Jai Ma Durga

Date: 19 Oct 2007
Location: Chittaranjan Park Kali Bari, New Delhi
Camera: Sony DSC-T9

TAJ

Date: 29 May 2007
Location: Agra
Camera: Sony DSC-T9

ENTER'TRAIN'MENT

Date: 29 Jan 2006
Place: Garhmukteshwar, U P
Camera: Canon A75

UNITED COLOURS OF AMBY

Date: 06 August 2006
Place: Hyderabad
Camera: Olympus C765US

Trikaal (1985) - A Review

One of the best things about the so-called parallel cinema movement in the 80's was the amazing variety of subjects that it chose to portray it’s cinematic idiom with. Moving away from the urban-mainstream clutter of boy-meets-girl themes and angry young man against entire corrupt system (although not in entirety), the film-makers chose to scourge the hinterland and look for something different, even unique.

Shyam Benegal's “Trikaal – Past, Present and Future” is one the most delightful of those films. I had seen this film several times earlier, on Doordarshan where they would show such wonderful movies from directors like Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Gautam Ghosh, Budhadev Dasgupta, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and others. Today with so many dedicated movie channels, does even one of them show those movies. I cannot recall seeing a benegal film (barring Bose, which was interspersed with so many ad breaks that it made the long movie seem longer and much more tiresome) or a Nihalani film (not even Thakshak or Dev which he made with big stars) for a long time.

Such were the treats of the pre-satellite television era.

The movie is a colorful atmospheric insight into the Souza-Sourez family pushed into a crisis by the death of the head of the family, Ernesto. The family is now under the head of the matriarch Dona Maria (Leela Naidu) who refuses to accept the death of her husband and attempts to bring back his spirit through a séance , which she conducts at least three times during the course of the movie.

Despite being led by Naseeruddin Shah, this film is essentially about cameos. And there are numerous. K K Raina as the false teethed, hen-pecked house husband, Anita Kanwar as the ever crying ever-sulking wife (delightful to watch), Keith Stevenson as the Doctor Pereira, Salim Ghouse as the priest. In fact the film features a veritable whos-who of actors, most of whom made a name for themselves in television. Neena Gupta, Jayant Kripalani, Soni Razdan, Akash Khurana and so on.

Most of the film revolves around............... well, nothing in particular. Come to think of it, it is no more a story than it is a slice of a life that has ceased to exist, as the elder Ruiz Pereira (Naseer) ruefully contemplates.(Even the roads that were used earlier aren't used anymore , as the cab driver informs us). The theme of a forgotten past recurs throughout the film. The old housekeeper refuses to divulge anything. The Souza-Sourez family house is itself in ruins.

Two or three other "themes" run in the movie. The fate of Portugese in post-independence Goa is brilliantly captures in the fears of the lead characters, who are faced in a dilemma whether to join the Indian Nation which they feel alien to or to go back to Portugal where they know they will face persecution because they are 'aliens' there. The character of Leon (Dalip Tahil playing a revolutionary) with whom the sympathies of Dona Maria (and the audience) lies, solves the dilemma for us.

Then there is the love story of Anna (Sushma Prakash). She is engaged to Erasmo (Lucky Ali, credited as Maqsoom Ali). However Anna has a childhood crush on Leon. To complicate matters, young Ruiz (Kunal Kapoor in an inspired performance) is head over heels in love with her and sings songs professing his love to her all through out.

Which brings us to the music. How many times in cinema do you see a scene in a film with four real-life singers playing parts. And if those singers be Remo Fernandez, Alisha Chinoy, Lucky Ali and Ila Arun. In these times even geting them on the same stage would be difficult !!!

Remo infuses the typical Goan charm through his love-ballads and his duet with Alisha in the engagement dance is a treat. Arun too gets to flex her vocal chords.

A movie which should be watched for the sheer joy of seeing all these characters come to life in the deft hands of Benegal!

Intensely Profound Statements from movies - 1

'There are two types of kids in this world. One which wants to be astromoners and the other who want to be astronauts.'

Jurassic Park III

What's in a poster !!!

Taking nothing away from the fact that Eklavya could be wonderful movie, (rave review here), there's just one small thing that I just couldn't help noticing.
How similar is the poster to that for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl !!!

