I inaugurated this week by deciding to dust off some of the DVDs I have at home and couldn't watch for ages due to my lack of a functioning CD drive and a rubbish Samsang (ji haan, Samsang) cd player for my TV. Now I have a shiny new DVD drive, so I decided to have a Indian noir/thriller marathon. Not all of them are strictly noir, most are just a pastiche of noir elements, desi setting and idiom, lovingly and stylishly created by directors like Guru Dutt and Chetan Anand. Most of these films are from the late 50s and early 60s, the usual suspects are all there, Guru, Dev Saab, Shakila, Johnny Walker, Waheeda (goddess!). My collection includes:
Taxi Driver
China Town
12' O Clock
Mr. X in Bombay (this one looks more like a Sci Fi/bhoot wali picture from the synopsis. Starring Kishore Kumar)
C.I.D
Aar Paar
Mr. And Mrs. 55
Baazi
Taxi Driver (1954) directed by Chetan Anand.
The film stars Dev Anand as a swaggering, aloof taxi driver in Bombay of the 50s. He rescues a singer, Mala (Kalpana Kartik, his wife) who's come to search for her guru from some gundas. Their friendship leads to a romance, but there are various twists. The sexiest of them being cute club singer Sylvie (Sheila Ramani). Her role is great. The scenes in Mr. Dimello's (typical!) club are my favourite parts of the film, I always wonder whether things were really like in the movies, at that point. If I was a kid in the 50s, would I sneak off to seedy clubs to listen to this kind of naach gana (wouldn't help if I was a girl from a "respectable family"). The club has a family band of Sylvie, her brother Tony and various relatives, their mum hangs around somewhere too. It's a very Cheers type atmosphere, except slightly shadier. Beak-nosed gundas and mushtandas lurk around trying to exact revenge on Hero. The city of Bombay is depicted wonderfully, lots of great characters, gamblers (see: hara hua juari in the picture and card shark dude), taxi-cleaner boys/chotu types, drunks and pretend drunks (Johnny Walker as Mastana, the drunk teetotaler and his mates), loafers (smoke ring blowing dude in the hat, who made a cameo in my dream the other day), the "Anglo-Indians". The camaraderie between the taxi drivers and other working class blokes in the movie is depicted well, specially in the song "Chahe Koi Khush" (Kishore Kumar + Johnny Walker), also the competition for work (Kalpana Kartik vs the chotus).
Dev Anand is, as usual the flawed city hero (his nickname in the movie is Hero/Mangal, too). He's trying to do a more rough edge 5 o' clock stubble mehnati admi type thing in this film rather than his usual dandy self. I think the chemistry between Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik gives the real kick to the film, very effortless, probably because they were dating when this movie came out. Kalpana Kartik is really endearing when she's trying to play a boy, very cute. The songs are good. And as was the general trend in that time, the visuals are beautiful. Great shot composition and lighting. It's 2 hours long, though, so go into it when you have some time.
China Town by Shakti Samanta
Chinese club. Helen in chinese silk dress (and a more meaty role than usual). The baddies with the "anglo" accent (thumhe kham par jana mangta). Sexy Shammi "Mike time ke saath nahi, time Mike ke saath chalta hai", "FSSST!" dismissing people like dogs with the wave of a hand. White trilby (I'm wearing my black felt one as while I watch). Mr. Shekhar the Mike hamshakal.
Shammi doing the Teddy boy/Rocker swagger in "Tally Ho". His hips are more agile than a line of gaon ki goris returning from the panghat. His pencil thin mustachioed mouth contorts into expressions of ecstasy, confusion, seduction, disappointed pouts and one inexplicable look of being kicked in the pants. His charm works not only on women but also on two misters trying to sneak out, who are convinced to surrender to the power of Shammi's quivering coif. Shammi also does the master of disguises thing to get the girl. Khadoos rifle totting mucchadd papa with the little Pomeranian in his lap.
Shammi learns of his doppelganger. "Isme tajub ki kya baat hai, kabhi kabhi duniya mein ek shakal ke do admi hote hain", simple movie logic, you duffer.
