of importance was given to the elaborate sets and picturization of her dance sequences. For instance, take the number from Sachhai which starts with her inside a wine bottle and a bevy of chorus dancers atop wine glasses and then Shammi Kapoor joins her and she seduces him with the song– ‘Kabse bhari hai saamne botal sharaab ki, aa peele isme band hai raaten shabab ki…’ The audience loved to see her as her dance numbers were like complete acts which could be enjoyed in isolation from the plot.

Most of her screen life Helen wore striking outfits and her dances were set in a club where she would be seen wooing the males especially the hero, with her seductive dances. This sort of setting allowed her the liberty to experiment with her get-up and Helen took full advantage of it. Slit gowns, mini-skirts, bikini-tops, ostrich-feathers, blonde wigs, strange head-gears, artificial eye-lashes, coloured contact-lenses, sequinned short tops…she carried them all with a flair and élan which still remains unmatched. In an interview in 1973 in the Merchant-Ivory documentary on her titled ‘HELEN,THE QUEEN OF NAUTCH GIRLS’, she has confessed that she did most of her make-up on her own and was personally involved in choosing/ designing her own costumes. In fact, every dress she wore had to be first approved by her. This kind of involvement added to her screen persona and made her even more unique.

Of course! She could also look appealing in a simple outfit as is proved in her dance number ‘Naach ae dil, ga ae dil, hai isi ka naam zindagi…’in Nadaan where she wears simple skirts/tops but dances like a dream or ‘Is duniya mein jeena ho to …’in Gumnaam, where she is wearing a simple dress without any accessories and dancing on the beach.

From Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar and Dilip Kumar to Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, from Raj Kapoor, Feroze Khan, Raj Kumar to Sanjeev Kumar, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, from Mehmood, Pran and Dara Singh to Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor and even Shah Rukh Khan… none have escaped her magical charm. Imagine! She even managed to seduce the staid old Nazir Hussain in a Geeta Dutt number Tauba tauba… from Passport.

Thus we can see that in a male-dominated industry like ours, she has managed to create history by being around to seduce three generation of Kapoor men –Prithviraj Kapoor (Harishchandra Taramati), Raj Kapoor (Anari),Shammi Kapoor (Teesri Manzil, Pagla Kahin Ka,etc.), Shashi Kapoor (Bombay Talkie, Biradari,etc.,) and Rishi Kapoor (Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan). With the fourth generation Kareena Kapoor she shares screen space in a small role in Heroine.

CONSUMMATE DANCER

She always looked vivacious, lively, alluring and very sexy, but never ever vulgar. Yes, she retained her dignity even in those bold costumes and sensuous dancing. So how did she manage this awesome and incredible feat?  For starters, Helen was an excellent dancer. She entered the industry at a very young age to display her dancing skills. She learnt Manipuri, Kathak and Bharatnatyam and thanks to her Spanish heredity, she had the inborn grace of a ballet dancer too. She seemed to enjoy her dance movements and the shaking of her hips as much as the viewer.

Her beautiful face had a warm and endearing quality about it and during the Black and White era, she also radiated a rare innocence. The fact that the heroines of fifties and sixties were not into dancing also gave her career an added impetus. And finally, her dances were never about just showing off her body for the heck of it, something which the current generation of actresses seem obsessed with.

Starting with bit roles as a background dancer in 1951 in films like Khazana, Shabistan, Rail Ka Dibba, she got her first solo number in Alif Laila, 1953. However her big break came with the foot tapping ‘Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo …’ in the 1958 Shakti Samantha thriller, Howrah Bridge. Though the film boasts of two superb Asha Bhonsle songs picturised on the mesmerizing Madhubala, it is this Geeta Dutt number picturised on Helen which sets our feet dancing even today.  The previous year had her dancing to the popular Asha number, ‘Mr John, ya Baba Khan ya Lala Roshan Daan… ‘ in the Dev Anand–Nutan starrer Baarish. In the 1956 release Halaku she had two melodious compositions ‘Dil Ka Na Karna Aitbaar Koyi …’ a Lata solo and the lovely duet ‘Aji Chale Aao…’ sung by Lata and Asha picturised on her and another famous dancer of that era, Minoo Mumtaz.