Eklavya (2007)


Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Go Figure !!

Is Delhi Burning?

The 3-day strike called by the traders in Delhi is finally over.

But there is no solution yet in sight.

The government has done what only it can do.....postpone the issue.

As The Times of India reports, the traders have tried everything from "gandhigiri' to "dadagiri".

Nothing worked. Nothing can. You just can't create a mess and walk away from it as if nothing happened.

Now political parties are getting into the the fray (as usual) and wanting to extract maximum mileage. Some have called this an open invitation to disrupt law and order in the national capital.
And indeed it is so.

Schools are scared. Parents are scared.

Delhi, it seems, is burning.

DON – Music Review

There is something about remixes that irritates me.

I mean, you take a perfectly acceptable song ( in some cases, classics) and then squeeze it, grind it, cut and paste bits from other songs and overall make a mickey out of it and finally the output is – for want of a better word – a “raped” song – titillating , yet obscene. Very very few “remixers” (or DJ’s, if you will) can actually take a song and take it to a higher level and make you listen to it on a repeat mode instead of searching for the original to restore some sanity.

The “Dance Masti” albums by Instant Karma managed to do that. “Samne Yeh Kaun Aaya” and “Dil Kya Kare” from the first album, then followed up with “Hum Bewafa” , “Bahon Mein Chale Aayo” and “Hawa Hawa” in “The Return of Dance Masti” and then and “Aaja Piya” are arguably the best remixes by far (and with proper credits in the dust jackets, unlike others). And Instant Karma was none other than Loy, Ehsaan, Farhaad and Shankar, who also gave film music as Shankar – Ehsaan - Loy.

So why do they make a hash of the one genuine project where they have to do nothing new? I mean when they have already done the best remixes, why do they screw it up in the in the manner that they have. In addition they (and this includes Farhan Akhtar also) have left some of the other gems from the original movie that are so critical that I seriously doubt whether they will be able to cover those up.

The album begins with “Main Hoon Don” by Shaan, which starts so much like the Baadshah title song that I had to listen to the opening strains again to confirm that I was indeed listening to Don. No, the song per se is okay, but it does not have the character the “Main Hoon Don” song in AB’s Don had. The lyrics are “boring” and tedious. Shaan sings well, well. And the techno trance hooks that S-E-L tries to juxtapose, simply don’t work. There was a remix of the original song called “DJ Don” some time back, the video of which had Jackie Shroff as the Don that had more impact than this one. I mean for a title song of a movie that you want to be “THE MOVIE” of the year, “Main Hoon Don” disappoints.

Next up is Sunidhi Chauhan in “Yeh Mera Dil”. Now I have two serious issues with this one. Firstly they truncate the classic opening strands, which were techno beyond anyone’s wildest dreams and copied shamelessly by Black Eyed Peas in “Don't Phunk with My Heart”. Secondly, Instant Karma had a near perfect remix of “Yeh Mera Dil” in “The Return of Dance Masti” and this song is no patch on that one. Wouldn’t it have simpler to just keep that song instead of remixing the remix? And mind you this song is still the best song in album, coz Sunidhi sings like a dream and S-E-L don’t deviate much from the original soundtrack.

Next is “Moreya Re” a Ganpati festival song, which I suppose will do the same job that “Yeh Hai Mumbai Nagariya” did in the original. This song is well, OK. But how well it will work as a set piece to introduce the “other one” remains to be seen till the movie releases. You see the film “Don” by Chandra Barot (of which you can a read an excellent review here) was a film that was symbolic of the seventies. It was iconic in all sense. It was a movie built around set pieces. Each character had a set piece scene for which he shall be forever remembered. Each song was a set piece. “Main Hoon Don” was a set piece for the Don; “Yeh Mera Dil” was for Helen”. “Yeh Hai Mumbai Nagariya” was for the lookalike. “Jiska Mujhe Thha Intezaar” was for Zeenat Aman (which by the way is not present in this version). And “Khaike Paan Banaraswala” was another story all together. All the characters were etched put even if small. Pran, Helen, the two kids, McMohan, On Shivpuri, each one had their roles cut out. It was set piece after set piece after set piece. And that is why the film worked. It gave you no time to think, no ‘whys’ only ‘whats’.

