The Masala Factor?

I saw Rowdy Rathore. Probably, all my bad stars were at work that day. Everybody around me seemed to enjoy the film while I kept on ranting about how shitty it is. Anyhow, it got me thinking on how such films can cross the 100-crore mark when they don’t have even one scene that seems sensible. You either see Akshay Kumar leeching at the heroine, or hitting goons mercilessly; that of course when he is not at his silly antics or saying idiotic lines like ‘Don’t angry me’ (wow).

Now don’t try and tell me its a masala story. In that case, I’d prefer seeing some action movie from the 70’s. The dialogues are a lot funnier, if not more sensible than our Rowdy here. Here are some of my favourites:

- Police ne chaaro taraf se tumhe gher liya hai. (Some cool police that is!)

- Aaiye doctor sahib, main aapko bahar tak chhod deta hoon. (Yeah, our poor li’l doctor cannot find his own way)

-  Thehro! Yeh shaadi nahi ho sakti (Oh Shit)

- Inhe davaa ki nahi duaa ki zaroorat hai (Now whoever invented that is pure genius)

- Maa, mujhe naukri mil gayi Maa! (Saying Maa twice is absolutely necessary)

- Main tumhaare bacche ki maa bannewali hoon. (Epic)

Ek Gulzar Din

Today is Gulzar Saheb’s birthday. If it were in my hands, this day would’ve been declared a national holiday long ago. Khaiir. Even if that is not happening, I have other plans for the day! All that I have done since morning is read his poems from Raat Pashmine Kii, or listen to that wonderful ‘ILoveGulzar’ playlist I created yesterday! And I still have to eat that chocolate cake. Hmm.

Thank You Gulzar Saheb. For giving us films like Ijaazat, Mausam, Angoor, Aandhi, Namkeen, Parichay, Koshish, Masoom, Guddi. And songs that always light up my face; songs that my children will grow up on! (Their first nursery rhyme would probably be Lakdi Ki Kaathi or Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai!) J

Gulzar Mania

Itne logon me keh do iin aankhon ko, 

Itna ooncha, aise na bola karen...

Log mera naam jaan jaate hain.

Song Of The Week

I haven’t forgotten that it’s a Monday today. Song of the week is Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo. Now there are many versions of this song. The original one by Farida Khannum, another by Asha Bhosle, not to mention the innumerable trashy remixes. The former one is very ghazal-ish, mehfil-ish (Of course. Raag Yaman Kalyan never fails). The latter version is also quite similar, only the instruments used are modern. Or lets say that it is a digitized version of the original!

But the one I’m going to post here today is a beautiful recreation of the original. Music by Shankar Tucker is very east-meets-west while vocals by Rohini Ravada are a feast to the ears. I’d once heard it on the radio while driving and though I’d only heard the last few lines, it’d stuck with me due to her sheer singing prowess. And I didn’t know who it was! But after relentless searching, I finally found it on Youtube last week! If I were to sing this song, I would have sung it exactly like this. My voice is not as good, but the style would have been similar J

P.S: Listen intently to how she sings ‘tumhe’ in the antara. Makes my heart melt!

* Tum hi socho zara kyun na roke tumhe

Jaan jaati hai jab uthke jaate ho tum

Tumko apni kasam jaan-e-jaan,

Baat itni meri maan lo *

Song: Aaj Jaane Ki Zid

Music: Shankar Tucker

Lyrics: Fayyaz Hashmi

Vocals: Rohini Ravada (OST: Farida Khannum)

Apologies To My Neglected Child!

Its been over two weeks since my last post. This blog has quite received the step-motherly treatment and I owe an explanation.

 Real life had raised its ugly head and dragged me out of my virtual life. The past two weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. From attraction to anger, and spooked to remorse; been there, done that. Its funny how something from your past can haunt you. Something that you always thought you’d overcome and moved on. Turns out, it ain’t that easy. Getting it out of your system is a tough thing to do. But I’ve done that before. And I don’t see a reason why I won’t be able to do it now. Only this time, I’ll have to work out some dream interpretation theory. It’ll take time, but I’ll be okay J

Apart from that, everything is good. And btw! Its Sridevi’s budday today! Happy Birthday sweetheart! You’re the reason I’d ever want to get into six yards of yellow chiffon and dance in the rain! (Or wait. Maybe blue chiffon). No matter how annoying and aggravating saris are, I see myself doing that someday. Thank You for giving us Lamhe, Chandni, Chaalbaaz, Gumrah, Sadma, Mr. India, and even Judai and Nagina!