[Review] Teesri Manzil -- Spoilers!
Muffy St. Bernard
http://www.dazzled.com/dangermuff/bollybob/index.html
because it features screen shots and other nifty information...drop by
and have a look!}
Teesri Manzil
(Hindi - 1966, 158 min)
Starring: Shammi Kapoor,Asha Parekh, Prem Chopra, Helen, Ram Avtar,
Prem Nath, Salim, Rashid Khan, Indira Bansal, Lakshmi Chhaya, Neetha
Sabina, Saral Kumar
Director: Vijay Anand
Producer: Nasir Hussain
Music: R D Burman Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Playback Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhonsle
Cinematographer: N V Srinivas
Before we get started I want to state that I love TEESRI MANZIL.
Why? Well, in three words or less I'd like to paraphrase Johny Lever:
TEESRI MANZIL is both "fantastic AND elastic!" But while that sort of
statement doesn't actually make any sense -- unlike most of the wisdom
that comes out of Johny Lever's mouth -- I'll try to back it up and
tell you why I love this movie so much, and why you might too (though
I can't back up the "elastic" statement other than it rhymes and
probably sounded good to Johny at the time).
Apparently Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh were first paired in a
film called DIL DEKE DEKHO. They must have been a hit then because
here they are in another big-budget blockbuster, and they're the
perfect antagonistic Bollywood couple: they endlessly frustrate each
other but are still unable to resist the other's considerable charms.
What sort of charms am I talking about? Well, Shammi's got a great
hairdo for starters -- an enormous mop of moddish rock'n roll follicle
rebellion -- and it's particularly charming to see it get all mussed
up during a dance sequence then professionally slicked down again when
the camera angle changes. Shammi's hair is the kind of 'do you'd see
on the nerd in your high school who is TRYING to look like Fonzi...but
we can excuse many such oddities in this sort of movie, partly because
there are so many other oddities to get really excited about.
Shammi -- as "Rocky" -- is also a very slick drummer, and NOBODY
can resist a drummer. As the ill-fated Rupa says during a flashback,
"I've never seen anybody play the drums like you," though she was
probably referring to the way that Rocky's visual style contrasts
markedly with what you hear on the soundtrack. It's my theory that
Rocky's drumming is so fantastic (AND elastic) that it defies the laws
of physics, allowing him to APPEAR to play in a totally different
tempo -- and on a totally different drum kit -- than what the audience
actually hears. This is my theory of Drum Relativity. And needless to
say the wild disparity between what Shammi does with his drumsticks
and the music you hear is a source of great hilarity throughout the
film.
I also need to point out that Rocky can make syncopated tinkling
noises when he pulls his ears, which is never explained. It might be
an obtuse statement about the sort of tinnitus that people in bands
tend to suffer from.
As for Asha -- playing Sunita, the spunky girl hell-bent on
avenging her sister's death -- she's spirited, vivacious, and
funny...she doesn't have a single bad scene in the film. She's the
perfect counterpoint to Shammi's free-spirited character; although he
usually manages to get the upper hand on her (he has crazier hair,
after all) she's still a force to be reckoned with, especially when
she's beating up fat people with her umbrella. What's more, she has am
entire women's field-hockey team on her side...and woe be to the
1960's be-bop rock'n'roll hipster who tries to get in the way of her
revenge!
How do these mismatched couples get together? Well, it seems that
Sunita's sister Rupa fell in love with Rocky a year ago. She was
staying at the hotel where he's a permanent entertainment fixture, and
when he spurned her she threw herself to her death off the hotel's
third floor balcony (hence the title, natch). Her dramatic death
sequence is the first thing you see in the film, and it certainly gets
your attention, especially when the camera zooms in on an important
piece of evidence clutched in her hand: a button from a man's jacket.
Is Sunita just sitting around at home, waiting to be married to
Rupa's ex-fiancé and mourning the "suicide" of her beloved sister?
Nope...Sunita is planning a trip to the hotel where Rupa died. She
wants to visit Rocky. More specifically, she wants to dine him, woo
him and get her field hockey team to break his legs (as she says to
her friend Meena, "Rocky and hockey. Doesn't it rhyme?") Perfectly!
Watch out, Rocky!
The hitch in this revenge-fantasy is that Sunita has no idea what
Rocky looks like, and she doesn't realize that he's really a nice
enough guy (for a drummer). Rocky never wanted anything to do with
Rupa (who was already engaged to Prem Chopra, one of the suspected
killers when it's revealed that Rupa didn't jump off the balcony...she
was pushed). In fact, Rocky politely refused her advances, and he
was nowhere near her when she killed herself. The revelation that her
elder sister was a bit of a loose woman -- the kind of girl who gets
engaged but still finds time to scare drummers by eating crackers
right off of their plates -- is just one of many shocks Ruby needs to
deal with in this movie. Rupa was a brazen, randy little minx.