OK. OK. Enough deviation from the track already. The next song is the classic “Khaike Pan Banaraswala”. Enough has been written on how “bad” the song is. Let me not punish them further by saying anything worse. But really, it is difficult to separate which part of the song is the worst part. Is it the starting ditty by Udit or is it the middle of the song blabbering by SRK.

Finally there is the 80s “Aaj Ki Rat”, which is so much like “Raat Baaki Baat Baaki” that I could almost hear Bappida crooning behind the mike.

I am not commenting on the remixes of the remixes, because I did not hear them, very simply because I was too tired already, with the uninspiring music.

I had to go back to S-E-L’s “Bunty Aur Babli” to soothe my nerves, and my ears. S-E-L’s latest albums have not been up to the mark at all. Complacency, anyone? After sweeping all awards last year for B&B, this year has been such a dull year (read as Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna) from Shankar Ehsaan and Loy that all you hear nowadays are nasal banalities from you know who.

Kyunki Ba Bhi Kabhi Beti Thi

A well known fact is that all the "K" serials that are telecast on all the channels are a pain in the a%^@. What is not publicised is exactly how much painful they actually are.......
Bereft of all logic and common sense, they continue to assault our senses day in and day out. And the sad part is that they are all so frighteningly addictive that you simply cannot do without them. (The other options do not exist if you stay with our family and both your parents are glued to Tulsi and Kashish and Prerna)

But that is not the whole point of this post.

This has more to do with the age of the characters in the serials. Or rather the agelessness of them. Take for example Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, the lead character Tulsi, by conservative estimates, is at least 80 years old. Yes, Eighty years. And you should see the spright in her step, her total body language and all that. Don't believe me...Well here is a back of the hand calculation.

Assume she got married at 18 (the minimum legal age of marriage). The serial has taken two 20 year time leaps. Then she was in prison for about 10-14 years. So add it up and it comes to 70-72.

Then let's add the normal course of time shown during the serial (barring time leaps), say it's around 5-7 years.

OK and add to that the years in which Tulsi's husband was absent and was in Australia or New Zealand with the Mandira Bedi character. That should be around 2-3 years. So adding it all up again....Viola!, we have the character aging 80 years at least. And this is just a rough estimate.

So her husband should be around 82-83. By the way he was about to get married a couple of weeks ago !......

And where does that leave Ba, the matriarch. She was a grandmother when Tulsi got married. Assume around 60-65 minimum. Add to that the 62 years that the serial has moved on and we get a character aged 125 plus.

Wow ! This is one hell of a geriatric friendly show !!

And one does have to admit that India finally does science fiction with ease. And this serial is a living proof. This serial began in 1999 and assuming real time dynamics this serial is now showing us things that will happen in the year 2061....Amazing..!!!!

And this is not the only serial to do so, the other popular soap Kasautti Zindagi Ki also has similar , or rather even more bolder geriatric romance themes. The serial has taken three time jumps and all the lead characters in their early 90s and they are still yearning for other people's wives and getting married and all that, without even a gray hair on their head.

All this geriatric action surely proves that you can actually be "old and bold and beautiful".....

Love him, loathe him but you cannot ignore him...Now he will act.

Oz finally completes his "work of fiction" (or maybe it isn't! - Isn't any community in India getting hurt?) "The MBA Gang".
It is all in all a very good read.
Dan Brown take note...There is a new Conspiracy Theorist in town...

Shoot the Messenger

A few weeks ago there was a full-page article, in the Sunday Times of India, on a certain Raghav Mahto, a 22 year old mechanic in Mansoorpur, Bihar, who had started his own FM radio channel, which had quietly transformed the lives of the villagers, cut off as they were from the world, ironically because of the public broadcasters, AIR and Doordarshan. He was giving them their programming, in their language and about them. The article commended the actions of the young man and gave him as an example of how a small idea can bring about a major societal change.

