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Showing posts from March, 2022

The Most Exploited & Unlucky Woman-Meena Kumari

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  Veteran journalist  Vinod  Mehta wrote the biography of Meena Kumari in 1972. In this book, he wrote about the exploitation of Meena Kumari whoever came close to her. She was first exploited by her family. She   started out as Baby Meena, a child artist and a breadwinner of the family.  As a child, she wasn't interested in a film career, and would rather attend school.  In spite of this, her parents started peddling four-year-old Mahjabeen(Real Name of Meena Kumari) to film studios for work opportunities so she was deprived of her childhood. One of the major blows in Meena Kumari's life was the death of her mother. She was only 14 then. In the film Industry also she struggled initially, though she was getting work but paid poorly.It was only after Baiju Bawra in 1952 she got recognition. On May 21, 1951, Meena Kumari was involved in a motor car accident while returning from  Mahabaleshwar  to  Bombay .  She was admitted to Sasoon Hospi...

273. Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s tenth complete feature film, “Memoria” (2021), shot in Colombia, based on his original screenplay: Metaphysics of awakening human memory through sound and sight, rather than words

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    “ A sound like a rumble from the core of the earth ”  —Jessica (Tilda Swinton), a Scotswoman and a scientist, describing the sound that woke her up one day from slumber   in Colombia, a sound that she wishes to identify and understand (words spoken in the early part of the film)   “ Why are you crying, when they are not of your memories?”   —Jessica’s new-found acquaintance Hernan (the metaphoric “hard disk," as he describes himself”) says to her, after Jessica (the metaphoric “antenna”, in Hernan’s words) physically connects with Hernan by Jessica placing his palm on her arm (words spoken towards the end of the film) M emoria is a film that recalls Carlos Reygadas’ opening and closing sequences of his Silent Light (2007), approaching metaphysical mysteries using sounds and visuals. It was not surprising for this critic that Reygadas was one of the many thanked by the filmmakers in the film’s credits. Memoria equally recalls sequences from Andrei Ta...

50 Years of Bombay To Goa

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  Bombay To Goa completed 50 years, was released on 3rd March 1972. It  was Amitabh Bachchan’s big break and the beginning of his illustrious career in the film industry over the span of 4 decades or more. The  film was directed by  S. Ramanathan , starring  Mehmood ,  Amitabh Bachchan , and  Aruna Irani , with  Shatrughan Sinha  in a supporting role.    Mehmood and brother Anwar Ali were the principal players in this comedy that gave Amitabh Bachchan his first big break as the hero of  a movie .  What makes Bombay to Goa memorable is, as the title itself suggests, the bus journey from Bombay to Goa in which the majority of the story actually takes place. This adventurous and comic journey introduces us to a totally mixed bunch of passengers from all over India, from different religions and cultures. Two significant characters are those of Rajesh, the bus driver, and Khanna, the conductor - two characters played by re...