bhoole bisre chitr (Forgotten movies of the bygone era): An ode to my FIL

[RBee]

bhoole bisre chitr (Forgotten movie of the bygone era)

Since my FIL is here with us, we have started watching few Hindi movies of 1960s and 1970s era.. My DH and I watch popular bollywood movies on Bi-weekly or Monthly basis but both of us had not seen the movies of 60s or 70s much as it was much before we were born..We sit with our FIL to watch whichever movie he picks on weekends..This exercise has allowed us to understand his taste as well his knowledge of movies 1960s/1970s Hindi movies.. He has his favorite actors/actresses/character artists and can go on explaining the nuances between different lyricists like Shailendra,Majrooh Sultanpuri, Anand Bhakshi and different music directors like Shankar-Jaikishen, SD Burman, Vasant Desai ..

This thread is dedicated for reviews of movies we watch with him as an ode to my FIL's filmi knowledge..:thup:

bhoole bisre chitr (Forgotten movie of the bygone era) : Sangam 1964
Produced and Directed by Raj Kapoor. This movie took 4 long years to make. I think the delay was due to the fact that movie was pictured in foreign locations like London/Paris/Switzerland/Venice which was unheard those days.. Usual love triangle but what stands out are the songs.. My FIL says Shankar-Jaikishan/Shailendra/Mukesh combo was golden for RK. There are playful 'bol radha bol sangam' or 'Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega'.. Then there are melancholic tunes 'Dost Dost Na Raha' or the 'Oh Mere Sanam' or evergreen 'Ye Mera prem patra padh kar'

Story:
Radha, Sunder, Gopal are childhood friends.. Radha loves Gopal and he too reciprocates but Sunder doesn't understand her feelings and relentlessly pursues her.. Gopal sacrifices to make his friend happy, sad Radha is forced to marry Sunder. See movie to see what happens next..

RK was 40 years when the movie is released, so his age shows but his voice is nice, pronunciations are proper. The Beautiful Vyjayanthi Mala was 28 but she looks younger than that; even though she is south Indian, her Hindi diction is perfect unlike Sridevis and Hemamalinis.. Rajendra Kumar looks older but his acting is nice.. He portrayed the silent lover part perfectly..

Trivia(from wiki):
2001 Hollywood film Pearl Harbor, which has a strikingly similar story line must have been inspired by this movie but only one friend is a pilot in Sangam, whereas both are pilots in Pearl Harbor

Nitpicky nuggets (only from RBee):
1. Film was released in 1964 but shot for 2-3 years.. In Early 1960s, marriage age of girls was around 16-22.. Radha, Gopal, Sunder are childhood friends but Radha is still unmarried when Flight Lt. Sunder Khanna aged 35 is declared dead in mission in Kashmir.. He gets Param Veer Chakra posthumously, she receives it but when he returns back after 2 years unharmed, she and Gopal are still unmarried eventhough they must be in their mid or late 30s !!

2. Sunder is a newbie in Indian AirForce but he is given full responsibility to lead the mission. I thought responsibilities go as per seniority in IAF..

3. Gopal is a magistrate but seems to be driving flashiest convertibles.. Arey Bhai, itna paisa kahan se aayega magistrate ko (how/where does he get so much money)

4. Radha seems to drop her pallu very frequently.. There is not much show of cleavage in the blouses of 1960s but come on, why wear saree instead of chudidar and then drop pallu !

Verdict: One time watch for all the songs and Rajendra Kumar performance and Vyjayanthi Mala Beauty

Please feel free to add your feelings...

[FlavourFlave]

Had no idea you were so young OP.

[Hyderabadi]

bhoole bisre chitr

Please feel free to add your feelings...

Chitr in North India means a beating... :p

[Hyderabadi]

Had no idea you were so young OP.