Yesterday, while reading “Men and Ideas”, the weekly column by Gurcharan Das, again in the Sunday Times of India, I came to know that “Two weeks ago, on March 27, his station was closed and his equipment seized because he broke two laws, he did not possess a license and he gave news on FM Radio. A formal complaint has also been lodged against him”

My simple question to Mr. Mahto is, What were you thinking, giving the people what they want? How dare you try to take on AIR, which has the sole right to rule the airwaves in India? And news, have you gone mad, Instead of giving excerpts of a daily diary of the minister of state of agriculture, you give local news? Insane, I must say.

So, a criminal you are and thou shall pay the price for it.

And so shall shooters Samaresh and Anjali Jung. You shall be seeing less and less of them in the future.

Their crime, they dared to speak about the Sports Infrastructure in India. (To their credit, they did steer clear of any comments on their own federation, and they also did not directly make any comments on any other sports federation) But when they stated the simple facts about the conditions of sports camps - ill-kempt toilets, mosquito-ridden sleeping quarters, poor training facilities, power problems, unhygienic food and official apathy, what they left unsaid actually said a lot. So do you think they will get away with it? I doubt it.

As they say, if you can't stand the message - Shoot the Messenger (or may be in the second case “Shoot the Shooters”?)

Love is like baldness

Came across this nugget in the blogosphere…..

This from http://amar-akbar-anthony.blogspot.com/ Has some more interesting posts….

Love is like baldness*

and other insights from and thoughts on The Adventures of Hir and Ranjha by Waris Shah (transl. Usborne)

*Love is like baldness. You cannot get rid of it even in twelve years.

***
Introduction, Note 14,: The Chenab is the most romantic of all punjab rivers, and one of the most romantic anywhere. The romances of Hir and Ranjha, Sohni and Mahiwal and Mirza and Sahiban are all associated with the Chenab. Incidentally all of them are tragedies, the story in each case ending in the death of both lover and sweetheart. [note to self - avoid meeting girl near Chenab] The idea of 'getting married and living happily ever afterwards', so popular in Europe, seems to be alien to punjabi tradition [wonderful. what I thought was bad luck turns out to be a proud cultural tradition], where great love affairs are concerned. To the average punjabi, it might even appear cheap and vulgar.

***

Chapter 1: We are introduced to Ranjha. He doesn't do any work, preferring to spend his days admiring his reflection, putting yoghurt in his long hair, singing and playing the flute. He is his father's favourite child, who may have thought Ranjha was his daughter.

His father dies, and Ranjha finds that 'evil days have fallen upon me'! He has to work for a living now, you see. He decides to leave the village.

***

Chapter 5: Ranjha sees the beautiful Hir for the first time. His chat-up line is: 'Be gentle with me, sweet heart.' Hir is so impressed, she goes and sits in his lap before another word is exchanged.

Small talk follows [what is your name and caste? how much is your salary? may I be a leper and lose my sight and limbs if i seek any husband save Ranjha]

Hir decides that she must convince her father to hire Ranjha as a cowherd. Cowherding may not be a glamorous profession, but Hir knows it offers opportunities to the young lovers for discreet and frequent romantic liaisons.

***

Chapter 7: 'Their soft eyes were lotus buds and their teeth like rows of pearls.' Ranjha finds himself in charge of a very attractive herd of buffaloes.

***

Chapter 8: Hir goes to see Ranjha in the 'forest', where he has taken the buffaloes for grazing. There they exchange sweet-nothings:

Ranjha: 'The word of women, boys, hemp smokers and bhang smokers cannot be trusted,'
Hir: 'I am yours to do with as you will. You may sell me in the bazaar if it so pleases you.'

Their relationship is blossoming. Hir begins to visit Ranjha every day.

***

Chapter 9: Hir's mother Milka knows what is going on, and she disapproves: 'Daughters who are disobedient to their parents are not daughters but prostitutes' she sniffs.

While Hir did tell Ranjha in the previous chapter that he could pimp her if he liked, we feel Milka is exaggerating matters. But as we will see throughout the story, Hir's family like to exaggerate a lot.

Note 2 for the chapter states: The expression [daughters who are...] is by no means unfamiliar in the punjab villages even now. [now = ?]

***

Chapter 9 cont.d: Hir's family have now all learnt of the affair. They have lots of creative ideas to set things right.

