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I'm a newbie at Twitter, and didn't really know how to check my "mentions," so I didn't know until today that @astroshiva very nicely recommended my blog, saying that I knew quite a bit about Bollywood and such. (And again, thank you so much!)
And speaking of Twitter. I got a tweet response from Amitabh this morning, so I am (as Mike Myers used to say, as "Dieter") as happy as a little girl.
I hope this is a good version of the video, since as I've mentioned, I can't access my YouTube favorites from Blogger. I've talked about this video before: how I saw it, realized that it was some sort of greatest hits medley, and researched around for a while for the information to help me understand exactly what it was. I've learned another couple of pieces, so I think I may have the whole thing researched and deconstructed.
These are indeed four songs from Amitabh Bachchan's hit movies of the 70s and 80s, remixed and sewn together with the "Go Meera Go" hip-hop portion. The number is sung by Amitabh himself and son Abhishek (Abhi did the rapping).
The first song is "Kaike Paan Banaraswala" from Don (1978). Don was remade in 2004 or 2006 (too lazy to look it up) with Shah Rukh Khan; SRK's sequel Don 2 just opened this past weekend. I'm not sure how that's going to work, since (at least in the original), Don is killed around halfway through the movie; the police replace him with a lookalike (who I'm pretty sure was called "Vijay") to infiltrate Don's underworld gang. I saw the SKR Don some time back; is it possible that Don didn't die in that one? or was Don somehow not really dead? these mysteries may be cleared up once I see Don 2.
The second song is "Pag Ghungroo Bandh Meera Nachi Thi" from Namak Halaal (1982?). I believe this song may predate the movie and may be a traditional song; the idea in the movie is that a naive country boy goes to the city and gets up and sings at a nightclub, and I think this is supposed to be perceived as an old-fashioned song (although it's all discoed up).
The third song is "Rang Barse" from Silsilla (also around 1982). Amitabh and his poet-father wrote it.
Fourth song: "Saara Zamana" from Yaarana (maybe 1981). This was still a missing piece the last time I wrote about Go Meera Go. In Yaarana, Amitabh wears a suit studded with lights, an idea he got from the Robert Redford movie "The Electric Horseman."
All of these songs were originally sung by the great Kishore Kumar, except for "Rang Barse," which Amitabh sang himself.
The last (maybe) missing piece: almost all of the dance moves are quoted from earlier films. I've watched Go Meera Go a bunch of times, and as I watch more and more of Amitabh's films, I keep seeing bits of the Go Meera Go dance turning up. I found this to be extremely cool. I was led to this realization, a bit, from a little "making-of" clip on YouTube. Unfortunately, every time a bit of information I needed was about to be explained, whoever was speaking went from English to Hindi. But the choreographer said something to the effect of, "There are no new dances. This is pure Amitabh Bachchan dance." I didn't follow this at first, maybe because I hadn't yet realized that Amitabh pretty much has his own dance style. But the choreographer (Remo) was explaining just what I said above.
The other comment I must make about Meera is that for the most part, I don't care for the way Big B is dressed, lit, or photographed. It isn't all that flattering. I know that he actually likes that style of clothing, the white pants-and-colorful shirt-and-scarf thing, but it's not to my liking. He looks a lot better, IMHO, in a white kurta or a dark suit -- or, as at the very end of Meera, tight jeans. But for the most part, this video failed to make him look tall and slim; he may not be as slim now as he once was, but see the Jhoom video, from just four years earlier, to see how he can be photographed to look tall and slim. Additionally, it's unfortunate that he's so rarely photographed anymore without dark or clear glasses. He has such great eyes. (Again, see Jhoom.)
I swear, I hope these are good video versions.
And speaking of Twitter. I got a tweet response from Amitabh this morning, so I am (as Mike Myers used to say, as "Dieter") as happy as a little girl.
I hope this is a good version of the video, since as I've mentioned, I can't access my YouTube favorites from Blogger. I've talked about this video before: how I saw it, realized that it was some sort of greatest hits medley, and researched around for a while for the information to help me understand exactly what it was. I've learned another couple of pieces, so I think I may have the whole thing researched and deconstructed.
These are indeed four songs from Amitabh Bachchan's hit movies of the 70s and 80s, remixed and sewn together with the "Go Meera Go" hip-hop portion. The number is sung by Amitabh himself and son Abhishek (Abhi did the rapping).
The first song is "Kaike Paan Banaraswala" from Don (1978). Don was remade in 2004 or 2006 (too lazy to look it up) with Shah Rukh Khan; SRK's sequel Don 2 just opened this past weekend. I'm not sure how that's going to work, since (at least in the original), Don is killed around halfway through the movie; the police replace him with a lookalike (who I'm pretty sure was called "Vijay") to infiltrate Don's underworld gang. I saw the SKR Don some time back; is it possible that Don didn't die in that one? or was Don somehow not really dead? these mysteries may be cleared up once I see Don 2.
The second song is "Pag Ghungroo Bandh Meera Nachi Thi" from Namak Halaal (1982?). I believe this song may predate the movie and may be a traditional song; the idea in the movie is that a naive country boy goes to the city and gets up and sings at a nightclub, and I think this is supposed to be perceived as an old-fashioned song (although it's all discoed up).
The third song is "Rang Barse" from Silsilla (also around 1982). Amitabh and his poet-father wrote it.
Fourth song: "Saara Zamana" from Yaarana (maybe 1981). This was still a missing piece the last time I wrote about Go Meera Go. In Yaarana, Amitabh wears a suit studded with lights, an idea he got from the Robert Redford movie "The Electric Horseman."
All of these songs were originally sung by the great Kishore Kumar, except for "Rang Barse," which Amitabh sang himself.
The last (maybe) missing piece: almost all of the dance moves are quoted from earlier films. I've watched Go Meera Go a bunch of times, and as I watch more and more of Amitabh's films, I keep seeing bits of the Go Meera Go dance turning up. I found this to be extremely cool. I was led to this realization, a bit, from a little "making-of" clip on YouTube. Unfortunately, every time a bit of information I needed was about to be explained, whoever was speaking went from English to Hindi. But the choreographer said something to the effect of, "There are no new dances. This is pure Amitabh Bachchan dance." I didn't follow this at first, maybe because I hadn't yet realized that Amitabh pretty much has his own dance style. But the choreographer (Remo) was explaining just what I said above.
The other comment I must make about Meera is that for the most part, I don't care for the way Big B is dressed, lit, or photographed. It isn't all that flattering. I know that he actually likes that style of clothing, the white pants-and-colorful shirt-and-scarf thing, but it's not to my liking. He looks a lot better, IMHO, in a white kurta or a dark suit -- or, as at the very end of Meera, tight jeans. But for the most part, this video failed to make him look tall and slim; he may not be as slim now as he once was, but see the Jhoom video, from just four years earlier, to see how he can be photographed to look tall and slim. Additionally, it's unfortunate that he's so rarely photographed anymore without dark or clear glasses. He has such great eyes. (Again, see Jhoom.)
I swear, I hope these are good video versions.
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