Yeh Gul(zar)istan Hamara, Films of Gulzar Options

[Debopriyo]

Maya Memsaab (1993)

This movie is based on the classic French novel, "Madame Bovary". It was the first novel of Gustavo Flaubert in 1856. Because of the nature of the subject, adultery was its core which revolved around Bovary's character; it raised a storm and was banned for some time. In a court battle that lasted nearly two years, the writer was acquitted of any wrong doing. Because of notoriety gained the novel became an instant best seller and today is considered to be one of the most influential books written in 18th century. Up and coming Shah Rukh Khan, the future star, had a major role in the film.

Here are the songs from this film from an original soundtrack album...

Swarapriya ji ..you had mentioned ..! Chhaaya Jaagi - asha - hridaynath mangeshkar ! but in song it ws mentioned lata - hridaynath mangeshkar !

[abhayp]

Swarapriya ji ..you had mentioned ..! Chhaaya Jaagi - asha - hridaynath mangeshkar ! but in song it ws mentioned lata - hridaynath mangeshkar !

The female voice in this song is Asha, not Lata. At some point, someone wrongly credited the song to Lata, and the error has been repeated ad nauseam across many forums!

Warm regards,
Abhay

[swarapriya]

Chachi 420 (1997)

This movie was based on the English hit film "Mrs. Doubtfire" made in 1994 that starred Sally Field and Robin Williams. Kamal Haasan, who produced, acted, directed, and sang a song in the film adopted the story for this film. Gulzarji wrote dialogues and lyrics. He also appeared during the end credits along with the music director Vishal Bhardwaj. By the way, Rekha Bhardwaj, I believe she is the wife of Vishalji, sang a song ("Ek Woh Din Bhi The") in this movie which is a thing of sheer beauty.

I am uploading these songs, all taken from a DVD, below...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Sep 6 2011, 09:53 AM

[Debopriyo]

Chachi 420 (1997)

This movie was based on the English hit film "Mrs. Doubtfire" made in 1994 that starred Sally Field and Robin Williams. Kamal Haasan, who produced, acted, directed, and sang a song in the film adopted the story for this film. Gulzarji wrote dialogues and lyrics. He also appeared during the end credits along with the music director Vishal Bhardwaj. By the way, Rekha Bhardwaj, I believe she is the wife of Vishalji, sang a song ("Ek Woh Din Bhi The") in this movie which is a thing of sheer beauty.

I am uploading these songs, all taken from a DVD, below...

Thanks swarapriya ji ..can you upload the Makarina track
By hariharan - asha bhosle ?

[swarapriya]

Chachi 420 (1997)

This movie was based on the English hit film "Mrs. Doubtfire" made in 1994 that starred Sally Field and Robin Williams. Kamal Haasan, who produced, acted, directed, and sang a song in the film adopted the story for this film. Gulzarji wrote dialogues and lyrics. He also appeared during the end credits along with the music director Vishal Bhardwaj. By the way, Rekha Bhardwaj, I believe she is the wife of Vishalji, sang a song ("Ek Woh Din Bhi The") in this movie which is a thing of sheer beauty.

I am uploading these songs, all taken from a DVD, below...

Thanks swarapriya ji ..can you upload the Makarina track
By hariharan - asha bhosle ?

Debo, the only "Makarina" song I saw on the DVD I have uploaded. Did I make a mistake in assigning the name of the male singer? Can anyone help please? Thanks. -S

[swarapriya]

Dil Se.. (1998)

The brilliant movie maker Mani Ratnam (see the photo attached) was born in a family that worked in the film industry. His father and two of his brothers were in the film business. His wife Suhasini is also a respected character actress.

Ratnam made his directorial debut with a Kannada film “Pallavi Anu Pallavi” in 1983. That movie starred Hindi film actor Anil Kapoor in the lead. But it was “Mouna Ragam”, a 1986 film that won him critical acclaim and also became a huge hit. It earned the National Film Award for the Best Feature Film. Since then Ratnam worked in all Southern languages and Hindi.

Ratnam won many National Awards, Filmfare Awards, and several International Awards. He is noted for taking topical themes or controversial subjects and presenting them in a gripping fashion. The trilogy on terrorism, “Roja” in 1992, “Bombay” in 1995, and “Dil Se..” in 1998 are excellent example of this.

Mani Ratnam introduced A.R. Rahman in his film “Roja” in 1992. TIME magazine selected the soundtrack of “Roja” as the “10 Best Soundtracks” of all time. In a BBC poll the song “Rakkamma” from “Thalapathi (1991)” (music by Ilaiyaraja) was selected as the fourth most popular songs of all time. Ratnam’s “Nayakan” (later made in Hindi by Feroz Khan as “Dayavan (1988)”) was selected as one of the All-Time 100 Greatest Movies.

Even though Mani Ratnam has shown consistent brilliancy, his last effort “Raavan” released in 2010 was a major disappointment. (However the Tamil version of the film apparently clicked.) Let us hope Ratnam can go back to his usual ways.


