Piccadilly Jim (1936)

May 10, 2012, 3:09 am

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… a review, to be followed (probably tomorrow) by some ramblings on film adaptations of books, and why so many tend to flat on their faces. I adore the books of P G Wodehouse. His writing is utterly charming, very witty, and very intelligently (not to mention intricately) plotted. From the loony Lord Emsworth and [...]

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Cinematic Adaptations of Books: Some Ramblings

May 11, 2012, 9:42 am

≫ Next: Ten of my favourite ‘Kashmir songs’

≪ Previous: Piccadilly Jim (1936)

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While writing my review of Piccadilly Jim—and comparing it to P G Wodehouse’s book—I was struck by the fact that most of the time, when I watch a film based on a novel I’ve read, I end up feeling let down. What is it, after all, that makes it difficult to recreate the magic of [...]

Ten of my favourite ‘Kashmir songs’

May 21, 2012, 5:46 am

≫ Next: Pyaar ka Mausam (1969)

≪ Previous: Cinematic Adaptations of Books: Some Ramblings

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Some of you may have noticed my recent hiatus. Some of you may even know the reason for that—a trip to Kashmir (or, to be more specific, Srinagar). I lived in Srinagar for 3 years, beginning with when I was about 9 years old. I loved Srinagar. It was a beautiful place, and the beauty [...]

Pyaar ka Mausam (1969)

May 30, 2012, 11:06 pm

≫ Next: Neecha Nagar (1946)

≪ Previous: Ten of my favourite ‘Kashmir songs’

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Or, The Nasir Hussain Rule Book of Fool-proof Rehashing. I’m beginning to think I’m an idiot for trying to think up new stories every time I write. Look at people like Betty Neels or Nasir Hussain; they managed to get by with basically the same story, over and over again, and very successfully too. [which [...]

Neecha Nagar (1946)

June 6, 2012, 3:06 am

≫ Next: La Grande Guerra (1959)

≪ Previous: Pyaar ka Mausam (1969)

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I am a bit of an iconoclast. Maxim Gorky’s play The Lower Depths, while considered one of the great classics of Russian literature, left me cold when I read it. To me, it seemed too cluttered with characters, too devoid of plot, and just—well, without anything that would make me want to go back to [...]

La Grande Guerra (1959)

June 13, 2012, 3:58 am

≫ Next: Ten of my favourite car songs

≪ Previous: Neecha Nagar (1946)

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My original plan had been to watch and review Neecha Nagar, and follow it up by watching and reviewing Kurosawa’s Donzoko (also based on The Lower Depths). By the time I’d read Gorky’s play and seen Neecha Nagar, that plan had changed a bit—because I was feeling sorely in need of a funny film. La [...]

Ten of my favourite car songs

June 19, 2012, 2:38 am

≫ Next: Lizzie (1957)

≪ Previous: La Grande Guerra (1959)

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I don’t often need to take a taxi to get around, but when I do, I always steel myself, because 9 times out of 10, the taxi driver will have music playing—a CD or a radio—and 99% of the time, it’ll be some completely vile stuff with just a monotonous beat, and no melody to [...]

Lizzie (1957)

June 26, 2012, 3:53 am

≫ Next: Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi (1966)

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This photo of Eleanor Parker is the current wallpaper on my laptop screen: …and I’ve decided it’s time to change it, simply because it gets in the way of my work. Every now and then, while I’m working, I need to move to the desktop to open a folder or file that’s there. Invariably, I [...]

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Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi (1966)

July 1, 2012, 11:49 pm

≫ Next: Dupatta (1952)

≪ Previous: Lizzie (1957)

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Poor Biswajeet must have gotten thoroughly sick of romancing spooky women in the ‘60s. True, in this one, the spookiness is rather more pronounced (Waheeda Rehman was pretty sunny and un-mysterious in Bees Saal Baad; everything else seemed steeped in mystery). But there is the inexplicability of everything around, dozens of very loud and pointed [...]

Dupatta (1952)

July 7, 2012, 11:03 pm

≫ Next: Rustom-e-Rome (1964)

≪ Previous: Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi (1966)

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I saw a mention of this film for the first time on Richard’s blog a couple of years ago. Richard had mentioned that Dupatta (or Dopatta, as it’s referred to in some places) was available for viewing online. I’d stored away that snippet of information somewhere in the back of my mind, and forgotten about [...]