[question - this film was released in 1962. How was it informed by and how did it affect the psyche of the public at a time of war and tensions with China?]
The old revolving bookshelf trick. OPIUM DEN! Awesomness (don't think it's just a "oriental cliche" though, I've seen pictures of Calcutta opium dens dating to '45 atleast) . Passed out dudes. Shammi gets stoned and dances around in a fez.
Tuntun, another essential element of a 50s movie. And cheesy "South Indian" accents. The gambler fellow from Taxi Driver acts as her husband in the film.
The gang's Chinese shoemaker (Ching Lee, I think he's called. Why does the gang need a shoemaker? Think of Sick Boy doing a junkie James Bond act in Trainspotting)
Random mujra. Roshanara begum has seriously katil nigahein. "Bada katil hai mera yaar Chinna Chin chin chu" is a fucking awesome song. Shammi riding a bullet.
Ok, before I go any further, I must yet again, raise a question that I was thinking of. What was love like in the 50s? I know it's a slightly... pecheeda sawal, but seriously. Was it like in the movies (is it ever like in the movies *rolls eyes*)? Did young girls expect to be wooed/eve teased by pompadoured boys in snazzy suits. If I was a young girl in the 50s, would I be hopelessly in love with Dev Anand or Shammi (YES YES YES! As much as my mother was with Rajesh Khanna, my generation has no screen gods worth loving like that). I mean, look at the Shamster:
BOW to his 50s hipster glory!
[screencaps by some dude called speaksamskrit on Flickr, he has a nice gallery of China Town screencaps, check it]
21 comments:
Haha! I really like this post for so many reasons. And it's really well written too. :D
I think the past seems glamorous cause we can be selective about what we choose to observe. That's how nostalgia works. Just like old SNL episodes seem so much better cause we only remember the good Steve Martin bits, but last Sat's Drew Barrymore episode seems lame cause it was more recent, so it's easier to have a more realistic appraisal where the few bad bits besmirch the overall quality and that's all you end up remembering.
And I can guarantee you, that no one wore trilbies in 1950s Bombay. :P Possibly a handful, if that, coiffed their hair into a pompadour. Those were Nehruvian socialist times too, people didn't have the disposable income to indulge in fashion.
I wonder why you ask if the movie affected the collective psyche of people cause of the 1962 Indo China war?
Oh ignore my question, I totally blanked on the premise of the movie. I feel colossally stupid now.
Hm, I guess that makes sense. It's just nostalgia for a time that didn't belong to us, so everything seems quaint and glamourous. But I really wonder what people of the time thought of these films, since a lot of them were big hits.
I have, in fact seen a picture of a relative from the 60s wearing a trilby. I think thus the appeal of such fashion was even bigger (before Pete Doherty) when it was a coveted thing, in a time where there was a ... lack of things. And it may have also been seen as attractive and rebellious to be a dandy in a time where austerity was emphasized. Dev Anand was a stark contrast from Raj Kapoor for the very reason that he wasn't a "tramp" or an everyman, he was the dandy with the sharp suits and cool hats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rwMnyGjrmk
I suppose there was a general lack of pop culture, so it makes sense if movies disproportionately influenced people particularly in times of scarcity. On the other hand, people were strangely puritanical too. Movies were probably regarded as the equivalent of rock and roll in America - as the devil's music and whatnot. And speaking of trilbies, I too have seen pictures of old relatives in various accoutrements that were not indicative of the average taste in fashion; I bet people would buy them and beeline for the studio to get a family portrait sort of thing done and then after, it would sit in the back of a closet gathering dust. Hipsters do it cause they think they're being 'whimsical'. And Pete Doherty is just 'ironically retro' for life.
I've seen that song. Ted Lyons and His Cubs are notorious. They were in Jaan Pehchaan Ho also. And a bunch of other songs you can read more about here: http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/feel-the-love-ted-lyons-his-cubs/
It's true though that films were seen as frivolous and a "bad influence", thus the increasing their appeal to younger people also, na?
