Category: B. Retrospective – Looking Back

#40YearsOfGOLMAAL hain bhai sab golmaal hain!

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Golmaal directed by the legendary filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee is an all time classic! Arguably the best comedy ever written for the hindi film screen, the film thrives on its brilliant one liners written by Rahi Masoom Raza, so full of unadulterated humor that they can invoke a laugh any time of the day and every single time! They have forgotten to write such films and dialogues now. We also hence do not remember the films of today and their dialogues by heart like that of this classic film!

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Srijit Mukherji Filmography – Ranked

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Srijit Mukherji has been the most prolific filmmaker for Bengali cinema in the last one decade. He is also the one who has possibly the most loyal fan base at one end, and the harshest critics of his work on the other. The filmmaker, who started his journey with the intent to make one film with each letter of the English alphabet, made his first film in 2010, and has already made fourteen films in his last ten years of active filmmaking. He will add a couple more to his filmography by the end of this year, and there are at least three more active projects already lined up for next year too.

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The Enchanting Female Duets

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Recently with a few films trying to explore a rare genre of female bonding in Hindi cinema, it got me excited to explore how has this genre shaped up in the past years through cinema.. Come to think of it, forget cinema centered around female bonding, even good and impactful female duets have been few and far in between, although Bollywood is blessed with the two of the most enchanting voices ever in the two legendary sisters!

So given that it is a relatively rare genre, here are my favorite picks of the best female duets and in no particular order… (And I did not want the space to get crowded with the likes of relatively mediocre ‘Hastaa huya noorani chehra‘, ‘Mere mehboob me kya nahi‘, ‘Reshmi shalwar‘ or the more recent ‘Dola re‘, ‘Pinga‘ and their likes, which may be popular but not impactful to my musical sensibilities!)

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Holi hai! Load a Fresh, Vibrant Playlist!

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If there is one festival that has been celebrated in its full glory in Hindi Cinema, it is the festival of colors – Holi! And why not – the vibrant colors, the energy of the festival, the smiling faces, the mischievous gestures, the sensuous overtones – they all provide the rich and colorful cinematic tropes for the screen! No wonder, Holi Songs are extremely popular too – they almost form a separate genre for Hindi Film Music! We think of Holi songs, and typically there is always a Rang Barse, Holi Khele Raghuveera, Ang Se Ang Lagana, Lets Play Holi, Holi ke Din, Balam Pichkari and many other extremely popular and overplayed Holi songs that always come to mind first. But Hindi Cinema has also composed some other beautiful holi songs in this very millennium that possibly don’t get as much love as they should, and they are equally vibrant in orchestrating a sensory treat, if not more, as the more popular ones.

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Ray and his Women of Strength!

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The legendary Satyajit Ray created some of the strongest female protagonists ever on screen…

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5 Years of Highway – A continued high!

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Like quite a few other things, AR Rahman’s music is a soulful high of this landmark film. Maahi Ve is the song that captures the true free spirit of the film that was Highway.. seeking love, freedom, companionship and peace in its purest undiluted form…

The Best Film of Imtiaz Ali. The Best Film of Alia Bhatt. Period.

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Jaatishwar – Five years of love!

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The finest film of Srijit Mukherji…

The career best performance of Prosenjit Chatterjee…

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Happy Birthday Basu Chatterjee!

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The world of Hindi Cinema has got a lot of its simplistic and heart felt beauty courtesy the warm and endearing cinema of Basu Chatterjee. Along side Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he made those evergreen everyday commoner stories that we could all relate to, revolving around protagonists who were so very you and me. A Chhoti si Baat, Baaton Baaton Me, Khatta Meetha or a Rajanigandha hence become any time watches for many. At the same time, there is the brilliantly adapted Ek ruka huya faisla, or Swami, or Apne Paraye, which have their own emotional and cinematic appeal. With Kamla ki Maut, a story and a style was chosen much ahead of the times. That is the versatile talent of the man, as much as we try to box him within a sugary sweet zone.

Happy 89th birthday Basu’da! The treasure chest of Hindi cinema looks far more richer for the gems you added to it.

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Deepika Padukone – The Power Woman!

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As Piku, she was the perfect portrayal of the independent but imperfect young woman living life on her own terms…

As Tara, she was the shooting star in Ved’s life who anchored his dreams and his purpose of life…

As Naina, her maturity was beyond her age that rooted her love for Kabir over her need for constant validation…

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KAAGAZ KE PHOOL : Everlasting Fragrance of Withered Flowers

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Classic Movies, Remembrance - Special Days2 Comments

#60YearsOfKaagazKePhool   #CelebratingUnboundLove

There couldn’t have been a better title to Guru Dutt‘s melancholic and yet poetic masterpiece Kaagaz ke Phool! Leave the film aside, the title itself is reminiscent of the genius that was Guru Dutt. In three simple words, it exposes the fake intricacies as well as use-how-you-want-and-throw-after-that practices behind the walls of the elusive world of cinema. And at the same time it stands for the most delicate and most fragile saga of love and loss. No wonder, after six decades of its release (yes, the classic completed sixty glorious years of its being), it remains as relevant as ever. How much ever it was trampled and rejected by the audience back then (to the extent that it devastated Dutt to the core), the fragrance of those withered flowers continues to command cinematic awe and celebrate wounds of the heart in equal intensity to this date.

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