Tuesday 21 June 2011

Mumtaz Wore it best!

Mumtaz wore it best!!
Thanks to everyone's comment from my previous post on who wore it best, going by the amount of votes in the comments and Voting Poll, its safe to say Mumtaz was way ahead of the competition and won by a whopping 99% of the vote, I was hoping I'd be able to review a Mumtaz film for the Win but then I realised I have none of her movies, but I'm going shopping soon and I'll be sure to get some of her films but till then enjoy this superb romantic number of her (yet in orange again and she looks mighty FINE!!) and Dharmendra from the 1969 film Aadmi aur Insaan (Someone tell me, why isn't this song as popular as I think it should be, its over the hill Fabulous!!)


Friday 17 June 2011

Bollywood Fashion Showdown: Mumtaz vs. Leena Chandavarkar vs. Sonam Kapoor

This edition of Bollywood fashion Showdown takes place between three Bollywood startlets in 3 different era's all wearing the Iconic Orange draped sari first showcased by Mumtaz in the Aaj kal tere mere pyar song from the 1968 film Brahmachari, thus let the battle commence

Mumtaz in Bramachari(1968)
First up is Mumtaz as already noted above, when she wore the Iconic Orange draped Sari in the groovy Aaj kal tere mere pyar song from  Bramachari (1968)
see her in action below


Forgive the grainy pictures, i took them off the Youtube video
Next came Leena Chandavarkar who wore a very similar Sari (in what looks like a parody of the Aaj Kal tere mere pyar song above) for the 'Hal dil laga' dance number in the 1971 film Preetam, see her in action below


Sonam Kapoor as Mumtaz 
Rounding off the battle is Sonam Kapoor who wore a very similar sari for a December 2010 photo shoot with Filmfare Magazine where she dressed up as Mumtaz in the Aaj kal tere pyar song as discussed above


So dear fellow readers, bloggers, etc. Who do you think wore the Orange Sari best, sound off in the comments below or vote in the poll on the right hand side of this Post (Voting Closes on Sunday Midnight) and the Winner shall be announced in due course!

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Pasand Apni Apni (1983)


Now that I'm back blogging properly, I'm committed about writing some of my favourite stars whom I've written very little about on here, two of such who are the leads in this enjoyable comedy romance

When Geeta (Rati Agnihotri) a struggling working class girl hitch hikes a ride to work to avoid being late for her drama classes, her boss Sriram (Utpal Dutt) sees it as the perfect opportunity to get funding for his company through Sandeep Anand who owns the car, and whom Geeta claims to know, as a result he promotes Geeta to the leading role


When Sandeep Anand starts receiving bills for clothing which Sriram has been ordering under his name for the cast of his play, he decides on investigating matters which leads him to Sriram-ji and Geeta's press conference where they announce Sandeep Anand as their sponsor, they do all this not knowing Sandeep Anand is amongst the audience

Sandeep goes on disguise and meets Geeta, he claims he's from Sandeep's company and has come to inquire about the clothing bills his boss has been receiving, she's scared and tells him not to tell Sandeep of the bills, he agree's to her plea and they become friends

Geeta and this said employee of Sandeep Anand start spending time together and of course its not long till they start falling for each other, but he never reveals his true identity to her. Geeta too falls for him but seems to have a distinct class belief

When she's called upon by her boss to arrange a meeting with Sundeep Anand, Geeta realises she would not get away with lying

Will Geeta tell the truth? Will she come clean about her lies to Sandeep Anand? Will Sandeep come clean that he is in fact the real Sandeep Anand? Will Geeta forgive him for his lies? For the answers to all these question watch Pasand Apni Apni

Overall a lovely and nicely scripted rom com that sticks to its premise and eliminates unnecessary dross, its not an overtly funny rom com, and although it gets a bit slow in parts, its a good watch, and I'd recommend it for those of you not too keen on 80's bollywood (I love it), this is one of the more restrained movies from that much maligned decade that you might find appealing, the performances as well as Chemistry between the lead pair and Bappi Lahiri's music are good.