Curiously enough, despite his innocence Rocky seems relatively
nonplussed about the suicide even today...if it weren't for a
revealing flashback late in the film, you could almost believe that
he'd forgotten it ever happened. If only everybody else would let him
forget...and hence, the bulk of the movie: assassination attempts,
sneaky betrayals, mystery women with defective cars, tense action
sequences, and really wild dancing.
But first, the comedy: Sunita meets Rocky -- who she doesn't
recognize -- on a train. One can only guess at his motivation for
what follows, but we can assume the following:
* He thinks Sunita is very pretty.
* Annoyed by his attention, she treats him poorly.
* Wanting her affection but unable to get it by being nice, he
decides to annoy her.
* Since she seems like a daunting girl and Rocky is sort of a
coward, he gets somebody else to annoy her instead. Through a
combination of wild facial expressions, insults, and intimidation he
goads a marvelously obese man into laughing at Sunita for hours on
end. I have no idea who this obese man is, but he gives the best
Indian comedians a real run for their money. His specialty is
"non-stop hysterical laughter," and when he laughs he slaps himself
repeatedly on the face, buttocks, and stomach. Annoyed by this weird
behaviour going on in her train car, Sunita beats the man to death
with her umbrella, which is our first real indication that she's not
the kind of Indian girl who just lays down and acts all submissive in
front a giggling fat man.
(I should point out right now, in case you were worried that
TEESRI MANZIL is really about a girl who kills a man during the first
5 minutes of the movie, and then spends the remaining 153 minutes in
prison fending off the advances of a warden played by Bob Christo: the
fat man isn't really dead, he's only joking. And Bob Christo was still
wearing diapers and punching wallabies in Australia when TEESRI MANZIL
was made).
Seeing something charming about her murderous tendencies (and not
yet realizing that she came to town to murder him) Rocky falls in love
with Sunita, which is complicated because Sunita hates Rocky, which is
more complicated because Rocky is masquerading as somebody named
"Sona" and Sunita doesn't know that Rocky is really the guy she came
to cripple, and that Rocky has somehow traded identities with one of
his very close friends who we suspect is agoraphobic because he's
always wearing his pajamas. Rocky has managed to rope in a number of
accomplices to fool Sunita into thinking he's not really Rocky. This
leads to a lot of trouble for everybody, though it's good to see
agoraphobics get out of the house once in a while.
Meanwhile Rocky needs to deal with a girl named Miss Ruby --
played by Helen -- who dances at all his shows and has been hopelessly
infatuated with him for years. Miss Ruby's not a bad girl, but she's
sort of a fast and loose typically Helen-ish nightclub chick who
thinks very little of playing with the fragile emotions of budding
lovers like Rocky and Sunita. She also thinks very little of doing
strange bird impersonations (jumping up and down and flapping her
arms). She's even perfected a style of limpy-wristed gyrating which
simply cannot be described. Equally indescribable is the first dance
number, which features an enormous foam Henry Moore sculpture, a bunch
of oversized table-lamps, and the scariest 60-foot eyeball that you've
ever seen.
All of these dance numbers are incredibly (one might say
'ridiculously') stylish and bizarre in their technical details, far
outside of what you usually see in Bollywood during any time period.
At one point during the "Aaja" number the audience is made to think
they're looking out through the hole of a guitar as a man wildly
strums the strings. At other times the camera seems to be inside of a
pistol, peers through tiny gaps in train station architecture, and
views the world through the middle of a tapping drum cymbal. All this
comes across as weirdly Italian...but wherever they got these ideas
from, they did a great job applying them to the film.
Meanwhile, somebody seems to be trying to kill Rocky, though I
admit it's hard to pay attention to the plot during all the fantastic
dance numbers. I cannot emphasize this enough: the R.D. Burman-penned
Mohammed Rafi & Asha Bhonsle duets are first rate and lots of fun.
"Aaja Aaja Mai Hun Pyar Tera," which takes place in a "rock'n'roll
club" (where rock'n'roll is never played) is enhanced by a large group
of long-suffering skinny-legged men trying desperately to lift women
wearing pink polyester stretch-pants who easily outweigh them by
thirty pounds or more. And they're all doing a style of dance that
seems unique to mid-60's Indian films, where everybody shakes their
heads back and forth as fast as they can. This -- for lack of a better
description -- is something we call "The Head-Shakin' Dance."
