Calcutta 1962 in pictures

byronic

Calcutta 1962 in pictures

Its hot outside, but in a Bollywood movie theater, its always cool and air conditioned.

Well right now this Bollywood movie is getting its fair amount of hype and press. Its the film adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel "Parineeta" (written in 1914). Mr. Chattopadhyay also wrote the ever famous "Devdas". It has a Bengali setting, but is a Hindi film, and is actually the third time the novel has been made into a movie. This time the film is set in Calcutta during 1962. Most of the movie has been filmed on location in Darjeeling and Kolkata. The Darjeeling sequence has a song number filmed on the toy train !!! The movie is directed by V.V. Chopra, whose last movie was the great "Munnabhai MBBS", he also made "1942 A Love Story" and "Mission Kashmir".

I've been looking at the movie's official web site, and it has lots of great photos of places and sights in Kolkata. Reading the site it really made want to have lived in High Society in Calcutta during the 1960s. They really make it sound romantic beyond reason, like Paris in the 1920s, or NYC in the 1950s.

So I just wanted to pass on the site cause of the pics, and to gossip about the movie, cause I am bored to death waiting for next January when I get to go to real India...

(Oh ya, and I forgot to add that Rekha does the item number)

Here's the links:

(official website) http://www.parineetathefilm.com/

(movie showcase, a 24 minute documentary on the making of the movie) http://www.indiafm.com/showcase/parineeta/index.shtml

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natasha chanda acharya

Vidu Vinod Chopra is the producer not the director of Parineeta, same as he was the producer of Munna Bhai. But you're forgiven because you love Hindi Films so much.

somnath

Natasha we are expecting another lovely review for this film (you did it for Black and it was excellent ) – “Parineeta”.

- Somnath

byronic

Oh thanks, you're right. Anyway, I saw the previews for Parineeta last week, and the movie has a great "look". I hope the rest of the film holds up to the great looking preview.
I know that The novel Devdas is a classic. Is Chattopadhyay's Parineeta also considered a classic Bengali novel?

NostalgicIndian

Where is that review of "Black"?

And yes, I was extremely touched by Swades. It was extremely hard to control my tears (ok ... let the tease begin, but its true) in that scene where this little kid was selling water on the small station for 25 paisa and SRK was looking at him with almost tearful eyes. I knew exactly what he was feeling. I have been in that kind of situation and its not fun.

Hey, I watched "Bunty & Bubbly". I had no clue what this movie was about before I was dragged in there. I expected it to be a Yash Raj romance But then the movie turned out to be fun and different. I especially loved the lessons of life in those "2 types of people..." phrases. It was fun and if you can look at it more deeply, it does give a lot of lessons about life that are really applicable to everyone.

Auntyji

I watched Parineeta yesterday. The art direction, clothes, sets etc were all really good. Saif Ali Khan looked all grown-up suddenly...I thought he looked great.
The movie itself was average and in fact, I was disappointed after reading the reviews. Reminded me that I should never expect too much even though the film proclaimed itself to be "different".

I liked the lead actress Vidya Balan (never heard of her before)-something very charming about her. I hope she does well in her career.

There was an "item" number by Rekha in a cabaret; I had gone with a lady who lived in Calcutta for many years, and she said the scene was exactly like the cabarets in Calcutta in the 60s. That made me wish I had been around Calcutta in the 60s...and the women wore these gorgeous saris with low-backed blouses to go to nightclubs-why doesn't anyone do that anymore!

Saif Ali Khan should have been taught how to "play" the piano....sometimes his hands were at 90 degrees to the keyboard- not exactly convincing when his character was that of a musician.

somnath

Hi
Please have a look here; we had some discussion on Swadesh, Lagaan and Black. You may find it interesting.

Swades or Lagaan?

Watch Swades

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showt...?t=5948&page=4

Somnath

Auntyji

I had a look but am a bit puzzled...what's it got to do with Parineeta?

