MUTTERINGS #09: WHY I DON'T DRINK AT POSH HOTELS

At the Coffee House in a six star hotel, the waiter approached me.

Question: "What would you like to have madam? Fruit juice, Soda, Tea, Chocolate, Capuccino, Frapuccino or Coffee?"

I Answer: " Tea please"

Question : " Ceylon tea, Indian tea, Herbal tea, Bush tea, Honey Bush tea, Iced tea or green tea ?"

I Answer : " Ceylon tea "

Question : "How would you like it ? Black or white ?

I Answer: "White"

Question: "Milk or fresh cream?

I Answer: "With milk."

Question: "Soy milk, Goat's milk or Cow's milk?"

I Answer: "With cow's milk please."

Question: " Freezeland cow or Afrikaner cow?"

I Answer: " Um.....I'll just take it black. "

Question: " Would you like it with sweetener, sugar or honey?"

I Answer: "With sugar"

Question: " Beet sugar or cane sugar?"

I Answer: "Cane sugar"

Question:" White, brown or yellow sugar?"

I Answer: "Just forget the tea, give me a glass of water instead."

Question: "Mineral water, tap water or distilled water? "

I Answer: "Mineral water"

Question: "Flavored or non-flavored ?"

I Answer: " WT......, forget it, I think I'll just die of thirst!! "

MUTTERINGS #09: WHY I DON'T DRINK AT POSH HOTELS

MUSIC #19: DOSTI 1964 (HINDI OST)

The movie Dosti (Friendship) was a hit when it premiered in 1964, taking out four Filmfare awards (the Bollywood equivalent of the Oscars), one of which was for best movie of the year. The Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo won the best music director(s) title, along with songwriter Majrooh Sultanpuri for his lyrics of ‘Chahoonga Main Tumhe’. Singer Mohammad Rafi was awarded best male playback singer for the same song. The song has since been one of Mohd Rafi trade-marks. For a comprehensive review of the songs from this movie that led to the Dosti/Rafi mania of 1964, check out Mr Nasir’s post HERE.

As the movie is about the friendship of two young males with physical disabilities (one handicapped and the other blind) and the hardships they had to succumb to, the music of this soundtrack reflects the mood of the movie – sombre. Having said this, the music and songs of the movie does instill a sense of hope to the listeners, for the singers/characters, that there is a happy ending at the end of their perilous journey. Except for ‘Gudiya Kab Tak Na Hasogy’, Mohammad Rafi sang all the songs in the movie. And to quote Mr Nasir, “Rafi Sahaab’s magical rendition of the songs breathed life and spirit in the movie for without it, the movie would have just been a lifeless exercise in morality.” How true.

My verdict: 5 stars.

Trivia:

1. The only movie in Bollywood cinema that made box office record without a heroine role.

2. The movie was Sanjay Khan’s debut film.

3. Most music directors had rejected the assignment as the subject matter (the friendship between a blind and handicapped boy) did not make for pop music. The success of the album (and movie) took Laxmikant-Pyarelal from composers of “B” grade movies to the “A” list league.

Check out the movie review at Bollywood Deewana.

Dosti 1964: The Original Soundtrack


Side One

1. Title Music

2. Chahoonga Main Tujhe – Mohammed Rafi

3. Rahi Manwa – Mohammed Rafi

4. Mera To Jo Bhi Qadam – Mohammed Rafi

Side Two

1. Jaane Walon Zara – Mohammed Rafi

2. Gudiya Kab Tak Na Hasogy – Lata Mangeshkar

3. Meri Dosti Mera Pyar – Mohammed Rafi

Get the music HERE.

MUSIC #19: DOSTI 1964 (HINDI OST)

MUSIC #18: CONNIE FRANCIS – CONNIE FRANCIS SINGS GREAT COUNTRY HITS 1962 (ENGLISH)

I am not much of a country and western (C&W) fan but there are a few singers (and a few songs rather), from 1960’s and 1970’s that I don’t mind including Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lyn and Dolly Parton. Imagine my surprise when I saw this album of Connie Francis as I am more familiar with her pop songs rather than C&W. BTW, this album is dedicated to Probir Mitra. Hope you enjoy it.