Rustom-e-Rome (1964)

July 13, 2012, 5:14 am

≫ Next: Bringing up Baby (1938)

≪ Previous: Dupatta (1952)

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Another tribute, to yet another great who’s passed on. Dara Singh, the wrestler-turned-actor who made such a big niche for himself in a slew of films, especially in the 1960s, passed away on July 12, 2012. As a child, nearly all my movie-watching was restricted to what was aired on Indian TV—Doordarshan—(and later, the few [...]

Bringing up Baby (1938)

July 18, 2012, 2:38 am

≫ Next: On Rajesh Khanna and the Ephemerality of Life

≪ Previous: Rustom-e-Rome (1964)

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The other day, I was thinking aloud, wondering what to do for my next blog post, and my husband said, “Review a comedy.” So here it is. A review of a film that’s intentionally funny, and which, furthermore, stars one of my favourite Hollywood actors: the incomparable Cary Grant, a leading man who had a [...]

On Rajesh Khanna and the Ephemerality of Life

July 19, 2012, 1:37 am

≫ Next: Noor – Mrs. Johnny Walker

≪ Previous: Bringing up Baby (1938)

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I saw very few films till I was about ten years old. Till then, my father had been posted in small towns that had rather dreadful cinema halls. Then, in late 1982, we acquired a TV. And suddenly, though there wasn’t a spate of films to see (Doordarshan’s Sunday 5:45 PM film was the highlight [...]

Noor – Mrs. Johnny Walker

July 20, 2012, 10:15 pm

≫ Next: Zulu (1964)

≪ Previous: On Rajesh Khanna and the Ephemerality of Life

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We’ve mourned the passing of a favourite star, but now—in the yin and yang way of zindagi and maut that Anand would possibly have appreciated—it’s time to celebrate a birthday. Today, July 21st, is the 77th birthday of a very lovely lady who began a career in cinema, appeared in some landmark films, and then [...]

Zulu (1964)

July 27, 2012, 8:11 pm

≫ Next: Ten of my favourite filmi qawwalis

≪ Previous: Noor – Mrs. Johnny Walker

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While this blog is all about old films—and the bulk of my film-watching is old films—that doesn’t mean I don’t watch new films. I do; lots of them. But the odd thing is that invariably, new films that I watch end up having some connection (even if in a roundabout way) to an old film. [...]

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Ten of my favourite filmi qawwalis

August 1, 2012, 1:29 am

≫ Next: Benazir (1964)

≪ Previous: Zulu (1964)

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I have been meaning to write this post for a long time now—I love qawwalis—but I’ve kept putting it off, because I’ve always thought that it would be impossible to create a list of just ten filmi qawwalis that are my favourites. (Barsaat ki Raat itself features at least three qawwalis that completely bowl me [...]

Benazir (1964)

August 7, 2012, 4:19 am

≫ Next: Charade (1963)

≪ Previous: Ten of my favourite filmi qawwalis

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‘Bimal Roy’s Benazir’ is what it says on the DVD cover. Enough to conjure up, for me, memories of some of the greatest Bimal Roy films I’ve seen: tender, thought-provoking, real films about real people. Benazir, perhaps because it wasn’t directed by Bimal Roy himself but by S Khalil (who also scripted the film) falls [...]

Charade (1963)

August 13, 2012, 4:19 am

≫ Next: Parakh (1960)

≪ Previous: Benazir (1964)

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I hadn’t been able to decide on which film to review after Benazir, so I asked a bunch of friends to help me out – just by suggesting a genre. I got a varied lot of answers. Romance. Comedy. Social drama, à la Ladri di Biciclette. Suspense. Something with Cary Grant. The result? This film, [...]

Parakh (1960)

August 21, 2012, 3:46 am

≫ Next: Spellbound (1945)

≪ Previous: Charade (1963)

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The last Hindi film I reviewed was a Bimal Roy production – and it left me feeling very disappointed. To get over that (and to remind myself that Bimal Roy’s films can generally be counted upon to be good), I decided to rewatch this one, an old favourite that reinforces Bimal Roy’s style of film-making: [...]

Spellbound (1945)

August 28, 2012, 8:52 pm

≫ Next: Ten of my favourite Shailendra songs

≪ Previous: Parakh (1960)

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When I posted my review of Charade a couple of weeks back, I ended up being reminded of this film. Firstly, because Charade is referred to as ‘the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock didn’t direct’. Secondly, because in the comments, a couple of readers mentioned a film in a similar vein, the Gregory Peck-starrer, Arabesque. My [...]