Just finished watching Kaagaz Ke Phool a short while back. Such a brilliant masterpiece! Finally - a film that has made me really really sad inside. Getting this feeling after a long time. And there is no point in hiding the fact that I might even have shed a tear or two had I been alone at home.
Well, this film got me into thinking quite a bit. Well, actually, a lot about the film and the way the film industry works, but besides that a few other things as well.
Just look at our country and the kind of craze the Indians develop over this current generation of mortals working in the film industry (and I'll strictly stick to Bollywood as that's my area of expertise).
They go mad over some really untalented actors just because they have good bodies. The actresses today are really awful, but even they are projected as being extremely talented and beautiful.
They go mad over some really horrible music directors and singers. And there are no such things as lyricists, directors and scipt-writers remaining in today's era.
Yet, this country completely adores this current batch of stars (both super and not-so-super).
There are a few people who are making outstanding cinema these days, but that's a very small percentage; and they are the sort of film-makers or actors who have a cult following.
Feels so sad when we think of Bollywood's past. To think that once upon a time, it was ruled by stars like Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutt, Dharmendra, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan(of the 70s, not later). There were other famous actors who unfortunately were not HUGE names - Rajendra 'Jubilee' Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Rajkumar, Sunil Dutt, V.Shantaram, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Sachin, Mithun Chakraborthy, Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar, Navin Nischal, Biswajeet, Farooque Shaikh, Naseerudinn Shah, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff. We had some of the finest actors ever to embrace the screen - Ashok Kumar and Balraj Sahni.
Let's have a look at the actresses - Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Nutan, Vyjanthimala, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh, Sadhana, Suchitra Sen, Geeta Bali, Mumtaz, Hema Malini, Raakhee, Jaya Bhaduri, Sharmila Tagore, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Rekha, Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi, Dipti Naval, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Ranjeeta, Padmini Kolhapuri, Poonam Dhillon, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Reena Roy. We had probably the best ever (and best there ever will be) 'item girl' - Helen.
And the comedians - ah, now there were people who could make us laugh at any situation and most of the times, with their mere presence itself - Johny Walker, Mehmood, Mukhri, I.S.Johar, Dhumal, Mohan Choti, Ram Avtaar, Deven Verma, Tun Tun, Rajendranath, Kishore Kumar, Keshto Mukherjee, Asit Sen, Utpal Dutt, Jagdeep, Amol Palekar, Asrani, Bhagwan Dada, Om Prakash, Rakesh Bedi, Satish Shah, Ravi Baswani.
And last but not the least - one can never forget the immortal character actors in their stereotypical roles - Iftekhar, Pran, Prem Nath, Prem Chopra, Ranjeet, Ajit, Nazir Hussain, Abhi Bhattacharya, K.N.Singh, O.P.Ralhan (and he was a very good director too!), Nirupa Roy, Sulochna, Duga Khote, Shobha Khote, Lalita Powar, Kamini Kaushal, Shree Ram Lagoo, Madan Puri, Rehman, A.K.Hangal, Jagadish Raj, Shetty, D.K.Sapru, Manmohan, Pichhu Kapoor, Motilal, Kishore Sahu, Shivraj, Jalal Agha, Tarun Bose, Ramesh Deo, Danny Denzongpa, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Dulaari, Bindu, Manmohan Krishna, Satyen Kappu, Dina Pathak, Pearl Padamsee, Leela Chitnis, Leela Mishra, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajan Haksar, Nana Palsikar, Macmohan, Sujit Kumar, Aroona Irani, Kader Khan, David, Jeevan, Paintal, Sunder, Birbal, Ambreesh Puri, Satish Kaushik, Annu Kapoor, Pankaj Kapoor, Om Puri, Rakesh Bedi, K.K.Raina, Alok Nath, Shakti Kapoor, Asha Sachdev and scores of others who I just can't seem to remember while typing this post now.
Seriously, is there anyone today who can match up with any of these names mentioned. I wish Bollywood just stops making new films and starts releasing all these old movies. That way atleast the current generation will get a feel as to who the real stars are and how stupid they have all been to encourage the current directors, music directors and actors/actresses in whatever they are doing.