Kaidu, Hir's uncle: 'Marry a naughty girl as soon as you can. Or else break her head and cut her into small pieces'

Milki, Hir's mother: 'You bad girl, you should be drowned in the deep stream for causing such a scandal'

Chuckak, Hir's father: 'Why did you not suffocate her when she was born, Milki, or poison her when she was a baby?'

***

Chapter 10: doesn't make any sense to me. First Ranjha gets fired, then the romantically inclined buffaloes refuse to eat and generally get in trouble, then Ranjha is asked to come back, and so we are back to where we started.

But one must also find time to admire the neat sexual double-standards. While Hir was previously called a hussy and a prostitute and threatened with murder by her own family, Ranjha is called friend by Hir's father and merely relieved of his job.

Then there's the offer Hir's mother makes to Ranjha to return to his job. Come back and milk our buffaloes and spread Hir's couch. They don't mean he is to be the domestic help either. Our cattle, our wealth...and Hir are all yours

It seems that family honour and scandal and a daughter's chastity are all subordinate to the welfare of the family buffaloes. This is good news for our lovers.

Meanwhile, I have the uneasy suspicion that Hir is not the only one in love with Ranjha. I am thinking of course of the buffaloes.

***

Chapter 11: Hir's family don't know what to make of chapter 1O either. So they pretend it never happened and continue where chapter 9 left off:

Chuchak, Hir's father: 'Rip open her belly with a sickle, pierce her eyes with a needle, and smash her head with a milking stool' By now he is just showing off.

Your correspondents feels too ill to eavesdrop further on this family conversation, and withdraws.

***

Chapter 12: This chapter's highlight is a passage of great ethnological interest - a comparison of emotional amorant characteristics of various womenfolk of Desh. This stuff is pure gold.

...the love of a sikh woman is as violent as the current of the chenab...the bengali woman's love is fitful. the hindustani's is childish...the love of a khatri woman is as soft as dough. The hill woman loves openly but the peshawar woman in secret.

The young men of Desh who find this useful may also wish to refer to the Kamasutra, which provides a similar comparison in respect of the physical amorant preferences of the women of Desh.

A word of caution: The information provided in the texts may be out of date, and any attempt to rely on or apply it to contemporary Desi women is done at your own risk.

Chapters 15 and 16: Hir's father decides it's time she gets married. He is tempted to give her to Ranjha - what better way than marriage to kill this romance? But a good muslim father must take into account many things. And so Hir is married off to the Kheras instead, because they are a. of much higher caste than the lowly Ranjhas, and b. the only fools in Punjab who have not heard of Hir's affair.

Chapter 17: Waris Shah builds the tension by switching from one emotional scene to another.

...thus did Hir lament on being parted with Ranjha
is followed immediately by
Meanwhile the buffaloes were ill at ease...

Chapter 17 cont.d: The Kheras must also be the most absent-minded people in Punjab. The large baraat heads back to their village Rangpur in celebratory mood, without noticing the romantic Ranjha following them. But surely they would have been aware of the beautiful new bride they were taking home, the new daughter of the village, the wife of one of their sons? But to hear Waris tell it, Hir finding herself alone and the Kheras merry making, made a signal to Ranjha, called him into her palanquin and embraced him tenderly.

These two are addicted to danger! Not for them running away, it has to be making out in the middle of the girl's wedding baraat or nothing.

Chapter 17 cont.d: There's an exciting and pointless tirade against the Jats generally. Sadly my translation omits it.

Chapter 18: Hir is now at her new home. Meanwhile, Ranjha resolves to become a fakir and 'bore his ears'. Not to mention everyone else's. He also decides to bring back Hir.

It is not clear why he needs to be a fakir to bring back Hir, or how being an ascetic is even consistent with pursuing his beloved. But anyhow...

Chapter 19: A year passes. Hir sends Ranjha a message. Ranjha rejoices and again resolves to become a fakir, and bring back Hir. Ranjha is somewhat lazy.

Chapter 2O: Ranjha finds himself a holy man to be his Guru. The Guru likes what he sees: My lad, your looks are saucy... The guru continues dreamily: ...you have painted your eyes with lamp-black; you play on the flute and stare at women. You tie up cows and milk them. He makes it sound so kinky.

