Rajinder Singh Bedi was a big name in Indian Film industry. He belonged to the period when films were dominated by Urdu. North Indians were at the helm of Hindustani film industry. Almost all the heroes were from North and heroines from South and Bengal. Story dialogues were loaded with Persian words. I bet if most of Indians except from North India followed any of the dialogues.
Even these days the humor shows make fun of those dialogues by trivializing them for simple and cheap babbling. They are not at fault either because those were the times when communication was not so fast and good and individual languages flowered uncontaminated. Today’s world is erasing many cultures and synthesizing a hybrid culture which belongs to and does not belong to anyone at the same time.
Bedi wrote the dialogues for many big league movies of the yore and produced many of them. But first of all, he was a Punjabi writer and wrote many novels. Of these was one called “Ik Chaddar Adhorani” which mirrored the Punjabi culture and society mores of that time in the villages of Punjab. There was a custom in those days according to which if the husband of a woman died, she married the younger brother of deceased in a ceremony in which she will put a white chaddar on his brother-in-law. This was done to keep the woman in the same family and provide protection to children from the first marriage. Otherwise her life was doomed. As can be assumed woman was forced into this alliance by the mother in laws.
The novel was turned into a movie which cast Hema Malini as the woman whose husband is killed by suspecting brothers of a girl who was raped in an Inn attached to a temple. The Rano which was the central character played by Hema Malini was beaten by her husband daily as he came home inebriated after work. There is nothing surprising in such characters in rural areas. The women themselves begin to like this. After her husbands death she is forced to marry her brother in law whom previously she treated as her child because of his being 10 years younger. The pubescent daughter becomes very zealous of his mother and uncles marriage and even tries to end her life.
Hema Malini herself described her role as most demanding and difficult. Everyone excelled in their roles be it Kulbhusan Kharbanda, as Hema Malini’s husband, Rishi Kapoor who played the younger brother of Kulbhushan Kharbanda and whose shoulders the responsibility of the widowed Hema Malini and her children falls , Hangal as blind father in law , the only one in the family who has soft corner towards the Hema but is helpless against his wife and Dina Pathak as the tormenting mother in law who blames her Bahu for every wrong happening to the family.
Ever since I left Mumbai for Dehradun, I miss the Times of India and appended magazines published from Mumbai. The paper contained so many pages. First of all the main paper contained almost 35-40 pages. Then there is a Mumbai Mirror which was also more than 50 pages and smaller size was meant for carrying conveniently into the crowded trains or buses and read it to pass the long journeys to the office. Fortunately, I did not have to do the long journey so common in Mumbai for going to offices. I was addicted to the Chai time columns of the Mirror. It contained a Quick Crossword and Soduko which was the first thing I tried to complete after coming from the morning walk. Paper was delivered very early in the morning unlike here in Dehradun. The best part of the crossword and Soduko was that solution was provided in the next page. So after trying and mulling over if I could not find some word, just had a cursory look at the solution and went back to complete rest of it. Quick crossword is not very tough to crack. I am very thankful to the paper because I found that my vocabulary and capacity to find the synonyms increased appreciably and was of great use in my office work where we had to make many technical reports. I am denying the fact that my reports became somewhat verbose because I wrote them from my heart not the brain which is what is required to make such technical reports.
Now I miss the paper so badly here. In the beginning I purchased it and was pained to see a threadbare paper. Very small number of pages and magazines all missing. I stopped buying it. Mercifully, the paper is available in its printed format verbatim on the website. Most of the days, I open the paper and take a print of the crossword and Soduko and solve it sitting before the desktop.
Another column I liked was called “Sepia Memories of Bollywood” which featured very rare photographs of the cast of the movies at the launch time or in between. What is more, the expressions and dresses worn by the actors were analyzed with a keen eye. Following is one example.
Ek do teen chaar
“Ek Do Teen Chaar, a film that starred more than just four stars, was launched on October 3, 1970 amidst a lot of fanfare at Mehboob studios. Though the film starring Dev Anand, Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Rakhee, Hema Malini, Rishi Kapoor, Tina Munim, Parveen Babi and Amjad Khan, never saw the light of day, here’s a picture of the time when it was launched. Probably the only record of the film on print.