I wasn't talking really about the average taste in fashion, just as that sort of thing being a stand out. I can imagine in Nainital (this is my uncle's school mate from there) if a boy walked around in Trilby he'd get a real range of reactions. One of them might be hushed and giggled admiration from the ladies.
Yeah I agree. And particularly hindi films! I think regional films still had some um, cultural capital maybe? I remember watching a Bengali film from the 50s sometime ago, where the actors were making fun of the deterioration of hindi songs (especially rafi's rock n roll singing style). And they'd say some nonsensical little richard kinda wopbabaloola thing to parody it and thus demonstrate its 'shallowness'. There's no equivalent for trilbies today, cause fashion was such a new thing I guess. People are too cynical/post-modern now. Thanks for the wordpress link. Here's something completely different -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB4q9rcfvvE&feature=related
That's balls, though. This is the same period of Mughal E Azam, Mother India, Pyaasa, Awaara, Do Bigha Zamin which were all big hits. I guess it's a mix, though. Theater was also considered a bad influence in the time before films. Then rock n roll, then video games. Haha, I suddenly went off on some weird Bowling for Columbine tangent.
Ghost World is a good film.
Oh yeah, it was a travesty to form such an opinion, I agree. But think of it this way - right now, if you ask an average person (non-erudite, non analytical/academic, non po-mo) what's big in hindi movies, (s)he will probably say ranbir kapoor or something which is the equivalent of rajendra kumar of the earlier era. I mean jeetendra and jubilee kumar literally were the biggest stars of their day. Inexplicably. So that'd probably make the biggest impression on people more than artsy noir (Dev Anand totally was an outlier, the Filmfare Awards used to be classy and not merely an index of commercial success). And look who's being all defensive. :P
Ghost World is a goodfilm (cf. Tripathi, 2010):P :P. I imagine Thora Birch to be a younger version of the lady whose wordpress blog you directed me to earlier. Fetishization central, hello!
Well, some of the "biggest stars" aren't all that bad. I still with all my heart love Govinda as much as I loved him in the 90s and though I don't really buy Mithun's transition from Pelvis Presley to patriarch on dance shows (Dance India Dance, my guilty obsession), I still love him! And not just in the American hipster irony way, which is a totally warped definition of irony anyway. And I hold the image of Deewar/Don/Sholay/Muqaddar ka Sikandar/Satte Pe Satta/Sharabi/Namak Halal Amitabh in my heart, and we cringe collectively when we see him up to his quasi pedophillic, Bolly-incestuous, way-past-his-expiry-date antics.
The memsaab chick is fine by me, she's passionate. At least she knows her shit (more than you or I, I would say). It's like Kula Shaker, as long as you're passionate, you know your shit and you don't look like an idiot, you can invoke Narsingha Dev in your songs.
As for Thora Birch, I noticed her .... potential in American Beauty, I knew she was destined for...big things.
PS: Damn right I'm being defensive! You Bong cultural "fetishists" need to be put in your place! Now go watch some Ghatak or something!
(I jest, I jest because I love. I don't want to have half of my readership [3 people] get all up in my grill now)
Ah, yes, Ghatak. That cinematic gem from 1997,where Sunny Deol has his way with Mamta Kulkarni.
The wordpress lady seems sketchy for two reasons - reason 1 is the about her section where she's blithe, like 'no one ever accused me of having good taste' and the 2nd reason I forget. And you're just giving Kula Shaker a free pass for dubious reasons (psst! fangirl, fangirl).
Before Mithun ever did Dance India Dance, he was on Dance Bangla Dance, which was culturally, morally and aesthetically superior to everything on the planet.
Yes, hipster irony is warped, but how do you know you don't like Govinda as a part of your quest to be more po-mo than thou? You're self aware, and entirely cognizant of his failings which you're totally valorizing for oh, I don't know, accumulating cosmic hipster cred?
Because Amitabh still has some populist interest in his favor, you will cringe and desist from giving him the same benefit of doubt as you do Govinda. So Govinda becomes a failed, tragic hero like Abe Vigoda(whose trancendental semi-autistic genius was never acknowledged despite David Dhawan's best efforts) and Amitabh is like MJ. Yet, if he dies he'll instantly gain hipster favor, just like last summer Thriller became a hit all over again and it was cool to play it at patio parties.