Two line movie reviews

A post after a really long time….

Have been catching up on a few movies lately, so here goes my two line reviews

1. Rang De Basanti – Much talked about, but the fact is this - It is not an Aamir Khan film. And if you watch it thinking that it is an Aamir movie, you will be disappointed. Biggest plus - It has a very good musical score, both song wise and background.
2. Taxi No. 9211 – A very good reworking of Changing Lanes. The musical score works very well. Nana is in his element. This fellow has been giving on a roll these few months after Ab Tak Chappan, Apharan, Bluffmaster and now Taxi ….. Plus any movie that has Sonali Kulkarni is definitely watchable.
3. Zinda – Was expecting a lot. Very very disappointing. But again, the music works where the scenes don’t
4. Bluffmaster – If it was a little bit pacier, I would have compared it to my all time fave caper film Ocean’s Twelve. And again the music works where the scenes don’t (Isn’t it strange that Hindi film-makers have suddenly realized the importance of a good background score!!!)
5. The Spy Who Loved Me – Well, What can I say, a James Bond movie is always a treat and this one has all the masala – Action, Locations, Gadgets and Babes - especially Agent XXX.
6. Fight Club – Begins slowly, but then suddenly it has a pace that grips you. If anyone out there who hasn’t seen this…..Please do

(Note – Not the Hindi one please)

[This film actually deserves a whole post……..Hmmm]

More movie reviews coming up soon….

Sania Mania a.k.a "I didn't manage my best"

So Sania Mirza loses again in the second round Unfancied Pin stuns top-seeded Mirza.
OK. I agree it was a tough match and as she says "She wasn't hitting the ball powerfully and I had to generate everything,". "It was hard playing someone like that. She played the best she could, and I didn't manage my best,".

Her best.

One question I would like to ask her is when will she manage her best?

After breaking in to the Top 50 of the WTA world rankings, she has been, to put it mildly, "a disappointment". She plays in major tournaments in the world only to crash out in the first/second round. And yet the media keep on going ga-ga about her. ( Of course there are several other things the media does, that is the matter of another post altogether).

Her T-Shirts, her earrings, her dresses, her attitude, her thighs (Sorry that would be the mullahs). It just goes on and on.

And then there is the Padmashree. The moment I heard that Sania Mirza is going to get a Padmashree, I was surprised, shocked and hurt. I mean what has been such a spectacular achievement so far that she deserves a Padmashree? P. Gopichand had to win the All-England to get it, whereas she got it just because she went so far as the Third round of the Australian Open and face Venus Williams. I just don't believe this.

I have nothing against Sania. I love the way she plays and I am proud of the fact that she gives me a reason to cheer for India during a tennis match. But giving her so much attention and importance so early in her career is just not done. That is the best way to kill a career. We know what happened to Paes and Bhupathi once success got into their head. Do we want Sania to head in the same direction?

Dear Sania, I am still waiting to see your best.

Harry Potter and the art of writing fantasy

Finaly after resisting for so long, I read through all the six Harry Potter books at a go.

Few points to ponder

1. The number of pages in the series keeps on increasing, i.e. HP6>HP5>HP4>HP3>HP2>HP1

2. From the fourth book onwards, situations become more grand and cinematic. Probably because JKR now knew that all her books would probably be made into movies, so why waste time writing a screenplay all over again.

3. Some of the word plays are really good
Diagon Alley - play on "diagonally"
Knockturn Alley - play on "nocturnally"
Severus Snape - play on "severe" meaning harsh (which he is, to Harry) and "snake"
Hagrid - play on "haggard"
Slytherin - play on "slithering"
Malfoy - play on "malicious" and "foe"
the list could go on and on....

4. Without the movies, the books would really have been also-rans and not global bestsellers. Actors like Alan Rickman who plays Snape and Robbie Coltrane - Hagrid are so very good in their roles that they actually make the characters come alive.

Anyone who has watched Alan Rickman in "Galaxy Quest" and "Robin Hood - prince of Theives" will understand why I am saying this.

Also watch Robbie Coltrane in the James Bond movies "Goldeneye" and "The World is not Enough"

And the films just keep getting better and better.