Kya Baat hai!! Rati -ji! Gotta Love the cute mole above her Lips

I especially love Rati Agnihotri, there's a certain 'Je ne sais quoi' to her apart from her beauty and gentle manner & charm I love, she's one of my favourite bollywood diva's and I realise I've written very little on her on here, so expect to see more of her in months to come. I wonder what it is about heroines from this decade that makes them not very memorable or easily dismissed by both bollywood fans and critics alike, actresses from this decade (the 80's) are never held up the same way those from other era's (say 50's-70's)are held up. Why is this? (an idea for a future post I think).

Mithun the Great!!
And of course Mithun Chakraborty was great as well, this was a good role for him, what a pity he's always remembered for the Cheese factor of films like Disco dancer or Dance Dance, this man is a fine actor

Bonus Screen cap, I totally loved this cute t-shirt, You dig
Indeed!!! I think i need a T-shirt like that

Lovely soundtrack from Bappi Lahiri and lyrics by Anjaan-Yogesh. My favourites on here include a seductive Asha Bhonsle ballad 'Tum jo mile ho' a lovely disco style track by Sharon Prabhakar 'Dingo! (Bole Gaadhi, ye saanso ki)' a mellow disco tune 'kisi pyar mein' a lovely upbeat number 'gaye kaye ko' my utmost favourite and the one I've chosen to embed is the beautiful 'Aise to socha na tha'(its officially one of my top ten favourite Asha Bhonsle songs)

Paisa Vasool Rating: 6/10

Shyama on Life in Films

Sunehri Yaadein's post on the lovely Shayama, most famous for her roles in Aar Paar and Barsaat Ki Raat (the first film I saw her in, and I so wanted her to get the man but alas she was upstaged by Madhubala) made me dig out this filmfare magazine (I'm slowly building up a huge collection, they seem to come in handy for references) interview she gave late last year reminiscing about her filmi years, while also dishing some juicy gossip about her co stars, Enjoy!!! And here's a lovely song picturised on her and Guru Dutt from the movie Aar Paar



Click on Images to enlarge





Scans Courtesy of Filmfare magazine

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Saagar (1985)


My first contribution towards the ongoing Kapoor Khazana which is going on around some of the bolly blogosphere is this much lauded love Triangle which left me, well we'll see in a minute

Raja (Kamal Hassan) and Mona (Dimple Kapadia) have been friends since Childhood, now that they're grown up Raja finds it hard to express his feelings to Mona

Mona on the other hand is very casual about matters between them, Raja adopts this stance too when in fact matters of his heart are otherwise


In comes Ravi (Rishi Kapoor) the son of a wealthy industrialist who falls for Mona, he also becomes good friends with Raja

Raja hopes Ravi will help him learn how to be more expressive of his feelings towards Mona, he does this not knowing of Ravi's feeling towards Mona

When Ravi finds out about Raja's feelings towards Mona, rather than be upfront that he likes her too, he agrees to do the talking for Raja

(bollywoodeewana's note: Why Ravi himself could not be upfront about his feelings is way beyond me, senseless self sacrifice all in the name of being buddies I guess)

Ravi lets Mona know about Raja's feelings but then, Raja sees Mona and Ravi cuddling which leads him to deny any feelings when Mona comes to ask how he really feels (perhaps she feels the same, or is confused the film doesn't make this explicitly clear)

Raja chickens out and calls the whole thing a prank rather than be honest about his feelings (perhaps his honesty might have helped Mona examine her feelings closely)


Thus Ravi and Mona start dating until Ravi's wealthy Mother Kamladevi (Madhu jaffrey) decides Mona isn't up scale enough to be her daughter in law, Ravi is having none of it and decides Mona would be his bride

While Ravi is away on a business trip, Kamladevi cuts a deal with Mona to choose either between her son or the livelihood of her local townsfolk, whose businesses she threatens to buy out

What will Mona do, Will she sacrifice her love for the sake of her townsfolk? Will Raja ever get the girl of his dreams?