And while you're at it, why not Shahenshah, Laawaris and Toofan? They were in the ball (i.e not past his expiry date) park speaking of that era too. And they stank.
Oh the second reason would be her name - that's as outrageous as Simon Legree saying 'I likes being called Massuh..' wtf? And don't you dare say, 'you analyze things too much'..I feel kinda strongly about this.
And re AB, ditto Ram Balraam, Desh Premee, Suhaag, Jadugar, Mr. Natwarlal.
Chup oye! Don't try to deny your true Bong instincts by bringing Sunny Paaji into it.
1) She said "no one ever accused me of having good taste" but she also adds "I dislike many films that have won accolades from all..."
The memsaab thing can be seen as a bit offensive, but it's just used as a term like "madam" or "babyji" or something.
2) Bangla DID definitely could not produce something as fucking AWESOME as Dharmesh Sir, who I will admit here in full public view I had a little crush on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpbpAm_-Rv4
3) WTF is po-mo? And who is Abe Vigoda? I don't think the hipster thing works here the same way it does there. Perhaps I'm too young. Also, we listened to MJ quite regularly and sincerely even in our last year of school. Not everything ...nostalgic has to be "back to the 80s" style hipster posturing.
Look, I loved Shahrukh Khan when I was a kid (ages 2-10), but I grew out of it (still like DDLJ, though. And I still LOVE Kajol). I never grew out of Govinda. It's my romantic dream to have a relationship like that of Govinda and Karishma onscreen. He was good at what he did. Don't pretend like the scene with Govinda getting beaten up by Blackface dude in Had Kar Di Apne doesn't crack you up every time. I can't say I love everything he's in.. eg Partner or some of the newer shit. I thought he was good in Raavan, though.
Another example of similar affection is Rishi Kapoor, I still think he's adorable. With some people you just have an affinity. (See: My comment on Shane Warne in an earlier post. The guy can be totally unabashed and slick even about getting hair transplants). Everything is not this adbusters style "I'm not a hipster! Look! Those guys over there! They're hipsters!". The whole idea of a hipster isn't really that prevalent here. If I wasn't such an internet nerd, I probably wouldn't know the context of it either. Here, we just use the word pretentious.
4) I liked Laawaris to an extent and also Mr. Natwarlal. Plus 80s onwards toh was his sad injury/financial crisis period. Waise toh Naseeruddin Shah has also done some bakwaas films. Kabhi kabhi pet paalne ke liye karna padta hai, I guess. But now AB has just made a habit of acting like a bad parody of himself (as has his son), it's kind of...disgraceful. Look at Waheeda Rehman, dude, the woman is still a goddess, even if she acts in a faltu film like Delhi 6 (where AB also made the most bizarre cameo). The last film I really liked him in was The Last Lear, I think. Sarkar 1 was OK, mostly watched it because of Kay Kay...yummy!
PS: Leave Kula Shaker alone! Knowing about 9th century Alvar saints is a big deal. And what's most important is that their music is great, and they make me feel happy. So...suck it!
Po-mo = post-modern. Urban dictionary exists for a reason.
Abe Vigoda = The existential Chuck Norris for the Conan O'Brien set. Wikipedia exists for a reason.
There's even a noise/tropicalia(?) band named after him. You'd have seen him in the Godfather in the role of Sal Tessio. He's the butt of several hipster jokes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r17jU3lowyk
But at the same time, he's much beloved. See any parallels, ms. I'm so sincere in my love for Govinda?
Babyji and Madam are reprehensible colonial relics. If anyone ever called me anything but my name, I'd be aghast. I had some field assistants once who'd insist on calling me sir, and I was so embarassed, and i couldn't get them to stop.
Why is knowing about 9th century alvar saints a big deal? Especially for Englishmen? There have always been loony Indiawallahs, fanatical about the orient. Go to the V&A in London, you can't throw a pebble without hitting an Indologist or an Egyptologist.
