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

[Faraaj73]

http://ishare.rediff.com/video/others/1988...ane-hai/1820683

Thanks Swarapriya and Yogi Bhai

What a beautiful poem, music to which its set and overall picturisation. This entire TV serial was a monumental achievement.

[swarapriya]

http://ishare.rediff.com/video/others/1988...ane-hai/1820683

That is great, Yogi. Thank you very much for the pointer. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

http://ishare.rediff.com/video/others/1988...ane-hai/1820683

Thanks Swarapriya and Yogi Bhai

What a beautiful poem, music to which its set and overall picturisation. This entire TV serial was a monumental achievement.

You're welcome Faraaj. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

Lekin (1990)

“Lekin” is based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore. Its screenplay and some of the lyrics were written by Gulzarji, who also directed the movie. The movie was produced by the singing legend Lata Mangeshkar. Its music was provided by her younger brother, Hridyanath Mangeshkar.

The movie bagged many National Film Awards. Lata won for the haunting melody, the stirring song “Yaara Seeli Seeli” as the Best Female Playback Singer. Gulzarji won for its lyrics the Best Lyricist Award. The composer of that song and others from the film, the music director Hridyanath Mangeshkar, won as the Best Music Director. Nitish Roy won for the Best Art Direction. Finally to round up the Natonal Film Awards, Bhanu Athaiya won for the Best Costume Design. Gulzarji also won for “Yaara Seeli Seeli” the Filmfare Award as the Best Lyricist.

I am uploading songs from this film from an original soundtrack album in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Lekin (1990)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this multiple award winning film...

[swarapriya]

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]

Rudaali (1993)

Here is an example of a rich movie experience. Made in breathtakingly beautiful desertscapes of Rajasthan, the film painted an incredible portrait of the people of the bygone era. In the lead, Dimple Kapadia, the same coy girl of "Bobby (1973)" fame, gave one of the stunning performances of her life. This exercise richly fetched her National Award as the Best Actress. To complement this there is the music of Bhupen Hazarika. Haunting, mystic, sweet, and lingering. All at the same time. This was the first Indian movie to win an international award (Japan) for its refreshingly reverberating music.

From early life Kalpana Lajmi (see the picture inserted below) was involved with theater and cinema. Niece of the legendary Guru Dutt, she grew up in the film making atmosphere. She assisted Shyam Benegal, also a relative of Guru Dutt, in his “Mandi (1983)”. She designed costumes for Smita Patil in Shyam Benegal’s “Bhumika (1977)”. Later on she became an independent producer and made several highly acclaimed documentaries. Finally in 1986 she decided to enter the mainstream movie making and produced and directed her first feature film “Ek Pal”. The movie won critical acclaim and won the National Award for Best Creative Sound.

“Rudaali” was her very next film. She wrote the story of the film, based on a story “Rudaali” by Mahasweta Devi, and directed it. Devi’s father was a brother of the famous filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. Devi lives in Bangladesh. “Rudaali” was a sensation at both national and international level. It won over 30 major awards all over the world. Its music fetched the Japanese International Film Festival Award. It won for Dimple Kapadia the Best Actress Award at the Damascus International Film Festival. “Rudaali” also was a foreign language film entry for Oscars.

Lajmi went on to make several other movies including “Daaman (2001)”, “Kyon? (2003)”, and “Chingari (2006)”. She even wrote dialogues for “Kyon?”. Interestingly, Lajmi directed Ravina Tandon, who was popular playing lighter roles, in her “Daaman” that fetched Tandon the National Award as the Best Actress. Lajmi worked with Bhupen Hazarika as the music director for several of her movies. She has a live-in relationship with him for a long time.

A note about the music director Hazarika (see the picture inserted below), who was introduced to the mainstream film industry by the great late Hemant Kumar whom he met years be. It is not an exaggeration if one claims that Bhupen Hazarika single handedly helped Assam's film industry get a firm foothold and brought it to the cultural front of contemporary India. In this respect, his contributions have been many.

He is a poet. He wrote lyrics for many Assamese films. He published over a thousand poems. He also published over 15 books that include short stories, essays, children's work, and travelogues. He is a singer. He had a rich crisp baritone voice. His flawless diction can be heard in the songs he sang in "Rudaali". His music compositions touching wide range of themes are known to reflect his rich poetic imagination. Again the songs from the film "Rudaali" have ample examples of this. His enriched music compositions use Assamese folk music with a slight touch of the contemporary. Songs of “Rudaali” abundantly reflect this observation. He is an actor. He acted on the stage as well as in the movies. He is a journalist. For the past twenty plus years he has been publishing monthly magazines "Pratidhwani" and "Amar Pratinidhi". He produced and directed several Assamese and Bengali movies.

Dr. Hazarika has been conferred with many richly deserving honors. Also, his doctorate is not an honorary one. He earned it studying at Columbia University in New York City. He is the recipient of Padma Bhushan Award. He was awarded many times for his accomplishments both at the state as well as the national level. He is widely revered in Assam, West Bengal, and Bangladesh.

It is ironic that Amjad Khan (see the picture inserted below), who was on death bed in the entire movie, passed away in 1992 before the movie was released. He finished his work on this film and several others that were released after his death. He was only 52 when he passed away. What a pity. With the awesome talent he possessed there was hope for many more accomplishments to come from him.

