I have a love/hate relationship with the rains. I love the rain when it means a relief from the scorching heat that burns the day. At the same time, rain also means floods, damp and battered roads and splish splash on clothes. I hate going to work when it rains. None of this makes any sense with the title of the post. So, I’ll try and explain.
Suniyo Jee Araj Mhaariyo from Lekin(1990) is one of those rare songs which create a rain-like ambience with extreme ease. It is not a Raag Malhaar song . Based on Raaga Maand, this song depicts of the pathos and longing of a woman longing for her beloved. It is the rainy season – Saawan, which has been portrayed as the season of love, and with the advent of the season, the woman pleads to her lover to take her home. The sensuousness and feeling of loneliness occupy the emotional outcry of the woman.
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Ghar [ Home ] is one of those movies which I have heard more than seen. I know it has Rekha and Vinod Mehra in the lead roles, and I know it has one of the most memorable songs ever in Indian cinema. But, apart from catching up with the songs, I had known or seen very little of the movie. And now that I have seen it, I find it quite pleasantly surprising, on how brilliantly subtle and sensitive this movie is. Ghar is directed by Late Manick Chatterjee [ contrary to the misconception that Gulzar directed it]. Be it the polka dots on Vinod Mehra’s shirt, or Vinod Mehra’s mentioning of the 1970′s movie Sunflower [the one where De Sica directs Sophia Loren]; being a movie of the 70s, this movie is filled with references of that period. But that is just me being a bit too inquisitive about that period. Ghar, as a movie, captures an intense husband-wife relationship which struggles through an unfortunate incident. And when you see Ghar, you get the realisation that it does not take huge mansions or eye-blinding visuals to tell a story, when simplicity does it all so perfectly. The title here is a metaphor which plays at different levels. It refers to the initial premise of the story, when the couple faces difficulty in finding a proper home to settle down. But it is also refers to the home shared by the hearts of two lovers brought to the test due to an unfortunate incident. The home which provides shelter also becomes a space of insecurity and grief. All of this is revealed in layers in the plot, and I won’t keep pondering over it. Oh, there is so much to talk about. Brevity has never been one of my skills, but I will do my best to keep my praises short.
Nostalgia is a great feeling. Especially when it takes you back to those days when you started listening to music. In my case, my musical education started with my Dad playing tunes of Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd.Rafi in our old Philips Audio Cassette Player. I can’t remember how old I was at that time, but those were the tunes which still give me chills when I listen to them. This new tag of Rewind is entirely dedicated to the ” Shwet Shyam” ( Black and White ) and the EastmanColour generation of Hindi Cinema; to the Rangolis and the Chitrahaars; to Shammi Kapoor, Sadhana, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Kishore Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Nargis and the immortals of that era.
