The Story
The plot of Pyaasa though unique, lends heavily from two sources. One which is quite evident is Saratchandra Chatterji’s Devdas and the other is the story of Jesus Christ. Read the rest of this entry »
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Pyaasa (1957)
When I first saw Pyaasa, I must have been eleven or twelve years old. Well, in fact, I didn’t get to watch it because 1. I had a exam the next day, 2. I had a splitting headache. The end result was I couldn’t watch the film, except for a few glimpses from behind the curtain, I didn’t learn, my headache didn’t get cured. Huge failure on all fronts! When I was 19 or so it was aired again on DD at midnight or something. This time I could watch it and I was floored! Read the rest of this entry »
Mr. & Mrs. 55 (1955)
It is so hard to decide if I like this film or not. The story is anti-feminist and traditionalist. But at the same time the director/story-writer’s take on “upper-class liberal reformers who seek to impose their ideology on society at large”, as Philip Lutgendorf puts it, in the form of Abrar Alvi’s witty dialogues are simply great. It is simply difficult to have a single opinion on this movie. Dustedoff has also provided a nice review of this movie on her blog. Read the rest of this entry »
Aar Paar (1954)
Aar-Paar has been one of my favourite time-pass Guru Dutt films. And every time I watch it, I discover something new about it and I end up liking it more than ever. It is his first independent movie under his own production. Basically it is a bit like Baazi without the gamble and the dimensions toned down. And for the first time no K. N. Singh. Did they fall out? As far as I know Guru Dutt never repeated him in his films again except for C.I.D.
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Jaal (1952)
The first time I saw Jaal was in the mid-80s during the assembly polls for Maharashtra. It didn’t leave much of an impression on me. And after the somewhat disappointment with Baaz, I wasn’t expecting much from Jaal. The review on Upperstall gave me a little hope. But, wow, wow, was quite impressed with the end result. Maybe it is just good not to have any expectations (Expectations reduce Joy!).
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