Pudhu vellai mazhai is the original Tamil version of the Hindi song which became a nation-wide sensation Yeh haseen wadiyan from the film Roja, which was released in 1992 in it’s original language. The Tamil lyrics were written by Vairamuthu. A R Rahman‘s music was his first outing as lead music composer for a film,…
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In 2008, when the creative flair of the early 2000s Hindi cinema had all but died down, Farhan Akhtar once again brought us an unexpected film in Rock On!!. Only this time he was not directing, but acting on screen and singing and it was all quite enjoyable. True to its name, the film had…
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When the film Tashan was released in early 2008, it had everything going for it. Produced by Yash Raj Films, who had been on a roll for quite a while at the time; Some of the biggest, most dependable stars available, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan; An interesting plot; Music by Vishal-Shekhar,…
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When the film Meri Surat Teri Ankhen was released in 1963, the already venerable Ashok Kumar had been a leading man in Indian cinema for nearly three decades. He would go on to act for an equal number of decades after this point, so this could be seen as a middle point in his career.…
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The film Dard was released in 1947 and proved to be an important milestone for many involved. The music composer Naushad Ali knew much success after the songs of this film were a big hit. The singer Uma Devi Khatri would become a known name, and while her name would not carry her too far…
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The phenomenon of the various regional language film industries feeding material to the Hindi film industry in Bombay, and vice-versa, has been going on for a long time. In a country so diverse in its cultures and languages, it was always been natural to translate what works from one market into another market in the…
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The reason the Indian film industry, as a collection of all its many regional language industries, has been the most prolific producer of cinema for a large chunk of film history, is because it is a very deep creature. There are the popular blockbuster films staring big-name stars and top-flight talent, but the vast majority…
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Heroes and heroines dancing between trees has been an oft repeated cliché for the tropes of Hindi film songs. Like all clichés, it has some basis in fact, even if not as iconic as it has come to be portrayed. At some point, dancing between the trees started as a simple walk between the trees,…
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By the 1980s, Amitabh Bachchan was at the height of his stardom. While the decade was not the most vibrant for the Hindi film industry in general, Amitabh went on to do some of his most iconic movies at the time. Their success can in no small part also be ascribed to some of the…
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Dil Chahta Hai will remain a landmark film in the world of Hind cinema for many reasons. While it didn’t have the sheer bravado of something like Lagaan from earlier that year, this 2001 film included a change in what was possible within the old tropes, it introduced some important players, and it re-introduced some…
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Raj Kapoor is most often remembered for working on and in his sometimes lavish, opus-like home productions, but he did plenty of other films in his time, like any other star at the prime of their career. Laga chunari mein daag is a song from Dil hi to hai, one such movie, released in 1963.…
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Karam, released in 2005 would certainly qualify as unconventional for a Hindi film, even though it subscribes to all the tropes of its genre. A noir film about an assassin wanting to leave the business for love isn’t exactly standard Hindi film fare, and while it was a decent film, it pretty much sunk without…
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