S.D.Burman - Walah Jawaab Tumhara Nahin….

Films, India, Music 10 Responses »
Oct 302007

31st October is the death anniversary of one of the greatest music directors of the Hindi Film Industry. This is the first person who went beyond Indian Classical roots, or western classical roots – like many of his contemporaries – and made folk music the basis for his brand of Hindi Film Music. He left behind a body of work that is solid, inspirational and just gets you to forget everything and be mesmerized in his music……. Here on the day before his death anniversary – my favourite…. and be very clear… it wasn’t an easy choice. And as always – there is no favourite – i love them all…..So here go, my Bakers’ dozen

  1. Waqt ne kiya - shot gloriously for Khagaz ke Phool. the voice of Geeta Dutt. I personally prefer this SD & Geeta collaboration to other greats like Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya or Tabdeer se Bigadi huvi Taqdeer bana de…- purely because of the character of the song….. This song could be for any of us and our relationships…………One of my all time favourite songs from all time in any language……
  2. Sun Ja Dil Ki Dastaan – [tag]Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt for Dev Anand & Geeta Bali and lots of oomph by the sea. The film is Jaal – where Dev Anand plays the sexy, no good wastrel Michael and Geeta Bali plays Maria -  the woman torn between her man, and what is right….What an enjoyable film…and what a great sound track. Lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi
  3. Oh Jaane Wale Ho Sake to Laut Ke Aana – Mukesh at his philosophical best. The movie is Bandini – directed by Bimal Roy. Th song, if I am not mistaken, is a back ground song…. and captures the sheer sense of desperation and claustrophobia in the film. The music in the film is phenomenal. Every piece is a master piece. There is the brilliant number by Lata Mangeshkar – Mora Ang Layle, and there is Asha lilting with Abke Baras more baaye se babul.. and SD himself with the completely folksey More Saajan Hai us Paar
  4. Yeh Mehlon, Yeh Takhton, Yeh Tajon Ki Duniya – Mohd. Rafi singing for Guru Dutt in one of the most famous scenes from Hindi Films. A silouhetted Guru Dutt singing to a bunch of men and women who have sold their souls for something else…. Yeh Duniya Agar mil Bi Jaaye to Kya Hai… One of those songs that resonate deep within your soul. The other great songs in this film were – Jinhe Naaz Hai HInd per woh Kahan Hai, Aaj Sajan More Ang Laga Lo, Jaane Kya Tu Ne Kahi, Jaane Kya Maine Suni
  5. Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hai - The most romantic song ever, in my books. Dev Anand singing to Waheeda Rehman in the film Guide. In an album packed with heart breakers — this one breaks your heart the most, purely because of its sweetness and melody. You know it is not going to last. But, while it lasts – make the most of it. Other songs worth looking out for in the album – Kaanton se Kheechke Ye anchal - by Lata, Din Dhal Jaaye by Rafi and the fabulous Wahan Kaun Hai Tera by S.D. Burman himself…
  6. Haal Kaisa Hai Janab Ka - Asha & Kishore having a blast in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi. Again a film with a great track – Ek Ladki Bhigi Bhagi Si, Paanch Rupaya Barah Aana, Hum te Woh Te aur sama Rangeen Samajgaye na……Remember Kishore Kumar chasing a hen in this song, and you will see why the whole movie is such good fun…
  7. Mana Janab Ne Pukara Nahin – The Film Paying Guest. The singer Kishore Kumar. Incidentally, Kishore Kumar’s association with SD Burman was probably as prolific and fascinating as his collaboration with RD Burman. This was a film with one of the best sound tracks ever – Oh Nigahe Mastana , Chand Phir Nikla, Chhod Do Aanchal Zamaana Kya Kahega, Haye Haye Haye Yeh Nigaahen
  8. Nazar Lagi Raja Tore Bangle Par - the ultimate mujra number, delivered with incredible gusto by Asha Bhonsale. The film is Kala Pani. I have seen it when I was all of 7 years ago – and although a goolgle search may tell me what the movie was about — it would be cheating.
  9. Jise Tu Kabul Karle - sung by Lata Mangeshkar for Devdas. before Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the garishness called Devdas — was a much better thought through story starring Dilip Kumar as Devdas, Vyjantimala as Chandramukhi & Suchitra Sen as Paro. My other favourite from this film is the Geeta Dutt & Manna De duet – Aan milo aan milo shyaam saanware
  10. Jaaye to Jaaye Kahan - S.D.Burman at his bluesy best. Talat Mehmood sings for Dev Anand. There is aa Lata variation of the same song, but it doesn’t have the same impact as this version..
  11. Na Tum Hume Jaano - Hemant Kumar sings for the maestro.
  12. Megha Chaaye Aadhi Raat - Lata singing about unrequited love in the film Sharmilee for Rakhee. There are two Rakhees in the movie – one a good Indian girl, and the other a slut (btw there are only two types of women according to films – the devi and the slut). This is sung for the good girl, who is pining for her love – who is in love with her twin sister…. Other great songs in this film Khilte Hai Gul Yahaan, Oh meri Sharmilee, Reshmi Ujala Hai Makhmali Andhera
  13. Mere Sapnon Ki Rani – Kishore Kumar singing for Rajesh Khanna in the movie that made the latter a superstar.

