Sàlo and Nekromantik : The Yuckfest

Since last few days, I was watching Horror and weird movies. Weird, yes. Someone twitted a link to most disturbing movies of all time. So that got me curious. So got some of those movies from the net.

First one was 'Sàlo: 120 days of Sodom'. Its an Italian movie directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini [huh..!]. Banned in most of the countries, this European movie is a shear piece of bullshit. Literally speaking - human shit. The story takes place in Republic of Sàlo, Fascist-occupied portion of Italy in 1944. Where 4 men of power decides to kidnap 9 boys and 9 girls to satisfy their pervert and sadistic needs. I just couldn't get why the maker has made such movie. was it to symbolize what was going on at holocaust or the fascist corruption. Movie goes on with each and every kind of torture on the victims, even eating the human shit is glorified like a grand supper. YUCK !

Next, I dared to see after, was Nekromantik. A movie based on Necrophilia - a mental disease in which patient gets sexually attracted to corpses ! Yes, the dead bodies ! Directed by Jörg Buttgereit, this German film is another scariest, yuckiest movie I have seen till date. Story deals with a couple's life who are always interested in Bloodbath, having sex with dead body and killing pets. Ewwww.. The the climax is goriest part of the movie. I would never ever recommend this movie to anyone. Watch it only if you want to see human meat in frying pan, people bathing in blood and entrails of a cat and lots of blood all over in each scene.

Phew, then I thought now I should go back to my beautiful world of romantic movies. So there, I watched Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa [Tamil]. And absolutely loved it. Hope I can put up a review soon.

Raajneeti : Music Review

Looking at past few movies, I wasn't looking forward at Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, in terms of good music. Cause he always emphasize on drama part more, than songs. But here, with as little as only four tracks, Rajneeti is an interesting album. With each song composed/written by different artists.

Album opens with a typical Pritam/Irshad Kamiil number sung by Mohit Chauhan & Antara Mitra [the Indian Idol girl??]. 'Bheegi si Bhaagi si' reminds of Pritam's earlier work like 'Khuda ya khair' and 'chalu mein'[de dana dan]. My first reaction was not so good for this track, but its Mohit who made me listen to it again, and now I'm liking it.

Next up is most famous track of the album. 'Mora Piya'. Both Aadesh Shrivastava and Sameer surprise a big time. Never have we heard such fantastic track from both. Aadesh impressed earlier in 'Kasak [Chhodo Naa Yaar]. But with this track he scores higher. Lovely rendition by him and backing up by Shashi & Rosalie Nicholson. While in another version [say remix!] Kavita Seth is wasted in fast beats.

Little bit disappointment there for me in third track. Looking at its creators Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire, something extraordinary is always expected. But 'Ishq Barse' is not their regular kind of work. Its a North Indian mujra+club song which is regular in Prakash's movies. No doubt demand of the story must be there for such track, but personally I did not like it much. Though experiments with words is quite interesting with 'atkan chatkan...' the childhood rhyme. And the line 'bole man ta ra ra ra' gets easily stuck in head.

But soon I got overwhelmed listening to 'Dhan Dhan Dharti' [Call of the soil] sung by none other than Shankar Mahadevan, penned by Gulzar saab. Surprisingly, closing my eyes, i thought this must be composed by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy. But no, its Wayne Sharpe ! The guy who won Best Background score for Gangaajal. Absolutely outstanding composition he has got for this one.

The song starts with tune exactly similar to 'Vande Mataram'. [not the Rahman one, yaar]. Brilliant use of our National song. And soon it picks up with wonderful words flowing through superb music arrangement. Got goosebumps all over by the vocals, words and sound. Fantastic !!!! Biggest highlight for the album. The song repeat as a Reprise sung by Sonu Nigam, but it fades against prowess singing of Shankar.


My Picks : Dhan Dhan Dharti, Mora Piya

Bollywood in Gujarat

Gujarat - the western state of India, is turning 50 today. After independence, only one state was formed in Western India-Bombay. Which in 1960-got parted and Maharashtra+Gujarat were born.

