The year was 2001. Jhamu Sugandh and Aamir Khan Productions’ ambitious project – Lagaan, had just released its publicity material on TV. In an age of no-twitter and zero-presence of social networking sites, TV trailers and theatre publicities were the only way to go. The first trailer was indeed very intriguing. It only showed an incomplete political map of India, and a Rupee coin rolling over it. The heavy beats of the percussion filled the air, and as the short teaser concluded, the anticipation levels were soaring high. As I look back to that period of pre-Lagaan release, I feel an intense nostalgic rush filling me with smiles.
Lagaan was released and was widely loved and adored by audiences and critics alike, locally and globally. It has been 9 years since, and even then, the melody of Lagaan’s soundtrack, the drum beat and the passionate voices of the villagers of Champaner continue to linger in my head; all of them crying out – Re Bhaiyya Chhoote Lagaan!!
So, on this 9th anniversary of one of the most uplifting pieces of cinema ever, let’s celebrate the music of Lagaan – one which not just serves as a Bollywood routine element of the movie, but also a medium which translates a thousand emotions in a single line. The music of Lagaan transcends many levels and goes beyond the limits of boundaries, languages and cultural differences. A.R.Rahman scores, arguably, one of his career’s best soundtrack, and the translation to screen is equally breath-taking.
So hit the jump to experience with me, and celebrate the magic of the soundtrack of Lagaan – Once Upon A Time in India.
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by Sujoy on June 14, 2010
in Bolly
Now, Wake Up Sid and me have had a complicated relationship so far. Even though I did not like it at my first viewing, this movie has kinda grown on me, just because it sets out to achieve what it is – a non-preachy, no-story, lukewarm eye-pleaser. Lemme tell you why on the first viewing it did not appeal to me at all – because of its unreal depiction of a single unemployed lady suddenly living in a ‘lavish’ [ by Mumbai standards ] apartment and doing all sorta renovation work on it even before she has to see her first paycheck. And then it all goes gaga about Sid waking up – but what was he waking up to? Becoming more responsible and waking up to Duniyadari? Seriously? That is shown by a montage of Sid organising Aisha’s room, and then going for an intern photographer job for a Mumbai magazine – which would pay how much – 15k at best? We are talking about the son of a CEO of Flower Shower – a company which supplies showers and bathroom fittings to Birla as well as a Bhajiya-wala. Anywho!!! enough of complaining.
On my recent holiday trip home, I caught up on Wake Up Sid for the second time [ courtesy Air India's in-flight entertainment ] and I couldn’t stop noticing the huge range of awesome tee-s that Sid [ Ranbir Kapoor ] flaunts throughout the length of the movie. Now, I am no fashion guru like some of you awesome people are. But I can definitely point out what’s cool and what’s not. And Sid’s range of T-Shirts are definitely on the cool list. Here’s one for instance.
Flashin' Sid
Costume Designers Manish Malhotra and Priyanjali Lahiri have certainly struck the right cord.
Check the whole bunch after the jump. And yeah, look at what the designers decide Ranbir to wear when he “WAKES UP”. Beware: LOTSA Screenshots in this post.
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With the invasion of Audio CDs and Mp3s and Winamp et al, gone are the days of painfully rewinding a song for exactly a mentally calibrated 1.5 minutes to get to the start of your favourite song to listen to it again. “MONO” was as standard as Dolby-Digital is now and even with these technological hindrances which possibly did not unleash the composer’s brilliance to the fullest extent, there were melodies which overcame these hindrances. One such melody is SD Burman’s “Ab Ke Sajan Saawan Mein“.
From Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s cutesy, romantic simplistic 1975 comedy Chupke Chupke, this movie has lots to flaunt about. A stellar cast – Amitabh Bachhan, Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bhaduri, Om Prakash, Asrani and above all – Keshto Mukherjee 
And whenever one mentions Chupke Chupke, Ab Ke Sajan.. is definitely one of the first things that cross my mind [ apart from Dharam jee's mind-bending Hindi vocabulary and his tussle with clever Jeejaajee - Om Prakash ].
I vividly remember hearing it for the first time on Chitrahaar and quite instantly, fell in love with it.And after almost 20 odd years, I can say for sure, that it wasn’t just a mere infatuation. After all, what’s not to love about it. The teasing, naughty chedh-chaadh lyrics by Anand Bakshi written in simplistic Hindi is a perfect example of how less is more. Check out the lyrics on the second verse..
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This idea germinated in my wicked brain when I read a post on io9 discussing the new faces who are supposedly going to be the successors of the Sigourney Weaver throne of Action Girl. So we have had Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman and Mila Jovovich who are the alumni of the ‘League of Action Queens’, but it made me wonder if we did have any such ladies to flaunt in Bollywood. The answer is not so surprising. It is a big NO. I get it. We Indians are not very violent by nature, and the ladies are far away from it. I know, we occassionally find ladies learning and practicing martial arts in some movies, but that is about it. I don’t see a remote possibility of a Rani Mukherjee or Katrina Kaif doing a double flip, wearing a body suit and gunning down 25 gunmen with an Uzi while she casually chews on her gum. Of course, we saw a bit of that with Deepika Padukone in CC2C, but we all know what happened to that.
And yes, although I do miss this void that Bollywood has, I do think that Bollywood leading ladies are Kick-Ass in their own way. ‘Inki Alag hi Baat Hai’. I do accept that Bollywood leading ladies have come a long way from being the ever demanding damsel in distress, to the companion of the Hero’s plans, to even being completely kick-ass in a very independent way. And after intense brainstorming over my cup of capuccino, I have narrowed down to the following 10. These are imo, the Kick-Ass Bollywood Ladies. Some are indeed very femme fatale, while others are more domestic ["gharelu"], but even so, they all kick some good desi buttocks.
In no particular order:
Zeenat Aman – Roma – Don
I believe she is a template for every Kickass Bollywood leading lady. After all she has the ‘Pratishod ki Jwala’ [ The Volcano of Vengeance, ha! it sounds even more fun in English] in her. She is trained in Martial Arts, Gun Fight, and she has a plan in mind with a set goal – Kill DON. And above all, she does not hesitate to kick ass. Compared to this, Priyanka Chopra did get her ass kicked.
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