There is a treasure trove that i have not even looked at….. a volume of work that goes beyond a hit and miss post. If i searched my memory banks more … i may come up with a few more gems…….. but for now this is my bakers’ dozen…

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Posted by gargi at 5:21 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Indian News Media - where Los Angles is closer than Latur…..

India, Media 2 Responses »
Oct 302007

There are some stories that simply don’t make the news, while others more than make up for it in terms of volume……even though both may be in the same zone…..Let’s look at a few random examples:

  • Amitabh Bachchan’s house getting flooded is news, 1.3 million people in Bihar and Orissa losing their homes due to floods is not news
  • Prince Stuck at the bottom of a well is news, while a Dalit boy burnt alive for daring to pull water out of a well is not news
  • Gay people protesting in Australia is news, Landles marching to Delhi – in the largest march since Independence is not news.
  • The Sensex at 20,000 is news, companies laying off people due to the strengthening ruppee is not news.
  • Discrimination against Shipa Shetty is news, Discrimination against Muslims & Dalits is not news
  • Bobby Jindal is welcome news, Mayawati is not…..
  • And SRK on a high protien diet to get his six pack is news……… but, millions not having any diet to speak about is not news…

And, as India together puts it:

 

"43.7 Million People break Guinness World Record." This is surely the stuff of which headlines are made. Nearly 44 million is a lot of people. And both Indians in general and the media here in particular usually love Guinness records. According to a recent Associated Press feature, The Hindustan Times has run over 50 stories this year about bids for Guinness records, and it is still not far ahead of the competition. The latest to join the ranks of record-seekers – or, at least, to be reported in the press as considering the possibility – is the family of Raj Kapoor. Yet the record broken by 43.7 million people did not quite make it.

Perhaps the nature of the event was the spoiler. The 43,716,440 people who together (reportedly) broke the record were participating in approximately 6540 events in about 127 countries, organised to enable people to "Stand Up and Speak Out" against poverty over 24 hours spanning 16 and 17 October. But then again here was a relatively "happy" story – that so many millions are willing to express their concern about this serious problem is surely good news. Even though the media today have a preference for upbeat stories, this one obviously didn’t have what it takes.

There is a wold that does not exist as far as journalists are concerned…. This level of blindness to a whole section of India is not just editorial mandate, it is also, at a certain very basic level, journalistic ineptitude. For a lot of young journalists who work in the metros – the villages are somewhere else, Independence happened somewhere else, and caste system does not exist. 

 

Maybe newspapers and news magazines ought to spend some of their money on training their personnel on the basics of India.

I would probably start a lesson by telling them that India is in South Asia and its London and New York are not its districts next to . Noida and Vashi

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Posted by gargi at 7:40 am Tagged with: , , , ,

Censored

India, Media 4 Responses »
Oct 282007

Project Censored has a list of the top 25 censored stories of 2007. This is obviously in the USA. And here censorship does not necessarily mean reports or reportage that the Government bans in a ham handed manner. Oh, those will get reported no.  It is rather, a compbination of multiple stake holders who ensure that certain reports and reportage in Public Interest that a) don’t get printed, b) if they do get printed they are tucked away between tender advertising & stock market reports., c), Are allowed to die with the ‘system’ closing ranks….

I would be very interested to read about the top 25 stories that were killed or ignored inIndia. My own list :

a) Floods in Bihar & Orissa – 1200 dead , and God only knows how many made homeless. The media – atleast the English Language Media ignored it. They possibly thought that it put the middle classes off their breakfast.

b) Where is the investigation into the 2000 crores of monies that Pravin Mahajan claimed that Pramod Mahajan had made & not shared. Why is everyone quiet about that.

c) Where is the Main Stream journalism that looks at the environmental consequences of the Sethu Samudram Project.

d) What is happening on the [tag]Parliament Bombing Case[/tag] and why has everyone gone quiet on it.

e) What is the link between the setting up of retail food giants and the increase in the price of onions ?

f) Political Party Funding in India - wouldn’t you be interested in reading this in the run up to the elections?

g) In Mumbai, with outsourcing of essential maintenance services to private vendors, employees are being moved into a contract labour status with no rights and lower pay…… News on the hidden costs of privatisation. and, this is news because your tax money and mine has gone towards building of these services. And now they are being handed over on a platter to someone…..

h) Discrimination against Dalits – we all know it happens, so why the coyness in addressing the issue. or is the MSM afraid of pissing off an audience that doesn’t want to acknowledge caste or worse, beleives that discrimination is their right.