This much lauded classic of course marked the reunion of Raja (Rishi Kapoor) and his Bobby (Dimple Kapadia) who had eloped 12 years earlier in that 1973 classic Bobby, but for me i found it really hard to appreciate this classic say apart from the songs by R.D Burman, I felt zero sympathy for the characters.


Kamal Hassan's character i found way too pitiful and lacking in conviction especially in the way he dealt with expressing matters of his heart, as well as his deceit when he was confronted by Mona about his feelings. I also could not overlook the ending which in this case, like many other love triangles (see here) someone dies just so the decision making process can be made easier, I'd have liked Saagar even more if the female lead, in this case Mona (Dimple Kapadia) really got to examine her heart and make her choice rather than end up with one of her potential suitors just because the other potential Mr Right was killed off.

Smouldering Dimple!!!

Overall watch Saagar mostly for the songs and then for the actors if you're a fan of anyone here, acting wise everyone puts in a good job but the classic love triangle trope just killed things for me, needless to say I 'd rather Dimple was awarded the Filmfare Best actress award for Zakhmi Aurat where i felt her acting prowess, the same goes for Kamal Hassan who was awarded the Filmfare Best Male actor for his role in this, I'd rather he won it for Ek Duuje ke liye than this

And of course this film is famous for Dimple's towel dropping act which occurs in a blink and you'll miss it second, but pay attention to the rather fabulous dreamy sequence below where the camera just ogles at Dimple

Excellent music from R.D Burman on here with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Favourites are the lovely 'Chehra hai ya' the fun 'Yunhi gaate Raho' which sees kamal & Rishi get all buddy buddy whilst also doing the can-can with Dimple and the lovely ballad 'Saagar Kinare'. My two favourites on here though are the Goan style wedding song 'Oh Maria'

and the oh so seductive 'Jaane do na' where a wet Rishi and Dimple dressed in a wet Ghagra choli blouse and sari roll around seductively on the grass

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

Madam X Ko Mera Salaam

Rekha as the one and only MADAM X

The above blog title is the opening dialogue to Madam X which I've long been praying for to be released, but no one apart from Max Movie Channel seems to have a copy of this classic bollywood female kick ass flick. This 1994 release stars none other than one my favourite bollywood divas Rekha in a double role (wow!!! 2 Rekhas for the price of one). She's working her magic here once more, Kicking ass and parading in fashions fierce enough to give Lady Gaga an envious heart attack and make her quiver in her outrageous platform boots.
Bad asss Rekha, check out that tough babe facial expression!! I love this woman


Lady Gaga would kill to have that Hat

Oh yes and this one too

Giving Face!! You better Work!!!!


Even more FACE!! WHAT 'CHA KNOW 'BOUT THIS


Ahh Lady Gaga would not only Kill, she'll murder to have this ensemble
All hail the Diva!!!


Now let me wet your appetite with a few Youtube clips, that had me hungry (the whole film is available on youtube but without English Subtitles (Part 1 is here), which is something I can never do no matter how desperate I might be, I need to have my English subtitles)

the first clip below includes the line and my new salute for Rekha 'Madam X Ko Mera Salaam' (Madam X I salute you) complete with the theme tune which you just have to hear for yourself 'she is mysterious, she is wanted, she is coming'


The second Clip is Superbly camp and features Rekha in a cat fight against herself (A MUST WATCH)
The height of Campiness with 2 Rekha's in Matching outfits, which is the bad one, see for yourself in the clip below


Alas my pleas have been ignored so far but please Shemaroo, Eagle, T-series, Eros, Big Reliance Pictures, Pen, Priya, Ultra any of you hindi film dvd companies please answer my prayer and release this on Dvd with English Subtitles. Now how about I wet your appetite even further with this gorgeous song from the movie, Rekha's fashion is truly to die for, well ahead of its time I say