Introducing my New Blog: The Bollywood Song of the Week

This is to introduce my new weekly blog THE BOLLYWOOD SONG OF THE WEEK.

The blog is an additional outlet for my love for Hindi films and Hindi film songs. It is an unbiased yet affectionate listen in to the music of our times. 

Every Friday, I will feature one song among the many that fill the Bollywood film soundscape on the blog. I will also review the other new songs and soundtracks, apart from highlighting and talking in depth of that one Bollywood /Hindi film song of the week that stood out that particular week.

Legendary Playback Singers Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd Rafi

A Never-Ending Musical 
Ever since sound came into Hindi movies in the pre-independence era, every Hindi film (barring a handful) have featured songs. The uniqueness of what is popularly now called 'Bollywood Movies' - is the lip-syncing and bursting into a song and dance routine at any slightest excuse or inclination.

Very few directors are able to make the song an audio-visual experience integral to the story. The rest, as they say, is mayhem.We talk here of the song as a purely audio experience. But notable visuals will certainly be talked about.

Now, there are over a million Hindi film songs and counting, which, if played together at the same time would resemble some epic fun-fair of sounds.In this blog, we celebrate many such songs and their makers, the transition of the same onscreen, the stories behind them, the legendary singers, how the failure of the film can take some beautiful songs into oblivion, and how box-office success ensures delusional immortality.

Hail, The Great Hindi Film Soundtrack!

Great Singers All: Asha Bhonsle, Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar & Manna Dey

Movie Review: Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani: Silly, unpolished comedy

You laugh, yes, it is all silly, lovely, stupid, childish and filmy and stays that way till the end credits roll. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani sticks to the Hindi film masala and derives most of its jokes from silliness and bizarre situations, sometimes just for the sake of mirth, intelligence be damned.

The lead performances saves this titanic from sinking. Ranbir Kapoor dazzles as Prem, you can only enjoy the effortlessness with which he holds your attention; Katrina Kaif is competent as the innocent stereotypical girl Jenny; Darshan Jariwala and Smita Jaykar are splendid as Prem's parents.

The gags never abate so you seldom have the time to think "What the hell is going on?" After all the popcorn-crunching and samosa-gulping, Ajab Prem Ki... is a failed attempt to recreate the magic of   Director Rajkumar Santoshi's 1994 madcap cult classic Andaz Apna Apna. It just doesn't work that way though. A bearable one-time watch. 

Movie Review: Ghajini: A great idea wasted in formula

So what should a good movie be like?

For me, it is how well the director is able to communicate to the audience with sincerity and creative liberty, the story and the screenplay. Communicate, by cutting down on elements that are part of the film just because they have 'gone well with the audience' in the past. 

OK, don't yawn...

Ghajini (remake or not) has a great cinematic idea - a man with short-term memory (15 min, to be precise) searching for the killers of his lover. Its execution? A mix of refreshing comic and romantic scenes, repulsive presentation of violence, indulgence in the illogical - the hero beating numerous goons ( the villains never carry guns) in stylised fight sequences, a needlessly loud background score ( where silence would have worked better), and a couple of pleasing songs by A R Rahman. 

Aamir and Asin act their parts with conviction, so if you are strictly admirers of great acting, go for it, otherwise Ghajini is a mindless entertainer. Maybe you can watch the first half for the endearing chemistry between the lead pair and hear the rest of the tale from a friend...