5. Maybe I am getting the whole plot wrong, but somehow Ron and Hermione do not make a very good "couple". Or maybe they do- it's just that Rupert Grint and Emma Watson don't look good together ;D


Next stop....The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, before I watch the movie (Could only manage to do that for Charlie and the Chocolate factory)

Thanda Thanda Paani

Three days back, I was humming my way back from work when suddenly I started to hum a long forgotten song "Thanda Thanda Paani".

And then the chain of thought led back to Baba Sehgal, the electrical engineer at DESU (Delhi Electrical Supply Undertaking) turned rapstar who introduced us to rap much before EMINEM and his ilk became a rage.

Harjit Singh Sehgal a.k.a Baba Sehgal has 22 albums to his credit, of which five have been super platinum (I do not know what that means in Indian terms).

He was also for a long time, hosting the show Superhit Muqabla, hugely popular Countdown show on DD Metro.

His height of fame came when he made his own version of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" called "Thanda Thanda Paani". Critics and the media ripped him apart by calling him a plaigiarist. Not to take one lying down, he hit back saying that Ice had infact copied the tune from Queen's "Under Pressure", which was infact true.

He also hit back with his album "Main Bhi Madonna" which went on to become a huge hit.

Baba can alos be credited to have the first hit music video. The song "Dil Dhadke" form his album "Thanda Thanda Paani" was made into a video by Ken Ghosh, it was his first probably, telecast several times on MTV, which had a half to one hour band of Indian music at that point of time.

The video featuring a wet and hot Pooja Bedi and a wet but not so hot Baba was ....for want of a better word - pathbreaking.

He in fact was the torch bearer for a new genre in Indian Music - Indi Pop. Companies like Magnasound promoted him and other artistes like Anaida, Shaan and Sagarika, Alisha , KK, Shankar Mahadevan, Daler Mehndi, Bali Brahmbhatt etc. Music Videos were being made and telecast first on MTV, then on the newly formed Channel V and on various shows including Superhit Muqabla.

Baba was not only all about rap. His albums had all sorts of numbers and lyrics which were funny yet meaningful. Compared to other rappers of his time like Stylebhai and Voodo Rapper and probably Bali Brahmbhatt (though he insisted he was a reggae artiste), he was eons ahead.

Then came his big mainstream success. He sang "Rukmani Rukmani" for the film "Roja" with Shweta Shetty, another Indi Pop icon. Although panned by critics for corny lyrics and not so great singing (including the film's director Mani Ratnam and music director A R Rehman, who apparently was not consulted for the music dubbing), the song was a huge huge hit as was the film, so both Mani and Rehman kept silent, even admiring Baba and Shweta for their great vocals.

Baba then probably made the worst mistake of his life. He teamed up with Anu Malik and Venus to make a movie called Miss 420 starring him and starlet Sheeba. They came up with inane songs like "Memsaab" and "Aaja meri gaadi mein baith jaa" and "Jhoom Jhoom re baba". The movie where Sheeba and Baba played secret agents, bombed and Baba's career nosedived.

He did try to redeem himslef with some good albums later but I think he knew that his time was up and he also bid a farewell and Indian music missed a fine performer.

Now I hear that he is back!!....Read Baba Sehgal is back!
and Baba Sehgal comes back in a new avatar

But I think he sahll be forever remembered for his great song "Thanda Thanda Paani"

So here are the lyrics of the "great song"

Aap sab mere dost, my friends
jab bhi kisi 5 Star hotel mein jaate hain,
ya to khaane ke liye, ya kisi se milne ke liye,
ya kisi aur kaam ke liye,
jo aap hi behtar jaante hain.

Lekin mer doston main aaj aapko apna anubhav sunaata hoon
jisse sunkar aap bhi gungunaynge

THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani

Main 5-Star hotel pehli baar gaya
maine dekha paani se bhara swimming pool
aaya manager, bola baithiye please sir sir sir
aapki sewa mein haazair hoon
kuch farmaiye, boliye kya aapko chahiye?

THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani

Waiter bhi aaya,
aur cold drink laya,
mera sar chakraya,
bola hai kya laaya,
aur gurraya
"call the president"
staff ghabraya
jab president aaya
dekha soni soni kudi, lal sari waali aage khadi hai
madam" Kya samasya hui hai?"

ha ha ho ha ha ha ha ha

woh boli aapne bulwaya mujhe
kya problem hain sir?
kuch nahi nahi
yeh chalta rehta hai bas yun hi
nahi nahi sir
hum hotel ki taraf se aapse maafi maangte hai
confession bhi karte hai
kya aapko chahiye?

THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani

Paani maine piya aur bola shukriya
madam ne bhi yeh bola please aate rahhiyega
hamari iss bhool ko bhool jaayiega
love tata maine kiya aur vaada bhi kiya
phir nikla hotel se dheere dheere
thinking madam madam,
thinking madam madam,
thinking madam madam

yaad mujhe aaya maine poocha nahi naam
maine chhi chhi chhi kyun poocha nahi naam
kaise bhul gaya main, kaise bhul gaya main
maine ek ladki ka naam nahin poochha
freinds yeh sunenge aur hasenge
kahenge" oh what a shame yaar!
tune ek ladki ka naam nahin poochha"

rib bab bab ribbabba rib bib bib ba ba
rib bab bab ribbabba rib bib bib ba ba
rib bab bab ribbabba rib bib bib ba ba
baaa....

bhag kar main phir dobara gaya hotel
seedha madam ka "Presidents Room"
aur zor se chillaya
Madam aapka naam kya hain?
Madam ne bhi dekha mere maathe ka paseena
boli naam bhi bataoongi,
pehle kuch lenge aap??

THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani
THanda thanda pani

Of Childhood and toys

Speaking to my niece the other day I got updated on the latest object of fascination of kids nowadays - beyblades. And it prompted me to look it up in the net. - No access to kids of any sorts where I stay.

Well.... I found the whole thing to be too complicated for my understanding (though I wouldn't like to comment too much on that). It was the same with Pokemon a few years earlier. Having to babysit my nephews and nieces many times I made it a point to watch "Powerpuff Girls" and "Dexter's laboratory" even when my peer group watched "Baywatch" and "X-Files"!! So far so good. But when they got tired of these "silly" cartoons and moved on to Pokemon, I somehow could not keep pace. In their myriad universes of heroes and villians I lost myself and slowly found myself as an "alien in an unknown land".

Wasn't it much simpler when we were children.

Our He-Man's and GI Joe's were infinitely simpler than these new fangled toys. I still remember how we used to look in envy to those kids who had purchased a new "He-Man" action figure.

One of my neighbourhood guys (was staying in posh West Delhi those days) had got an entire Castle Grayskull with almost all the figures. Oh my god !!! I used to hate him for that.


As for me, I found solace in the TV series and the comic books - Those days we used to get mini comic books, four of them for six rupees. I must have bought around twenty of them.

And then came GI Joe and democracy. Much cheaper and infinitely more flexible than the He-Men, GI Joe also had funky accessories like backsacks and guns which made them all the more"cool". I remember my first one "Snow Job"

and the next one "Gung Ho".

After that it became a race to who will have the largest number of figures and action vehicles and battleground modules and board games and so on and so forth.

Alas like all good things this also did not last forever.

It was soon replaced by Street Hawk - " The Man The Machine ....Street Hawk".

Fuelled by the success of the tv show, Funskool (who had earlier marketed action figures of GI Joe and tasted success) launched an action figure of The Eponymous Hero.

So there we were, riding Street Hawk on his bike and singing the theme music.
Ahaaa...those were the days.

Pretty uncluttered and uncomplicated...right.

After then we discovered audio cassettes, T-Series and Gulshan Kumar.
That of course, is another story.

More on That 80s Thing ........

Found a fellow i arms, finally.
Here are two links to further elucidate that somethings are indeed memorable
http://renaissancetalk.blogspot.com/2005/05/nostalgia-5-soaps-on-india-television.html.

In fact there is some thing on 80s advertisements as well.....
http://renaissancetalk.blogspot.com/2005/04/nostalgia-3-dds-80-jingles-ads.html.

Some of these ads, even the Kayam Churna one is still on air. Good things never go out of fashion.

Blooper: Pudin Hara is a product from Dabur and not from Hamdard.