The moment captured by ace lensman Jagdish Aurangabadkar, shows the lead stars Shashi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Dev Anand with Tina Munim, Rakhee and Parveen Babi. Dev Anand’s brother, filmmaker Vijay Anand also hangs on with the stars for the photo op.
While Dharmendra seems to be lost in his own world, Vijay with an arm across Tina Munim’s (now Ambani) legs seems to be enjoying a joke off the stage. The most interesting of all the conversations on or off stage, however, is the one going on between Rakhee and Shashi Kapoor. With their eyes doing most of the talking, the actors seem to be speaking without the need of a language.
Wearing a paisley printed silk saree, Rakhee looked breathtaking and overshadowed the other ladies on stage. Little wonder that the perfect gentleman Kapoor showered all his attention on the Bengali actress who married lyricist Gulzar later.
One also can’t miss Dev Anand’s signature style. While all other men wore a normal suit and a shirt, Anand kept up with the fashion trends in a trim waistcoat and broad silk tie. Also, he is probably the only one on stage looking at the photographer if not at the photo lens.
You may have never known this film was even launched once upon a time had it not been for this only piece of memory.
Mumbai Mirror, a very popular news paper from Times of India Group, is bringing on every Wednesday a photo article on the rare sepia colored photos which had been shot by the ace lens man Jagdish Aurangabadkar on different occasions.
These photos bring out the different moods, personalities and the clothing style made popular by the stars or became their trademark. Besides each photograph, is the analyses of various personalities seen in the picture.
The analyses seem to be very penetrating and the person doing has a very keen eye for the details. Here are some examples.
Cricket and Gentlemen.
Cricket is the sport of Bollywood. Dalliances between actors and players have long provided grist to a prurient press. And in this season of cricket madness we thought it appropriate to dig out this gem.
This picture was shot at a benefit match soon after the end of the Indo-China war of 1962. Two of Mumbai’s biggest film icons, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar pose here before the start of the match. From their formal footwear you know that their stint on the pitch is not going to be a long one. Kapoor’s mischievous grin and Kumar’s more restrained smile are indicative of the widely contrasting personalities of the two and their sometimes uneasy equation.
The picture taken by Jagdish Aurangabadkar at a celebration party for the highest sale of records of, no prizes for guessing this one, Qurbani, has the three leading actors, Feroz Khan, Vinod Khanna and Zeenat Aman taking over the stage in style.
With songs like Laila Main Laila, Aap Jaisa Koi and Hum Tumhe Chahte Hain Aise, the songs of the Feroz Khan directed film were an instant success. Half the reason for the success of the music could be attributed to the singers Asha Bhonsle, Nazia Hasan Kishore Kumar and Mohhammad Rafi alongwith the music directors Kalyanji Anandji. And the other half?
Well, that just goes to the three stylish actors who made them look so beautiful on screen. The sexy Zeenat Aman in her swimsuit probably made the slow number Hum Tumhe Chahte Hain racier than it was meant to be.
At this event, the always-stylish Feroz is seen demonstrating a two-step in his signature silk shirt unbuttoned down to mid chest while the suave Vinod Khanna in a simple shirt accessorised with what looks like beads from the Osho ashram seems to be providing the background score for his friend.
Dressed in a salwar kameez much unlike her onscreen persona in the film in which she played a cabaret dancer, Zeenat Aman stands behind her two co-stars cheering them on.
Also check out the cord coming out of the microphone held by Khanna. In this day and age of cordless equipments, it is hard to even imagine that the cinestars did use such regular instruments once upon a time.
This picture captured by veteran photographer Jagdish Aurangabadkar at a mahurat in RK Studios makes for the perfect family portrait. Randhir Kapoor surrounded by the three women in his life, Babita, Karisma and the young Kareena in flowing long dresses, looks happy.
Taken probably during the 20-yearlong separation between Babita and husband Randhir Kapoor, the picture talks a lot about the Kapoor family traditions that both hung on to even during the long years they stayed apart.
It is funny to see both Karisma and Kareena fully covered from neck to toe, whereas nowadays one hardly gets to see both the Kapoor sisters in that same avatar.
Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan take direction from Hrishikesh Mukherjee on the sets of their 1973 blockbuster Namak Haraam. And by Khanna’s expression, this must have been a real eye popper of a scene in discussion.