They have obviously compensated by paying attention to other areas:

  • The forest fire in Californa – after all California is closer to Mumbai than Patna
  • Abhi Ash – Our own version of inane royalty
  • Branjalena – Our focus on visiting royalty
  • Shilpa Shetty – discrimination becomes news when a nubile nymphet from India gets called a ‘Paki ‘ by some uneducated bimbette.
  • Bobby Jindal & Sunita Williams – why is this obsession with foreigners ?
  • The P Note — it is obviously very important —- what does it do, and why does it get so much weightage.

Do add to the list…


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Posted by gargi at 4:52 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Up & Running

Wordpress No Responses »
Oct 282007

I have finally upgraded my blog -

this is now running on

If you have any other plugin’s / widgets to recommend – please go ahead

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Posted by gargi at 3:24 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Upgrades

And Finally ..., Diary, Wordpress No Responses »
Oct 282007

Have finally overcome severe inertia to upgrade the site … to a new version of word press etal

This follows hot on the heels of me upgrading my machine at home….. am still finding my way around the new system …. personalizing it etal….

if the blog disappears for ever in the process of the upgrades…… it was nice knowing you……..:)

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Posted by gargi at 7:55 am Tagged with:

Blood on their Hands…with Glee

India 2 Responses »
Oct 272007

You must have been on moon not to have not heard and be struck by Tehelka‘s expose on the Gujarat riots, in the words of the men who committed murder, rape, and carnage.

THERE WAS no spontaneity to what happened in Gujarat post- Godhra. This was no uncontrived, unplanned, unprompted communal violence. This was a pogrom. This was genocide.

In a series of articles, the magazine strips away the masks to reveal the glee and joy at carnage. This goes beyond a pogrom – it becomes a pogrom led by people who enjoy violence and perpetuating it. In addition to the stories, read the diary of Ashish Khetan, the man who possibly put his life at risk, in carrying out this report. Read it here

If you have seen Rakesh Sharma’s Final Solution or read Dionne Bunsha‘s Scarred : Experiments with Violence in Gujarat- the contents expose will not come as a surprise, unless you are the BJP.But, what is shocking is the systematic and co-ordinated manner in which psychopaths practiced their craft.

….local BJP MLA Mayaben Kodnani, who is also a doctor…..drove around Naroda all through the day, urging the mob to hunt Muslims down and kill them. Kodnani’s trusted lieutenant, BJP member Bipin Panchal, was also present with his own small band of followers, armed to the teeth. All through the massacre, Bajrangi and VHP state general secretary Jaideep Patel were on the phone with each other. Bajrangi did not reveal whether Patel was also involved in the planning. However, he did say that the death toll was being communicated to Patel at regular intervals.

 

Be very afraid, say Tarun Tejpal – editor in chief of Tehelka, in his foreword to one of the most chilling journalistic pieces that I have ever seen and heard. And co-ordinated and planned manner in which the saffron brigade organised themselves, and the casualness with which they committed murder, and the utter lack of remorse that they show on camera – does more than scare you, it terrifies you.

Anil Patel, the VHP vibhag pramukh (departmental chief), was among the key planners of the carnage here. He told TEHELKA that after the Sabarmati incident, he had taken a vow to kill at least 500 Muslims, failing which he would relinquish the VHP office he was holding. “Our war cry was ‘Lock the door from outside and burn the Muslims from the inside’,” Patel told TEHELKA.

 

Read the transcript of Baba Bajrangi and you will be more than afraid, you are most likely to end up throwing up what ever is in your stomach.

