Tanuja ji turns 79 today. Reams have been written about her talent, vivacity, spirit and spontaneity, her illustrious family, and her career – what more can I possibly add? Born on September 23, 1943 to Shobhana Samarth and Kumarsen Samarth, Tanuja was the second of four children (Nutan, Chatura and Jaideep being the other three; […]
Kishore Kumar, the eccentric, multi-faceted singer-actor-music director would have turned 91 today (August 4, 2020). Words are simply not enough to describe this legendary genius who is still as popular as he was in the seventies or eighties and whose songs still blare across media channels, either in their original form or remixed versions. Born […]
Kumkum, the leading lady who lit up the screen with her expressive limpid eyes and her with her expressive limpid eyes in the 1950s and 1960s passed away this morning (28 July 2020). Born in Hussainabad, Bihar on 22 April 1934 as Zaibunnissa, her Hindi film career started when Guru Dutt cast her for a […]
The past few years have seen a number of books on SD Burman, like Sun mere Bandhu – The musical word of S.D. Burman by Sathya Saran or S.D. Burman: The World of his music by Khagesh Dev Burman ( a relative of S.D. Burman – the original book being Sachin Kartar Gaaner Bhubhan). I […]
There is something charming about train journeys. As the locomotives whizz past different landscapes, routes and places, towards their destination, taking a whole set of travellers with them, they become a bit more than just a convenient mode of transportation. Accidental meetings take place – people meet, connect and go their separate ways. Long journeys […]
This has been a long overdue post. The last two years, just before Jan 4 and June 27, I would make (mental) plans to come up with a song list of my favourite RD Burman songs, but the two days pass by; and the song list post never happened… up until now. Yes it is […]
While I had been meaning to revive this blog – as the rather long hiatus was unplanned – my efforts at actually doing so were rather half-hearted and excuses plenty. A sweet and touching message from Madhu yesterday was the push that I needed. Thank you, Madhu. Considering this is my first post in more […]
This blog has been dormant now for 8 months: real life and sheer laziness had come in the way and I kept putting off updating it. Rains in my city, which forced me to stay home from work today proved to be the catalyst. I decided to post something – just anything at all. So that this becomes […]
This blog had been much neglected over the past two months and I had been planning to revive it before the year ends. A list of 10 of my favourite songs picturised on Sadhana, one of the best actresses of the 60s, had been lying incomplete in the drafts folder for many weeks now and I did not […]
An accomplished actress, a Bharatanatyam danseuse par excellence, a Carnatic classical singer and a parliamentarian, Vyjayantimala has several feathers to her cap. Her influence on Hindi cinema has been far-reaching. It is because of her, primarily, that training in classical/ semi-classical dance has become a necessary part of a heroine’s resume in Hindi cinema. The […]
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From the Author of Abhaya
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A Brief History of the saree blouse and Indian fashion before 1960 with an occasional excursion after. All images are credited but if they are here by accident please do let me know and I will take it down. All posts also on vintageindianclothing.tumblr.com
by arunava sinha [arunava@gmail.com]
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