Though she is remembered today for her captivating and glamorous cabaret numbers, she proved her versatility very early in her career by showing her talent in other dance forms also. Just watch her in songs like ‘Ooi Maa Ooi ma yeh kya ho gaya…’ (Parasmani), ‘1956 1957 1958 1959…’(Anari), Tumko piya dil diya … (Shikari), Dhadka dil jabse… (Bewaqoof), ‘Hoozoore waala jo ho ijaazat …’(Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi),the mujra numbers ‘Tora man bada paapi …’(Ganga Jamuna) and ‘Kasam hai tujhe…’(Noor-Jehan), ‘Rassa Sayung Re…’ (Singapore), ‘Yamma Yamma Yamma,tu parwana main shama...’(China Town), ‘Matwaali aankhon waale…’(Chote Nawab)  and ‘ Dil na Kahin lagaana…’ (Ghunghat). In fact in the latter song there are three stanzas and she shows her prowess as a Bengali, a South Indian and a Punjabi girl – all with equal conviction.

UNPARALLELED TALENT

Whenever she shared screen space with the top dancing heroines, she not only held her own with aplomb but invariably came off as the better dancer. While Hema Malini could not match up to Helen’s liveliness in the instrumental dance number in Shareef Badmash, Waheeda looked pale and jaded in front of Helen in the song ‘Main haseena naazneena…’  in Baazi and Parveen Babi was completely eclipsed by Helen’s exuberance in ‘Koi aaya aane bhi de…’in Kaala Sona. She did not hesitate to pair up with good dancers and contemporaries like Ragini in ‘Tumko piya dil diya…’ (Shikari), Minoo Mumtaz in ‘Aji chale aao…’ (Halaku), Cuckoo in ‘Lagi dil pe jo thes…’ (Heera Moti), Madhumati in ‘Huzoorewaala jo ho ijaazat…’ (Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi), Laxmi Chhaya  in ‘Hamara kaho maano rajajai…’ (Dulhan Ek Raat Ki), etc., but never let them overshadow her.

She even matched steps with the dance maestro Gopi Krishna himself in ‘Dil na kahin lagaana …’ (Ghunghat). Perhaps the only dancer who gave her competition was Vyjayantimala. Both in the 1962 starrer Dr Vidya (‘Aaye haye dilruba…’) and in the 1969 film Prince (‘Muqabla humse na karo…’), they are shown dancing in a competition and the sequences are a pleasure to watch.

She has also given some energetic dance moments with the comedian Mehmood (‘Hum kale hain to kya hua…’, ‘Badkamma Badkamma ekkade boto ra…’) in Gumnaam, and Shatranj respectively, and the genius Kishore Kumar (‘Woh ik nigaah kya mili…’) in Half Ticket. She also shared a special chemistry with Shammi Kapoor as can be seen in ‘O Haseena zulfon waali…’, ‘Aashiq hoon ek mehjabeen ka,log kahe mujhe pagla  kahin ka…’,  ‘Aiyyayya  karoon main kya suku suku…’,etc.

In the solo numbers Helen turned on her dazzling charms effortlessly. ‘Piya Tu ab toh aaja…’ (Caravan), ‘Aaj ki raat…’ (Anamika), ‘Tum abhi kamsin ho..’. (Man Mandir), ‘Ae naujawan hai sab kuch yahan…’ (Apradh), ‘Meri jawaani pyar ko tarse…’ (Upasna), ‘Aaj aaja sanam…’ (Rakhi aur Hathkadi), ‘Aa aa  jaane jaan ..’. (Inteqam), ‘Tu mungda main gud ki kali…’ (Inkaar), etc., are some of her very popular numbers.

GOOD ACTRESS

Helen was also a good actress and tried her hand at being the lead heroine in fifteen films or so in the early part of her career. Unfortunately for her, these films flopped and her career as an actress could not take-off. She did not give up. In later years she turned to small vamp roles and sometimes even good-hearted roles. Even in such roles, she had lovely songs picturised on her like ‘Chod kar tere pyaar ka daaman…’ (Woh Kaun Thi), ‘Hum tere bin jee na sakenge sanam…’ (Thakur Jarnail Singh), ‘Neeli Neeli Ghata O Bheegi Bheegi Hawa…’(Hum Hindustani). She played interesting characters in China Town, Teesri Manzil, The Train, Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya, Pagla Kahin Ka, Imaan Dharam, Gumnaam, etc.

Though she was nominated five times, she ultimately won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Lahu Ke Do Rang. For her outstanding contribution to Hindi films, she was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 and the coveted Padma Shri in 2009.

DESTINY’S CHILD

She entered the industry at a time when the heroines were presented in a traditional and conservative mould. With tremendous hard work, sincerity and dedication, she not only carved a niche for herself but also ended up creating a record by acting in more than 500 films (including a few Bhojpuri and Tamil also).

She was very lucky that her dancing talent bloomed during the Golden Era of Hindi films, a period when we had the best music directors and lyricists ruling the industry. She was also blessed in getting the golden voices of Asha Bhonsle, Lata Mangeshkar and Geeta Dutt singing for her. All this lent a touch of class even to her most seductive numbers, attaching a great recall value to her dances.