Mera Naam Joker

I seldom watch Hindi films. I feel there is a disconnect between the glittery Bollywood and real India. I may be wrong in my opinion, but the fact is I’m not completely incorrect.

I always thought Mera Naam Joker film belongs to comedy genre. That’s how the title sound and so the posters, but in turn the film went on to be a romance mixed with some philosophical tit-bits. There are very few films which are based on the circus as the backdrop, to name few- Aboorva Sagodargal (Tamil - 1989) and Parakum Paavai (Tamil-1966).

The running time of this film was over 4 hours. The one which I saw was little less than 3 hours and 30 minutes. In spite of being a lengthiest film, the story was engaging, no wonder Raj Kapoor and Abbas had worked on the script for years.

Mary (Semi Garewal), Marina, Meenu (Padmini)- all three receive letters from Raju (Raj Kapoor), that he is going to perform his last show in the circus, he invites all three to the show. These three women had played a significant role in Raju’ life. The show starts and the flashback rolls to showcase us on how these women played their part in this life.

So the plot is set- a hero to tell his past with three women, who influenced his life. All the major characters are introduced initially- A perfect act 1. As a school going kid, young Raju (Played by Rishi Kapoor) is infatuated towards Mary. This is a cat on the wall for the director- go too far, it becomes awkward or make it too light then the point could not be reached. This is carefully weaved, by not breaking it boundaries. David, the fiancé of Mary, identifies it and talk with Raju to get over this issue. Raju realizes that he want to be a joker. A small joker puppet follows him throughout the rest of the story as a metaphor of love. 

Back from the school, now as as a young man Raju joins Gemini circus, where he falls in love with Marina a visiting Russian performer, the love doesn’t last. He then moves out of the circus to meet Meenu. He helps her to realize her dream of becoming a film actress. Again here he had to sacrifice the small romance to a film actor. After these three stories the flashback is back to the final show (initial circus scene). So we are set to see something big to happen, but instead the final act closes as “POSITIVELY NOT” The End. 

After all the excellent dialogues, songs and the picturization- I was disappointed, since we still couldn't see a proper end.

Yodeling With Kishore Kumar - Top Ten Singles

There is nothing to replace music in our life. If there has been no music (film songs), I guess the crime rate would have been much higher!. People might have lost their sanity soon. Lawlessness would be the norm of our daily life. While you might think I’m exaggerating it, but we never know what could have happened without music. 

A great song always starts with simple words, music which will give space for the words and then comes the singers, who always elevate the song with their voices and modulation.

My distant nostalgic memory goes back to the days of Doordharshan. With my little Hindi vocabulary I was able to pick few songs for its rhythm. Being a multi-lingual, I feel that Hindi can be easily sung or the words easily fit into the tune when compared to other languages. There is an array of Indian playback singers, one such unmissable singer is Kishore Kumar, a very popular voice in North India and even if you are living out-side the Hindi belt, it is hard to escape. 

I was preparing his top ten songs (Singles) for few weeks. Incidentally, today (August 4th) is his 86th birthday and here I present the list. To note, I haven’t watched any of these films, all I did for all these years is to just listen to the audio version of the songs. In fact this is the first time I’m seeing the video version of some songs, because I need to embed the YouTube to the post.

This is the top ten list and few notable mentions.

1. Haan Pehli Baar 

Film – Aur Kaun | Music – Bappi Lahari | Lyrics – Amit Khanna | Year – 1979  

2. Meri Bheegi Bheegi Si 

Film – Anamika | Music – RD Burman | Lyrics- Majrooh Sulthanpuri | Year – 1973 

3. Neele Neele Amber Par 

Film – Kalaakaar | Music - Kalyanji-Anandji | Lyrics- Indeevar | Year – 1983 

4. Mera Jeevan Kora Kagaz 

Film – Kora Kagaz | Music - Kalyanji-Anandji | Lyrics- M G Hashmat | Year - 1974 





5. O Saathi Re Tere Bina 

Film – Muqaddar Ka Sikandar | Music - Kalyanji-Anandji | Lyrics- Anjaan| Year - 1978 

6. Aise Na Mujhe Tum Dekho, Seene Se Laga Lunga 

Film – Darling Darling | Music – RD Burman | Lyrics- Anand Bakshi | Year - 1977 

7. Kuch Toh Log Kahainge 

Film – Amar Prem | Music – RD Burman | Lyrics- Anand Bakshi | Year - 1972

8. Chalte Chalte 

Film – Chalte Chalte | Music – Bappi Lahiri | Lyrics- Amit Khanna | Year - 1976

9. Mere Mehboob Qayamat Hogi 

Film – Mr. X in Bombay | Music – Laxmikant-Pyarelal | Lyrics- Anand Bakshi | Year - 1964

