Talaash... DD Nostalgia

Haunting notes of Hemant Mukherjee’s ‘Tum Pukar Lo’ tune albeit with other lyrics… Suresh Wadekar’s partially forgotten honeyed vocals… Stalwarts like Alok Nath, Vijyendra Ghatge, Beena, Dina Pathak, Pallavi Joshi, Moushami Chatterji, Avtar Gill, Sushmita 'Kitty' Mukherjee, Harish Patel, Asha Sharma, Nishigandha Wad, Sudhir Dalvi, Goga Kapoor (only artiste with a voice to match that of Mr Amrish Puri - agreed?) and finally, Neelima Azim.. Hrishikesh Mukherjee as the director (I nearly gulped! Hadn’t expected that)……long-forgotten names like Babloo (Background score)….and oodles and oodles of nostalgia…

Can you guess what I am talking about? Yes, it’s the DD oldie ‘Talaash’ that has made me take an off from office after having found all the 26 episodes thoughtfully uploaded by Rajshri on Youtube. I had very, very faint memories of the storyline. I had forgotten all about Alok Nath and the others, but did remember a train's whistle, Vijyendra Ghatge and Moushami (hence, the pleasant surprise of finding some long-forgotten, some still-famous names). Another memory was that of a scene where Moushumi lies across the back of a poor chap, to prevent her cruel father from lashing out at him with a riding crop. There was also a sense of a strong pull at the heart strings. And there was a sense of a mystery unsolved – a sense of having missed out the delicious denouement of a suspense tale.

I don't quite know how Talaash was re-triggered in the mind. Definitely, I was googling about something else and somehow came across this by doing what we researchers are paid (inadequately) to do  - cross-referencing. And then, as they say, one thing led to another and the rest is history :)

I can't really say it brought tears to the eyes.. not quite that, but truly, the sense of nostalgia and emotion were so strong that the heart was quite full. Those were the days, you know, those were the days....when railway’s first class coaches did not have AC, small towns hosted literary conferences, Hindi authors still existed and maintained diaries, family friendships forged relationships deeper than blood, village belles were truly innocent and filial feelings were so strong that sons gave up careers and marriage propositions and daughters spoiled their lives to avenge their fathers' deaths.

Based on the Bengali folk tale 'Sonar Kathi Rupor Kathi' (what a delicious name! I must read this...have already ordered the English translation on Flipkart) and with a Bengali director and crew, I had expected the story to be set in Bengal. Surprisingly, it wasn't - instead, a sleepy Rajasthan village near Udaipur is my best guess (though a Google search tells me Sarsawan is a town in northwest UP).

Whatever be the setting, after a long time I have come across a storyline that interweaves the threads of emotion with a tinge of suspense so well, has characters so real and layered that you relate with them instantly and deals with the core of human psychology in such a way that the greys replace all blacks. The acting is superb, the direction is masterly, the music is sublime and the storyline is strong and unusual. As an added allure for me, the protagonist even speaks in favor of forest conservation and against illegal lumbering!

And now for the plot. A Hindi author, Shankarlal, on his way back home from a literary conference, suddenly sees the name of a sleepy station and has an attack of memory-jog - wasn't this the same town that was mentioned in the postmark of the last letter he had received from his muhbola younger brother Sudhir, before the said younger brother disappeared? On an impulse, he rushes out of the train at this station, determined to learn the truth of Sudhir's whereabouts. However, the incident is not one, not two but nearly ten years old. Many old-timers are dead. Those who aren't, mysteriously clam up, driving Shankarlal to near-frustration. That Sudhir had somehow made himself unwelcome to the gentle villagers here, dawns on Shankarlal, who is befuddled by the growing incoherence surrounding the disappearance of his affable and gentle brother. Only one person seems to be the ultimate fountainhead of information - Sarsawan's own Woman in White, a sadhika called behenji - who is regarded as a goddess among the villagers but whose mood swings regarding Shankarlal and Sudhir are so abrupt and wide that female hormones cannot be blamed. Is Sudhir dead or alive? Did he deserve the mass hatred of the villagers? What actually happened nearly a decade ago? Will behenji enlighten Shankarlal? No, no. These questions, I am afraid, do not deserve answers here. They are the typical queries we review writers throw in for good measure to titillate our readers. 23 X 26 minutes is about the time you will require to see this DD masterpiece through. So go ahead, Youtube lovers!

Ek Ruka Hua Faisla.