If you like them for their music alone, that's cool. But their imagery and artistic motives were borderline patronizing. It's always weird for white people to fetishize the orient, because it's a thin line betwen paying homage and caricaturing something. Kula Shakers are too 'sincere' to understand these niceties, and are thus oblivious (fail).
I LOVE Govinda, ok? His movies are flat out funny. Inarguably. But I don't deny that I'm aware of his kitschy sense of style. The moment self awareness kicks in, so does a sense of hipster irony. In that case, you don't like the performer because of their flaws (unironical - John Lennon, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop) but despite them (Govinda, Abe Vigoda, Jim Carrey). You don't have to be a hipster to get that. This sort of 'so uncool, they're totally cool' has always existed.
And please, hipsterdom is very much alive in an Indian context. THe whole medicine show shitshow is a prime example. Everything they do is a product of John Zorn-ish self awareness, and navel gazing. And it isn't even subversive, it's very much mainstream and explicit - the tight jeans, moptops, indie bands, the lame glasses (of course, this applies to a well heeled anglicized subset, but regardless). I will grant you that the subcultures in India aren't as distinct as the US. Like, granola hippies, ska kids, reggae, hardcore, skateboard, whatever.
Maybe, they aren't called hispters, but 'pretentious' doesn't really encapsulate what they could be called either. You wouldn't call a Strokes loving kid pretentious, for example. Someone saying that they like Steely Dan over say, the New York Dolls, could be called pretentious. It's a poorly defined territory especially cause tastes are subjective. But across the loose global hipster subculture (yes, it exists) there are certain things you can 'ironically' do which cross over into pretentious territory, like have a rotary dial phone (applies only to the Western hemispehre and certain pockets of Asia). Or claim to never watch or own a televison (slowly catching on in Asia, not so much in Africa). On the other hand certain things one can't do ironically, like have a Facebook profile. Maybe after it acquires a certain vintage?
And Rishi Kapoor and Govinda aren't comparable at all. Rishi Kapoor was conventionally cool, he was never embarassing. He was always a step ahead in couture, style and everything. Maybe Jeetendra would be Govinda's old school equivalent?
Woah, I don't get why you take everything out of people's preferences and see them as these very image conscious, self aware choices. It's like bringing out the garlic and cross every time you see a really pale person (did that analogy make any sense, I'm sorry if its badly phrased). Honestly, I haven't met anyone here who likes (or knows of) the New York Dolls and have met a lot of people who think Steely Dan are a genuinely good band. As for Jim Carrey, he was always great. I never thought he was cool because he's "campy", I think he's a good actor, aside from being one of my childhood heroes. Nostalgia and fondness for something from one's past which "conventionally" or in the "mainstream" one should feel embarrassed about (Govinda's clothes or his movies, having the hots for Captain Planet, talking to a poster of SRK when you were 3) or whatever is not always a sign of some attention seeking, self defining "About Me" section type thing. I haven't really met anyone who doesn't like Jim Carrey either.
Babyji and madam are words used everyday on the streets, in shops, in homes. A bus conductor would call me Madam, but it doesn't mean that either of us is gonna go all feudal on each others' asses. She was talking about the use of the word "memsaab" in a sarcastic way by Shashi Kapoor, similar to the use of the word in Baba Sehgal's song or "madam" in "Madam baith bolero mein". It's sarcastic and teasing.
And Rishi Kapoor was never embarassing? Hello? His chubby phase, prancing with Sridevi and Madhuri?! Jeetendra is too bland for me, the only thing I really loved him in was Tohfa.
Look, I'm sorry if I don't constantly self analyze about why I like something. I like The Medicine Show and Sridhar/Thayil and I like Cyanide and Half Step Down (though I've got a little bored/saturated of HSD for the past year or so).
I think it IS a big deal to know what you're singing about and what you claim to believe in. I like Madonna but I wouldn't say her Kaballah phase could be likened to Kula Shaker's interest in Vaishnavism/Indian spirituality. As for knowing about Kulashekhara, I'm a (hopefully) 3rd year history student and half of my class doesn't know who he is (we just gave a fucking exam about it, too). Btw, if you read their interview with the Independent, you'd realize that they're not exactly the naive tourist types who say "boom shankar" before lighting a chillum and feel they're damn spiritual, neither do they caricature the elements they take from our culture.