10. Aaj Unse Pehli Mulaqat Hogi 

Film – Paraya Dhan | Music – RD Burman | Lyrics- S. Khalil | Year - 1971

Notable mentions- Roop Tera Masthana, Aate Jate Kubusorat/Awara Nazrome, Dil Kya Kare, Rim Jim Gere Swawan, Pal Pal Dil Kye Pas Thumuhu Rahathi Ho

Kissa Kursi Ka (India, 1977)

This week we are observing 40th anniversary of the Emergency (India), which was imposed by Indira Gandhi government in 1975. There are only handful of films which talked about the black pages of India. One such film, which not only took a direct dig into the Emergency, but also made a satirical political film, Kissa Kursi Ka. Kissa means story (tale), Kursi means chair (Seat of power or throne). The film is directed my Amrit Nahata, who was a Congress MP then, later he went to Janata Party which was the torch bearer in opposing the Emergency under Jai Prakash Narayan.

As far as I know, political satire is a very rare genre, the one I had seen is a Tamil film by an comedian turned political commentator Cho Ramaswamy’ Mohammaed bin Thugluk, which was released in 1971, way before the Emergency.

As the name suggests, Kissa Kursi Ka is all about catching and keeping the power on ones hold. This takes the plot directly from Indira Gandhi, who was to hold the power to safeguard her PM position. Let me not go into the political events of 1975, but just talk about the film. 

**Spoilers Ahead**

The film is set in a fictional country call Jan Gan. Meera and her boyfriend Gopal on a chit-chat in a party strike an idea to make someone as politician and then make him\her the President of Jan Gan desh. After a brief search, they find Gangu, a dumb street vendor who is selling a medicine named sanjayveni. With all the misdoings of Meera, Gangu becomes the President. Gopal cautions Meera that Gangu might turn as monster, which eventually happens. Meera lose her grip on Gangaram (Gangu), who takes directions from Deshpal his secretary. Shabana Azmi is called Jantha (which denotes the public in Hindi), she is disabled to speak. Her visits to Gangaram are prevented by Deshpal. Ridiculous ideas are implemented by the government- Killing rats to prevent those eating grains. Mass execution of rats takes place. People are given incentives to kill rats. An unnecessary war is fought with the neighboring country called Anderinagar. At one point Deshpal sexually assaults and kills Janta. Terrified Gangaram finds it and asks what have you done? Deshpal replies “What I did to her was all what you did to the people of this country”. As every film, the villain Gangaram and Deshpal find their end.

The film is not short of songs. At given intervals the songs appear is various major Indian folk\classical styles- Odissi, Bangra, Bharathanatiyam, which lyrically represent the unfolding story.

After forty years, even now the dialogues will still hold good for the current politicians. The film was banned and its original tapes were burnt by none other than the second son of the Mrs. Gandhi, for which he was sentenced to one month prison post Emergency. This film can be put in the lines of religious satire Life of Brain and Kubrick political satire film Dr. Stranglove.

The full film is available in YouTube, taken from a Zee TV telecast.

Picture Links and other links-

http://homegrown.co.in/understanding-indias-dangerous-history-of-film-censorship-and-its-implications/

http://www.filmykeeday.com/movies-that-were-banned-in-india/

Mozhi ப்பராபளம்

This is the norm for most of the bilinguals like me in Tamil Nadu, especially while in school, we suffer from this Language’ophobia. மனேயல்லி ಕನ್ನಡ (வீட்டுல Kannada), வெளியில் தமிழ் and in school English. This was how I started my school days in a confused state till 4th Standard, but when I stepped into 5th standard, things became more complicated. Hindi and Sanskrit joined the race to torture me. I was put into this CBSE School in Sri Vidya Mandir (SVMS), Salem. 

Up until joining SVMS, my Hindi vocabulary was verrrryyy limited, like, “Ek.. doo.. theen”, “Chumma.. chumma.. de..dee”, “shoolay”, “namaskar” and not to forget “ek gaon main..ek kisan raghuthatta”. I was a hosteler then, so new joinees were pushed for a special tuition from 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM, while the rest of my friends were playing cricket.

Hindi teacher should be called as Ji or Pandit. Sanskrit sir as Sharma Ji. Tamil teacher as Ayya\Amma. English and other subjects as sir\madam.

