Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema

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.