In the scene at college where Anjali (Kajol) dresses up, thinking she looks like Tina (Rani), keep an eye on Tina’s friendship bracelet. In the first scene when she is talking to Rahul (SRK) it is on her left hand, in the next scene when she is about to console Anjali it magically shifts to her right hand, and in the very next frame when she is walking away and Rahul holds her hand it is back on her left hand. 🙂
Where do I start about “Stories by Rabindranath Tagore” by Anurag Basu. To say that I was blown away would be a very small term to use, to describe how I felt while watching the series. As a self-proclaimed lover of literature I was ashamed of the fact that I knew so little about India’s first Nobel Laureate and his body of work. My knowledge of Rabindranath Tagore is limited to our national anthem “Jana Gana Mana” and the short story “Kabuliwala” that I learnt in school. I stumbled upon “Chokher Bali” much later in my adult life, and that too in the form of a movie. Growing up I preferred reading English books, because I loved the language and our school had an unlimited supply of great books. Since I did not learn to read and write my mother tongue Telugu, and Hindi was a subject limited to studying for exams, my exposure to Indian literature was very limited. By the time I developed a taste for English books written by Indian authors, I was already a grownup with a busy life. While I was able to make time for the latest best-sellers, I never could find the time to explore works of authors that were published a long time ago.
Most of you might be wondering how I ended up watching a television series, especially since I had given up on Indian television almost two decades ago. Well it is all thanks to Radhika Apte. Having been recently blown away by her performance in Parched, when I found out that she played Binodini, one of the most impressive female characters ever penned in Indian literature, in the TV series “Stories by Rabindranath Tagore”, I knew I had to watch it. I have been in awe of Binodini ever since I watched Chokher Bali a few years ago. Knowing what a brilliant actress Radhika is, I was curious to see her portrayal of Binodini.
So breaking my self-imposed rule of never watching an Indian television series I sat down to watch just the first story, Chokher Bali. As expected Radhika was brilliant as the young widow Binodini. But I could not stop after watching Chokher Bali. Thanks to Anurag Basu’s clever Arabian Nights style of story telling, he had me hooked at the end of every episode, that I had no choice but to keep watching till I was done with the entire series. By the end of the week, I had watched twenty stories spread over twenty six episodes. While that is a lot of time to spend in front of the television, I loved every second of it. Had Anurag not made the series the way he did, I may have put off watching the rest of the show for a later date and continued being ignorant to the works of Rabindranath Tagore.
Now that I know how beautiful Tagore’s stories are, and how progressive his ideas were, I can’t wait to get my hands on all his works. While I cannot read Bengali, I will give the Hindi versions a try, because a lot gets lost in translation in English versions. I think I will start with the stories that I loved the most, “Mrinal ki Chitti”, “Samaapti”, “Kabuliwala” and of course “Chokher Bali”. Words cannot express as to how great a job Anurag Basu did in bringing these beautiful stories to life. It is not often that we come across such brilliant works of art, that it is almost a crime to not watch them.
Declared a one-time watch when it first released, Pilla Zamindar is probably one of the most watched films in the Telugu industry in recent times. While some films are made to be instant classics, others grow on you with time. They are the type of films that freeze your fingers when they flash on the television while channel surfing, and before you know it, you are watching it for the hundredth time. These films may not come to mind, when asked to name your favorite movie, but end up being one of your most watched films. There are very few films that have that power, and Pilla Zamindar is one of them.
There are many reasons why I love Pilla Zamindar, the top one being Nani and his portrayal of PJ. PJ’s transformation from a rich spoilt brat to the good boy on campus is a treat to watch. Nani’s effortless performance is what makes PJ so endearing. Equally impressive is the support cast in the form of Rao Ramesh, M.S.Narayana, Srinivas Avasarala, Randhir and Hari Priya. Rao Ramesh as the stern but caring Principal and M.S.Narayana as the aging Telugu teacher steal the show in some scenes. While there are many movies based on college life, what makes Pilla Zamindar special is the valuable lessons it teaches us. The movie is best summed up by a dialogue that PJ delivers towards the end of the film”Naku patallu nerpindhi meere kadhu sir, inko iddaru vunnaru, Jeevitham, Kalam. Ikkada nenu gadipina jeevitham motham kalam villuvu choopisthe, ikkada gadipina rendu ela kallam jeevitham emito chupinchindhi” (Sir, you are not the only ones who taught me lessons, there are two more things, Life and Time. If my life here taught me the value of time, it is my two years here that taught me the value of life).