Why this was so popular in India during the 60's is a bit of a
mystery. My friend Vanilla -- after seeing examples of this dance and
expressing bafflement and amusement -- suggested that the popular
western HIP-shakin' dances were considered too lewd in India, so they
transferred the hip-shake to the heads instead (which people in India
have no hang-ups about shaking). BollyMike, however, believes this to
have roots in some sort of Indian classical dance, though I think
anybody who shook their heads this way in Ayodhya at the turn of the
century would have been burned as a witch. My theory is that somebody
with a nervous disorder started shaking their head in a Bombay
rock'n'roll club (circa 1961) and a movie producer saw it and decided
it was fantastic (AND elastic)...because it really is.
As a warning to young kids thinking about doing this dance, I
suspect that Asha Parekh and the rest of the head-shakers ended up
with some form of "Dementia Pugilistica," the syndrome experienced by
boxers and others who get their heads knocked around too much. To
support this suspicion, one of the symptoms of this disorder is
"delusions, violent rage, and morbid jealousy including repeated
accusations of infidelity," which -- if you think about it -- is
pretty normal for Bollywood characters...Asha experienced "violent
rage" during the first few minutes of the movie...she tried to kill a
fat man because he was laughing at her, which was how I got on this
subject in the first place. Yet another sad head-shakin' tragedy, both
for the fat man and for the reader of this review.
Interestingly enough -- and don't worry, this is all related --
Sunita's best friend Meena is played by a mystery woman who earlier
appeared in GUMNAAM with "Ted Lyons and His Cubs," doing what must be
the most incredible head-shakin' dance of all time...so incredible
that it was highlighted in the recent film GHOST WORLD. Sadly, in
TEESRI MANZIL Meena gets almost no screen time at all, but as far as
I'm concerned she steals the show. She has a terrifying overbite that
results in a toothy smile that looks like it really hurts. She's silly
and cute and funny. She even allows herself to be stuffed into a trunk
during a sinister road trip that features wild, feral, living-dead
Indians who carry axes and machetes. We are lead to believe that these
sorts of people are a constant danger in the jungle, which could be
true because they always show up in Bollywood films when the heroine
is alone. In my experience these jungle goondas are one of the most
important plot elements in any film: they prove to the reluctant
heroine that the hero can be trusted. This could be why the police
never hunt them down and kill them.
What follows the spectacular fight scene in the jungle are some
happy dance numbers which show Sunita and
"Rocky-pretending-to-be-Sona" falling in love, much to the chagrin of
Miss Ruby, the good-hearted-but-slightly-immoral limpy-wristed dancer
played by Helen, who -- like Meena -- also doesn't get half as much
screen time as she should have. She spends most of the movie engaging
in odd interpretive movement or lurking around making sinister
comments about Rocky and Sunita. In fact, she is one of the suspects
in Rupa's murder...but at this point I'm getting so close to
disclosing some interesting plot developments that I'd better stop
right now. Let me just say that the film becomes a somewhat gripping
murder mystery (TEESRI MANZIL as a murder mystery suffers from the
same fate as other "whodunnit" movies such as GUMNAAM: these masala
movies are by their very nature scattered and unfocused, so building
up suspense and suspicion in one is sort of like trying to pay
attention to just a single violin in an entire orchestra)
Now is as as good a time as any to mention that this DVD version
of TEESRI MANZIL (thanks, EROS!) is missing quite a bit of material.
The resulting gaps in the plotline, combined with the aforementioned
phenomenon of Drum Relativity, leads to a certain surreal ness:
"Sunita and Rocky are in a car. Now, suddenly, Sunita is on a Ferris
wheel watching Rocky get beaten up at a carnival by a bunch of Sikhs
we've never seen before and will never see again. How?" Though,
considering this film was made by the same team who made JEWEL THIEF,
it's possible that some of the nonsensical edits and subplots are due
to the writer standing on the set during the day of shooting wearing
only a bath towel and slippers and screaming "ALRIGHT! I CAN'T RESOLVE
THIS! LET'S JUST INTRODUCE ANOTHER CHARACTER, AND IF SHE'S PRETTY
ENOUGH NOBODY WILL NOTICE THAT HER EXTENDED PLOT EXPOSITION MAKES
LITTLE OR NO SENSE!" And this sort of thing happens in TEESRI MANZIL,
let me tell you.
Like I said, I loved it. There aren't enough rhyming adjectives
beyond "fantastic" and "elastic" that could be used to describe the
wondrousness of TEESRI MANZIL, Shammi, Asha, Helen, R.D. Burman, and
the movie's cinematographer...not to mention the stage hands who built
that great 20-foot high "ROCKY" sculpture. I've watched it twice and
hope to see it many more times, not just because it's a well-made
film, but it also because it makes me very very happy. Almost as
happy as the thermos I spotted in the train car near the
beginning...it's been far too long since I've seen a thermos in an
Indian movie!
