Enjoy this song in which Sivaji Ganesan is smokin’ haat and Sowcar Janaki is so hip to sway anything below her waist! pArtha nyAbagam Illayo literally means “don’t you remember seeing (this one)?” in Tamil. When this song must have come out (1964) and in the years thereafter, not many in the South of India would have “remembered” seeing this one as Sway with Me (Dean Martin, 1954) or Quien Sera (1953).

Dil tadap tadap ke will conclude my trilogy of posts on Salilda songs inspired by western music. Here, the inspiration was the Polish folk song – Szla dzieweczka do gajeczka. Enjoy this Madhumati video remixed with the original Polish folk song. Many thanks to itwofs.com for the research and reference!

When Google and YouTube could not help me find what I was looking for, viz., inspiration for the Salilda song Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke from the Hindi movie Do Bigha Zameen (1953). Turns out it is the extremely popular Russian (Soviet) song, Polyushko Polye! Here is a short post on my discovery voyage that finally made the connection with a spasiba!

Salil Chowdhury, renowned Bollywood Music Director, gave us such immortal classics as in (the songs of) Do Bigha Zamin, Madhumati et al. Growing up in pre-independence India, he had listened to gramophone records of western classical music left behind by homebound English colleagues of his father. This song is his tribute to Mozart (Symphony #40). chhAya, the title of this Hindi movie, literally means shadow in English. Coincidentally, yesterday (Sep 5th) was the late Chowdhury’s 14th anniversary. Enjoy Ithna Na Mujhse Tu Pyar Badha ..

Lately, I have been drawn more toward watching foreign languages films mainly due to my own subliminal desire to glimpse, feel and be belonged to the expressions of zeitgeist from around the world. Lalekhet Al HaMayim (Hebrew, 2004) – aka Walk on Water in English – did fulfill my desire. It is simple yet gripping. It has an ending, contrived and feel good as it may be, that still leaves you with a wish to see more such realizations.

Giuseppe Tornatore’s La Sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman, 2006) is a tense and suspenseful thriller with redemption at the end, woven around one more evil dimension of the flesh trade: sex workers brutalized and exploited even more, as baby machines. If Kseniya Rappoport as The Unknown Woman has done a stellar job, it also helps to have cast this unknown as THE unknown woman. Be warned that this film is not for everyone and some over-the-top scenes will repulse most into disgust and squeamishness.

Recently, one of my ex-colleagues had the following as his Facebook status message: ” .. had a Glengarry Glen Ross day today at work!”. So decided to check out what he was talking about. Lo and behold ..

Every once in a while, Bollywood dishes out enjoyable dance duels (or duets), where celluloid beauties vying for the affections of the reel hero match one another step-for-step and note-for-note. When these dancing queens are evenly matched and the fare is delectable, you join the villain of the movie in remarking, sabAsh, sariyAna pOtti! (read, bravo! what a contest!).

The great Tamil movie actor/comedian, Nagesh, was asked in one of his interviews how he would categorize the world of successful comedians.  Pat came his reply, which is as follows:
There are those whose time is …

Slumdog Millionaire seems to be the flavor of the season (2008-09).  I am writing this post after seeing the Slumdog movie.  And, am reminded of Lathika’s character.  See inserted picture here.  Do you see any …