Sometimes I feel GRrrrrrRRr... that Bombay went to Maharashtra :P cause its the home to Hindi film industry which I die for. Sigh... but that was done for good. Anyways, I am not going to discuss those things here. Here, I will always blabber about films and more films. So, here I'm presenting connection between Bollywood and Gujarat. Well, kind of. Because Gujarat has given many many great talents to Hindi cinema, but here I'm discussing about some great movies shot in my state. [yes yes, your guess is right - I'm gonna start with LAGAAN :p ]

LAGAAN : [sau saal pehle ki ek aisi kahani....] oops, well, can't resist. The dialogue from 'the' Bachchan always echoes in my mind when I write or speak that word. OK, getting back. The epic, the legend was completely shot at Bhuj, Kutch district. Not a single movie can beat such management, such fantastic visuals which were filmed at a desert ! nothing can & nothing will match the awesomeness of the movie. I'm so proud and lucky to have this movie shot here and also me visiting the location. [more here - 1 2 ] was the lifetime experience.

Refugee : Moving little bit ahead from that location, we have Khavda. The place where visually beautiful Refugee was shot by J P Dutta. Beautiful white deserts [salt desert] was really interesting to see on big screen. [ah, but always running Abhishek was an eyesore for sure :P]

Road, Movie : Talking about beautiful picturisations, recent Abhay Deol movie had great visuals of the white desert. Add beautiful Tanishtaa Chaterjee, the result was awesome. I have been there in salt deserts of Kutch, and believe me, its a sight you can never forget. Here's me in the picture.

Magdheera : Ahem, yes, I haven't watched the movie yet, but yes, that too is filmed here. And for that only reason, i m going to watch it soon. Cause visuals are fantastic in these pictures.
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam : This is the movie which was fully based on Gujarati. Shot at Gujarat's locations. Sanjay Bhansali himself being a Gujarati, has brilliantly created beauty of my state on screen. Shot at Bhuj and Gondal, the pair Aisalman, made it more lovely.

Manthan & Mirch Masala : Dusky and talented beauty Smita Patil's two fantastic movies. Former told story behind the biggest milk revolution called - Amul. Movie was directed by Shyam Benegal. While Ketan Mehta's Mirch Masala told story of fierce lady Sonbai. Rural Gujarat was captured beautifully in both movies.

Guide : yet another legend. Most of the parts were shot in Rajasthan, but the village where Raju comes after jail, was in Gujarat. The drought scenes were actually shot in Limdi, Saurashtra, Gujarat. There was a drought in the state at that time. And when the movie got released, it was advertised as 'Guide prays for rain' and it went on to become a huge success.

Mother India : See, all great movies has a link in them-Gujarat. Lagaan, Guide and now this. Yes, this was fully shot at Chikhli, a south Gujarat village. And this is the land where both Nargis and Sunil Dutt fell in love with each other.

Phew, there can be many more. For example dark movies like Parzania, Dev and Firaaq where filmed here, but rather disturbing visuals were there. But right now its time to rejoice, time to celebrate 'Swarnim Gujarat' [Golden Gujarat] so, I would end this post on a happy note. A favorite song which also was filmed here. At Vadodara - a childhood favorite place - toy train [see song from 3:11 ] Shammi ji....

Raavan : Music Review

From the very first 30 seconds promo, 'Beera' has become an instant hit. No doubt it has written 'hit' all over the pacey composition mainly lead by drums. Starting with Tribal voices 'Beera Beera' sung by Vijay Prakash, Aslam Mustafa & Keerthi Sargathia - the track is sure shot.

Like it always happens-only Mani Ratnam gives such liberty to Rahman, that he brings out his 'experimental' yet 'best' tracks.

Next track in sparkling example of veteran Gulzar saab. 'Behne De' is a lyrical feast. Sung by Karthik - he leaves you amazed with his flawless rendition. Backed by Mohammad Irfan's vocals - the dark song is surely a treat.

Rahman's favorite is up next with 'Thok de Killi'. With sounds of bagpipes and more chorus singing, the song is uplifting. Drums and bugles sounds make it seem more of a 'war' song. After 'Rasiya' in Mangal Pandey, Rahman is here again with song of same genre. 'Ranjha Ranjha' sung by Rekha Bhardwaj, Anuradha Sriram & Javed Ali has mix sounds of Punjabi folk and remixed beats. Javed Ali sounds so different in this one.

With all these earthy sounds, I was keen on something magical like Guru's Aye Hairathein Aashiqui. And then 'Khili re Khili re..' - having sweeeet voice of Reena Bhardwaj - yes the same lady who sang fabulous Yeh Rishta from Meenaxi. Dreamy sound of the track made me fall in love instantly. Tablas are a highlight of this song. Love Love it.

