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Showing posts from February, 2022

50 Years of Piya Ka Ghar ( Released on 23 Feb 1972)

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  P iya Ka Ghar is a typical Basu Chatterjee kind of film produced by Rajshri Filma,  I n most of his movies and other television works, Basu Chatterjee has shown temperament of telling stories related to the common man. His plots are simple but directed with unmatched skill. P iya Ka Ghar falls in the same line. It portrays the difficulties of life in India's biggest city during the 1970s in the form of a comic family drama. Piya ka Ghar  gives us a glimpse of that life while also highlighting the problem of space and accommodation in Mumbai. Girdharilal Sharma is a middle-class man who is lucky enough to own a home in Bombay. But that home is not big enough for his family. It is a one-room apartment in a chawl and his house is forever busy with guests and neighbors. So even though his newlywed son and daughter-in-law crave some privacy, they struggle to find some. It's a funny yet sensitive take on a situation that still cripples many in the maximum ...

Chalte Chalte Mere Yeh Geet Yaad Rakhna- BAPPI LAHIRI

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    He began to play the tabla at the tender age of three. Even at that tender age, Bappi showed signs of greatness as he played the tabla with the proficiency of an experienced professional.  He received his first opportunity in a Bengali film, Daadu (1972) at the age of 19 and the first Hindi film for which he composed music was Nanha Shikari (1973). The film which established him in Bollywood was Tahir Husain's Hindi film, Zakhmee (1975), He  shot to fame in the 80s and 90s with foot-tapping  disco  numbers.  He introduced Vijay Benedict and Sharon Prabhakar to Bollywood and paved the path to fame for Alisha Chinai and Usha Uthup through his compositions. He  popularized the use of  synthesized   disco  music in Indian cinema with an Indian flavor. Chalte Chalte (1976) was his earliest chartbuster movie,  its soundtrack was a hit & very popular in the 70s. Yes, the film is remembered today only for Kishore...

272. Russian director Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky’s fifteenth feature film “Dom Durakov” (House of Fools) (2002), based on his original screenplay: An assessment of a film trashed soon after its release by most critics

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A majority of film critics and viewers tend to dismiss Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky’s films in their initial assessments, especially in recent decades. Why is that? To answer that question, one needs to know some key facts about Konchalovsky and the three phases of his career. Who is Konchalovsky? F ew know or recall that Konchalovsky was partly responsible for the early masterpieces of Andrei Tarkovsky— The Steamroller and The Violin; Ivan’s Childhood ; and Andrei Rublyev . As a screenplay-writer, Konchalovsky collaborated with Tarkovsky (his film school classmate) as a co-scriptwriter on these films as well as for other directors’ films: Shaken Ajmanov’s The End of the Ataman (1971) and Tolomush Okeev’s The Fierce One (1974). He also contributed, as a screenplay-writer, to his half-brother Nikita Mikhalkov’s film A Slave of Love (1976). Many of these films dealt with children and childhood. This was the specifically highlighted in his own debut film as a director and co-scriptwr...

Pran - Noorjahan was his Heroine in his First Hindi Film

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  Pran, the  greatest villain ever in the history of Indian cinema  played hero roles from 1940–47.  In the 1940s, romantic duets featuring him, like the songs "Tere Naaz Uthane Ko Jee Chahta Hai" from  Grihasti , opposite Shardha, and 'Ud Ja Ud Ja Panchhi' from  Khandaan  (1942), with Noor Jehan, became very popular. He   got his first role in  Dalsukh M. Pancholi 's  Punjabi  film  Yamla Jat  (1940).  The film featured baby  Noor Jehan . as a child artist, Both appeared in Khandan(1942) as romantic leads. It was Noorjehan's first film as an adult. The film was a great success, Noorjehan shifted to Bombay.  She shared melodies with  Shanta Apte  in  Duhai  (1943). Pran was working in Lahore,  acted in 22 films from 1942 to 1946 in  Lahore ; 18 were released by 1947. Due to  India's partition in 1947 , his career had a brief break. His films from 1944 to 1947 were made in u...

50 Years of Pakeezah

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  Pakeezah took 16 years to reach the celluloid. The film started  on July 16, 1956,  and was released on  February 4, 1972. It was a dream project of Kamal Amrohi, he wanted his wife Meena Kumari to be  Sahibjaan  of Pakeezah.  The mujra 'Inhin logon ne' was shot on July 16, 1956, interestingly at that time the script was not ready, nor the star cast was decided, even the hero was not decided,  the next several years went in scouting for locations, deciding on a leading man, writing and rewriting various bits of the film. Meena Kumari gave her best performance in this film despite her worsening health condition. She attended the premiere of the film at Maratha Mandir. The film was received lukewarm at the Box Office but when the news of Meena Kumari admitting to the hospital spread, it gained momentum.it was Meena Kumari's untimely death on 31 March 1972 which acted as an ultimate push and made it one of the top grosser of that year.  Pakeez...