Just a quick short bio of Connie: Born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero on 12 December 1938, Connie Francis is an American pop singer of the 1950’s and 60s. Raised in a strict Italian-American family in Newark, New Jersey, her father opposed her relationship with then fellow singer and teen heart-throb Bobby Darin, to the extent of running Bobby out of a concert hall at gun-point, to stay away from his daughter. Connie is best known for singing emotive ballads such as “Who’s Sorry Now” and “Where The Boys Are” and topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles on three occasions with "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" and "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You". Her faster paced songs include "Lipstick on Your Collar" and "Stupid Cupid." She’s been married four times and has an adopted son to her third husband. She quotes not marrying Bobby Darin to be her greatest mistake in life.

Not sure if I would be giving Connie a fair go here by rating this album as I said, I am not much of a C&W person. But there are a few songs I don’t mind from this album, namely “I really don’t want to know”, “I can’t stop loving you”, “Oh, lonesome me” and “Tennessee Waltz” as I think it suits Connie’s voice and personality. The rest just doesn’t do it for me, and I think she massacred “I walk the line”….that song belong to Johnny Cash and Johnny Cash alone! If I had to rate this album, I’d give it two stars. C&W lovers may beg to differ. You be the judge!

NB: There are some minor skips in a couple of the songs. Sorry can’t be helped.

Connie Francis: Connie Francis Sings Great Country Hits 1962


Side One

1. I Walk The Line

2. I Really Don’t Want To Know

3. I’m Movin’ On

4. He Thinks I Still Care

5. I Can’t Stop Loving You

6. Oh, Lonesome Me

7. She’ll have to go

8. Heartaches by the number

Side Two

1. Your Cheatin’ Heart

2. Bye, Bye Love

3. Tennessee Waltz

4. Singing The Blues

5. Half As Much

6. Cold Cold Heart

7. Hearts Of Stone

8. I Am A Fool To Care

PS: Since writing this review, I have had a chance to listen to this album a couple of times and it has sort of grown on me. I now give it three stars.

MUSIC #18: CONNIE FRANCIS – CONNIE FRANCIS SINGS GREAT COUNTRY HITS 1962 (ENGLISH)

MUTTERINGS #08: WHAT A TALE!

A friend sent me this ‘story’ (thanks HK) today and I thought I’d share it with you cos it seems so bizarre, like everything else that happens in America.

This is how the story goes….

A lawyer in Charlotte, North Carolina purchased a box of 24 very rare and expensive cigars, and then insured them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month of having smoked his entire cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated that the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.'

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion – by smoking them. The lawyer then sued the insurance company and WON!

In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was therefore obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the ' small fires'.

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine!

This story supposedly won First Place the 2001 Criminal Lawyers Award contest.

However, this sounded too good to be true so I did a Google search (yes, I am a kill joy) and found that it was not a true story (see article HERE). But I have to give the writer kudos for a very active imagination. Well done. And it did make a good story, if nothing else!

BTW, I will be posting a new music album later today. Watch this space.

MUTTERINGS #08: WHAT A TALE!

MUSIC #17: KHILONA 1970 (HINDI OST)

One of my favourite movies of the 70’s as it stars my favourite actress Mumtaz (she is so beautiful) and the awesome actor Sanjeev Kumar (see LP cover above).

The music of Khilona (Toy or Play Thing) is by duo Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma, collectively known as Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Between 1963 and 1998, they composed the music for about 500 Hindi movies – what a feat! The lyrics for Khilona are by another Bollywood (the terminology used to describe the Hindi movie industry in India) music legend, Anand Bakshi – he wrote the song lyrics for over 300 films.

The most popular (and known) song of the album would be ‘Khilona Jan Kar’, famous not only for its music and lyrics, but also for its singer, Mohd Rafi (and to some extend, the actor Sanjeev Kumar). It’s my favourite song from the album too. Check out the lyrics and translation of this song at this awesome site: Nasir’s Eclectic Blog. Then there is ‘Main Sharabi Nahin’ followed by ‘Khush Rahe Too Sada’ and ‘Sanam Too Bewafa’.