Everyone thinks Black is a wonderful movie, but throwing a nonvocal deaf and blind individual into the water, manhandling her etc are not sound educational tactics by any standards. Also, it is the usual story of the great teacher coming along to "fix" the person with a disability, teach her table manners and tame her. I felt so sad that we Indians think that this movie does justice to people with disabilities.

sadhuji

ha ha ha - not only saif ali but many more fall in this category.

in order to get over these difficult situations, invariably, the hero or heroine is shown on a piano and he or she faces the camera. thereby, you can see only the movement of the shoulders. even then, sometimes the rhythms do not match.

such visuals are nothing new for us - we are accustomed to them.

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somnath

I am sorry that I couldn’t make it clear. Those are not directly related to “Parineeta”, but NostalgicIndian mentioned that "I was extremely touched by Swades". So I thought that he may find those links interesting. That’s all.

Now comes the second part, honestly speaking, as a non-technical person, it is my limitation that I do not know “educational tactics” or “any standards” related to a nonvocal deaf and blind child.
I am also not a film critic but as an average audience, I am absolutely convinced about the acting of all the artists, awesome direction, superb sound effects and excellent photography. Moreover I was completely carried away by the film, by the passion of that ‘just another teacher’ to ‘fix’ the disability of the child. I find its not demanding tons of sympathy for a disable child like other films but inspires to win. In a nutshell – a good film.

There may be some technical holes but is it possible to point it out for non-technical persons like me? It will be very helpful to all of us if you share how experts solve such problems in real life.

Auntyji

Hi Somnath, I'm not an expert at all, since I do not work with deaf and blind individuals...I have worked only with people who have cognitive disabilities.

It's not about the camera work/sound effects etc...just felt shocked that Amitabh Bachan's character seemed to handle her so roughly; no teacher should be able to do that. I think they had done their research (he seemed to use some tactual hand-over-hand signing, I think), but I just felt very unsettled by him throwing her in the water (unthinkable in my work), and the portrayal of her as wild/"untamed"...this is not fair to people with disabilities who anyway have to deal with so many stereotypes.
My two cents, that's all. This is not an exhaustive source of information, but if you would like to do some reading:
http://www.netac.rit.edu/publication...eaf-blind.html
There is also a good book called "No Pity" by Joseph Shapiro, it is about the disability rights movement in the US (includes information on Deaf culture and activism).

somnath

Hi,
nice link. thanks for sharing.
Somnath

natasha chanda acharya

yes, I am alive.
People, please don't attack Somanth on my behalf. He is just a good friend always championing my cause. Thanks Somnath.
Auntiji, a film is fiction. It is somebody's vision of or perception of a story. And i admit I am biased. I think Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one of the best filmmakers in recent times. I thought it was a brilliantly made "film". Brilliantly presented. The actors were brilliant. If you have to get into the discussion, well, Amitabh was accentric in the movie. I don't think his actions were glorified. anyway, we are all entitled to our opinions.
Nostalgic Indian, In more than 100 posts, i have only written two / three long posts! Stop teasing me. And thanks, anyway. I didn't write any review on Black, just enthused about how good it is.
Yes, yes, I will get back on parineeta as soon as i see the movie.
maybe, i should start a thread on movie reviews (long reviews), what say, Somnath?

somnath

Thank God you are . Natasha, You have become lazy now a day . Immediately sanction a long leave and ask your cook to visit her native place. These pasta and other delicious food made you lazy.
I really love this film “Black” and may be, I am a bit emotional while talking about this, sorry if it hurts.

The thread on movie reviews is a great idea. Plz start it as soon as possible . Let it be “Parineeta” to start with. Cheers to Byronic also.

- Somnath

natasha chanda acharya

I think Byronic should start the thread, actualy. He is the official IM bollywood expert, after all. Then I can contribute. maybe it should be called "chala chitra chit-chat" (chalachitra meaning motion picture in Hindi!)