Muffy.
Cricfan
> Teesri Manzil
>
> (Hindi - 1966, 158 min)
> Starring: Shammi Kapoor,Asha Parekh, Prem Chopra, Helen, Ram Avtar,
> Prem Nath, Salim, Rashid Khan, Indira Bansal, Lakshmi Chhaya, Neetha
Great review. I had a hearty laugh :-))
The Salim mentioned above is Salman Khan's father. He has since
married Helen.
Premnath and his brother Rajendranath are the brothers-in law of Raj
Kapoor. He married their sister Krishna. Hence, they're related to
Shammi Kapoor by marriage.
The director of TM was Vijay Anand who is Dev Anand's brother.
The story of TM was written by Nasir Hussain. Nasir Hussain also
directed QSQT and is now famous as the uncle of Aamir Khan :-) [he is
not to be confused with old man Nasir Hussain who had a long stint in
the industry in fatherly type roles. He was the padre in Amar Akbar
Anthony]
You mentioned the film 'Dil Dekhe Dekho'. It was produced by Filmalaya
productions, which was owned by the Mukherjees. Rani Mukherjee and
Kajol are closely related to the Filmalaya folks. (methinks direct
descendants - either daughters or granddaughters). The hero of "Love
in Tokyo" Joy Mukherjee is their paternal uncle. Asha Parekh made her
debut in that film.
The music director of TM was R.D. Burman who was the son of S. D.
Burman, a lengendary music director. His wife is Asha Bhosle who sang
"Aaja Aaja, mein hoon pyaar tera"
So know you know it all makes sense when Rishi Kapoor says (during the
Filmfare awards) that Aamir Khan was chatting with him till 3.00 a.m &
then Rani Mukherjee picks up his award. Their families go back a long
way. Incidentally, Aamir made his debut in a Nasir Hussain film, 'Hum
Kissi Se Kam Nahin" which had Rishi Kapoor and Aamir's cousin Tariq in
lead roles.
Obviously, a very closely knit industry. Call it crony capitalism if
you will :-)
Cheers
Arun
Cricfan
>
> http://www.dazzled.com/dangermuff/bollybob/index.html
>
> because it features screen shots and other nifty information...drop by
> and have a look!}
>
> Teesri Manzil
>
Erratta. I meant Asha Parekh made her debut in "Dil Dekhe Dekho" and
*not* "Love in Tokyo".
Cheers
Arun
Gafoor
news:9a0087b.02022...@posting.google.com...
> So know you know it all makes sense when Rishi Kapoor says (during
the
> Filmfare awards) that Aamir Khan was chatting with him till 3.00 a.m
&
> then Rani Mukherjee picks up his award. Their families go back a
long
> way. Incidentally, Aamir made his debut in a Nasir Hussain film,
'Hum
> Kissi Se Kam Nahin" which had Rishi Kapoor and Aamir's cousin Tariq
in
> lead roles.
Who did AK play in HKSKN ? Was he Tariq as a kid ?
David Chute
> The story of TM was written by Nasir Hussain. Nasir Hussain also
> directed QSQT and is now famous as the uncle of Aamir Khan :-)
No wait. Wasn't QSQT directed by Mansoor Khan, who is Nasir's son and
therefore Aamir's cousin?
> The Salim mentioned above is Salman Khan's father. He has since
> married Helen.
Does this mean that Salman's mom in HDDCS was played by his real-life
stepmother?
Someone should draw up a Bollywood family tree. You'd need a roll of paper
six feet long.
rk_u...@yahoo.com
> Who did AK play in HKSKN ? Was he Tariq as a kid ?
AK played young Tariq in Yadon Kee Barat. Remember the
title song which the family sings at the beginning of
the movie and the youngest kid shows his finger to
indicate that he wants to go to toilet. That one is AK.
RK-
Muffy St. Bernard
Arun -- and anybody else who'd like to contribute to this thread, or
the ones that may follow from other reviews I'm posting -- would you
object if I stole your words and put them on the Bollybob site? :)
I try to add a page for the reviews that get quite a few comments,
and put the comments there -- with credit of course -- because often
this sort of thing is really fascinating. (I hate to do it without
asking first, but it can be pretty repetitive to keep posting "do you
mind if I..." emails, so sometimes I don't snap up all the trivia I'd
like).
Please let me know, and I'll put the info in there.
BTW, last night we watched "Namak Halal." Where do I begin???
Cricfan
Sheesh, RK is right, of course. I was trying to recollect the movie
with Tariq and came up only with HKKN. Apologies!
