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Showing posts from January, 2021

The Man Who Whistled in More Than 1500 Songs

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  Whistling is an art, it is being a part of Bollywood songs since the 30s. Many memorable songs have a whistle the highlight of those songs. Whistling is being used in prelude or interlude in many songs.  As a matter of fact, whistling was quite a vogue in most of the Dev Anand films How whistling can make a career is a perfect example to Nagesh Surve who for the first time whistled in Julie After that he never looked back.  Having whistled in over 1,500 Hindi film songs,  Surve became Hindi film industry's chief whistler, collaborating with top-notch music directors, right from Lakshmikant-Pyarelal and Shankarlal-Jaikishan to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Pritam.  Nagesh Surve was a musician, he plays the violin, he was a member of Shankar Jaikishan orchestra but this art was used by Kanu Roy,   music composer in  Hindi  and  Bengali  films for the first time in 1973 film Avishkar. Later Rajesh Roshan used his whistling in the song of Ju...

50 Years of Kati Patang

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  Kati Patang was released on 29th Jan 1951.By that time Rajesh Khanna was the Super Star of Bollywood. All of his films were making Jubilees   T he Rajesh Khanna phenomenon was at its peak. This was the third picture of Shakti Samanta and Rajesh Khanna together and the second film of the trio of Shakti Samanta, Rajesh Khanna and R D Burman. The film was tragic in nature with a non-glamorous heroine role but became hit because of its music.  The film gave us evergreen hits like  Yeh Shaam Mastani, Pyar Diwana Hota Hai  and  Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai. all sung by Kishore Kumar. One song 'Jis Gali Me Tera Ghar Na Ho Sajna' was sung by Mukesh. The film was b ased on the novel by Gulshan Nanda, the 1971 film features the story of the double life of Madhavi, played by Asha Parekh, who got her first Filmfare Award of the Best Heroine for this role. Sharmila Tagore who was a favourite heroine of Shakti Samanta did not get this role because she was pregnant at that ...

260. Côte d’Ivoire’s (Ivory Coast’s) film director Philippe Lacôte’s second feature film “La Nuit des Rois” (Night of the Kings) (2020), based on his original script: A significant prison film underscoring the power of storytelling and magic realism from the African Continent

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    “I don’t make a lot of films...I can only shoot what is essential to me”   --Director  Philippe Lacôte   in an interview to CNN titled "Machetes and Microbes: Why  Philippe Lacôte's Prison Drama Cuts Close to the Bone" (September 8, 2020)      F rench-Ivorian filmmaker Philippe Lacôte has made two feature films Run (2014) and Night of the Kings (2020), both officially submitted to the Oscar’s foreign language category by Côte d’Ivoire (former name: Ivory Coast), in respective years. Both films provide a marriage of documentary and narrative fiction styles, and both have international actors of repute playing major roles. Run has Côte d’Ivoire-born Isaach de Bankole (Jim Jarmusch’s actor in The Limits of Control/Coffee and Cigarettes/Ghost Dog-The Way of the Samurai ; Claire Denis’ actor in White Material/ Chocolat ) and Night of the Kings has Denis Lavant (Leos Carax’s actor in Holy Motors/The Lovers on the Bridge ); Claire Denis’ act...

O P Nayyar- The Creator of Timeless Classics

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  OP Nayyar was among the Top 5 Composers of the Golden Era. Some of the great musical films were Aar Paar(1954), Mr & Mrs 55(1955)  ,   CID(1956),  Tumsa Nahin Dekha  (1957),  Howrah Bridge  (1958),  Jaali Note  (1960),  Ek Musafir Ek Hasina  (1962),  Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon  (1963),  Kashmir Ki Kali  (1964),  Mere Sanam  (1965),  Baharen Phir Bhi Aayegi  (1966),  Kismat  (1968) and  Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye  (1973) His songs had a unique freshness, a rare robust beat, a flowing style similar to what you feel when you dip your hand in a running stream, blending Punjabi folk music with a rare Western-style orchestration, never heard before or since. His variety of rhythm patterns baffles the film industry, even today.  He was not only a great Composer but also   singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician. He  wrote,  "Yeh Desh Hai Veer ...

Conversation Songs of Dev Anand

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  Dev Anand had  the image of the evergreen, romantic hero. There was a time when  his flirtatious, boyish charm and songs set to the mood of the nation. His eyes and Body language brought life to the songs he sang on screen are still fresh on our mind. In this blog, I have selected a few conversational songs of Dev Anand starting from his first hit film Ziddi(1948), ' Yeh Kaun Aaya Re' sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, picturized on him and Kamini Kaushal. Song of Ziddi 1946 The next song in my list is from the 1951 film 'Sanam' starring Dev Anand and Suraiya Song of Sanam 1951 Another hit conversation song is from the 1952 film 'Jaal', this is a duet of Kishore with Geeta Dutt, picturized on Dev and Geeta Bali Song of Jaal 1952 This song is from 1956 film 'Funtoosh', sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle Song of Funtoosh 1956 The next two songs are from Nau Do Gyarah 1957, picturized on Dev and Kalpna Kartik Song of Nau Do Gyarah 1957 Song of ...