MEHBOOBA - 1974Music Director: Burman S D
Director: Ks Prakash Rao
Producer: Rama Naidu
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Year: 1974
Monday, February 25, 2008
BANDHAN - 1969
Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Mumtaz , Jeevan , Kanhaiyalal , Rajendranath , Achla Sachdev, Sapru , Anju Mahendru, Aroona Irani, Sunder , Ratnamala.Director: Narendra Bedi
Producer: Sippy Films
Music Director: Kalyanji-Anandji
Lyrics:
Year : 1969
AURAT - 1967
StarCast : Rajesh Khanna, David, Feroz Khan, Kanhaiyalal, Lalitha Pawar, Nana Palsikar, Pran, Achala Sachdev, Leela Chitnis, Padmini, Mohan Choti, Nazima.
Director: S. S. Balan & S. S. Vasan
Producer: Gemini Combines
Music Director: Ravi Shanker
Lyrics :
Year : 1967
BAHARON KE SAPNE - 1967
Cast: Rajesh Khanna,Bela Bose, Jayshree Gadkar, Asha Parekh, Premnath , Jairaj , Anwar , Nana Palsikar, Sulochana , Madan Puri, Rajendranath , Laxmi Chhaya.
Director: Nasir HussainProducer: Nasir Hussain FilmsMusic Director: R. D. Burman
A young man returns to his provincial home with his big-city dreams in tatters, only to win over the villagers by taking an important union position at a local factory. Joyous and uplifting, BAHARON KE SAPNE is a 1967 Bollywood feature from director Nasir Hussain.
Dream Cities of The World - Vimla Patil
Vimla Patil was associated with Femina, India’s number one women’s magazine, published by the Times of India Group for 29 years. Femina is Vimla Patil's personal success story. Today, FEMINA is one of the strongest international brands with a vast readership in India and abroad. She initiated the Miss India contest in the mid-sixties for the journal and brought it to its present international stature. Vimla Patil promoted Indian textiles and fashion garments – especially handlooms – for decades by presenting over 4000 fashion shows in India and most countries of the world. After finishing her long stint with Femina, she built a brand new career for herself as a freelance multi-mediaperson with writing, events, public relations, shows and many more activities in her portfolio! Vimla Patil will be delighted to answer readers' questions. Please click on the comments page link at the bottom of the article to post your questions for her or to comment on her article.
Over the centuries, some of the world’s most glittering cities have been labeled as ‘dream cities’! This is because they are magnets that draw millions of people to seek money, fame and success while living and working in them. Some of these cities are Los Angeles (Hollywood), Paris, Milan, London, New York, Singapore, Dubai and most important, Mumbai (Bollywood)! While the dream factory of Hollywood sees thousands of would-be actors and film-makers flocking to the city with shining ambitions in their eyes, Paris and Milan attract artists, fashion designers, perfumiers and models. London, New York, Singapore, Dubai and Mumbai attract those devoted to the good life – through making their millions in business and finance. These cities, like several others across Europe and the USA, are the financial hubs of the world where the brave of heart and adventurous of spirit come to learn the tricks of the trade and settle down to make their fortunes.
Among these cities, Mumbai attracts hoardes of people from all over the world!
Mumbai, the glittering city on the west coast of India, they say, never sleeps. Its glittering streets, markets and business districts see life in its most frenetic form throughout the year, irrespective of holidays, festivals and normal working days. Its citizens are fun loving, generous and never miss an opportunity of celebrating life. Its markets, restaurants, entertainment plazas and religious monuments offer the visitors everything they wish for. No wonder then that all kinds of people who dream of big money, success, fame and magic in their lives, are attracted to Mumbai which now houses almost 15 million people – almost the population of a small country. Every day, trainfuls and busloads of people seeking their livelihood or a decent standard of life arrive in the city to make it their home!
But among those who come to Mumbai, Bollywood seekers are prominent!
Rajesh Khanna in Amar Prem (1971)
For over half a century, the huge film industry in Mumbai has drawn all dreamers to this city. One of the first – and most prominent – actors to seek his fortune in Mumbai was the late Prithviraj Kapoor whose sons (Raj, Shashi and Shammi), grandsons (Randhir, Rishi and Rajeev) and grand daughters (Karisma and Kareena) continued to make history in the industry. Rajesh Khanna came and conquered the marquees. Waheeda Rahman came, so did Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and hundreds of others. Mumbai’s tradition of being the hub of fortune-seekers continues to this day.