Cheers
Arun
yeskay
>
> No wait. Wasn't QSQT directed by Mansoor Khan, who is Nasir's son and
> therefore Aamir's cousin?
>
Yes, that's true. I have another question though. Is Nasir Hussian
the producer the same one as the character actor who used to do a lot
of herione's sick/ill 'baap' roles. This guy has acted in a lot of
Rajesh Khanna and Shammi Kapoor movies.
> > The Salim mentioned above is Salman Khan's father. He has since
> > married Helen.
>
> Does this mean that Salman's mom in HDDCS was played by his real-life
> stepmother?
>
Yes, you got that right.
> Someone should draw up a Bollywood family tree. You'd need a roll of paper
> six feet long.
Talking about gossip, my father tells me that Dimple Kapadia is actually
Raj Kaps and Nargis's illegit daughter. If that was correct, what
happens in Bobby is close to incest (sic).
rk_u...@yahoo.com
> Yes, that's true. I have another question though. Is Nasir Hussian
> the producer the same one as the character actor who used to do a lot
> of herione's sick/ill 'baap' roles. This guy has acted in a lot of
> Rajesh Khanna and Shammi Kapoor movies.
No he is a different guy. Irritating chap like A K Hangal.
I think he is related to Nargis
like that other villian of old movies Anwar Hussain,
who I think is half-brother of Nargis.
RK-
Gafoor
news:3C752B...@yahooNOSPAM.com...
This is an old rumour. Also, there was a big romance going on between
DK & Rishi at the time of Bobby & Raj Kapoor put a stop to it because
of this reason.
Deb Shanker
"Cricfan" <asi...@My-deja.com> wrote in message
news:9a0087b.02022...@posting.google.com...
It would be interesting to know all the realtions between all the indian
actors/actresses. I would like to know what is the relation between Anil
Kapoor and Raj Kapoor.
Thanks bud.
Deb
>
>
> Cheers
> Arun
Ritu
He actually played the young Vijay Arora in Yaadon ki Baraat. He was
adorable as a little child. He had these twinkly twinkly eyes.
-Ritu
>
> Cheers
> Arun
Cricfan
>
> Arun -- and anybody else who'd like to contribute to this thread, or
> the ones that may follow from other reviews I'm posting -- would you
> object if I stole your words and put them on the Bollybob site? :)
Hi,
Oh, do go ahead and put them up. But don't sue me if people point out errors :-)
Cheers
Arun
Cricfan
> > From: asi...@My-deja.com (Cricfan)
>
> > The story of TM was written by Nasir Hussain. Nasir Hussain also
> > directed QSQT and is now famous as the uncle of Aamir Khan :-)
>
> No wait. Wasn't QSQT directed by Mansoor Khan, who is Nasir's son and
> therefore Aamir's cousin?
Yes, I think Nasir produced the film.
>
> > The Salim mentioned above is Salman Khan's father. He has since
> > married Helen.
>
> Does this mean that Salman's mom in HDDCS was played by his real-life
> stepmother?
>
That is correct. Salim Khan wrote the screenplay for Sholay in
partnership with Javed Akhtar who was once married to Honey Irani
(their son directed DCH) and is now married to Shabana Azmi. Helen is
one of the three Jews to act in Hindi cinema. The other two were David
and the old Sulochana (Ruby Myers). For some reason, during a recent
interview with TOI, Salman said that Helen was a Catholic.
The wierdest actress to act in Indian cinema was a blonde blue eyed
lass called "Fearless Nadia". She married the producer Wadia and
became Nadia Wadia. [I'm trying hard to suppress a grin here]. Her
most famous film was "Hunterwali", which could mean 'hunting girl' or
'girl with a whip'. She used to wear these skimpy costumes in the
nascent days of Hindi cinema in the early part of the 20th century.
Another famous heroine of that time was Lalitha Pawar who also used to
wear skimpy costumes. It may seem hard to imagine this perenial
cruel_mother_in_law as a hearthrob, but that was before she had a
paralytic stroke which permanently damaged the shape of her left eye
and made it look "cruel". I know all this by reading a special 150th
anniversary booklet released by the Times of India in the late 1980's.
I almost fell of my chair when I saw Lalitha Pawar's pic.
Sadly Pawar died in her Pune home two years back. She was living alone
since her daughters were in Mumbai. Apparently, the neighbours
complained to the cops about a foul smell coming from her home and
when the cops investigated, they discovered her. They presumed that
she had died about 3-4 days before her body was discovered. Tragic.
This was a prominent news item in the Mumbai papers sometime back.