Most of the songs in this album are sentimental and mujra (Moghul-influenced Kathak music) in nature with only ‘Roz Roz Rozi’ and ‘Main Sharabi Nahin’ breaking the monotony, as in quicker in terms of the tempo.

My verdict: 4 star plus….as I love sentimental and mujra-style music - I can just imagine myself twirling around in an angarkha and chudidaar¹ when I listen to music of this style.

Khilona 1970: The Original Soundtrack


Side One

1. Khilona Jan Kar – Mohd Rafi

2. Main Sharabi Nahin – Mohd Rafi and Asha Bhosle

3. Roz Roz Rozi – Kishore Kumar and Kishore Kumar

Side Two

1. Khush Rahe Too Sada – Mohd Rafi

2. Sanam Too Bewafa – Lata Mangeshkar

3. Yeh Natak Kavi – Manna Dey and Chorus

Get the music of Khilona HERE.

1. An angarkha and chudidaar is a two piece pant suit, with the top consisting of a tight fitting bodice and flared from beneath the bosom to the knees or below, worn with tight fitting trousers, scrunched at the ankles – see picture of Madhuri Dixit from the film Devdas wearing an angarkha below.

MUSIC #17: KHILONA 1970 (HINDI OST)

MUSIC #16: PAKEEZAH 1972 (HINDI OST)

This album was requested by fellow blogger Bollywood Dewana. Here you go mate, as promised, the OST to Pakeezah (Pure of Heart).

The music for the movie Pakeezah is by Ghulam Mohammad and Naushad and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Kaif Bhopali and Kamal Amrohi (who is also the director of the movie). The making of this movie was plagued with one controversy after another and it took 14 years to complete, during which more tragedy occurred. The reason for the two music directors is that the first music director, Ghulam Mohammad died before the movie and soundtrack was completed. Naushad was asked to step in to compose more songs for the movie, namely the film's background music and title music.

The main reason for the 14 year delay was the marriage break-down of director Kamal Amrohi and his wife, the leading star of Pakeezah, Meena Kumari (pictured below). Not only did music director Ghulam Mohammad pass away during this time, so did the movie’s cinematographer Josef Wirsching. It’s been said that over a dozen of Bombay's top cinematographers helped in finalising the movie.

By the time both Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari were convinced to resume shooting of the film, Meena Kumari was quite ill with cirrhosis. When filming continued, she was lying down in most of her scenes and for the dance sequences, actress Padma Khanna was used as a body double and can be seen in the long-shots. Meena Kumari died a few weeks after the film was released.

During the 1972 Film Awards, actor Pran refused to accept his award for Be-Imaan because he felt that Ghulam Mohammed deserved a posthumous Filmfare award for his music in Pakeezah.

Most of the music of Pakeezah is in the form of Moghul-influenced Kathak style music. The use of traditional Indian instruments such as the sitar¹ and tabla² and the chimes of the ghunghroo (thick anklets made from between 50 to 200 bells) are prevalent in the music. It’s the type of music one sits back to, with their favourite drink in hand, be it a cup of garam, garam chai (very hot tea) or a nice port or sherry, and savour the music. It’s like classical European music - You either like it or hate it! My favourites from Pakeezah are ‘Chalte Chalte’, ‘Inhi Logon Ne’, ‘Chalo Dildar Chalo’ and ‘Thare Rahiyo’.

My verdict: 5 stars.

Pakeezah 1972: The Original Soundtrack


Side One

1. Title Music – Alap³ by Lata Mangeshkar

Music: Naushad

2. Inhi Logon Ne – Lata Mangeshkar

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

3. Nazariya Ki Mari – Raj Kumari

Music: Naushad

4. Chalo Dildar Chalo – Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd Rafi

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Kaif Bhopali

5. Kaun Gali – Parveen Sultana

Music: Naushad

6. Teer-E-Nazar – Lata Mangeshkar

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Kaif Bhopali

Side Two

1. Thare Rahiyo – Lata Mangeshkar

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

2. Mausam Hai Ashiqana – Lata Mangeshkar

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Kamal Amrohi

3. Mora Sajan – Vani Jairam

Music: Naushad

4. Chalte Chalte – Lata Mangeshkar

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Get the album HERE.