Immortalised on reel by ace lensman Shyam Aurangabadkar, this picture brings back memories of the good old 70s when printed shirts made from the same fabric worn by two actors were a popular fad.
Remember how Amitabh and Dhramendra in the song Sa Re Ga Ma from Chupke Chupke, also directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, wore the same shirt? In this picture however, Amitabh shares the shirt chemistry with his costar Rajesh Khanna. After a striking onscreen shared by the actors in the 1972 Hrishikesh Mukherjee film Anand, they were brought together once again by the director to essay the roles of the two friends Somu and Vicky in Namak Haraam. Ironically, in real life, they were far from being friends. Rajesh Khanna who had ruled the silver screen till Bachchan came on the scene had major ego clashes with the younger star.
They later went on to have a cold war that ran over decades until a couple of years back, while presenting the lifetime achievement award to Khanna at an award function overseas, Bachchan mentioned that the term ‘superstar’ was originally coined for Rajesh Khanna.
In the picture, however, all seems to be well between the two actors. While Bachchan is busy concentrating on what Hrishikesh Mukherjee is saying, Khanna seems to be shocked with something on the other side. Or perhaps it was the scene that got his eyes popping out. We’ll never know.
Circa 1979. One of the biggest films in Bollywood history was launched. And this was the party. This picture taken by Jagdish Aurangabadkar on September 30, the same year, captures some of the icons of the Indian film industry in a single frame. It was the launch of Yash Chopra’s blockbuster film Silsila at Rajkamal Studios. Prem Chopra standing hand in hand with Amitabh Bachchan seems to be sharing a joke with the three Kapoor men Shashi, Randhir and Rishi standing to one side with Sanjeev Kumar holding on to his cigarette.
Their clothes reveal a lot about the men in this picture. While upcoming Rishi Kapoor and the ruling star of the industry then, Amitabh, can be seen in fashionable jersey shirts, the elder Shashi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar look relaxed in the desi kurta-pyjama. The two leading ladies of the film, which released two years later and went on to become a blockbuster, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha, would have made the picture look even better. But maybe their presence would have been a hindrance to the uninhibited laughter being shared on stage by the men
Dharmendra and Hema Malini fell in love in the mid seventies on the sets of Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay. The couple who became a rage as much for their chemistry on screen as off it, came together again in Pramod Chakravorty’s Dream Girl. The 1977 film had Hema Malini play Sapna alias Padma alias Champabai alias Dreamgirl alias Rajkumari with her real life lover
The scene captured by lensman Jagdish Aurangabadkar is on the sets of the 1977 film Dream Girl. The picture has director Pramod Chakravorty describing the sequence to his lead actors Dharmendra, Hema and Ashok Kumar. And while the older actor Ashok Kumar seems to be having a problem with Chakaravorty’s explanation, Dharmendra seems to be amused by the same. Hema on the other hand seems to be lost in her own dream world. Ashok Kumar in his trademark silk dressing gown and Dharmendra sporting a retro striped shirt make the scene a particular favourite. The scene stealer is however the pillows. Yes, the pillows which fill in for the missing cushions on the wooden sofa, are our particular favourite. Now, that’s what we call effective production. Wonder how they dreamt that one up!
RD’s Birthday
It was Rahul Dev Burman’s 36th birthday party. Panchamda had invited his close friend Randhir Kapoor for the big day, on June 27, 1975. And considering it was Randhir who had helped Burman pave his way into the RK Films camp with the film Dhongeein 1975, inviting Randhir’s wife Babita and younger brother Rishi was obvious. In this picture, captured by Shyam Aurangabadkar, we can see the three special guests sharing the frame with RD. Rishi ‘Chintu’ Kapoor came as the bearer of the birthday gift. Babita, clad in a transparent chiffon saree and a sleeveless blouse that dipped dangerously at the neckline, looked resplendent as she held hands with the birthday boy RD. The simplicity of a birthday party in 1970s Bollywood can be spotted in the floral decoration at the door to Burman’s residence. Unlike 21st century, a birthday party did not essentially need a fancy location. It did not need blaring music. What it needed was a heart and some really good friends. Another thing that deserves a mention is Panchamda’s open mouth. While everyone is busy smiling at the lens, the music composer is caught with his mouth wide-open, probably singing ‘Happy birthday to me’.
