Singing And Dancing In The Rain and a Bit on Creativity

This post is dedicated to memory and nostalgia. This post is dedicated to the song Aaj Rapat Jai to Hume Na Uthaiyo from Namak Halal. I saw this movie when I was in class 2. Yes, very small, yet to understand frailty of love and dance and singing in the rain. I watched it with my eyes wide open. Like I was in some new world, other than the world I was in. Yes, I had seen this movie quiet a number of times as I grew up. But the other day, I came across this song again. And I saw it. I realized, they won't make anymore Hindi Movie like this. I won't rate Namak Halal a highly sophisticated movie, but it had its charm and grandeur. The laughing Arjun Singh when he realizes that the girl he loves is actually with her brother, the sizzling rain, the white sari, the sexual tension, so subtly portrayed, nothing like the ones shown nowadays. The most recent singing and dancing in the rain concept I had seen was in Hum Tum, and it was nowhere near this song. Yes, there was a scene from Chameli, Kareena Kapoor in it. Kishore Kumar's magic voice,ah, even a metalhead like me wants to forget what's going on around me and dive deep into this celebration of funfilled love, a love which you won't find now. Bollywood movie, yes some good movies are coming out, but its nothing like those old school movies. Plagiarism was rampant then, example, satte pe satta was straight from seven brides from seven brothers, but still the director added enough indianess to make you glue through. Also the public did not had much access to those movies. But nowadays the blatant copying by Indian Directors just make me feel sick and nauseated. Remember the scene in Jab We Met, where Geet and Aditya jumps into a pool, it was a rip off from My Sassy Girl, a Korean movie. I find Indian Movie Directors lacking even the creativity to rip off from various sources, since My Sassy Girl was again a remaked in Hindi, titled Ugly and Pagli, with the very ugly and pagli Mallika Sherawat playing the role. I was like mad, I was insane. She is nowhere close to Jun Ji Hyun, the lead actress in My Sassy Girl. Ah, you Indian Director, ah, get some life. Mallika Sherawat and the innocent Jun, it was such a pain in the ass. I must say, Sanjay Gupta started the trend of copying from Korean Movies. Park Chan Wook masterpiece Oldboy, Sanjay Gupta crappiece Zinda. Yet, he couldn't dare and show the incest scene between the father and daughter lest the indian sensitivity gets hurt. Showeast, the one which distributed Oldboy was supposed to action against Sanjay Gupta. But none happened. Anyways, I should thank Mr. Gupta for giving me the access to the world of Korean Cinema.
Ah, now back to Singing and Dancing in the Rain. As, I was saying, remember Shri 420, the song Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua, the scared Nargis, the Charlie Chaplin-esque Raj Kapoor, another song worth mentioning. I won't mind saying, Raj Kapoor was the singing and dancing Chaplin.
Now, remember Alex from Clockwork Orange, singing and dancing in the rain, wonderful scene. Hats off to Kubrick.
Yes, this post is getting like a cocktail, but I am enjoying writing it.
Rain, has always played an important role in the craft of cinema. Be it Cinema Paradiso or be it Saptapadi. It was rain all the way. Rain is the imagery, Rain is the metaphor, of pain and joy both. Ah rain.
Most hindi movies do have a rain and song dance sequence? Why? Its difficult for me to answer. Its like going to the pub and wondering what to drink. Where I am stuck, why do have it? Most Hindi Movie Directors say they want to portray reality. I think, in reality, there is no background music where there is a boy and a girl dancing madly to the incessant rain. Magic realism. And its a crooked version of it. I wonder when the meaning will settle in. Till then, aaj rapat jaye to hame nah uthaiyp.
Next post, will be most probably, the review of Challenge Nibi Nah Sala.

JAANE TU YA JAANE NA (2008)

THE NEW BIBLE OF BOLLYWOOD LOVE STORIES- GOSPELS FREE


Dare write a stupid comment against us. Pappu.The force shall get you. The ghost of eternal Bollywood Cliches shall come to haunt you.


