Indian Movies and Bollywood

[piranha]

NASCAR-themed Indian movie:

http://www.yashrajfilms.com/microsites/ ... flash.html

The script is childish, but Rani Mukherji is as cute as ever. Has anyone seen it ?

[usaindian]

yes
this almost a ripoff  of ricky bobby of talledaga nights

[piranha]

Good point! I noticed that one of the cars used in 'Ta Ra Rum Pum' had the cougar paint scheme from 'Talladega Nights'. Maybe the producer found this stuff in garbage? 

[shaili]

Surprised that nobody has reviewed 'Chak de India' on Sports India...

I saw the film today. For all the glaring technical faults as a 'sports movie', it was very delightful.

When the sound track of the national anthem was played with the teams on the hockey field....the audience in the theatre stood up. But then they didnt play the whole anthem...so it was a bit awkward for everyone.
(for those who dont know, it is mandatory in Mumbai for all theatres to play the national anthem before the screening of a film , any film....not just the patriotic types. Not sure if this rule exists elsewhere...)
So Mumbai audiences are quite used to standing up and singing the national anthem.

The flip side was - how many people in the audience actually support hockey...that too women's hockey. But a lot of people were clapping when goals were scored / saved  Wish we had people in the stadiums...

Anyway, the plus points are good cinematography and very good sound design. And the re-created match sequences are quite well done.

The other side is that the girls look more like a junior team... but then i guess there is something called 'creative license' 

[jayakris]

Well, there was a time when National Anthems were always played in theaters everywhere in Kerala, before they stopped it or banned it.  When I was young we always had the National anthem.  If I remember correctly it was always right after the moviie ended, in Kerala.  Everybody stood up and waited till it was over before walking out.

Jay

[Atithee]

Well, there was a time when National Anthems were always played in theaters everywhere in Kerala, before they stopped it or banned it.   When I was young we always had the National anthem.  If I remember correctly it was always right after the moviie ended, in Kerala.  Everybody stood up and waited till it was over before walking out.

Jay

I think it was everywhere in the country.  The movies opened with newsreels and ended with the national anthem.

[jayakris]

I was not sure if it was national, but remember it being banned or stopped later.   Couldn' remember if it was a parliament decision or a state decision to stop the practice.  If it was some national regulation, what changed to allow just Mumbai to do this?

I liked having the National Anthem in theaters, which was always shown with a video of our flag waving.

Jay

[sameerph]

I am quite sure that national anthem was being played in theaters when I started watching movies in theaters around 76-77 ( when I was about 7-8 years old.). Then , it disappeared in between sometime.

Now, they have started again about 2- 3 years back which is a good thing. At least arouses some patriotic feeling among the crowd. I don't know if it is only in Mumbai . It must be there in other towns as well. Yes, but the newsreeels which they used to show in begining of film have thankfully disappeared as none seemed to pay attention to it waiting for movie to begin.

[jayakris]

Oh those newsreels were the only time I could see some cricket, till I turned 17 and reached Chennai in 1980 for engineering studies.  Till then I had no idea how live cricket looked, as I had only a few pictures from The Hindu and the Illusrtated Weekly to make a mental picture.  Nobody within 20 kilometers of the village where I lived knew of cricket in Kerala and so seeing somebody play cricket in person was impossible.  Used to eagerly wait for those little 20 second cricket footages in the newsreels.  Those were the days!

Jay

[sameerph]

Oh, it was so late. In those days , there was very little live coverage on TV even in Mumbai excpet local matches.

Jay, when did you see first live ( on tv) tennis match, then ? I vaguely remember watching Borg- Mcenroe Wimbledon final when Borg lost for the first time after 5 years.

[jaydeep]

Yes me also remember the same match ... But I become tennis fan from Boris Becker's epic Wimbledon victory in 1985.

[Atithee]

Oh those newsreels were the only time I could see some cricket, till I turned 17 and reached Chennai in 1980 for engineering studies.  Till then I had no idea how live cricket looked, as I had only a few pictures from The Hindu and the Illusrtated Weekly to make a mental picture.  Nobody within 20 kilometers of the village where I lived knew of cricket in Kerala and so seeing somebody play cricket in person was impossible.  Used to eagerly wait for those little 20 second cricket footages in the newsreels.  Those were the days!

Jay

Ditto!  Those newsreels were amazing.  I guess everyone is different.  To me that was the highlight of the trip (many a times more than the movie itself).  Watching motion pictures of events that you only read about was incredible (especially the cricket).  As for watching live TV, yes, I think "that" Wimbledon match, some world cup soccer, India-Pak cricket, etc. are my first memories but what really changed Indian TV was the 1982 Asian Games in my opinion (and to some extent that India-Pak series where Pak batsmen piled up runs enough for all the lost years).

[jayakris]

Connors beating McEnroe at the 1982 wimbledon final is the first televised match that stays in my memory.  Connors was 30 and McEnroe was the 23 year old young punk.  Not too many people expected Connors to have enough gas to win a long 5 setter, but his fist-pumping show was unforgettable.

1981 wimbledon was the first time I saw tennis on TV.

Jay

[jayakris]

Yes, Atithee, the series where Pakistan kept on batting for ever, is the first cricket series I remember.   I would probably still wake up one of these days screaming, "Amma, amma ... Mudassar Nassar!"

At Asiad time, the color TVs came in.   Our hostel in IITM bought the color TV in 1982 just before th Asiad.   Ah those Keltron color TVs!

Not all television towers were up by world cup time in 1983, and I was on summer holidays, away from Madras.  Back to radio in our village where Doordarshan signals had not reached yet, and I heard Kapil Dev's miracle 175 innings.  Had to take a 3 hour bus ride to Kochi to watch one world cup match - that was the nice win over England (Sandeep Patil again going after Willis) ..

I saw a snippet of the world cup trophy thing at a cinema newsreel.   Weell, I probably didn't go to see the newsreel ... I think that was one of those I.V.Sasi-Seema "semi-porn" malayalam movie that I had to see! ... "Her nights" was ossibly the move.

Does anybody remember those movies? ..They were hardly porn; Mostly just reality cinema, as Malayalam movie industry was probably a few years ahead of others .. But they were the best avalable porn, and so were marketed as such elsewhere in the country with big posters exaggerating the nudity!

Jay

[sameerph]

We have gone way off topic here.

Btw, coming back to main topic , the movie " Chak de India " has been inspired on the life of former Indian goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi . He was Indian GK when India lost to 1-7 to Pakistan in 1982 Asian games final . ( Hey, anyone remembers this match ?)

Then, he went on to coach Indian women's team to gold at commonwealth games.