[From http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/feb/26lalita.htm - Lalita acted
as heroine to Baburao Pendarkar's Netaji Palkar and Jai Malhar. An
accident on the sets abruptly ended her career as a leading lady.
During the shooting of Jung-e-azadi, master Bhagwan had to slap her.
Her left ear started bleeding profusely. The left part of her face was
paralysed and she developed a squint in the left eye.]
> Someone should draw up a Bollywood family tree. You'd need a roll of paper
> six feet long.
Heh :-)
Lata Mangeshkar must be the only playback singer to sing for three
generations. Shobhana Samarth-Tanuja-Kajol have all had LM sing for
them.
Incidentally, http://www.rkfilms.com/index1.htm lists out Raj Kapoor's
descendants. Click on "family". I found this site while searching for
stuff on Lalitha Pawar.
Cheers
Arun
Ritu
>
> http://www.dazzled.com/dangermuff/bollybob/index.html
>
> because it features screen shots and other nifty information...drop by
> and have a look!}
>
> Teesri Manzil
>
> (Hindi - 1966, 158 min)
> Starring: Shammi Kapoor,Asha Parekh, Prem Chopra, Helen, Ram Avtar,
> Prem Nath, Salim, Rashid Khan, Indira Bansal, Lakshmi Chhaya, Neetha
> Sabina, Saral Kumar
> Director: Vijay Anand
> Producer: Nasir Hussain
> Music: R D Burman Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri
> Playback Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhonsle
> Cinematographer: N V Srinivas
Excellent review Muffy, I really enjoyed it. I've been smiling since
:-)
I thought I'd add some trivia about the movie.
- This movie along with Guide were the two releases Vijay Anand had in
1966. As one can see it was a director at the peak of his creativity.
He managed to successfully handle to genres that were poles apart.
- This film originally had Dev Anand as hero and Vijay Anand as the
director. Dev Anand walked out of the film though Vijay Anand
continued. And I must add that was a blessing in disguise. I can't
imagine Dev Anand as a drummer. Imagine what he would have done to the
drums! Incidentally no one in Bollywood seems to bother with details
like playing a musical instrument right. Most actors play the piano as
if they are tossing salad. And invariably there are tossing salad on
the wrong end of the keyboard!
- Shammi Kapoor like his brother Raj Kapoor was keen on Shankar
Jaikishen for the music of this film whereas Vijay Anand with a strong
Burman history wanted the young RD Burman. Shammi was persuaded to
hear out Pancham and he played the tune for 'Deewana mujhsa nahin' and
Shammi Kapoor was hooked. The rest is history.
- The story for this film (If I'm not mistaken) is by Nasir Hussain
himself. Wonder why he did not direct it as well. Vijay Anand has also
edited the film, a first with him. That accounts for the slick pace of
the film.. though unfortunately for you Muffy, someone at EROS decided
to give Vijay Anand competition. Hence the glitches in the film. While
we are at it. 'Teesri Manzil' is not made by the same team as 'Jewel
Thief'. The only thing common is the director. Jewel Thief was
scripted by VA also. The MD was SD Burman and the production was by
Navketan.
While on Nasir Hussain his films really never rose above the formula
genre. This one I think is the best of the lot. They just had a lot of
trendy music(by RDB), fun and confusions that were all resolved in the
last reel.
- Shammi Kapoor lost his wife Geeta Bali to small pox during the
making of this film. The lore goes when he came back he was
unrecognisable. The song shot at that time is 'Deewana mujhsa nahin'
(though I had also read somewhere it was 'Tumne mujhe dekha')
This film though with a trite storyline has the Vijay Anand stamp all
over in execution. He further experimented with this genre is Jewel
Thief which was a far superior product.
What do you say?
Cheers
Ritu
David Chute
> Incidentally, http://www.rkfilms.com/index1.htm lists out Raj Kapoor's
> descendants. Click on "family". I found this site while searching for
> stuff on Lalitha Pawar.
>
> Cheers
> Arun
It might actually be easier (it would certainly be a shorter list) to name
all the current prominent Bollywood figures who do NOT come from established
film familes. Two names I've heard mentioned are SRK and Asutosh Gowariker.
Are there many others?
Habshi
etc. it is understood that anything posted here in newsgroups can be
used for quotes fairly .
The courts determine what the usage has been over the years
and those who cant stand crossposting or quoting of excerpts wont
stand a chance .
Muffy wrote -full review on rec.arts.movies.local.indian
and on
http://www.dazzled.com/dangermuff/bollybob/index.html
excerpt
Gafoor
Tons of others
Akshay Kumar
Sunil Shetty
Shilpa Shetty
Aishwarya Rai
Sushmita Sen
Urmila
Manoj Bajpai
Sridevi (if you consider her current)
Madhuri Dixit
Manisha Koirala
and lots more
+ there are many others like Ajay Devgun whose
father was a fight director, but you can't really call it
an established film family.
vainy
Both of them are Kapoor ;-)
Muffy St. Bernard
I say "Thanks, Ritu!"