TEHELKA: Tell us how it was all done… revolvers… cylinders… Bajrangi: The cylinders were theirs [the Muslims’]… Whichever house we entered, we just grabbed the cylinder and fired at it, and, dhadak, they exploded… We had guns in any case… I can’t tell you what a good time it was… But four of our activists died in it… No hearing took place even in that… TEHELKA: Did you climb to the top of a masjid and tie a pig there? Bajrangi:We rammed an entire tanker into it… the tanker was fully laden… We rammed that tanker inside… TEHELKA: It was a petrol tanker, no? Bajrangi: It was diesel… We drove a whole diesel tanker in and then set [the mosque] on fire… TEHELKA: Meaning, it was the tanker explosion which set Patiya on fire? Bajrangi: In the masjid… TEHELKA: In the masjid… Bajrangi: As for the rest of it, I was in charge at the time… Whatever I wanted to do, I did… TEHELKA: At the pit, was oil… Those people had gathered there… Bajrangi: It was a huge pit… You could enter it from one side but you couldn’t climb out at the other end… They were all there together… They started clinging to each other… Even while they were dying, they told each other, you die too, what are you going to be saved for, you die too… so the number of deaths increased. TEHELKA: Then people poured oil in… Bajrangi: Oil and burning tyres… TEHELKA: Where did the oil come from? Bajrangi: Oh that… We had lots of material with us… we filled lots of jerrycans in advance… From the petrol pump, the night before… Petrol pump owners gave us petrol and diesel for free…

And

Today too I am fighting against Muslims and will continue to do so… I have nothing to do with politics… What I say is this: the VHP is an organisation… a Hindu organisation… Our politics should be limited to killing Muslims, beating them up… TEHELKA: How do you feel after you have killed Muslims… Bajrangi: Maza aata hai na, saheb [I enjoy it]… I came back after I killed them them, called up the home minister and went to sleep… I felt like Rana Pratap, that I had done something like Maharana Pratap… I’d heard stories about him, but that day I did what he did myself.

This is Suresh Richard – a member of the Charra tribe – a recruit to the VHP talking about murder and rape…

Richard: One of our brothers brought a tanker… from Thakar Nagar crossroad…. He’d killed Muslims and brought the tanker. It was put in reverse and the mosque was broken… [It burst] like water out of a fire engine… Petrol was thrown and then it was burnt…

TEHELKA: who brought the tanker? Richard: A brother brought it… TEHELKA: From the VHP… Richard: Not that… He was a Hindu brother… Those who were inside… they were all finished … TEHELKA: It is being said the Chharas also committed rapes… Richard: Now look, one thing is true… bhookhe ghuse to koi na koi to phal khayega, na [when thousands of hungry men go in, they will eat some fruit or the other, no]… Aise bhi, phal ko kuchal ke phek denge [in any case, the fruit are going to be crushed and thrown away]… Look, I’m not telling lies… Mata is before me [gesturing to an image of a deity]… Many Muslim girls were being killed and burnt to death anyway, some people must have helped themselves to the fruit… TEHELKA: There must have been a couple of rapes… Richard: Might even have been more… then there were the rest of our brothers, our Hindu brothers, VHP people and RSS people… Anyone could have helped themselves… who wouldn’t, when there’s fruit?… The more you harm them, the less it is… I really hate them… don’t want to spare them… Look, my wife is sitting here but let me say…the fruit was there so it had to be eaten… I also ate… I also ate… I ate once TEHELKA: Just once? Richard: Just once… then I had to go killing again… [turns to relative Prakash Rathod and talks about the girl he had raped and killed]… That scrap-dealer’s girl, Naseemo… Naseemo that juicy plump one… I got on top… TEHELKA: You got on top of her… Richard: Yes, properly… TEHELKA: She didn’t survive, did she? Richard: No, then I pulped her… Made her into a pickle…

And all of this under the tutelage of the man who is the next great hope for the BJP{/tag]. [tag]Narendra Modi‘s party has reacted to it in its typical way — by going into collective denial Not us, conspiracy, The Congress Information Agency (CIA) – while describing Tehelka, politically motivated, etal.. And, while all of it may be true….. the fact remains that the people on camera aren’t secular lackeys or Congress stooges, … they are members of the saffron family gloating about murder and rape.

Isn’t it about time that the full force of the law is brought down on these people, and justice is delivered?

Technorati Tags: Tehelka, , , , Scarred : Experiments with Violence in Gujarat, , ,

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Posted by gargi at 8:17 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

Footloose & Fancy Free….

And Finally ..., India 2 Responses »
Oct 242007

…. is a term my mother often uses to describe me and my friends — both male and female. Sometimes my dad says that i who was so focused and blinkered when I was twenty possilby regressed into my teens. My grandmother was zapped when she asked me recently “When are you going to settle down” ….My answer “Hopefully never” wasn’t really the one she was looking for….

And, now i have the perfect retort for all of them – I am part of the Odyssey generation. Odyssesy lies somewhere between adolescence & adulthood, and amongst the other peculiarities of this generation-

Dating gives way to Facebook and hooking up. Marriage gives way to cohabitation. Church attendance gives way to spiritual longing. Newspaper reading gives way to blogging.

