When I was growing up, I remember my grandmother often commenting that girls should not be too beautiful. She firmly believed that beautiful women had the toughest and saddest of lives. It did not make much sense to me back then but was reminded of it today when I sat to write this post. One of the most … More My favourite songs of Madhubala
I have a thing for whodunits – both books and movies. When I first found out about this 1957 movie (thanks to its lovely songs), I was a little hesitant to watch it. For one, it has a lesser-known cast and was not very popular. So I was not too sure about whether I wanted to watch it or … More Apradhi Kaun (1957)
( Today is the 77th birthday of one of Hindi cinema’s finest actresses, Waheeda Rehman. Born on 3rd February, 1938 in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu and blessed in abundance with immense talent and beauty, Waheeda Rehman is synonymous today with grace and charm. Active in Indian cinema since the 50s, she made her debut in a Telugu film, Jayasimha (1955). … More Happy Birthday, Waheeda ji
Reading ‘This is not that dawn‘ was a fulfilling experience, one that stayed on in my consciousness much after I had put the book down. I was intrigued by the author and wanted to know more about him and read more of his writings. Incidentally, I had picked up one of Yashpal’s other works on an … More Divya by Yashpal (Translation – Anand)
Today is the 50th death anniversary of Geeta Bali, the lovely, versatile, natural, spontaneous but underrated actress of the fifties. Born in Sargodha, Punjab in 1930 as Harkirtan Kaur, she lived with her parents and a sister in Amritsar. Her father was a Sikh scholar and a singer and he encouraged both his daughters to … More My Favourite Geeta Bali songs
Ye daagh daagh ujaalaa, ye shab-gaziida sahar, Vo intizaar thaa jis-kaa, ye vo sahar to nahiin Ye vo sahar to nahiin jis-kii aarzu lekar Chale the yaar ke mil-jayegi kahiin na kahin… (Translation by Agha Shahid Ali : These tarnished rays, this night-smudged light This is not that Dawn for which, ravished with freedom, we had set … More This is not that dawn (Jhoota Sach) by Yashpal (translated by Anand)
It is an irony that one of the finest music composers in Hindi cinema is known today more for the one thing he did not do, rather than what he did! Omkar Prasad Nayyar is the only composer from the golden age of Hindi film music who did not record a song with Lata Mangeshkar. … More My favourite O.P. Nayyar songs
Mahendra Kapoor is one of Hindi cinema’s most underrated singers. Known to be a poor man’s Rafi, Mahendra Kapoor drew varied critical reaction despite singing approximately 25,000 songs (in languages as varied as Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and even English) in his career. While growing up, I did not like him much, simply because I am a … More My favourite Mahendra Kapoor songs
Nanda would have been 76 had she been alive today (8th Jan 2015). In an era which was populated with legends, Nanda is one of the lesser feted actresses – underrated and not much appreciated – which is a pity. She tends to be associated with weepy, tragedy-queen type of roles. Unfortunately, that was an era … More My favourite songs of Nanda
Some days back we had been to Jaipur for a short, quick break. Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time at the various forts (Amber, Nahargarh and Jaigarh) as a part of our trip. I have a fascination for history – be it places, anecdotes, or stories. And as we went around the forts, I tried to explain the … More Raj-Kahini by Abanindranath Tagore (translated by Ratna Jha)
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