Oh no! Not again..... Now you will get a chitr. :)

[RBee]

bhoole bisre chitra (Forgotten movie of the bygone era) : Abhimaan 1973

Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The real life couple Amitabh and Jaya play the lead roles..They were not married when the shooting took place but they were dating, so their chemistry in the movie is indisputable.. People speculated that it was real life ego clash portrayed as during the shooting of the movie, Jaya was more marketable than Amitabh .. But 1973 Zanjeer movie which was instrumental in his Angry young Man image got released just 2 months before Abhimaan and then rest is history..

Story:
Subir Kumar (Amitabh Bachchan) is a playback singer with soaring popularity.. He is hugely popular and monetarily very successful due to his filmi songs.. In a chance encounter meets Uma (Jaya Bhaduri), a very simple village girl but with a divine voice.. She is a classically trained singer groomed under the tutelage of her own father.. Subir falls in love with Uma's voice and simplicity and marries her.. After returning to Mumbai with his new bride, Subir decides that Uma too should sing in duets with him and encourages her to pursue playback singing career.. Since she is more talented than him, Uma's singing career forges ahead than Subir's with producers willing to pay more money to her than him..His male ego cannot take this and his violent outbursts tear their relation apart resulting in a very big emotional turmoil to Uma.. See the movie to see how this ego havocs their life, whether Subir can swallow his pride or Uma has to sacrifice her career to bring back marital harmony...

Since the story revolves around 2 singers, music has to be the highlight of the movie and it is..All songs are good like Ab To Hai Tumse Har Khushi Apni,Loote Koi Man Ka Nagar, Meet Na Mila Re Man Ka, Nadiya Kinare, Piya Bina Piya Bina but Tere Mere Milan Ki Yeh Raina by Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Teri Bindiya Re by Mohmd. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar are class apart from the rest..Lyrics written by Majrooh Sultanpuri and music composed by Sachin Dev Burman are first class..

Performance wise it is Jaya who steals the show and limelight from every one..Asrani, David, Bindu, AK Hangal, Durga Khote play the support cast very well.. AB Sr was good but his character has negative shades and he hasn't done full justice to that.. I wonder if he would have accepted the same role after he became superstar..

Trivia (from RBee's FIL):
1. People speculated that movie portrayed real life ego clash of Amitabh-Jaya, Kishor Kumar-Ruma Ghosh ,and Sitar maestros Ravi Sankar and Annapurna Devi...But Monty Nath (son of Prem Nath-Bina Rai) mentioned in his filmfare interview that it was actually the ego clash of his parents when Bina Rai had surged ahead of Prem Nath. Professional jealousy and his own failure led to Prem Nath's drinking and womanizing issues ..Bina Rai is remembered for her iconic movies like Anarkali, Taj Mahal and Ghunghat.. Bina Rai quit film industry at 1968 to save her marriage but suffered mental breakdown due to difficulties in their matrimony.. Family's monetary status rebounded once Prem Nath started accepting villain and character artist support roles..

2. Movie shows Uma as more talented than Subir but Subir's songs are sung by Kishor Kumar, Manhar Udhas, Mohammed Rafi means he had more range than Uma whose songs are sung just by Lata Mangeshkar :)

3. Bindu was known for just vamp or club dancer roles but this movie allowed her to have a sympathetic girl friend role who empathizes with both Subir and Uma..

Verdict: Must watch for all the songs and Jaya's performance and HM's direction.. AB Sr too has acted well but his performance is one notch below Jaya's in my view..

Please feel free to add your review of this movie and your opinion on whether Indian husband can accept wife's success without any ego if she is more successful than him :)...

[FlavourFlave]

Oh no! Not again..... Now you will get a chitr. :)

As far as I know, "Chitr" means image. "Chalchitr" means moving image which is what films are.

As for the topic in question, my favourite decade for Hindi cinema is the 70s. Gol Mall from 1979 is a gem and so is Arth from the early 80s.

There are many others like Deewaar. I shall write them here as I think of them.

Shabani Azmi's Ek Aadmi from 1988 was also good if I am not getting it mixed up with something else.