A.R. Rahman (see the attached picture) is credited with bringing Indian film music close to many other countries throughout the world. His genius includes integrating eastern classical music with digital electronic sounds, sprinkled generously with different world music genres and mixing with outstanding arrangements of traditional orchestra. He was introduced by Mani Ratnam in his history making “Roja” in 1992. The music for the film became a rage and won the debutant his first National Film Award as the Best Music Director.

He sold over 400 million records in a short span of less than 20 years, mostly through 100 plus movies for which he composed music for. He garnered an unprecedented number of awards including two Oscars, two Grammies, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award, four National Film Award, 14 Filmfare Awards, 13 Filmfare Awards South, and many others.

He earned praise and recognition throughout the world. Time magazine called him “Mozart of Madras” and went on to list him as one of World’s Most Influential People. UK magazines branded him as “Tomorrow’s World Music Icon”.

He is considered a composer, music director, instrumentalist, arranger, singer, and record producer. He has his own company and is the highest paid music directors in India. He is also a noted philanthropist raising money for charities and beneficial causes.

Rahman has slipped a few scales since he won multiple Oscars for the film “Slum Dog Millionaire”. His work since then shows the lack of energy or intensity. This may be because of his fame he may be spreading his time too thin into too many things that are moving away from creating music. Let us hope he regains his old form.

The score of "Dil Se.." by Rahman is simply put brilliant. There is so much energy in each song. They just sway you away. I am uploading these songs from an original soundtrack album in two back-to-posts. Here are the songs in the first post...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Dil Se.. (1998)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this brilliant musical...

[swarapriya]

Satya (1998)

“Satya” is the first of gangster trilogy, related to crime bosses of Mumbai underworld. The other two were “Company” released in 2002 and “D”, the third in the series released in 2005. The trilogy won Ram Gopal Varma, who produced these movies, several awards. Danny Boyle, who directed multiple Oscar winning “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2008, cited Varma’s trilogy as his inspiration.

Varma (see his attached picture below), hailing from Andhra Pradesh, came to light for Hindi audience with the multiple award winning “Rangeela” in 1995 that he produced and directed. But it was “Satya” that became a commercial and financial success and established him as a force in the industry. It won him several awards.

Varma has made movies in every genre. He gave opportunities to several of his associates to direct movies that he produced. He had a checkered career with his films spanning from unusual to downright ugly.

One of the power packed performances in “Satya” came from Manoj Bajpai. He was introduced by Varma in his “Daud” the previous year. Bajpai fits like a glove in his role and gives an unforgettable performance. It is too bad that he is not getting opportunities that can exploit his skills as an actor.

The movie was released in Telugu, dubbed from Hindi, the very same year. I will upload songs from the Telugu version in this thread soon after I am done with the Hindi songs.

Here are the songs from the Hindi film…

[swarapriya]

Satya (1998) - A Telugu Film

This Telugu film was released at the same time as its original Hindi version. It was dubbed from Hindi. Here are the songs in it...

[swarapriya]

Swami Vivekananda (1995/1998)

This movie was completed in 1995 but for various reasons it was not released until 1998. It was considered for the National awards for 1995 and Mithun Chakraborty, who plays Rama Krishna Parama Hamsa, walked away as the Best Supporting Actor for that year.

Originally Naseeruddin Shah was cast for the role Mithun eventually played. But under the pressure brought by the Hindu extremists, producers have to drop the idea of a Muslim playing a Brahmin's role in this movie. When Mithun, a Bengali Brahmin, was cast in the role replacing Shah, the folks who originally protested vehemently threatened to stop any progress of the movie, quieted down.

Several film personalities from Bombay appeared in the movie. They had only brief roles. I haven't seen the movie myself but was told that in the title role Sarvadaman Banerjee was brilliant.

Producers took well over five years to complete the movie. But when the finished version was shown to the monks of Rama Krishna Mission, they objected to several scenes. One song was deleted and some of the scenes were reshot before it got their final stamp of approval.

Salilda, who was always brilliant with his music compositions, does it again here. He composed all the songs for the movie but passed away before scoring its background music. B.V. Karant (also known as Vijay Bhaskar Rao) scored the background music.

Finally, all these songs are by the courtesy of our fellow Forum member and a friend, late Erum Hashmi. Thank you very very much Erum for such lovely songs. You will be ever remembered for such nice contributions. May your soul rest in peace.

I am uploading these songs in back-to-back posts. Here is the first set...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Swami Vivekananda (1995/1998)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

Wajood (1998)

Even though he didn't write any lyrics for this film, Gulzarji made a guest appearance. He was the guest of honor making a presentation to the winner of a dance competition. Here are the songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

Chhoo Lenge Akash (1999)

I don't have a single song from this album. Please kindly share if you can. Thanks.

[swarapriya]

Hu Tu Tu (1999)

Apart from directing, Gulazr wrote the story and lyrics for this film. He also co-wrote its screenplay with his daughter Meghna. Tabu received Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Suhasini Mulay received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

I am uploading songs from this film in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Hu Tu Tu (1999)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this film...