Indian Cinema on TCM in June

Started by Gold Trumpet, May 29, 2003, 05:08:34 PM

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Gold Trumpet

May 29, 2003, 05:08:34 PM
Very recent and exciting news for me. Turner Classic Movies continues to prove its worth of being the very best tv channel by running various hard to find and see Indian films through out the month of June. The magnificient poetry of Satiyat Ray is all I know and whenever I get the chance to see more Indian films, I do so and so this will be great for me and I will make my best attempt to see all these films. Here's the list:

Dilwale Dluhania Le Jayenge (1995, Aditya Chopra)

Bombay (1995, Mani Ratham)

Amar Akbar Anthony (1977, Mammohan Dasai)

Rangeela (1995, Ram Gopal Varma)

Dil Chahta Hai (2001, Farhan Akhtar)

Sholay (1975, Ramesh Sippy)

Pakeezah (1971, Kamal Amrohi)

Junglee (1961, Subdoh Mukherji)

Awaara (1951, Raj Kapoor)

Mother India (1957, Mehboob Khan)

Do Bigha Zamin (1953, Bimal Roy)

Pyaasa (1957, Guru Dutt)

~rougerum

children with angels

#1
May 29, 2003, 05:11:52 PM
Apparently Mother India is the most successful film of all time, according to my lecturer, in terms of how many people saw it. You just never get to hear about it because it didn't get a release in America.

I din't think much of it though, to tell the truth.
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dufresne

#2
May 29, 2003, 09:36:51 PM
Sholay is a great happy-go-lucky film.  I can't wait to see it again.  great news...
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godardian

#3
May 29, 2003, 10:08:50 PM
Should be a treat. Wish I'd gone through with my plan to get TiVo.  :(

TCM really is the best channel around for cinephilic indulgence. Better than IFC or Sundance or Bravo.
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Ravi

#4
June 01, 2003, 08:35:19 PM
Quote from: children with angelsApparently Mother India is the most successful film of all time, according to my lecturer, in terms of how many people saw it. You just never get to hear about it because it didn't get a release in America.

I din't think much of it though, to tell the truth.

I think Mother India was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar.  Haven't seen it.

Sholay is influenced by Seven Samurai (but with 2 this time) and  spaghetti westerns.  Many people revere it highly and I think it is okay, but overrated.  If I was to show someone Indian cinema for the first time, I would show them Satyajit Ray's movies first.

Pakeezah is a mediocre film at best, but it was a huge hit and the songs are classics.  The songs were actually recorded sometime in the 50s or 60s, but the production of the film was delayed, so it wasn't made and released until the 70s, so its style is sort of a throwback to some of those luxurious 50s Hindi epics.  The lead actress, Meena Kumari, died soon after the completion of the film.  Maybe she even died a little before, I can't remember.

Dil Chahta Hai is a fresh film for Hindi cinema.  It is about 3 guys who just graduated college and their lives.  The songs are good, the acting is good, though the 3 leads are in their 30s, and the script seems down to Earth most of the time.  My DVD of this rotted a while back, so I might tape this, but I only get TCM in mono  :(

Bombay is about a Hindu man and a Muslim woman who fall in love against their families' wishes.  They move to Bombay, which is in the midst of religious clashing and rioting.  An interesting look at the subject, though it would have been better without the songs.  The original language is Tamil, not Hindi, but it is possible TCM will air the Hindi dubbed version.  Mani Ratnam's last few films, including Bombay, have dealt with regular people's lives against a backdrop of terrorism.

Haven't seen the other films, but here's a bit of info that I know about some of the filmmakers:

Ram Gopal Varma is one of Hindi cinema's most interesting directors.  His strongpoint is crime dramas.  His "Satya" is a masterpiece.  "Company" is pretty good, also.  His most recent film is a horror film called "Bhoot," which released on Friday and is only okay.  Rangeela is a departure for him, as it is a light musical comedy type film.

Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt are somewhat highly regarded.  I've only seen one Roy film and no Dutt films, so I don't really know much about their films.  All I can say is that the one Roy film I saw was beautifully shot.

I haven't seen many Raj Kapoor films, but he was a hugely popular actor/producer/editor/director, from the 50s to the 80s.  A few of his films had a character not unlike Chaplin's tramp, which I think is featured in Awaara.

Manmohan Desai was known for making mass entertainers.  Same for Aditya Chopra.  Yash Chopra, his father, is a big time producer/director, mostly a producer these days, and his films usually center around the family.

The original aspect ratio for these films, except Pyaasa, Awaara, Do Bigha Zamin, Amar Akbar Anthony, Mother India, and Junglee is 2.35:1, and the DVDs of some of the films are cropped, so maybe the TCM transfers are too.
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