Footnotes:

1. The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument used in Hindustani classical music since the middle ages. It derives its resonance from sympathetic strings, a long hollow neck and a gourd shaped resonating chamber.

2. The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical, popular and devotional music. The instrument consists of a pair of drums of contrasting sizes and the music is created by either tapping the drums with the fingers or by using the base of the hand. The word tabla is derived from the Arabic word, tabl, which simply means "drum."

3. An alap is the opening section of a North Indian classical performance. It is unmetered, improvised (within the raga or music scale) and unaccompanied (except for the tanpura, a type of Indian lute) and starts at a slow tempo. In instrumental performance and singing, this part receives heavy emphasis and can last for more than an hour.

Look out for my next posting: Khilona 1970

MUSIC #16: PAKEEZAH 1972 (HINDI OST)

MUTTERINGS #07: VYJAYANTHIMALA

As I have just reviewed the OST of Sangam and Jewel Thief, I thought a quick spill on the heroine of these movies would be most apt. I am talking about Vyjayanthimala, of course

Vyjayanthimala was born on 13 August 1936, in Madras (present day Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. She studied bharatanatyam (one of the oldest form of classical Indian dance originating from Tamil Nadu, India which combines the art of expression, music and rhythm) from a young age and performed in front of the Pope when she was just four. She was ‘discovered’ when she was 15, during her final year at school, by family friend and Tamil film director M.V. Raman, for a role in the Tamil film 'Vazhkai'. This movie was successful at the box office and was re-made in Hindi and released as 'Bahaar' in 1951. She made around 62 movies, in both Hindi and Tamil languages.

Vyjayanthimala got her leading Hindi movie role in Nagin (1954). Her dance routine for the song ‘Man Dole, Mera Tan Dole’, in the movie made it a hit and Vyjayanthimala an overnight success. This lead to director Bimal Roy casting her as the role of Chandramukhi, opposite superstar Dilip Kumar in the critically acclaimed Devdas (1955). She subsequently starred in four successful films opposite him, two of which she received best actress awards: Naya Daur (1957), Madhumati (1958), Ganga Jamuna (1961) and Leader (1964). She received the Filmfare Best Actress Awards for Madhumati and Ganga Jamuna. She also received a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for her role as a courtesan in Sadhna (1958) which she co-starred with Sunil Dutt.

She caused some controversy with the release of her next hit movie, Sangam (1964), which earned her another Filmfare Best Actress Award. She wore a fire-engine red swimsuit in the song ‘Bol Radha Bol’ and her attire in the song ‘Main Kya Karo Ram’ was considered quite risqué. It was also rumoured that she had an affair with co-star Raj Kapoor, which she dismissed, stating that it was a publicity stunt by Raj Kapoor to boost his waning image.

In 1966, she starred in the historical epic 'Amrapali', based on the life of the legendary Buddhist courtesan Amrapali. The movie was not a commercial success, and the failure disappointed her as she considered her efforts in the movie to be the pinnacle of her acting ability. She did however make many more hit movies such as Suraj (1966) with Rajendra Kumar, Jewel Thief (1967) and Duniya (1968) with Dev Anand and Prince (1969) with Shammi Kapoor, to name a few.

Vyjayanthimala fell in love with Raj Kapoor's personal physician, Dr. Chamanlal Bali, who treated her for pneumonia after she fell into a lake while shooting for a film. He was married at that time. The two grew close and later married after he divorced his first wife. Vyjayanthimala quit acting after her marriage and relocated to Chennai from Mumbai, where she took an active role in Indian politics and became a Member of Parliament. She however quit politics in 1999. The Balis have one son, Suchindra Bali.

Trivia: In 1956, Vyjayanthimala won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for her role as Chandramukhi in Devdas but did not accept the award as she felt that her role was not a supporting one - the strong-headed actress felt she was as much the heroine of the film as Suchitra Sen, who played Paro. That was the first time a person had declined to receive a Filmfare Award! You go girrrl!

NB: In time, I will be posting all the original vinyl soundtracks from the above listed movies….except Devdas – the album still eludes me, and Bahaar. At this point in time, the OST from Sangam (1964) and Jewel Thief (1967) are already up.

Watch this space!

MUTTERINGS #07: VYJAYANTHIMALA