Director - Basu Chatterjee
Actors - K.K. Raina, Annu Kapoor, Pankaj Kapoor, S.M. Zaheer, Hemant Mishra, and others
Nature - Telefilm
Year - 1986
Channel - Doordarshan


One man against eleven, in a closed room. One man, arguing peacefully, in the face of heated oppostion, for what he believes is right - viz. any human life is expensive and should not be jeopardized without ample thought.

His weapon - logic.

His asset - doubt. A doubt which he recognizes, tries to clarify rationally and unbiasedly.

His enemies - eleven men, some of whom are sarcastic, some angry, some indifferent and all of them impatient.

The end - His victory.

This is a hindi re-make of 12 Angry Men, a 1957 Hollywood movie which is in turn based on a play of the same title penned by Reginald Rose.

My review will take three words only - An Objectivist's delight.

Check out the movie on You Tube.

The lone-ranger protagonist played by K.K. Raina is an architect by profession!

Why Padosan will always be the best-ever Comedy

I was busy going ga ga over this super comedy hungama of yesteryears, when a friend of mine stemmed my flow, "Yes, that's alright. But why just Padosan? Are'nt there other comedies that can make one die of laughter? Okay, so you don't much hold with the movies of your time - and I understand that you'd skip over Andaz Apna Apna, the Munnabhai series or the new Golmaal; but whatever happened to Hrishida's Chupke Chupke or Golmaal?"

And almost unthinkingly, pat came my reply - "Because all the other movies you've mentioned are movies, while Padosan is a nautanki!"

The more I thought of the words that had slipped from me, the more that idea grew firm inside my mind. Padosan is most certainly not a cinema! It is but a well-directed celluloid nautanki - an attempt to turn the 70 mm screen into a stage with deliberately artificial backdrops, unabashedly unnatural sequences, and unflinching melodrama thrown in to make this a comedy.

And boy, does it work!!!!

For the uninitiated, let me introduce you to Padosan, the directorial venture of Jyoti Swaroop, the first production of Mahmood's production house and an original piece of work based on the Bangla book 'Pasher Bari' by Arun Chowdhary. Released in 1968, if it boasted of veteran comedians like Kishore Kumar, Mehmood, Om Prakash, Mukri and Keshto Mukherji on one side, it also had Sunil Dutt - as a surprise package on the other side.

Comedy never really was Dutt's fort - neither before nor after Padosan.It was a wonderful surprize, therefore, for the audience to see the wayward rebel of Mother India metamorphose into the adorable Bhola of Padosan.

The backbone of this story - the pillar that single-handedly supported not only his friend Bhola but carried the entire drama on his shoulders was none other than that master of the act - Kishore Kumar. Bhola's 'Guru', his friend in need and deed, his philosopher, mentor and guide, and incidentally, his 'voice' as well. It is difficult to forget Guru, with his white dhoti-kurta, well-oiled centrally parted locks and the paan-stained mouth with the paan-juice trickling artistically from one corner from which the words "Arey Baangdu" never ceased to pour forth.

One - or rather several words of praise for the revered Mahmood. The quintessential South Indian music teacher, Master Pillai, whose sheer skill as an actor helped him portray a whole gamut of emotions - swinging between the extremes of elation and sorrow borne out of his love for Bindu.

Saira Bano was the eye candy and the possessor of the titular role - she played Bhola's Padosan and Master Pillai's comely pupil with just the right mixture of the sweet girl-next-door and the acerbic bitchy babe. This little minx left every man wanting to follow the Biblical command of 'Love Thy neighbour'.

So much so for the main cast. I also wish to wax eloquent about the support cast as well - many of whose names I don't even know!
Bhola's Mamaji - Om Prakash tickled us with his signature dialogue "Hum bhi ajeeb hain."
The scene where Guru conducts his rehearsal for the 'Laila Majnu' natak would have lost all its fizz had Lahauri, Banarasi (Mukri) and Kalkatiya (Keshto Mukherji) not been there with their histrionic skills.
Bhola's Mami, Bindu's parents and the match-fixing Pundit - all fitted the bill into roles seemingly tailor made for them.

Not to forget the music, never! R.D. Burman as the music director, experimented freely, giving us the comedy riot 'Ek chatur naar' and the dialogue-cum-musical 'Meri Pyaari Bindu' apart from the lovely melodies like 'Kehna hai' and 'Mere Saamne wali khidki me'. Also, watch out for the tunes of much older songs that pop into the story at pleasantly unexpected moments and see if you can identify them!