One of the greatest actors of our time, Khan debuted as a child artiste in Raj Kapoor’s “Ab Dilli Door Nahin” in 1957. His first adult role as an actor was in “Hindustan ki Kasam” released in 1973. But the movie that brought him instant fame and recognition was “Sholay” that came in 1975. A villain in an Indian film never looked meaner and his deeds scarier than Khan’s were from this movie. In honor of Khan Saab, “Rudaali” was dedicated to his fond memory.

Rakhee originally was under the impression that she was going to have a major and pivotal role in the movie. As the movie was unfolding, during its production, it was becoming obvious to her that she had only a secondary role and all the limelight was on Dimple. With this realization Rakhee apparently started giving Kalpana Lajmi lot of headache on the sets by being either late or have everyone wait for her or not cooperating in the scenes or not show up at all as scheduled. Fed up with this attitude, Lajmi decided to cut down Rakhee's final minutes in the movie even further.

When the movie was released, all the adulation was on Dimple and Rakhee's name was hardly mentioned. This made Rakhee even more furious. She started giving interviews and downplaying Lajmi's superior product. I am not sure whether Rakhee ever made amends with Lajmi or not.

Gulzarji wrote the screenplay, dialogue and lyrics for all the songs in the film. The song “Samay O Dheere Chalo” sung by Lata was not in the film even though other two versions, one sung by Asha and the other by Hazarika, are in the film. There is a song sung by Hazarika, “Maula O Maula”, that is in the CD. But it is not in the DVD (presumably not in the film). The titles of the movie mention one Akbar Khan (Jaislamer) as a singer. His song or songs are not in the CD and also not in the DVD.

I am uploading songs from this album starting in the next post...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jul 31 2011, 10:37 PM

[swarapriya]

Songs from "Rudaali (1993)"...

Gulzarji wrote the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics for all the songs in the film. The song “Samay O Dheere Chalo” sung by Lata was not in the film even though the other two versions, one sung by Asha and the other by Hazarika, are in the film. There is a song sung by Hazarika, “Maula O Maula”, that is in the CD. But it is not in the DVD (presumably not in the film). The titles of the movie mention one Akbar Khan (Jaislamer) as a singer. His song or songs are not in the CD and also not in the DVD.

I am uploading these songs in three back-to-back posts. The first two posts contain the songs from the film. The third post contains various music clips.

Here is a description of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves…

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Rudaali (1993)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Rudaali (1993)"...

Following are some of the music clips from the film, all except for one as noted, from an original soundtrack album...

[swarapriya]

Mammo (1994)

Some movie makers have this incredible knack of taking a serious subject and presenting it in simplistic heartwarming manner. I have seen most of Satyajit Ray’s movies. He had this incredible insight in storytelling. Another one, in my opinion, is Shyam Benegal (see the attached picture below). Ever since he made his sensational directorial debut with “Ankur” in 1974, he never looked back. He has made series of movies dealing with varied human and humane subjects. Along the way he earned various accolades and earned admiration from discerning cinegoers.

This is another movie to Benegal’s credit that has all the ingredients mentioned. It starred Farida Jalal in the title role and the story revolves around her, her sister, and a little boy finely played by Amit Phalke. Ms Jalal has been in movies for a long time. But this movie was once in a lifetime opportunity for her. She made use of it magnificently. She gave a splendid performance that was unexpected but very appealing.

The movie won several awards. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Surekha Sikri, who played Jalal’s sister, won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. Farida Jalal won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance.

Benegal made a series of socials with Muslims as prominent central characters. “Mammo” was the first one. He followed this with “Sardari Begum” in 1996. In 2001, he made a movie named “Zubeidaa”. Most recently, in 2010, he came up with another winner in “Well Done Abba”. Incidentally, most of these movies were done in such a way that one can identify familiarities of their own lives irrespective of their faith or religion.

There are only two songs in the movie. I ripped these from a DVD. Jagjit Singh’s beautiful song “Hazaar Baar Ruke Hum” is repeated four times in the film. It is played during the titles and part of it in the end. In between portions of the song are played a couple more times. The second song is “Aa Choom Loon”. I am not certain who the singers are. If someone can help identify who the singers are, I will be thankful. I am also including in this post few short music clips from the film.

Here are these songs and music clips…

[swarapriya]

Maachis (1996)

Gulzarji made several beautiful movies in his career. In "Maachis" he tackles the subject of how restless youth become rebels against the society. He treats the subject with great care and the result is an instant classic. On the top of it, he wrote heart pounding lyrics for most of its songs. With one of his favorite music directors, R.D. Burman gone, Gulzarji brought Vishal Bhardwaj to direct the music for the film. Bhardwaj rose to the occasion by providing probably some of the best compositions of his career.

I am uploading these songs from an original soundtrack album in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Maachis (1996)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Aastha (1997)

Here are songs from this movie in which Rekha sizzles in a sensuous role that only she knows how to play...

[swarapriya]

Daayra (1997)

Anand & Milind gave music to several fine movies. It is difficult to understand why they fell out of favor. Rhythm was their forte and many accused them of duplicating Ilaiyaraja. May be. If so, what is wrong with it? Ilaiyaraja composed music for over 900 films and was a highly popular music director. Taking cue from him shouldn't have been such a bad idea. Anyway, here is an album to prove my case. This movie, highly acclaimed and directed by Amol Palekar, has several good songs. I am uploading these songs, most of them thanks to the courtesy of our fellow member anjvajay. Thank you anjvajay and others who contributed these songs.

Now for the songs...