Our Hindi tuition Ji was from Ambasamudram, he’ll say “ஒழுங்க படிக்கலே மணிமுத்தாறுல புரட்டி எடுத்துடுவேன்”.

Halfway through my 5th standard year, there came a circular “Students should speak in Hindi, while in Hindi period. Should speak in Tamil, while in Tamil class. Sanskrit in Sanskrit period. For English class and the rest of the subject- English is must”. 

We hostelers had a big doubt, “What language should we speak in interval and lunch period?”. So as days passed, one day during an interval period, I said to my friend Balu, “டாய், நான் one bathroom போயிட்டுவரேன்...”, suddenly someone caught my ear. It was my Sanskrit Sharma Ji (He was like Premji from Goa film). He said “Hey man, you talk in Tamil”.

Me: No, Tamil ji.. bath room is English!! He said, “come to the staff room”. He pulled my ear and dragged me to 2nd floor.

I thought, “Yov Sharma, நீங்க management-க்கு salaam போட என் காதுதான் கெடச்சதா!!"

I ended up paying Re. 1 for talking in Tamil. That one rupee was added to my mess bill.

உங்க மொழி அரசியலுக்கு என்ன மாதிரி எத்தனை ஊரூகாய் ஜாடியோ!

A small pawn in the divisive linguistic politics.

**Above image by the blogger

ஏக் துஜே கே லியே (1981, இந்தியா)

ஏ வரிசையில் என்ன படத்தை பற்றி எழுதலாம் என்று நினைக்கையில் வந்த முதல் படம் “ஏக் துஜே கே லியே”. ஆனால் வேற படத்தை பற்றி எழுதலாம் என்று நான் இப்படத்தை ஒரமாக வைத்தேன். என்னுடைய தேடலில் எதுவும் சரிபடவில்லை.

தென்னிந்தியாவைச் சார்ந்த தயாரிப்பாளர் எல். வி. பிரசாத் ஹிந்தி படங்களும் தயாரித்து வந்தார். தமிழில் வெளிவந்த “மன்மதலீலை” தெலுங்கில் ரிமேக் செய்து சுப்பர் ஹிட் அனது. இதை பார்த்த பிரசாத் கமலிடம் கால்சிட் (call sheet) கேட்க, கமலோ பாலசந்தரை கை காட்ட, பாலசந்தர் கமலை மனதில் வைத்து எழுதினர் “மரோ சரித்தர”. படம் அதிரி புதிரி ஹிட். இவர்கள் அடுத்த இலக்கு பாலிவுட் (Bollywood). ஹிந்தியிலும் படம் சுப்பர் ஹிட். வடா பாவ் சாப்பிட்டுக் கொண்டிருந்த வாய்கள் திறந்து வடாக்கள் கிழே விழுந்தது.

ஒரு படம் வெற்றி பெறுவது சிரமம் என்றால் அப்படம் காலம்காலமாக மக்கள் மத்தியில் நிலைத்துநிற்க உதவுவது அப்படத்தில் வரும் மறக்க முடியாத காட்சிகள். அப்படிப்பட்ட மறக்க முடியாத காட்சிகள் நிறைந்த படம் தான் இது.

சிலகாட்சிகள்

நாயகன் டும் டும் என்று துணியை துவைக்க பக்கத்து வீட்டில் இருந்து அவனின் டும் டும் சத்தத்திற்கு நாயகியின் பதில் வருகிறது. காட்சியின் முடிவில் துணி கிழிந்தது தான் மிச்சம்.

காதல் வயப்பட்ட நாயகனும் நாயகியும் தங்கள் அறையில் உள்ள விளக்கை அணைத்து அணைத்து சிக்னல் கொடுப்பது.

நாயகியிடம் உள்ள நாயகனின் புகைப்படத்தை அவளின் அம்மா எரித்து விடுகிறாள். அந்த எரித்த சாம்பலை எடுத்து காப்பியில் கலந்து குடித்து விடுகிறாள் நாயகி.

இப்படி பலக்காட்சிகள் சொல்லிக்கோண்டே போகலாம்.

மரோ சரித்தரவில் கமல்-சரிதா ஜோடி, ஆனால் ஹிந்தியில் எனோ சரிதாவை மாற்றி விட்டர் பாலசந்தர்.

2-டெக்கேட்ஸ் (Decades) முன்னாடி வந்த 2 ஸ்டேட்ஸ் (2 States) படம் இது. பார்க்கவில்லை என்றால் முதலில் பாருங்கள்.

இப்படத்தை பற்றி விரிவாக வேறு ஒரு பதிவில் சந்திப்போம்.