Rajesh Khanna launching music channel
Rajesh Khanna, yesteryears’ Bollywood superstar is all set to launch a music channel. The music channel, named under his initials, RK Music, will be operational from later this year.
The channel apart from featuring Khanna’s evergreen hits daily will also see the Anand star taking part in many shows based on music.Apparently, it will be a joint venture between Kaka, a famous Mumbai based Music Company and a big media company from down south, namely the Sun TV Network informs our source. He further informs us that the basic formalities have been done with for the same with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The channel shall be on air in just three months’ time with the former superstar in charge of the programming himself. The actor turned politician shall also be involved in a day to day functioning of the channels proceedings.After his cine career was virtually over in the late 80s, Rajesh Khanna joined politics and became a Member of Parliament by winning a Lok Sabha seat in Delhi from a Congress ticket. Few years back he had also floated a successful lottery business in Maharashtra. Khanna was last seen in the utterly forgetful flop, Jaana – Lets Fall in Love (2006) with his olden days co-star Zeenat Aman. He has currently only one film in hand, Hello Kaun Hai, directed by item girl, Rakhi Sawant’s brother, Rakesh Sawant.
The channel apart from featuring Khanna’s evergreen hits daily will also see the Anand star taking part in many shows based on music.Apparently, it will be a joint venture between Kaka, a famous Mumbai based Music Company and a big media company from down south, namely the Sun TV Network informs our source. He further informs us that the basic formalities have been done with for the same with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The channel shall be on air in just three months’ time with the former superstar in charge of the programming himself. The actor turned politician shall also be involved in a day to day functioning of the channels proceedings.After his cine career was virtually over in the late 80s, Rajesh Khanna joined politics and became a Member of Parliament by winning a Lok Sabha seat in Delhi from a Congress ticket. Few years back he had also floated a successful lottery business in Maharashtra. Khanna was last seen in the utterly forgetful flop, Jaana – Lets Fall in Love (2006) with his olden days co-star Zeenat Aman. He has currently only one film in hand, Hello Kaun Hai, directed by item girl, Rakhi Sawant’s brother, Rakesh Sawant.
Rajesh Khanna - The True Romantic Hero - VIII
Film: Aradhana
Cast : Rajesh Khanna & Sharmila Tagore
Song : Roop Tere Mastana Pyar Mera Diwana
Singer : Kishore Kumar
Year : 1969
He was the loverboy without compare.
She was the demure girl with a bod to kill for.
Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore came together in 1969's Aradhana, and the sensuality between them felt so real. it virtually set the screen afire.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Heroic roles Rajesh Khanna
In many of his heroic roles Rajesh Khanna projected an assuredness and self confidant attitude worthy of his given screen name that means, 'king of kings'. But Rajesh was not packaged in a royal exterior, although he was quite handsome he had ruddy skin, pimples, was of slightly below average height, and was prone to pudginess. What magic he did have was a radiating disarming charm and sensitive sexiness. He was aloof, self interested, with graceful mannerisms that melted woman's hearts. Rajesh Khanna was Bollywoods ultimate romantic superstar.
At the peak of his fame 1969-1972 Rajesh Khanna was the cats pajamas in Bollywood. He experienced an adulation from the public that bordered on hysteria. When he married Dimple Kapadia legend has it that in reaction woman committed suicide. For a giddy moment in history he bridged the gap and hovered as the favored star between the 'classic' heroes of the 50s and 60s and the 'Angry Young Men' of the 70s.
Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore from "Amar Prem"(1971)
Khanna had a prolific and successful collaboration with the singer Kishore Kumar and composer R.D. Burman. A large number of the songs they put to film are truly Bollywood Classics. In the film "Amar Prem" this collaboration produced two evergreen hits, "Chingari Koi Bhadke To Saawan" and "Kuch To Log Kahenge".