I don't know why I was thinking "Jewel Thief," I'm pretty sure that --
when I ordered the film -- I found a review website that said "by the
same team that brought you Jewel Thief," and I just sort of
parrotted...this is how misinformation gets around! I'll be sure to
post this great information on a companion page to the review, so
curiosity-seekers can get the whole story (smallpox? Yikes.)
Double Yikes to the thought of Dev Anand playing Rocky...I mean, if
Rocky played the harp I could see him in that roll, but as a drummer?
Goodness no!
Muffy.
yes kay
>
Almost the same plot about the girl mistaking the identity of a
drummer (who poses as a different person) whom she wants to confront,
but finally falls in love with him, is repeated in a 80s film, which
I think is produced by Nasir Hussain again. It had Sunny Deol -
Jayaprada (The most unusual unromantic pair ever) and Rati Agnihotri
and Rajiv Kapoor (Rishi's younger brother). The film was atrocious
with one popular KK # (Jab Chaha yaar tune, Aankhon se maar toone).
The MD might very well be RDB. Rajiv Kapoor does a very poor
imitation of Shammi who did a poor imitation of Elvis (atleast he
thought he did). This film also had Sanjeev Kumar playing Sunny's baap.
Does anybody remember the name of this film? Is it Sitamgar?
rk_u...@yahoo.com
You are talking about Zabardast(1985).
Mercifully that was the last of NasirHussan-RDB combo.
What a decline?
They went for Anand Millind for QSQT.
RK-
Raj
"Aja aja" is one of my favorite hindi songs. it was such a silly song that
doesn't come across as a pale imitation of an american pop song. it is hard
to describe. let us say it loosely uses the spirit of those Ann
Margaret-Elvis dance routines in Viva Las Vegas and gives it that , well I
wont say Bollywood twist , but that special Shammi twist.
And right on about the weird props. I cant stand most 90s bollywood hits
with their so called westernized routines which make Fame the terrible tv
series seem to be on the cutting edge by comparison. Those horrible tshirts
worn by the shah rukhs and the govindas with their parrot green colors and
oversized tacky western brandnames just look pathetic. But the props in
Teesri have their own weird tacky but eccentric appeal. New songs like that
horrible Shakalaka baby have all the tackiness without any of the
eccentricisms of a shammi kapoor dance.
aha ahaaa ajaa ahaa ajaa uhuhaa ajaa uhuh uhaaaaa
Muffy St. Bernard
>
> "Aja aja" is one of my favorite hindi songs. it was such a silly song that
> doesn't come across as a pale imitation of an american pop song. it is hard
> to describe. let us say it loosely uses the spirit of those Ann
> Margaret-Elvis dance routines in Viva Las Vegas and gives it that , well I
> wont say Bollywood twist , but that special Shammi twist.
I can definitely see the comparison to "Viva Las Vegas" stylings...a
sort of manic energy without the "classy" pretensions of earlier Western
musicals. Like, I have yet to see a Bollywood film where they really go
for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers aesthetic...though I have seen them
try to pull off some REALLY HORRIBLE BALLET.
> And right on about the weird props. I cant stand most 90s bollywood hits
> with their so called westernized routines which make Fame the terrible tv
> series seem to be on the cutting edge by comparison. Those horrible tshirts
> worn by the shah rukhs and the govindas with their parrot green colors and
> oversized tacky western brandnames just look pathetic. But the props in
> Teesri have their own weird tacky but eccentric appeal. New songs like that
> horrible Shakalaka baby have all the tackiness without any of the
> eccentricisms of a shammi kapoor dance.
Yes, most of these outfits are horrendous (and are tailored, it seems,
to show off Govinda's man-boobs). I wonder if, in 30 years, people will
be looking back and saying "Oh, Bollywood at the turn of the millenium
had such a wonderfully TACKY look, not like the stuff today. And oh,
Sunil Shetty's shirts! They were great!" But possibly not, because it
does seem like the homogenized Western influence is so much greater now.
>
> aha ahaaa ajaa ahaa ajaa uhuhaa ajaa uhuh uhaaaaa
Oh yeah! Just don't forget to shake your head like a lunatic!
Muffy.
Ritu
Ashutosh Gowarikar's father if I am not mistaken was a marathi theatre
artist. Any info anyone?
-Ritu
Ritu
> anniversary booklet released by the Times of India in the late 1980's.