And what lessons they were! In the process of transforming PJ the film ends up teaching us a lot of life lessons too. Of the many lessons that PJ learns, the ones that stand out are Rajanna’s wise words to PJ when he is scared that he might loose – “Gelupu emi vundhi ra, maha aithe prapanchaniki ninnu parichayam chesthundi, oka sari odipoyi choodu, prapancham ante emito neeku parichayam avthundi” (What’s there in winning, at the most it will introduce you to the world. Loose once and see, and you will be introduced to the real world). Equally thought provoking are Kannababu’s words when PJ does not understand how the poorest of the poor can still be so happy – “Devudu manushulu ni premichadaniki, vosthulu ni vadukodaniki shrustincharu. Gani maname confusion tho manushulu vadukuni, vosthulni premisthunamu. Adhi marina roju antha anandame, antha trupte“(God created people to love and things to use, but in our confusion we are using people and loving things. The day that changes there will be no limit for happiness and satisfaction in this world). But the one that made the biggest impression on me were the words that Udhandam says in reply to PJ’s comment of the Telugu language dying -“Debba tagilthe “shit” ane ashudhani notilo vesukune meeku Telugu gopathanam emi ardham avthundi” (How would you understand the greatness of Telugu (your mother tongue) when you use filthy words like “shit” (instead of amma) when you are hurt).
While almost every character has some wise words to impart, it is the character of Udhandam that made the biggest impression on me. For the first time I was ashamed that I did not know how to read and write my own mother tongue (Telugu). When we were young, my parents made us choose Hindi as our second language, with the hope that they would teach us Telugu. Sadly they never found the time, and we never tried to learn the language either. While I was always a little guilty for never learning my own mother tongue, the guilt hit me very hard after watching this film. This is a film that every Telugu speaking person must watch, and if possible the movie should be remade in other languages too, to awaken the lost pride of many of our beautiful languages. It breaks my heart when I think of how careless we are with our languages, that probably took our forefathers a very long time to develop.
While all this sounds a little heavy and deep, Pilla Zamindar is not all about sentiment. In fact, it is the comedy that makes people go back to it again and again. Who can forget the punishment scenes of PJ while Ayyayyo plays in the background, or when Udhandam slaps him for mispronouncing a word in Telugu. Irrespective of what the critics said about the film, Pilla Zamindar is like potato chips, you can never stop after one (watch).
What do I say about Kshana Kshanam that hasn’t already been written. It is hard to believe that this tribute of RGV to his favorite actress Sridevi has been around for twenty-five years. Kshana Kshanam is without a doubt one of the best loved and most watched film in the Telugu film industry. While I have lost count of the number of times I have watched the film, I decided to test its timeless classic status by making my nine year old daughter watch it for the first time. I was curious to see how someone from her generation would react to the film. While I was expecting her to enjoy the film, I was surprised to see how much she loved it. Though Kshana Kshanam was a first of its kind at the time of its release, there have been many films since that have used this film as an inspiration. My daughter had watched a few of those films, so Kshana Kshanam was not really a novel film for her, the way it was for me. When I asked her why she liked the film, she replied “It is very funny”. Its true, however good the other films were, nothing beats the original.
It was a lot of fun, discussing the film with her. We spoke about our favorite scenes, I love the balcony scene and she loves the bridge scene, and our favorite songs, I love Jaamu Rathiri and she loves Ko ante Koti. So while we differed in our choice of our favorite scene and song, there was one thing we both agreed on, and that was the fact that we loved almost every scene that involved Paresh Rawal. Paresh Rawal redefined villains in Telugu films with Kshana Kshanam. For the first time people were not creeped out, about the villain. In fact many people went back to watch Kshana Kshanam as much for Paresh as they did for Venky and Sridevi. Who can forget the piano scene where he plays a bad tune and asks “Idhi e pato chepu”, or his “Puvvu amaina kanipisthunda” to Sridevi when she says she doesn’t know what he is talking about, or my personal favorite “Inquiry kanipisthunda” to a passerby who asks him about the status of a bus.
Equally impressive were Venky and Sridevi in the film. Who can forget the balcony scene where Venky jumps across and then climbs up a pipe to her balcony and asks her to follow with a very casual “Voche”, or Sridevi trying to explain to Venky how the guy was murdered in her apartment, or the way Venky tells his story of how he became a thief which is later retold by Sridevi to a very blank-faced bad guy. Having seen Sridevi mostly as a very mature lady to look believable next to her more senior co-stars and Venky as an angry young man, it was like a breath of fresh air watching them have fun playing their age so naturally and effortlessly. While it is impossible to think of Kshana Kshanam as anything but a super-hit film, its initial fate was far from it.
I still remember the first time Kshana Kshanam released in theaters. Everyone still hung up on “Shiva”, rejected it, forcing the film to be pulled from theaters within a few days of its release. But Kshana Kshanam is not a film that can be easily forgotten. Once the audience came to terms with the fact that Kshana Kshanam was different from Shiva, they realized how much they actually enjoyed it. What followed was a strong word of mouth about the film, which prompted the filmmakers to re-release the film two months later, giving it a chance to become the super-hit film that it truly deserved to be. The fact that this happened at a time when social media did not exist is nothing short of a miracle and that it is enjoyed as much now as it was twenty-five years ago, truly makes it a timeless classic.
My Movie Spotlight 