Avtaar - 1983
Synopsis :
Avtaar Kishen starts his second span of life after being thrown out of his home by his sons. He learns a lesson never to emotionally lavish all his belongings on his sons ever again. Avtaar Kishen starts work from a small car repair garage and luck favours him to become a successful businessman with the help of his wife Radha and his faithful servant Sevak.
Star Cast : Rajesh Khanna, Shabana Azmi, AK Hangal, Yunus Perwaiz, Gulshan Grover, Sachin.
Director : Mohan Kumar
Producer : Mohan Kumar
Lyricist : Anand Bakshi
Year : 1983
Rajesh Khanna is a mechanic with a healer's touch at fixing cars. A parallel universe in which flashbacks-within-flashbacks are a sensible way to tell a story. A parallel universe in which Shabana Azmi dances around trees.
Unfortunately, that last aspect - the most straight-up-dashing-hero-swooning-heroine romantic song picturized on Shabana that I had encountered the time I first saw Avtaar - was close to the most interesting thing about this movie, and even it was not exactly good, not compared to some of Shabana ji's full-on masala performances of the 70s.
Avtaar Kishen (Rajesh Khanna) is a hardworking, pious, salt-of-the-earth type of guy. He's an auto mechanic with a master touch. He is happy and satisfied with his life - he has a beautiful, adoring wife of twenty-five years, Radha (Shabana), and two grown sons for whose success he has toiled and of whom he is very proud. The domestic joy is fleeting, however - Radha and Avtaar's children selfishly betray them, leaving them destitute. With the help of their loyal servant Sewak (the name actually means "servant"), Avtaar gets back on his feet and builds himself a wildly successful business, which he then manipulates to exact revenge from his sons. On the more charitable side, he founds a home for elderly folks who have been abandoned by their children, and employs its residents in his company. His sons eventually relent and seek forgiveness - and Radha tires of estrangement from them - but Avtaar is a very proud man, there may be too much water under the bridge for this family to repair itself.
The message of this peculiarly bitter film seems to be: Old folks, don't trust your adult children, because they will screw you. I'm all in favor of moralizing about the lack of respect that each generation shows for the one that came before it, and I can understand the need for social dramas that address the problem of erosion of the family, but it seems like there are more productive ways to send the message than in an angry cautionary tale. The sense that the film's message is displaced is only enhanced by the fact that Avtaar and Radha, supposedly the elderly victims of youthful indifference, are played by a 40-year-old actor and a 32-year-old actress, made up - not very convincingly - to look some 25 years older. Why not give the roles to some neglected older actors? This, and similar details, lend the film an amateurish air, as it simply isn't a good enough movie for such details not to be distracting.
The music, which can sometimes be the sole redeeming feature of an otherwise unforgettable film, did little here to ease the squirming sense I had of suffering through a very bad movie in the name of fangirlish completism. The picturization of the aforementioned romantic song, " Din mahine saal", was clunky and inelegant. Another song, picturized on the members of the younger generation celebrating their freedom the annoying burden of their parents, was among the worst choreography and most embarrassing dancing I've seen in a Hindi film. The one picturization I very much enjoyed featured Avtaar and Radha (in their younger, flashback form) carrying their seriously ill baby up a steep mountain trail in pilgrimage. The song was pretty, and Shabana nailed perfectly a sense of exhaustion and despair. But apart from a very few such effective moments, unless you are a raving fan of one of its principals, this film has little to recommend it. I certainly am, and it pushed even my limits of tolerance.
Unfortunately, that last aspect - the most straight-up-dashing-hero-swooning-heroine romantic song picturized on Shabana that I had encountered the time I first saw Avtaar - was close to the most interesting thing about this movie, and even it was not exactly good, not compared to some of Shabana ji's full-on masala performances of the 70s.
Avtaar Kishen (Rajesh Khanna) is a hardworking, pious, salt-of-the-earth type of guy. He's an auto mechanic with a master touch. He is happy and satisfied with his life - he has a beautiful, adoring wife of twenty-five years, Radha (Shabana), and two grown sons for whose success he has toiled and of whom he is very proud. The domestic joy is fleeting, however - Radha and Avtaar's children selfishly betray them, leaving them destitute. With the help of their loyal servant Sewak (the name actually means "servant"), Avtaar gets back on his feet and builds himself a wildly successful business, which he then manipulates to exact revenge from his sons. On the more charitable side, he founds a home for elderly folks who have been abandoned by their children, and employs its residents in his company. His sons eventually relent and seek forgiveness - and Radha tires of estrangement from them - but Avtaar is a very proud man, there may be too much water under the bridge for this family to repair itself.