How many people do we all know like this :) In fact I mostly know people like this….

and then….

Their parents grow increasingly anxious. These parents understand that there’s bound to be a transition phase between student life and adult life. But when they look at their own grown children, they see the transition stretching five years, seven and beyond. The parents don’t even detect a clear sense of direction in their children’s lives. They look at them and see the things that are being delayed.

They see that people in this age bracket are delaying marriage. They’re delaying having children. They’re delaying permanent employment.

Oh lord, i laughed so much when i read this. This is so much me and so many of my peer group…..

My own take on this phenomenon is that we are living longer & healthier, are more fertile till later, and are therefore compensating for it in other ways.
In my grand father’s generation – the average grand dad died at 60 and the average grandmother at around 70. Move down one generation, the average age seems to be 75 and 85. By the time it is our generation’s time to go…… we are possibly looking at a decade more of life. That is a tremendously long time to be focused and sincere. Maybe our generation has braked because it has realized that this is a really long journey …. and it might as well be fun.
Patrix & Rashmi have great posts about this.

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Posted by gargi at 9:00 am Tagged with:

The Moment of Death

And Finally ... No Responses »
Oct 232007

If you have ever wondered how it feels at the moment of death, you don’t have to rack your imagination anymore…

From Drowning to Explosive Decomprssion an entire list has been painstakingly put together here. Here is an excerpt….

Decapitation was regarded as swift & painless….

I would be very interested in research techniques :)

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Posted by gargi at 10:04 pm

Corruption, the Media, and Opinion.

India, Media, Print 1 Response »
Oct 222007

The NYT has an excellent op-ed on corruption. Specifically, corruption in the context of the Iraq war. Called Suicide is Not Painless (a kind of hat tip to MASH whose theme music was "Suicide is Painless"). It starts with the suicide of a civil servant who could have been indicted for corruption… and then it articulates the level of corruption in Iraq

Set against the epic corruption that has defined the war in Iraq, Mr. Riechers’s tragic tale is but a passing anecdote, his infraction at most a misdemeanor. The $26,788 he received for two months in a non-job doesn’t rise even to a rounding error in the Iraq-Afghanistan money pit. So far some $6 billion worth of contracts are being investigated for waste and fraud, however slowly, by the Pentagon and the Justice Department. That doesn’t include the unaccounted-for piles of cash, some $9 billion in Iraqi funds, that vanished during L. Paul Bremer’s short but disastrous reign in the Green Zone. Yet Mr. Riechers, not the first suicide connected to the war’s corruption scandals, is a window into the culture of the whole debacle. Through his story you can see how America has routinely betrayed the very values of democratic governance that it hoped to export to Iraq. Look deeper and you can see how the wholesale corruption of government contracting sabotaged the crucial mission that might have enabled us to secure the country: the rebuilding of the Iraqi infrastructure, from electricity to hospitals.

Read the entire opinion piece and mourn the absence of this level of incisiveness, articulation and analysis in the Indian News Media – being the largest is not going to be enough… occasionally, just occasionally you also need to be the best.

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Posted by gargi at 3:20 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Slimelife…

India, Politics 3 Responses »
Oct 222007

… kind of describes our politicians well, and it describes people of all political persuasion. This from CNN-IBN

"Rahul-Rajiv, Rajiv-Feroz. Until there it’s okay, but then what after that? These Congressmen who abuse Narendra Modi, show us your roots. You are the descendants of Muslims from Junagadh," he said.

The barb on Rahul Gandhi’s origins came after B K Hariprasad had said: "Vote pane ke lie hamesha Soniaji ke bare mai ulta sidha bolne wale Narendra Modi ko main bolna chahata hu ki Sonia Gandhi ka birth certificate ki humko koi zaroorat nahin hai. Janta Sonia Gandhi ko Indira Gandhi ke roop mein dekhti hai. Magar kya Gujarat ke bahar ki janta ko yeh malum hai ki woh (Narendra Modi) kaunsi naali mein paida hua hai? Usko (Narendra Modi) pata nahi hai ki uske baap ka name kya hai, jo Sonia ji ke baare mein baatein karta rehta hai. (I want to tell Narendra Modi — who always targets Sonia Gandhi for want of votes — that we do not need Sonia Gandhi’s birth certificate. Indian people see her as a reincarnation of Indira Gandhi. But do the people outside Gujarat know which gutter Narendra Modi was born in? He does not even know his own father’s name.)"

I don’t like Narendra Modi and his brand of politics. But, this is really not on… If the Congress wants to win votes, it needs to show that is a better party, not a worse party…

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Posted by gargi at 12:46 pm Tagged with: , , , ,
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