Khiladi786’s genius soundtrack

I am going to watch Khiladi this weekend, and I am excited. Not so much because I love bodies flying through the air, car collisions and firecracker-Kung-Fu. Well, I do love Akki, but that’s besides the point.

My autistic and predominantly non-verbal student LOVES Bollywood music, so whenever a new movie comes out I am showing him the trailer and the songs. I show him Stardust magazines with all its glamorous Bollywood stars. When I point and ask him “who is this?” he will identify the star with 100% accuracy. On our frequent walks I may start humming a BW tune and lo and behold he will know one or two lines of the lyrics -without understanding a word. Point in case I was humming after a very long hiatus Chammak Challo and he knew the title and who’s acting in the movie.

Today I was telling him about the upcoming Khiladi and I went on Youtube to show him the trailer and then the songs. I had seen the trailer but I had no idea how many beautiful tunes it had!

From my student’s point of view here are the songs he liked best: (with passionate repeat-listening..)

Hookah Bar

music and lyrics  and vocals by Himesh Reshammiya

in second place came The Lonely Song, credits go again to  Himesh and Yo Yo Honey Singh & Hamsika Iyer
Lyrics by: Shabbir Ahmed

followed by Saari Saari Raat also by the ultra-talented Himeshji, GEE!!

and we liked Long Drive, music Himesh.  sing sing: Mika Singh

for some reason Balmo came last in our favorite countdown:

music Himesh, singers  Shreya Ghoshal and Sreeram

I mean, this movie is a musical treasure chest

and off I go to buy the CD :-)

can’t wait to see these beautiful songs on the big screen!!

– which makes me laugh because before my Bollywood mania days  I DESPISED music and dance in movies. Go figure.  What a turnaround.

Thank you Youtube, Eros Entertainment and T-series for all these great Bollywood video clips

And thanks Bollywood for adding another dimension to my life. With its colors, its music, its stars, it just brings so much joy, not just to me but all the peeps I can share this passion with. Like my wonderful student.

Aiyyaa, and I am back in love with Rani Mukherji

This movie is truly pagal. But I loved EVERY MOMENT of it.

The cinematography by Amal Chaudhary is outstanding and makes me want to see his other movies.

The premise is simple enough:  Meenakshi (Rani), a Marathi girl, needs to get married as her family insists, preferibly to a nice Brahmin bouy, an ad is put in the paper. While Meenakshi daydreams through her life, seeing herself as a famous Bollywood actress, her nutty parents are pushing harder to line up candidates. she wants to find a way to become independent financially and goes  looking for work. She lands a job as a librarian at a college, where she and her nose fall head over heel for the withdrawn and taciturn Surya (Prithviraj), an aspiring artist, who seems oblivious to her infatuation.

The music in her head stops every time he stands in front of her without really seeing her (what a wonderful little cinematic touch!). Another great detail: the paintings Surya works on are actually WONDERFUL. Usually I am disappointed when film tries to portray a painter, the art is usually yucky, here its GREAT! you can smell the colors, you are almost drawn into the moment of creation. I LOVED that about this movie. The mania of the true artist, the artist who can’t be contained, shines through.

The colors used for the set, the costumes, the wardrobes, it’s all so beautifully choreographed. This whole movie is a visual feast. Rani Mukherji has never beguiled me more than as the daydreaming somnambulant Meenakshi, who follows the seemingly divine smell of her desired man, regardless of how many foul things are being said about him. She follows him whenever he turns up not finding the courage to talk to him, (one of the mysteries when we fall in love..) even on the verge of being married off.

Unfortunately way too many crazy characters are flooding the film, from her ga(r)ga-ntuan-ly annoying colleague (Anita Date), her mom to gold-toothed and bewheelchaired, hysterically laughing grandma, there is not one character in the movie that makes you take a deep breath of calm. and that’s the biggest downfall of the movie. The nutty characters are floating around without much connection and integration.

But other than that, the cinematography, the music, Rani’s acting and Prithviraj, the Tamilian eye-candy, the surrealism pervading the movie, the sets, choreographies,  the locations are just magnificent.

It’s a film on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but it’s highly “intertaining”. Rollercoaster me anytime again soon, Satish Kundalkar-ji!

 

 

I think I am going to buy the DVD.

 

 

Cast:Rani Mukherjee, Prithviraj, Anita Date, Nirmiti Sawant, Satish Alekar, Subodh Bhave, Ameya Wagh

Director: Satish Kundalkar : nm2590202

Cinematograhpy: Amal Chaudhar:   nm2226885

 

 

 

 

 

one of my favorite Atif songs “Woh Lamhe”

I was chopping up something in the kitchen while I had my favorite Saturday program on in the background, “Namaste America” –  I had to quickly drop everything when I heard Atif’s beloved voice from afar singing Woh Lamhe, one of his most beautiful songs. I haven’t seen the movie Zeher, but I heard Atif sing this song in Atlantic City few years back and I think it was this song that made me fall in love with him..