Well, this film got me into thinking quite a bit. Well, actually, a lot about the film and the way the film industry works, but besides that a few other things as well.
Just look at our country and the kind of craze the Indians develop over this current generation of mortals working in the film industry (and I'll strictly stick to Bollywood as that's my area of expertise).
They go mad over some really untalented actors just because they have good bodies. The actresses today are really awful, but even they are projected as being extremely talented and beautiful.
They go mad over some really horrible music directors and singers. And there are no such things as lyricists, directors and scipt-writers remaining in today's era.
Yet, this country completely adores this current batch of stars (both super and not-so-super).
There are a few people who are making outstanding cinema these days, but that's a very small percentage; and they are the sort of film-makers or actors who have a cult following.
Feels so sad when we think of Bollywood's past. To think that once upon a time, it was ruled by stars like Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutt, Dharmendra, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan(of the 70s, not later). There were other famous actors who unfortunately were not HUGE names - Rajendra 'Jubilee' Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Rajkumar, Sunil Dutt, V.Shantaram, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Sachin, Mithun Chakraborthy, Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar, Navin Nischal, Biswajeet, Farooque Shaikh, Naseerudinn Shah, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff. We had some of the finest actors ever to embrace the screen - Ashok Kumar and Balraj Sahni.
Let's have a look at the actresses - Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Nutan, Vyjanthimala, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh, Sadhana, Suchitra Sen, Geeta Bali, Mumtaz, Hema Malini, Raakhee, Jaya Bhaduri, Sharmila Tagore, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Rekha, Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi, Dipti Naval, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Ranjeeta, Padmini Kolhapuri, Poonam Dhillon, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Reena Roy. We had probably the best ever (and best there ever will be) 'item girl' - Helen.
And the comedians - ah, now there were people who could make us laugh at any situation and most of the times, with their mere presence itself - Johny Walker, Mehmood, Mukhri, I.S.Johar, Dhumal, Mohan Choti, Ram Avtaar, Deven Verma, Tun Tun, Rajendranath, Kishore Kumar, Keshto Mukherjee, Asit Sen, Utpal Dutt, Jagdeep, Amol Palekar, Asrani, Bhagwan Dada, Om Prakash, Rakesh Bedi, Satish Shah, Ravi Baswani.
And last but not the least - one can never forget the immortal character actors in their stereotypical roles - Iftekhar, Pran, Prem Nath, Prem Chopra, Ranjeet, Ajit, Nazir Hussain, Abhi Bhattacharya, K.N.Singh, O.P.Ralhan (and he was a very good director too!), Nirupa Roy, Sulochna, Duga Khote, Shobha Khote, Lalita Powar, Kamini Kaushal, Shree Ram Lagoo, Madan Puri, Rehman, A.K.Hangal, Jagadish Raj, Shetty, D.K.Sapru, Manmohan, Pichhu Kapoor, Motilal, Kishore Sahu, Shivraj, Jalal Agha, Tarun Bose, Ramesh Deo, Danny Denzongpa, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Dulaari, Bindu, Manmohan Krishna, Satyen Kappu, Dina Pathak, Pearl Padamsee, Leela Chitnis, Leela Mishra, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajan Haksar, Nana Palsikar, Macmohan, Sujit Kumar, Aroona Irani, Kader Khan, David, Jeevan, Paintal, Sunder, Birbal, Ambreesh Puri, Satish Kaushik, Annu Kapoor, Pankaj Kapoor, Om Puri, Rakesh Bedi, K.K.Raina, Alok Nath, Shakti Kapoor, Asha Sachdev and scores of others who I just can't seem to remember while typing this post now.
Seriously, is there anyone today who can match up with any of these names mentioned. I wish Bollywood just stops making new films and starts releasing all these old movies. That way atleast the current generation will get a feel as to who the real stars are and how stupid they have all been to encourage the current directors, music directors and actors/actresses in whatever they are doing.