PS:If someone liked this movie, then don’t read it. I saw this movie long time back. I am writing this thing after the demise of a love story. The eternal cliched love stories.

So do you or don’t you, I mean have you or haven’t you seen this movie .So after this movie was released, there were two species of people in this world, one who had seen this movie and the other who had not seen this movie. Thankfully there were no drawn swords or even blood thirsty zombies.But the world got divided. Remember Berlin wall as well as the Great Wall of China. Anymore walls, are welcome to comment their views in the comment box. I will be more than happy. So, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Nah, is something like a mashed potato served with vodka. It has everything you have seen as well as everything you can think of. Nothing new. Nothing so great. And people loved this movie.

WHY?

I don’t know. I really don’t know. I have never loved anybody. I want to make a clarification here. All my love affairs have been one sided. Now what we were talking about. Why people liked JTYJN? Because people could identify themselves with this movie. Oh, yes.They dance in the road, organise a funeral service for a cat. Go on singing as the heroine is crying over a dead pussy.. sorry for the obscenity..PETA do you hear me...and voila, the hero, as sleek as Hercule Poirot dressed in butter, manages to solve the problem. He gets the heroine a new pussy. I mean a cat. And all this could have been solved so easily. But I forget that Mr. Tyrewala is no Wong Kar Wai or Kim Ki Duk or even Michael Haneke. My stupid brain forgets.I forget I am seeing a commercial potboiler with my friends.

So, the movie starts with four friends plus one disgruntled girlfriend of one of them waiting in the airport for someone called Jai and Aditi. And they tell Mala, the DGF [read disgruntled girlfriend, and I guess the only one to be sane but in the end loses her sanity, nothing but the big brother is watching you syndrome, she too falls in the trap] the immortal love story of Jai and Aditi, to bore us, the audience and to kill time. Its wonderful, to see five people going crazy over a love story.

[I remember, I was already squabbling , while my friends were going ga ga over this movie. The movie is the ruxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

So, Jai and Aditi are the best friend. They also have four minions in their small time gang. They are Rotlu, Jiggy, Shaleen and Bombs. Rotlu cries, Jiggy i guess is a miniature form of gigolo, Shaleen i guess is a closet lesbian and Bombs, no there is no rdx in her. We can rest in pieces.

Aditi aka Meow is a despo. She is aggressive. She is dangerous. Remember, Don. Mujhein Jangli billio she khellna pasand hein.

Jai aka Rats in the otherhand is a phattu. A calm and quiet boy, mama kah dulara.

So what? Wait, yaar, this movie has no message to give you even if you try hard to look for it. It goes through a gritty, tight love story and emotional desperation of the lead protagonists, Jai and Aditi. That’s why Jai in the starting of this magnum [dh]opus sings kabhi kabhi Aditi which translates into sometimes Aditi I do wonder. And I remember those lines which Amitabh said to Rakhi in Kabhi Kabhi.. do correct me if I am going wrong here.

Jai and Aditi tries to get each other a soulmate, while everyone around them thinks they are the soulmate. And finally Jai gets someone by the name of Meghna who he saves from two monty pythonesque type baddie inspired by our very own Shakti Kapoor. And its a very ingenious way, I have to accept the fact. I have to. There’s no denying it. Why? There’s no fight. Just a simple word and the two baddies ran off. AIDS. Wonder. Those who have seen it will know. AIDS. Yeo, babeh, its AIDS. The Prachettian kind of humour.

Now, friendship between Aditi and Jai takes a plunge. Jai and Meghna does the rounds. Its love in the air babeh. Yes, Aditi sulks. Jai is least worried. And then Aditi gets a guy. And the story goes in for another Hitchcock based twist. Now what? Meghna is a dreamer. Ozzy would be happy. Mr. Tyrewala should have used I am just a dreamer track. Yes, Meghna is a dreamer. I mean she dreams and pretends that her parents doesn’t have a bad marriage. And Jai realizes that he loves Aditi. You tear-wasters, get the napkin ready. Hell yeah.
And Aditi’s hunk of a boyfriend is jealous about Jai. Yes, someone told him maybe. And then something happens. And Fellini’s Amarcord, Tornatore’s Malena and Cinema Paradiso comes into place, and not to forget its all Bildungsroman effect. Jai becomes a man. I refer these movies because it was all about coming off age. There are others. You can take your pick.In this movie to become a man, you have to thrash a man, go to jail and ride a horse. And Jai does all these things without getting into the superhero mode. And the mechanical expressions he give, whoa. Girls will drool. And how all this happens.