The message of this peculiarly bitter film seems to be: Old folks, don't trust your adult children, because they will screw you. I'm all in favor of moralizing about the lack of respect that each generation shows for the one that came before it, and I can understand the need for social dramas that address the problem of erosion of the family, but it seems like there are more productive ways to send the message than in an angry cautionary tale. The sense that the film's message is displaced is only enhanced by the fact that Avtaar and Radha, supposedly the elderly victims of youthful indifference, are played by a 40-year-old actor and a 32-year-old actress, made up - not very convincingly - to look some 25 years older. Why not give the roles to some neglected older actors? This, and similar details, lend the film an amateurish air, as it simply isn't a good enough movie for such details not to be distracting.
The music, which can sometimes be the sole redeeming feature of an otherwise unforgettable film, did little here to ease the squirming sense I had of suffering through a very bad movie in the name of fangirlish completism. The picturization of the aforementioned romantic song, " Din mahine saal", was clunky and inelegant. Another song, picturized on the members of the younger generation celebrating their freedom the annoying burden of their parents, was among the worst choreography and most embarrassing dancing I've seen in a Hindi film. The one picturization I very much enjoyed featured Avtaar and Radha (in their younger, flashback form) carrying their seriously ill baby up a steep mountain trail in pilgrimage. The song was pretty, and Shabana nailed perfectly a sense of exhaustion and despair. But apart from a very few such effective moments, unless you are a raving fan of one of its principals, this film has little to recommend it. I certainly am, and it pushed even my limits of tolerance.
Anand - 1970
Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) is a young physician with a gloomy outlook. A workaholic, he takes his work to heart and doesn't see much to enjoy in life. Then his mentor introduces him to Anand (Rajesh Khanna), a cheerful soul who brightens the spirits of everyone he meets, including the dour doctor. But Dr. Banerjee is dismayed to learn that Anand has an inoperable, terminal cancer, and a prognosis of only a few months to live. Anand is determined to spread as much joy as he can in the short time he has left, and from him Dr. Banerjee learns to appreciate all aspects of life.
I wanted to like Anand; I love so many of the films of its director, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and I adore the performances of young, pre-stardom Ambitabh Bachchan. And The film is so widely loved, and had been recommended to me by so many different people, that I feel like an insensitive philistine for failing to appreciate it.
Yet just about everything about it grated, starting with the hyperactive cheerfulness of Anand himself. I've not found a single appealing quality to Rajesh Khanna, between his froggy smile and his mumbly, droopy-eyed diction; here, he combines these traits with a ferret-like energy that is by multiples more annoying than charming. But it's not merely that Anand's idea of cheerfulness is too shouty and bouncy to appeal to me; it's that everyone in the film is as delighted by it as I am irritated. Even the somber doctor, a man who looks like he should be getting migraines from Anand's very presence, is instead moved to the depths of his soul. I understand how I am supposed to feel, but I can't get on the train; instead of being charmed by Anand's joy, I just want him to shut the hell up. Anand is not merely terminally ill; he's terminally annoying.
Beneath the surface - of course - Anand harbors some melancholy, which shows itself only in quiet moments when he thinks he's not being watched. This feature of Anand's character is such an obvious cliche that it adds no depth to him at all, and I found myself only rolling my eyes when it was revealed. It's just one more predictable step in the very predictable arc of this entirely by-the-book story. Anand's inevitable end - the conclusion is painfully apparent from the moment Anand is introduced - brought me no tears, just relief that it was finally over.
I suppose the saccharine sentiments would have been forgivable if the characters had worked, but between Anand's hysterical babble and the doctor's sour-lemon demeanor there wasn't much to sink my teeth into. The entire experience was like biting into a puff of cotton candy and finding it artificially sweetened, bitter with aspartame aftertaste. Though one of the best-loved emotional tear-jerkers of Hindi cinema.
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