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    « Kashmir ki kali (1964) | Main | Filmi Geek metapost »

    August 22, 2007

    Comments

    Nirvana

    Carla, its not 'wherever flowers may bloom"'. It is 'Whenever flowers bloom'

    carla

    Yes, of course it is, with regard to "whenever". Thank you for catching the typo. But I'm leaving the "may" in there because it's not an error, it's a matter of interpretation. It's the first half of a relative correlative phrase and without the second half to fill in the thought, I think the "may" does a nice job of conveying the open-ended sense of the phrase.

    Maajhi

    Can't believe you reviewed this movie and left out mentioning blockbuster songs like Yeh Sama and Pardesiyon se na. Did they not make an impression?

    Maajhi

    Here are the youtube links:

    Ye Sama - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iB_iMsdLgI. Lata at her best :o).

    Pardesiyon se na, Lata's version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ZF42BeXkU

    Male version of Pardesiyon se na - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Ztek080F8

    Wonderful songs!


    carla

    Maajhi, thanks for the links. I loved the songs from this movie very much - but my post was getting too long and the music didn't make the cut. I am glad that I can count on you to mention them. I always feel that comments from readers are a great supplement to my posts, whether presenting alternative viewpoints or raising points that I have missed, and you have taken care of the latter here!

    Stella_1

    Hi, I soooo want to see the movies that are on your blog. Where do you get them?

    Maajhi

    Thanks! And I have also done the former for reviews like 36 Chowringhee. On my part, I'm glad you - with your masterful command of English - found humble old Hindi movies, fell in love and decided to write paeans (or not) about them - very engaging and is one of the better Western-perspective filmi blogs around.

    Beth

    Great point about it being a Shashi fan's film. That's definitely the most satisfying approach to it, it seems to me (now in retrospect).

    Akshay Shah

    What a wonderful review of a wonderful movie by a wonderful reviewer!

    JAB JAB PHOOL KHILE is timeless and Shashi Kapoor's charm is a cut above the rest. This was later remade(indirectly) as RAJA HINDUSTANI as you've mentioned,but as you've said so wonderfully..."but it is by far the better and more delicate movie, without the masala excess of the more recent film". Keep up the passionate reviews FG:-)

    A.Shah

    carla

    Akshay ji and maajhi ji: Thank you both for your encouragement. You are a terrific ego boost! I have a great time writing these reviews and it's just great to hear that folks enjoy reading them.

    Beth: It was a retrospective conclusion for me as well. When I put aside the troubling stuff we've talked about and concentrated on what I enjoyed, it was all about Shashi - and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's one of the best performances of his I've seen. It's up there with *Junoon* for control and subtlety, but it's a very different character, which is hugely to Shashi's credit. And, such subtlety is perhaps that much more impressive in a mainstream film like JJPK than in an art film like *Junoon*.

    Stella - please see this recent post for information about where I get movies. http://www.filmigeek.net/2007/08/filmi-geeks-sho.html

    maxqnz

    Thanks for the excellent review, Carla. I discovered that one of my local video stores has recently been bought by a desi, and now has a great range of old gems, including this one, so I am once again indebted to you. I'll also be perusing your reviews for some of the other oldies newly available to me.

    maxqnz

    I finally got around to watching this, and have also just read Beth's review. I could see the paternalistic and anti-feminist message once alerted to it, but do think that it was not the primary message intended.Indeed, the scene after the dance almost made me ashamed of being a man, and had me largely siding with Rita. My copy's subtitles had her telling him to "stop this cliche-ridden drivel and nonsense!", and I thought that was nicely put. It was cringeworthy for sure. Of course, in addition to being a product of its time and for its audience, it's worth pondering just where "halfway" would have been for those two. One or other of them was going to have give up A LOT more than the other, na?

    Of course, I have simple tastes in movies, and seldom see subtexts unless they club me over the head. So I liked this film immensely, especially the first half. Right up to the bizarre and inexplicable snowstorm. Not only did the acting in that scene remind me of the bridge on the original Enterprise, I'm left regretting that I am unable to ask my grandfather how many summer snowstorms he experienced while at school in Kashmir.

    Despite the quibbles, this film is worth it for the songs. "Pardesiyon se na" is beautiful, especially (to this Asha fan), the sublime Rafi's version. Lata's is very good, of course, but I absolutely adore Rafi's. My favourite song of the entire film, though, is "Ek Tha Gul Aur Ek Thi Bulbul". Not just because the combination of Rafi's voice and Shashi's face nearly brought me to tears, but because the song directly advances the story. Even the good modern films (both of them) tend to use the songs for nothing more than atmosphere, and the worst stick them in for discernible reason at all. So it's a delight to go back to a time when the songs were integral to the film. Even though the best of them, like "Pardesiyon se na" can stand on their own outside the film, the reverse is not true. This film would be emotionally weakened without songs like "Pardesiyon se na", "Ek Tha Gul Aur Ek Thi Bulbul" and "Yahan Main Ajnabee Hoon".

    So thanks again for pointing me to this fine film, carla. Chauvinist ka chand it might be, but still a very worthwhile watch, with great songs.

    Arvind Singh

    I have yet to watch this movie but I'll pay attention to anti-modernist and possibly anti-Western references.

    As a generalization, Indian movies tend to appeal more to the heart than the head, especially those from the 1960s to the 1980s. Some recent Bollywood films are more nuanced but many are still not necessarily more thoughtful just more stylized.

    Carla, do you think the film was appealing to certain sentiments in India of that era i.e. simplicity of a country boy versus arrogant, privileged attitudes of the urbane? I have to watch the movie to make up my own mind

    I love your blog! How did you get into Hindi movies?

    carla

    Arvind, thanks for your great comments. Though I can only guess at the prevalent mindset(s) of the time, I do think that the contrast of the "simplicity of a country boy versus arrogant, privileged attitudes of the urbane" was part of the appeal of the movie. The song "Yahaan main ajnabee huun" drives that point home very explicitly, I think.

    Short answer to your question: I got into Hindi movies when I stumbled across Deepa Mehta's *Fire* and lost my head over Shabana Azmi. I started investigating her work, one thing led to another, and here we are. :D

    the ppcc

    After watching yet another 1960s movie where (1) Shashi has his dork haircut and (2) it's a morality play where women come out on the bottom, the PPCC is properly annoyed. (The movie was Kanyadaan, btw.) Give us 70s masala anyday! And enough of this anti-feminist oppression dressed up in beautiful songs and beautiful shots of Kashmir! But I guess it was a different time...

    That said, there is something really interesting about 60s movie morality vs. 70s movie morality. The 70s felt so much more humanist and liberal - an effect of the worldwide social upheaval? Apart from being the subject of hippie Orientalism, I don't know enough about Indian social history to know how much of a sexual revolution they had there. But consider JJPK - wherein Rita's drinking and dancing at the final party is properly demonized - and consider Suhaag - wherein Parveen woos Shashi by doing just that: sweetly intoxicated. It'd be an interesting thing to investigate, 60s puritanism versus 70s liberalism, all in the guise of masalaness. Maybe I'm forcing a parallel where there isn't one, but it certainly seems like good ol' 1970s masala movies were a lot more forgiving on their characters.

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