3/05/1913
- 3/05/2013
On 3rd of May, Indian Cinema celebrated its 100th year since the release of 1st
film "Raja Harishchandra" made by none other than father of Indian
Cinema Mr.Dhundiraj G. Phalke, aka Dadasaheb, a visionary leader, a dreamer, a
true movie lover and man behind millions of movies made later. So it would be
totally unfair ,rude ,selfish & arrogant of me if I don't share my thoughts, memories, favorite
movies and dreams through my blog on this auspicious occasion.
Oh God!!! talking of movies, thoughts & memories rushes to my mind like
flood. Don't know what to put first
& how to put them in order, to make sense and wont confuse you or bore you.
Let's
start with memories. Movies & Memories goes hand in hand for me. But
contradict to this, I don't remember the 1st movie I ever watched (I guess none
of us do), don't remember if it was in theatre or at home. When asked my mom
about my childhood memories of movies she said "you were too lazy to watch
complete movie & would fell asleep even before interval", she added
"you got scared & terrified of fighting scenes and would cry
loudly." I wonder if that's true considering my craze for movies. What if
I don't remember 1st movie I had seen but I do remember 1st movie that made my
Dad cry, it was Anand, movies that made me cry were Black & Taare Zameen
Par, movies that made me laugh my ass off
were Padosan & Andaaz Apna Apna. It was Lakhshya movie for which I
borrowed money from my friend Shruti (total Hrithik's fan & dumb ass not to
ask her for show). RDB will always be special for me as it reminded me of my
engg group. At the end of movie, everyone has chosen one character he likes
& thinks that character is like him in real (all this in his own mind). Me
& my friend had argued for Siddharth's character. It was Lajja movie for
which I had fight with my best friend only because he denied to come with me. I
didn't talk to him for next 6 months (that's serious dedication!)
I
remember the "filmy bug" has bitten me when I was in 8th/9th class. I
had replaced Junior Science Refresher magazine with Filmfare (and that was the
murder of my book worm inside me) also started
collecting photos & cuttings in file, had watched every movie in
Adarsh Theatre. My friends had this assumption that any movie showing in our
city must be seen by Aadesh (that was my reputation you see!) Since teen hood I fantasized to be like
Spiderman or Superman, bought specs like Hrithik's, kept changing my looks and
few years back started drinking black tea (Love Aaj Kal's effect).
My Testimonies to Superstars:
If
you want to see what Rajesh Khanna truly was, watch Aaradhana, Anand,
Avatar,Swarg.
If
you want to know why Dilip Kumar was called the Patriarch & what was his
aura like, watch Naya daur, Mughal-e-azam, Shakti, Karma,.
For
Dev Sahab's charm & ever green personality you must see CID, Tere ghar ke
samne, Jewel Thief, Johnny mera naam.
If
you want to experience India's best Beauties those has immortalized silver
screen go watch Madhubala's any movie or Nargis's Awara, Shri420, Mother India,
or Saira Bano's Padosan. Hema malini's Dreamgirl, Seeta aur geeta, khobsurat. Rekha's Umrao jaan, Silsila. Sorry to all Kareena, katrina, priyanka lovers, they
all look like plastic dolls or mannequins before them.
I
cant express my feelings for Amitabh Bachchan in 1 or 2 movies, you can pick
from Deewar, Don, Sholay, Sharabi, Agnipath, Black or Paa.
Being
an Aspiring Filmaker I feel this has been pity of our Indian cinema that movies
are remembered by Actors & Actresses and not by Filmmakers, their team who
worked many times more than leads. How can you forget K.Asif if you are talking
of Mughal-e-azam. Ramesh Sippy was the man behind movies like Sholay, Shaan,
Shakti. Raj Kapoor changed the trend with his movies like Bobby, Mera naam joker,
Awara. Hrishikesh mukherjee was best story teller of his time, who made movies
like Anand, Chupke Chupke. Vijay Anand surprised everyone with Guide, Jewel
Theif. Yash Chopra was well known for his movies like Deewar, Silsila, Kabhi
Kabhi,Chandni. Mani Ratnam is master when we see Bombay, Roja,Guru. Ram Gopal Verma has his own identity after Rangeela, Satya,
Company. With time our Cinema has changed. Now story teller has different
views, techniques & dreams. Today we have Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya
Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Raju Hirani, Anuraj Basu, Dibanker Banerjee.
Indian cinema, no doubt has entertained us, educated us, enlighten us in last
100 years. we owe big time to this Industry. Thanks to Cinema we heard singers
like M.Rafi, Kishor Kumar,Mukesh, Jagjit Singh, Lata Didi, Asha tai, Udit narayan,
Kumar Sanu, Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi, Shreya and many more.
Thanks
to Cinema we have seen Music Directors like O.P.Nayyar, Khayyam,S.D.burman,
R.D.Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyan-Anand, Jatin-Lalit, A.R.Rahman.
Many of my friends always said Indian Cinema is not original but only
copy stuffs from Hollywood. I agree we used to, but today we have made our name
in international market. we deliver original products. i hope after next 100
years someone will write many such things about our cinema with equal proud
& gratitude as I am feeling now.(I
hope he will include me in list of Directors too)
I surely have forgotten many names,
but I was just honest to my own self. I had not mentioned anyone who's work i
have not seen like the great Satyajit Ray or other such Filmakers, Actors,
Actresses and Artists. Please forgive me for not mentioning your favorites. You
can surely post your replies in comment box. I would like to go through your
memories, thoughts etc.
That is all I had to say about
celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema. From my memories to My testimonies. My
thoughts to my Dreams.