Here we go baby. Jai is a Rajput whose father was dare-devilish. He dies while fighting. So his mom brought him to Mumbai and told him that his father was a gandhi-phile and hated non-violence. But then how does this all change Jai?

The superevil fiance of Aditi hits her because he is jealous. Also he is womanizer bla bla bla just like the typical fiance of the heroine can be. Our man, yes, the man of the moment goes to his house and kicks butts. He is arrested and released in a hilarious way [see the movie you will know] and then what takes a horse and goes to the airport to stop Aditi. Why? Because after getting hit, suddenly she realizes that well, she has to study movie making. Hats off, I am stumped. Kya idea Sirjee.
And Jai, after becoming a man, finally stops Aditi in the airport. He sings a song. The police things he is a terrorist. They ran after him. They nail him. He starts singing a song. Remember movies where before going to the gallows a patriot sings a song. The same thing happens to our man. He sings. And the police commissioner who just happens to be a hindi movie buff asks the inspector about the song our man terrorist is singing.The Inspector sings ‘Jaane tu ya jaane nah.’ His voice is not so good as he is not the hero. But our man who has become a man finally, uplifting the spirit of nationality is singing and proposing to his lady love. LMAO. Our man gives the song a new effect.

Then the movie ends. Jai gets his girl. They get married and well, they go for a honeymoon and comeback. The happily ever after movie theory.It has to be. We Indians are suckers for happy ending.

So what now. the movie sucks big time. I watched because my friends forced me. I had no other choice. Imran Khan,[Jai] he can get the role of R2D2 anytime in Star wars. Mr. Lucas please hear me. Genelia D’Souza. Bwhahahahahah. She is hysterical. I would never want a girlfriend like her. I am single and I am happy. The others, can’t say. Naseeruddin Shah delighted me. The only good one in the entire movie. Oh, yes, Prateik Babbar as Genelia’s brother did a good job. Kudos to him. Long way to go. He was good so I spared him. But his dialogue deliveries should improve. That's my opinion.

My verdict. 1/10. The movie sucks big time. And those who loved this movie well, that’s your problem, not mine. The direction is aimless, the acting is nothing but disturbing and the screenplay just hops around. They are trying to be funny. But they can’t. Its like a live stand up comedy show gone wrong. The audience smiles because they feel pity. My request. Don't make love stories like this. It never happens in the real life, but still we as Indians will watch this piece of crap and think that yeah we Indians are the biggest romantics in the world.

There is a talk of a sequel. God, have mercy on me. And this post is dedicated to the demise of a love story. Cheers.

TRIVIA-This movie was copied from some Hollywood movies. I can’t remember the names right now. Sorry.

EPILOGUE-

A defeated me walking away as the movie ends. The rain comes falling down, my heart goes to the ground and I hear the chattering audience saying.. kitna cute banda hein, right.

CHUNKING EXPRESS (1994)

Cops, killer, girls, pineapples, seedy bars, electrifying colours, drunken melancholy and then love. A collage of assorted human psyche. That’s Chungking Express. A modern masterpiece. Love stories can be like this. No hollywood machoness or bollywood nacha gana, Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express makes us probe deeper into the conscience of people in love. A Hong Kong you have never seen before but its already there, and you explore it through the eyes of this magnificent auteur. No it doesn’t show the extravangza but the turbulence.
The plot is simple. No you might feel so. But its not. Its deeply riveting like a plane on a journey to the soulful exuberance of the thing called life
It explores the life of two cops and their loves and the surrounding. Hong Kong looks bedazzled in the colour. The colour that bares it all. Everything is naked yet its decent.