Namaste America played some wonderful songs today dedicated to “rain”. Bollywood’s rain songs are lyrical and sexy. Don’t we all love our Bollywood stars soaking in the rain?

God only knows how many stars caught colds filming those.. but hey, we enjoy them.

And when rain mingles with Atif’s voice it turns into honey.. so here is to rain and to Atif.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holla Rani, Aiyyaa!

Dreamum Wakeuppam

 

Rani Mukherjee doesn’t need a comeback – she has never left the stage, but let’s say, if she would need a comeback,  Aiyyaa looks like a slam dunk.

 

Sava Dollar

Heroine songs

Halkat Jawani  bySalim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant, sung by  Sunidhi Chauhan or  Saaiyaan by my fave Rahat Fateh Ali Khan?

Khwahishein  is beautiful too. Composed by Salim-Sulaiman and exquisitely sung by Shreya Goshal…

 

Beautiful melodies. This is what I love about Bollywood films. Later on, when I recall them, I remember them by their music. I start humming the songs, on my way to work, in the shower. sometimes I wake up to a Bollywood melody and it makes me want to see the movie again.

this never happens when I start thinking of Hollywood films, even though some may have a good soundtrack.  It’s an irony that what I disliked most about Bollywood movies initially, now I love most. I look forward to the moment when the songs get released prior to the movies themselves.

Seeing a film for the first time is like going on a blind date. Bollywood lets you take an advance peek. And when you then come to meet that song again on the silver screen, it’s like meeting a friend.

Bollywood has perfected the art of integrating songs in a movie, may it be  a daydream, a memory, fast forwarding or backtracking in time. Writing a song into a film is a wonderful cinematographic and narrative tool that Hollywood ought to rediscover.

I am definitely going to buy the soundtrack of Heroine.

 

 

Mere Nishaan from OMG

Akshay Kumar ‏@akshaykumar

Sharing an exclusive footage with you’ll from the song Mere Nishaan from OMG Oh My God which also happens to be my per… http://say.ly/hId44ov

beautiful song from the upcoming movie Oh My God with the one and only Akki.

Heroine

Song: Saiyaan (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan). Music – Salim and Sulaiman Merchant

Watch the official trailer of “Heroine” which releases on 21st September, 2012. The film is based on the life and times of a superstar heroine from the dream factory we call ‘Bollywood’. The film is a daring, shocking, glamorous, scandalous behind the scenes account of the reality behind the world of glitz and glamour that our film stars inhabit.

Cast Crew :- Kareena Kapoor , Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda, Shahana Goswami
Directed By :- Madhur Bhandarkar
Produced By :- UTV Motion Pictures, Bhandarkar Entertainment
Music By :- Salim-Sulaiman

I am a big fan of Madhur Bhandarkar. His films are always interesting. Sometimes I find him too stylized, the ambiance a tad sterile. Something he shares with the Mahesh Bhatt’s type of movies. I am always looking forward to his next film though :-)  and I can’t wait for Heroine.

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan

I was rewatching Mere Brother Ki Dulhan the other day, and loved it just as much as when I saw it at the theater last year.

Katrina is just so super hot. And I loved Imran Khan and Ali Zafar in this colorful romantic comedy about a brother who sets out to find an Indian bride for his London based sibling and then falls in love with the girl he chooses for him.  Written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar.

A must see for any romantic at heart.

 

one song better than the next..

 

 

making a mental post-it to buy the DVD …

 

 

Dear God,  thank you for Bollywood flicks! :-)

 

 

 

 

 

In Bollywood we make love, not war. case in point: Akki

This is today’s tribute to my eternally simmering Akshay Kumar infatuation:

Rishte Naate from De Dana Dan

♥

the little rascal heartbreaker. god knows how many sleepless nights he’s caused ladies worldwide.

Bollywood stars should not be allowed to get married. Point d’exclamation!  Don’t you have that in India where the priest asks “If anyone objects to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace”  ?  in Akki’s case, a million, a gazillion objections, or objectionees…

oh well, too late now anyways. plus, he goes to bed at 8 o’clock… any admirer with a nine to five job would throw the towel..

..at him. not that it would wake him up :-)

 

PS don’t let Sunil Shetty throw you off track in this clip… 

Ek Tha Tiger, Mashallah

love that song. Katrina, sultry sexy as always. can’t wait for the movie