Last track 'Kata Kata' sounds like 'Rukmani Rukmani-Part 2'. It has same feel, but this time its not an 'after wedding' song but a before wedding song. Say Bachelor party. The rhyming lyrics of Gulzar saab makes this sound fun. And Ila Arun's Rajasthani lines in this southie song by Sapna Awasthi & Kunal Ganjawala- makes it more interesting.

A notable similarity I found in all songs that Gulzar saab has created interesting link of words. Most of them are rhyming, or repeating a single word. See.. Beera Beera, Behne De Behne De, Thok de Killi-baagad Billi, Khili re khili re and Kata Kata. Same thing we recently saw in - Paa. Most of the song had repeated words. So is this going to be the next trend ?

All in all, huge expectations from Rahman's Raavan are fulfilled, but somewhere I am not 'that' satisfied with this. I know that story's demand is for more 'Earthy' sounds, but I love rich compositions, and more songs sung by Rahman himself. :( He doesn't have even a single line in this album. Why ?

My Picks : Behne De, Khili Re and Beera Beera.

Behne De [Raavan] : Lyrics

Scintillating composition of Rahman, striking vocal performance of Karthik and mind blowing lyrics of Gulzar saab - mix them all and you get this track from movie Raavan. An outstanding composition created in form of the track 'Behne De' a dark song with unstoppable rendition by Karthik is a gem from the album. No doubt its gonna be played on my playlist for long.

Here are the lyrics -

Arre aankh se boond gira koi
Chingari ka tukda jala koi
Umeed ko aag laga zara
Sehra ki pyaas bujha zara..

Umeed ko aag laga zara
Sehra ki pyaas bujha zara..
Ghan itna baras ke galne lagoon
Main paani ke upar tarne lagoon...

Behne de mujhe behne de mujhe behne de
Behne de ghanghor ghata behne de paani ki tarah
Saagar mein jaa girna hai behne de nadiyaa ki tarah
Shart lagi hai mar jaane ki jeena hai toh pyaar mein...

Deh kahi bhi ho mera, jaan rakhi hai yaar mein,
Beh jaa beh jaa, hai saagar ka kehna,
Beh jaa beh jaa, hai nadiyaa ko behna,

Patte se tapakti boond ki aawaz sunai di thi
Nadiyaan mein tapk aur gum ho jaa, beh gaya beh gaya.
Jo rah gaya rah gaya.

Behne de mujhe behne de..

Mera pal pal ang ang bhar diya,
Tune jaan pe junoon sa kar diya,
Mera hai kya jo main haar doon,
Jaan teri hai tujh pe vaar doon.

Doob gaye jo suna hai saare
Tere dere aate hai,
Dil ke chullu mein bechare,
Doobkiya gote khaate hai,

Beh jaa, beh jaa, Chal tod kinaare ko,
Beh jaa, beh jaa, dhar le majdhaare ko,
Chingaari uda ke raakh se, ek boond gira ke aankh se,
Chalne ka ishara kar gaya
Kar gaya kar gaya
Sab bhar gaya bhar gaya...

Beera Beera [Raavan] : Lyrics

Image Courtesy : http://www.raavan-thefilm.com

....and it's here. Most anticipated music score of the year- by none other than- God - A R Rahman.

So far the first promo itself gave a hint that music of Raavan has earthy touch to it. And by listening to all song previews-its sure that its the same.

'Beera Beera' the very first song itself is so catchy that it can't get out of my mind. Here are the lyrics  [by Gulzar saab] of the same. Sung by Vijay Prakash, Mustafa Kutoane and Keerthi Sargathia [Yay !! Gujju !!] the song has 'LARGE CANVAS' feel to it. Well, with Mani Sir, that's assured always.

Beera....
Beera beera beera beera
Beera beera beera beera


Beera ke das maathe, beera ke sau naam
Chhede jo beera ko...
Dhana dhan dham dham...


Beera beera beera beera


Arre Beera uthti aandhi,
Beera ek toofan
Saans mein ugle agni
Beera jalti jaan jalti jaan jalti jaan


Janm na poocho jaat na pucho
Pucho jo pehchaan
Beera ka abhimaan hai abhimaan hai... Beera.


Beera beera beera
dhana dhan dham dham...