The first cop, cop 223, He Qiwu portrayed by the charming and effusing Takeshi Kaneshiro can’t get over his lost love. He roams around the streets at night, catching criminals, trying to woo his lost love back and offcourse buying pineapple cans with the expiry date of May 1st. The reason is that he wants to see if his love expires or not. He gives himself 30 days. After the expiry date he has decided to move on. A very childish act but it brings out the vulnerability of the character, the pain he is going through. He buys thirty cans hoping that he would reconcile with his lost love on his birthday which incidentally is on the 1st of May. Point to be noted, his girlfriend’s name is also May. A deliberate co-incidence. Could be?
Brigit Lin, plays the mysterious woman in blond wig who nurses a drug deal gone bad. Yeah, she says, she is in big trouble. She finds but man who has crossed her. She fights off hired goon. She is strong but she is weak.
And on his birthday, He Qiwu meets her. After the debacle of eating 30 pineapple cans, he shrugs to the bar and promises to himself that he would fall in love with the first woman entering the bar. And that just happened to be woman with blond wig.
A conversation takes place. They go to a hotel room. They spend the night. No, they don’t have sex. They don’t even share a kiss. There is nothing between them. He Qiwu just sees the woman sleeping. Instead of kissing her he takes off her shoes. For a moment I felt, that’s it. That’s love. That’s what I want to feel someday.
Wong Kar Wai’s triumph lies in the fact that he can make small details so passionate. It just ignites your minds, refreshens everything that is around. It just takes you on a ride. You can see around if you are a bit alert. Yes, mind that binoculars.


The 2nd cop, cop 633 played by the brooding and neat Tony Leung suffers after he breaks from his girlfriend who is a flight attendant. He tries to be brave. He tries to be strong. He befriends a girl from the snack bar, earlier visited by He Qiwu, called Faye who seems just can’t enough of the song California Dreaming. Something platonic takes off between them. Faye has some feelings for 2nd cop 633.
As Cop 633 gets lost in his own world of myriad absolution, like talking to his stuff toys, his soap, who he feels have become very thin and needs to regain his confidence while Faye comes and plays and cleans his apartment in his absence. The scenes are masterfully shot, and for a while you feel like playing with her as well, getting lost in the gullible energy.
Finally, they get together. But she leaves him. She has her reasons. I keep the ending a mystery.

This movie has become a personal favourite of mine. I can give you ample reasons why I really like this movie. But I won’t. The best reason would be the style in which the love stories has been shown. Ordinary yet extraordinary. Lovable laughs. Yes the movie gives you that.

I really enjoyed Takeshi Kaneshiro’s acting but I think he was a bit overdone. But I really enjoyed his portrayal of a mute man in Fallen Angels, another Wong Kar Wai classic. Tony Leung, no praising him. He is fabulous. Dark and brooding, his face reflects the characters anxiety and angst. Look carefully, when he speaks to his stuffed toys or the soaps. That’s the it thing.
Faye Wong is mad. And she does it. Brigit Lin is lost. And she does that with ease.

My verdict. I am in love with this movie. There are some movies which can’t be deleted from your mind. This one is like that. I see it often. I just travel with the characters, I just try to get in their mind, I just try to be them. There is sadness, there is happiness. But you enjoy them all. Robert Ebert compares Wong Kar Wai’s style with Godard of 60’s and 70’s. I don’t agree. Wong Kar Wai has his own distinct style. His choice of background music just captures the mood while the cinematography woos you. Each and every shot is detailed and colourful. The colour captures the mood of the characters.

I give this movie 10/10. I may be biased. But this movie has taught me to look at love in a different way. Yeah, no Hollywood chutzpah or stupid Bollywood masala, art house romance rocks. Wong Kar Wai has brought art-house romance to a new dimension. That’s it. So if you have not seen this movie then watch it once and go on dreaming California.