[vapasi1]

I have tried to watch Sangam many times but failed. Just cant tolerate any of the leads in that movie.

I like DevAnand and Dilip Kumar of that era. Have watched Guide, Naya Daur, Devdas (old B&W) multiple times. Can watch any of their movies. Among heroines, I like Waheeda Rehman.

Abhimaan - Watched it a few times. Awesome music. JB is very good but ABSr is also not too far behind. His is a very restrained and measured performance.

Being a ABSr fan, I used to watch only his movies. Missed the Rajesh Khanna craze. So lately I have taken to watching some of his movies.

[VS007]

Agreed all RK movies are a torture and he is an irritating character to watch his bad copy of Charlie Chaplin. And the face he makes for the song of ?awaara hoon? , one feels like giving him a tight slap when he turns the face at end of the line [emoji846]

Mukesh has a nice voice when he sing for other heroes, but all of the RK songs with his nasal accent is to be skipped.

[anwesha]

I don’t like love triangles, it’s a disgusting plot which has been beaten to death in film industry.
Also, movies are good to watch /makes sense only in respective time it was taken. Song lyrics, music, rendering style – these are timeless.
Liked your review, but I wouldn’t watch the movies for its songs, instead prefer just listening to it. (over)acting in song picturization takes away the beauty of the songs. Like VS007 mentioned ... hero/heroine's face looks so odd!
My absolute fav 70’s movie is Amar Prem. I like everything about this movie - story, setting, acting, songs, lyrics. Sharmila’s outfits are so apt for every scene.

Remembering old songs brought back some memories/incident from college days I had almost forgotten. will write about the bhooli bisri yadein later : )

[RBee]

Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam 1962
Produced by Guru Dutt and (ghost)Directed by him too though the credits show the director as Abrar Alvi. Meena Kumari's one of the iconic movies.

Story:
Tragic plot depicting a platonic friendship between a beautiful, lonely wife (Bibi) of a rich Bengali (Sahib) and a low class servant living in their mansion who sympathasizes with the wife(Ghulam). Meenakumari got a filmfare award for her performance but ably supported by Guru Dutt (servant role), Waheeda Rehman(a playful friend of Ghulam who at the end is shown as his wife wedded to him in their childhood), and Rehman (who portray's Meena's husband role)..Soulful music and a good performance by all these 4 actors make it watchable..'Piya Aiso Jiya Mein Samaaye Gayo Re' and 'Na Jao Saiyaan Chhuda Ke Baiyaan' songs stay with you for many days..

If Devdas showed the opulence of Bengali Zamindars in 2002, this 1962 Black and White movie tried to show the same in 1962.. It was based on a novel but the movie ending is not tragic atleast for the Ghulam (and his supposed wife)..

Ironically Geeta Dutt who was real life wife of Guru Dutt has 2 soul rendering songs in the movie and was suffering from marital infidelity of her husband.
Piya Aiso Jiya Mein Samaaye Gayo Re and Na Jao Saiyaan Chhuda Ke Baiyaan

Trivia (from RBee's FIL, but have attached wiki link for more reading on 2):
1. Ironically Geeta Dutt who was real life wife of Guru Dutt has 2 soul rendering songs in the movie when she herself was suffering from marital infidelity of her husband. Geeta's soulful voice was unique and you can make that out in Piya Aiso Jiya Mein Samaaye Gayo Re and Na Jao Saiyaan Chhuda Ke Baiyaan

2. Meena Kumari was the top actress then. She had continued acting even after a decade of marriage with Kamal Amrohi but soon after this movie, the relationship started going downhill. She became an addict to alcohol and an insomniac and they seperated in 1964. Movie mirrors some of her real life strife and the relationship with young actor/director (Dharmendra, Gulzar). She also died at the young age of 39, just 10 years after this movie


Verdict: Must watch for all the songs (though print I watched was not very good), a unique story of a wife who becomes alcoholic just to keep her husband home and star performances