> I almost fell of my chair when I saw Lalitha Pawar's pic.
Interesting you would bring this up, coincidentally my friend and I
were watching this old film 'Sazaa' from the 50's yesterday and we
brought up the same topic as to how Lalita Pawar was actually a
sex-symbol in her times. I too had seen a picture of her in this
trendy and skimpy gown. Infact I've also seen a picture of her in a
kissing scene!
An interesting point here would be (maybe slightly off the track) that
before independence, Hindi films were not as puritan as we see them in
the early fifties. British censorship was limited to ensuring that
there were no nationalist messages in films. Elaborate love scenes,
kissing etc. were more than allowed. It was only after independence
that suddenly 'Indian Culture' became very important and censorship
became strict. AFAIK it was Morarji Desai who spearheaded this
puritanical wave. For quite sometime Hindi Film songs were considered
too pedestrian to be played on AIR. And hindi films followed a strict
code of moral conduct enforced by the censors. In a way it was a
blessing in disguise though because Hindi films graduated from stunts
and mythologicals to become a mature medium.
The kind of stuff that got censored those days by itself was quite
amusing from today's standards(and maybe by those days as well). For
instance the Dev Anand/Waheeda film 'Solva Saal' was given an 'A'
certificate because Dev Anand took off his shirt in the film! (Salman
Khan films would be pornography for them). The censors objected the
song 'Aaja Panchchi akela hai' from Nau do Gyarah because they said
the word 'panchchi' has sexual overtones! Pretty interesting to see
how much morals have changed over the time.
> Sadly Pawar died in her Pune home two years back. She was living alone
> since her daughters were in Mumbai. Apparently, the neighbours
> complained to the cops about a foul smell coming from her home and
> when the cops investigated, they discovered her. They presumed that
> she had died about 3-4 days before her body was discovered. Tragic.
> This was a prominent news item in the Mumbai papers sometime back.
I believe her contemporary Leela Chitnis is also in a pitiable
condition. She lives in some old home in the US.
- Ritu
Cricfan
>
> Ashutosh Gowarikar's father if I am not mistaken was a marathi theatre
> artist. Any info anyone?
>
> -Ritu
Dunno, but Ashutosh acted as Bhagyashree Patwardhan's beau in Amol
Palekar's serial Kacchi Dhoop.
Ashutosh and Aamir made their debut's (as adults) in the film 'Holi'.
Cheers
Arun
Girish Bhat
> {This review is best viewed in it's native habitat:
>
Great review!! I discovered this today and must say I haven't read a
review that was this much fun ever!
yeskay
>
> Dunno, but Ashutosh acted as Bhagyashree Patwardhan's beau in Amol
> Palekar's serial Kacchi Dhoop.
>
> Ashutosh and Aamir made their debut's (as adults) in the film 'Holi'.
Asutosh has also acted in 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na' as SRK's friend, is
kinda the leader of the music group playing the drums. He has directed
Aamir Khan's Baazi.
Muffy St. Bernard
Thanks, Girish! The next review (NAMAK HALAL) should be ready to go
in today or tomorrow...I just got the screen captures, and they're
beautiful. :)
Muffy.
Ket...@att.net
says...
>That is correct. Salim Khan wrote the screenplay for Sholay in
>partnership with Javed Akhtar who was once married to Honey Irani
>(their son directed DCH) and is now married to Shabana Azmi. Helen is
>one of the three Jews to act in Hindi cinema. The other two were David
>and the old Sulochana (Ruby Myers). For some reason, during a recent
>interview with TOI, Salman said that Helen was a Catholic.
She is. She is a Christian of Burmese descent. The 3 Jews you mention are David,
Sulochana(Ruby Myers) and Nadira(Mud mud ke na dekh), whose brother lives in
Israel.
Ketan
Girish Bhat
> song 'Aaja Panchchi akela hai' from Nau do Gyarah because they said
> the word 'panchchi' has sexual overtones! Pretty interesting to see
> how much morals have changed over the time.
This is hilarious! Today, we all love this song because it's so cute
and innocent. ;-)
Cricfan
> The kind of stuff that got censored those days by itself was quite
> amusing from today's standards(and maybe by those days as well). For
> instance the Dev Anand/Waheeda film 'Solva Saal' was given an 'A'
> certificate because Dev Anand took off his shirt in the film! (Salman
> Khan films would be pornography for them). The censors objected the
> song 'Aaja Panchchi akela hai' from Nau do Gyarah because they said
> the word 'panchchi' has sexual overtones! Pretty interesting to see
> how much morals have changed over the time.
>
heh :-)
They also gave Taxi Driver an A certificate because Kalpana Kartik says "saala".
Cheers
Arun