Category: Remembrance – Special Days

Happy Birthday Basu Chatterjee!

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Legendary Artists, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

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. As we watched and rewatched, we fell more and more in love with the films, and with life. At the same time, there is the brilliantly adapted Ek ruka huya faisla, or Swami, or Apne Paraye in his filmography as well which have their own emotional and cinematic appeal, all attacking very different topics. 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 90th birthday Basu’da! The treasure chest of Hindi cinema looks far more richer for the gems you added to it.

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Top 30 Pancham Albums – Ranked!

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Best Of Lists, Legendary Artists, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

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PANCHAM, the true successor of the genius of Sachin Dev Burman, was no less a magician by himself. The man who broke every conventional barrier through his music, and composed music that was way ahead of his time. He was at his sublime best when he was dealing with pure unadulterated melody unlike his more popular jazzy work. 60’s first felt the fire power of his music, the glorious 70’s and most of 80’s thrived with his golden compositions; and even when he was written off in 90’s, he created some of his finest work completely pushed against the wall. Challenging the status quo of every singer, he provided the flight beneath their wings for them to soar new heights, and with that his eternal music found its unbound skies as well. Too many classics, too many game changers, and then the trailblazer was suddenly gone too soon.

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Rabindra Sangeet in Films – This Millennium

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Best Of Lists, Legendary Artists, Remembrance - Special Days, Soulful SongsLeave a comment

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The songs composed by Rabindranath Tagore have always been a lifeline of Bangla films. For decades, they have been the voice of soul in our films, and when at the turn of the century a decision was taken to allow experimentation with the arrangement in Tagore Songs, there was a fear that it would be a disaster as far as preserving the sanctity of these songs was concerned. Has it really been the case in the whole?

Yes, there has been a Oo lala added to a Pagla Hawa in some cases, but Rabindra Sangeet has stood firm with its soul and its form preserved for the most, a few modern rhythmic adaptations like Jagorane jaaye bibhabori have actually worked, and in most cases even the form has remained as pure as possible. How much ever our storytelling might have changed, our filmmakers still fall back to the ever reliable and the deepest emotions of Rabindra Sangeet even today, and rightfully so.

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50 Years of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Classic Movies, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

50 years ago, on May 8th 1969, Satyajit Ray‘s Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne saw the light of the day…

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The charismatic children in the world of Ray

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Legendary Artists, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

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Apu & Durga (Pather Panchali & Aparajito), Kajal (Apur Sansar), Ratan (Postmaster), Mrinmayee (Samapti), Mukul (Sonar Kella), Ruku (Jai Baba Felunath), Pikoo (Pikoo), Dingo (Shakha Proshakha), Satyaki (Agantuk), or the ‘Two’ kids…

Just these characters can continue reminding us for decades to come how brilliant a film maker the Maestro was… It takes a genius to get the best and most natural out of children in cinema, and He did it every single time with each one of them. The characters above have become legendary, not just with their writing, but also with the kind of performances these kids could deliver under the guidance of Ray..

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Manhattan – To beautiful beginnings…

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Classic Movies, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment
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“He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion…no, make that: he – he romanticized it all out of proportion. Yeah. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin.”

Uh, no let me start this over.

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50 Hindi Films inspired from Bengali Literature

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Best Of Lists, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

Bengali literature in all its richness has been a constant influence on the world of films, both for bengali and hindi films. While some of the adaptations like Devdas, Parineeta or Kabuliwala are more common and widely acknowledged, there are a host of films influenced by bengali literature that are not so commonly recalled. This includes films based on full scale novels, short stories, poems and more. Some of these films credit the source as the official adaptation, some of them do not. But the inspiration behind the story-line is not be be missed, especially when the authors behind the literary references are some of the most illustrious names of Bengali Literature ranging from Rabindranath Tagore to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay to Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay to Ashapoorna Devi to Subodh Ghosh and more.

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GOLMAAL hain bhai sab golmaal hain!

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Classic Movies, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

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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Holi hai! Load a Fresh, Vibrant Playlist!

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Best Of Lists, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

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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!

On By Jayashree ChakravartiIn B. Retrospective - Looking Back, Best Of Lists, Remembrance - Special DaysLeave a comment

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

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