Having an interest in another culture isn't always fetishism. An Indian being interested in Russia or an American being interested in Japan doesn't make them a "cultural fetishist".
I've always wanted a typewriter and a Polaroid camera since I was a kid. I don't have the hipster paranoia, so I couldn't be fucking bothered if it makes me look like a hipster.
It's like bringing out the garlic and cross every time you see a really pale person (did that analogy make any sense, I'm sorry if its badly phrased)
- It's terribly phrased. I will make fun of you forever for this.
I haven't met anyone here who likes (or knows of) the New York Dolls and have met a lot of people who think Steely Dan are a genuinely good band
- I knew this was a bad comparison (as far as you're concerned miss nitpicky!) the minute I posted it, too late for an edit! Ok, the NY dolls doesn't work in the Indian context, but let's replace NY Dolls with let's see, Abba? Better?
Jim Carrey, he was always great. I never thought he was cool because he's "campy"
- Fine! Quit chery picking from my examples. He is pretty cool, in a bonafide sense.
Babyji and madam are words used everyday on the streets, in shops, in homes
- No small thanks to colonialism. Are you going to sit back and let it happen, or do something about it? It is feudal, everytime you let it happen, You're already essaying your given feudal role as the brown memsahib. It still happens in the deep south, I guess, where old white people call colored people 'boy' regardless of how old they are.
She was talking about the use of the word "memsaab" in a sarcastic way by Shashi Kapoor
- She so wasn't! That was probably in addition to what she originally said, which was that she grew up on a farm in South Africa, and she couldn't wait to grow up and turn into Meryl Streep with a million slaves, like Out of Africa. Damn!
I'm a (hopefully) 3rd year history student and half of my class doesn't know who he is
- This really doesn't prove anything. So the kids in your class don't care about their major. So what? Not the first time people are getting an education to add lines to a CV.
neither do they caricature the elements they take from our culture
- It comes across as a caricature, regardless of the practitioner's erudition or intention. It doesn't even matter if they aren't the new agey type whatever; did you even read my last post? I said that it doesn't matter if Kula Shaker's clued in, the performativity is still compromised, just because their interpretation is so bizarrely unimaginative (as most Indiawallahs/orientalists usually are cause they're monomaniacs). A random 'Govinda' video off youtube proves how it's perceived (these are actual comments) -
"Listened to this cool track gave up my Christian faith started eating vindaloo's and married a Punjabi woman, and they say rock music is harmless."
"they just invented a genre namely Hindu Rock..... "
"Prefered Jah Wobble "Visons of You." I don't think this Crispy fellow ever did anything halfway original which is probably why the silly sod fell up his own botty. Did a good cover of Deep Purples' Hush though. Give him that. Good cover band perhaps?"
Which one of these bozos are getting the point about kulasekhara you think? They aren't really pushing the envelope artistically, and neither are they building bridges. I'm all for east west dialogue, this is just pointless.
I don't have the hipster paranoia
- How can you say that? How do you even know what you subliminally assimilate from your daily exposure to pop culture? I am not saying you're paranoid, but we're all carrying some germ of hipster whatever, and it influences our tastes one way or another. How can you possibly identify what's going on in your sub-conscious? Maybe you wanted a typewriter when you were little for diff reasons than now. Maybe. Only you will ever know. The real reason's always a shallow one. Until we later intellectualize and rationalize it.
I am amazed at how this conversation has turned out from its humble beginnings as a complimentary comment.
And not only that, it is so evil for Kula Shaker to glibly say (while chilling in a Manhattan penthouse, no less) that 'Indians are content because they have faith'. It's the phony idea that everyone in India is somehow spiritual and holy, and no one has any problems, they're just all chilling and meditating. Positive stereotypes are as demeaning as negative ones cause they de-humanize you.
HOWEVER, it's your prerogative if you like the music, as I said earlier. I'm not going to criticize on that count. But, really, Vani?
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