With a quaintly funny plot along with everything else, Padosan well-nigh lacks nothing! Look out for this movie the next time they deign to show it on some channel.

U Me Aur Filmy Alzheimer's

Grievance No. 1 - An old Alzheimer's patient, Kajol, reading a book in the first few reels of the movie, when experts insist that such patients cannot even remember words and languages! Okay, excuse that as 'artisitc liberty'.
Grievance No. 2 - Ajay Devegan? That guy with such depth in his eyes that an India Today article proclaimed himto be the Heathcliffe of Indian cinema? That he could come up with a non-original concept in his debut movie is something I found difficult to swallow. Why should I be served a mixed preparation of 'The Notebook' and 'Fifty First Dates' in the name of art? Okay, excuse that as 'Everybody in Indian Cinema does so today'. Lesson learnt by this young reviewer - Deep eyes and artisitc originality do not go hand in hand.
Grievance No. 3 - Aren't Kajol, Ajay and Alzheimer's enough? Why do we need two extra-idiotic sub-plots? We all know about post-marital quabbles and pre-marital commitment jitters, and we all know how difficult it is for love to survive if Alzheimer's strikes. The poor intelligent viewer didn't need the contrast of widely opposite scenarios to drive the point home and the director could have concentrated more on his central theme. Okay, excuze that as the 'Multi-starrer malady'. Though 'stars' is a wrong description really of Isha Sherwani et al.
Grievance No. 4 - Stilted dialogues. Nearly every line uttered in the first half sounds exactly as if the protagonist is not speaking, but reciting or quoting. Heavy lines, not always fraught with heavy meaning leads to heavy auditory load on the audience. Add to that some odious double-meaning stuff which frankly grated on my ears and hardly elicited the laughter it aimed to elicit. No Mr. Devegan. A better script writer in the next venture, please. Or well, let's excuze even that in the name of 'Adding masala'.
Grievance No. 5 - Music. Is it too much to ask for? Even the Migraine of 2007 (read Saawariya) boasted of a divine soundtrack. Why did the Alzheimer's of 2008 fall behind in this race? Except for the title track, nothing impressed.
So did nothing impress me in this motion picture? Really, I am trying hard to come up with something positive, so that readers do not label me as a potential cry baby complaining about everything.
Well, to be frank, the lead pair did impress. They do have oodles of charisma and talent and they do share a palpable chemistry. They were the reason why we didn't leave the movie midway. And yes, some scenes do deserve merit. Especially those reels in which Kajol is shown to be mesmerised by a wall lizard are nerve racking.
By the way, hats off to the gutsy actress for daring to showcase her calorie-laden body in this anorexia-stricken film industry. This movie is prescribed only for those of us who are crazy fans of the actors or are suckers for a sobby script.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

Two lesbians decide to get married, and one of the lesbians' ex-husband gives her away at the altar...A cross-dressing gay dad attends his son's wedding wearing a smart gown....An uber-smart mom kisses her son's friend...A guy falls in love with and marries a woman old enough to be his mother and lives with her happily ever after...A sister plays surrogate mother to her brother's triplets...An elderly couple make out without knowing their adult daughter was in the background...A father accidentally coming upon his daughter and son-in-law making love and after all the embarrassment goes on to give them tips on how to conceive....

Written like this, hashed up in cold blood, it all sounds so gross, so unpalatable. And yet F.R.I.E.N.D.S. is a hugely popular TV series that has captured the heart of millions and won accolades hands down.

There is something essentially warm and human about this ten year long drama(1994-2004). Yes, when seen here, even a lesbian wedding seems emotional and the paternal feelings of a gay dad get transmitted out of celluloid straight to your hearts - and all this while you are laughing your heads off at the awesome comic timing of the actors and the genuinely rib-tickling one-liners they are handed out by their scriptwriters.

Each character has been etched finely and given a very definite form and shape. One thinks sarcasm and Chandler pops into the mind. Ross is Geek to the K. Fashion Freaks are Rachels and Control Freaks are Monicas. If Phoebe is weirdness peronified, then Joey is the epitome of endearing inanity.

It takes the magical combination of superb actors (Jennifer Anisten, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt Le Blanc and David Schwimmer) and absolutely top card behind-the-camera crew that makes FRIENDS click for us. Just look at the attention paid to the smallest of details. See how even the bit-part actors get such finely etched roles. Notice how the connectivity never breaks between sequential episodes and yet an individual episode can also be enjoyed and understood out of sync. Hats off!