Clik here to view.
Ten of my favourite ‘not-quite-duet’ songs
Sometime back, blog reader Anup remarked that some songs had a major singer not really doing much singing. Duets, he pointed out, where one singer does almost all the singing, while the other one just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brilliantovaya Ruka (1969)
Some of my favourite films are those that cleverly combine crime with humour. Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry, for instance, a witty story about a man whom everybody seems to have been wanting to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Naukri (1954)
I have a confession to make: I am not especially fond of Kishore Kumar as an actor. He’s a brilliant singer, and he can be pretty funny in films like Chalti ka Naam Gaadi or Pyaar Kiye Jaa or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In Tribute: Vinod Khanna (1946-2017)
This post may come as a surprise to those who are familiar with my blog, and with its chronological area of interest: Vinod Khanna, after all, debuted in a film that released in 1969, and this blog...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971)
This blog focuses almost exclusively on films from before the 1970s. Very occasionally, though, I make exceptions. For films that are pretty much on the cusp, and which evoke more a sense of 60s cinema...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lucky Star (1929)
Lucky Star is a movie of moments. A moment when a man, washing down the head of a young girl who’s grubby as can be, happens to ask her how old she is, and realizes, with a start of embarrassment, …...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hanyo (1960)
Which, in English, is translated as The Housemaid, though it would perhaps have been more aptly titled Rats! I Got Me a New House. Not just because the catastrophe that swiftly unfurls in this film has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Homes and Houses: Ten songs
Some context, first, for this post. I had recently been on a hiatus for a while because I shifted home. I’ve lived in Delhi for 32 years now, and for various reasons, my husband and I realized it would...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ek Phool Chaar Kaante (1960)
Sunil Dutt and Waheeda Rehman. The two names themselves conjure up a mix of everything from Pyaasa to Mother India, from Gumraah to Kaagaz ke Phool. Sunil Dutt, whom I tend to associate either with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)
A hundred years, ago, on June 7, 1917, in Ohio was born Dino Paul Crocetti, the son of an Italian immigrant and his wife, also of Italian origin. Dino spoke nothing but Italian until he was five years...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baadal (1966)
The Three Musketeers meets Hamlet meets Azaad meets general swashbuckling mayhem. I will admit I watched this film mainly for two reasons: for Sanjeev Kumar, who is deliciously handsome in his early...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Outrage (1964)
Rashōmon, set in the Wild West. I hadn’t heard about this film, let alone seen it, till a few weeks back, when blog reader Hurdy Gurdy Man, commenting on my review of Rashōmon, mentioned it....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Doctor, Doctor: Ten songs about medical problems
It’s often struck me that there are a number of Hindi film songs that could well be interpreted to refer to medical problems. The omnipresent theme of romantic love in itself has enough substance for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kasauli: Kissed by Clouds
I have often said that I am a pahaari at heart. I don’t have—as far as I know—any ancestors who belonged to the hills, but there is nothing that rejuvenates me as much as going to the hills. Remember...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baadal (1951)
The last Hindi film I’d reviewed was the Sanjeev Kumar swashbuckler Baadal. When I’ d begun watching that, I wondered briefly if it would be a remake of the Premnath Baadal, a film I’d seen too long...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jhinder Bondi (1961)
Considering I’ve recently reviewed two Hindi swashbucklers (Baadal and Baadal), both obviously—in one case even with credit accorded—inspired by European sources, I thought it appropriate to continue...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fanfan la Tulipe (1952)
I’ve been on a swashbuckler spree these past few weeks, what with a couple of Hindi films and then the Bengali film, Jhinder Bondi. Before I drift off into another genre, I decided I may as well...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ten songs picturized in famous gardens
Not too long back, I went on a trip to Kasauli, in Himachal Pradesh. It was a brief, pleasant little jaunt, and on the way back, I suggested that we stop—since it was on the way, in any case—at Pinjore...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ten of my favourite Mumtaz songs
Happy 70th birthday, Mumtaz! I have gone through phases when I’ve been very fond of a certain actor, only to later start disliking them. Or vice-versa. Dev Anand, for a while, I could watch in anything...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pursued (1947)
Exactly a week back, this blog was celebrating the birthday of a favourite of mine: the gorgeous Mumtaz turned 70. Today, Dusted Off celebrates the birth anniversary—the centenary, in fact—of another...
View Article