Monday, June 10, 2013

GURU DUTT: The Percentage of Tears

Guest post by: Tiru Pradyumna Editing by: HINDI CINEMA BLOG
Tiru Pradyumna is a theatre director from Bangalore. Interpreting and finding precious things in Indian cinema which are apparently not understood by normal audience, as well as articulating the concept of aesthetics and semiotics in cinema are some of Tiru's many talents shared with us today. Check out the blog at:  http://tirupradyumna.blogspot.in/
 
“Koi Jab Roke, Koi Jab Toke, Gun Gun Karata Bhaage Re”
 
This line flashed at me when I saw a poster of a film near a theatre in Bangalore. The title matched the “ORIGINAL” for the most part till “Saahib Biwi Aur ...”, but in a few seconds, my intellect felt guilty, because the resemblance was only between two film names and only that much. The memory of that poster remained only for couple of seconds, while the memory of the ORIGINAL film (which remains a classic even after five decades) will remain forever. My "guilty" comparison of both films led me to compare the “Golden Era of the HINDI FILM industry” and current “Bollywood” (that is what they call it). The span of twenty years in which legends like Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, Shammi, Rafi, Kishore Da, Burmans, Kaifi Azmi, Abrar alvi, Sahir ludhianvi, Anand Bhakshi and Guru Dutt were brand ambassadors of the Hindi film industry is compared to nowadays, when actors are only meant to be brand ambassadors for TV commercials... let's say the comparison cannot even be balanced on the same pole.
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