garche hai in dinoN mulk-e-dakan meN qadr-e-suKhan
kaun jaaye “Zauq” par dillii kii galiiyaaN chhoR kar

Even though poetry is patronized in Deccan (Hyderabad) these days
Still who would want to leave the lanes of Delhi, Zauq?

Thanks to Neha I found this catchy number Dilli by Rabbi Shergill from the upcoming movie Delhi Heights. Grab the complete album here, it is worth a try.

Zodiac is a long movie at 158 minutes and the first hour seemed too long. The opening is gripping but then the movie fritters away till it picks up pace in the middle. The ending is a bit anti-climactic. The script could have been more taut (I looked at my watch many times during the show). Robert Downey Jr. was the best actor followed by Mark Ruffalo. Jake Gyellenhaal was okay. Worth a watch.

7/10.

Sunny Deol, not one of my favourite actors these days, actually gave a decent performance in the movie Ziddi (1997). I saw this movie in Anand theater in Lucknow. I loved this song then, I love it even more now.

From a very forgettable movie, I just love this song. Its lyrics are meaningful (for a change in contemporary Bollywood), music is soothing (by Jatin-Lalit, who else?), beautiful locales and then there is that Kajol factor.

Enjoy!

Another beautiful number by Lata Mangeshkar from the movie Adalat (1958) feauturing Nargis and that suave and charming villain, Pran.

I have always maintained that Outlook does a better job at non-political cover stories than it does at the political ones. Its latest issue is about the 20 best Bollywood songs ever. May be the recent demise of Naushad prompted such an exercise. It is not a public survey rather the choice of an expert panel of 30 lyricists, composers and playback singers. Each panel member was asked to nominate 10 favourite numbers in no order of preference.

The best song ever, according to the panel is actually a bhajan written by Sahir Ludhianvi and sung by Mohd. Rafi from the movie Chitralekha (1964). Mohd Rafi tops the charts with 7 nominations, 5 solos and 2 duets (one each with Lata and Asha) including the top three songs. Lata has 6 songs, 5 solos and 1 duet. Asha has 2 songs, 1 solo and 1 duet. Kishore Kumar has 2 songs, both solos. K.L. Saigal, that sonorous voice of the era bygone has just one nomination. Hemant Kumar has 3 and of the present day singers, there is just Sonu Nigam with a song from Kal Ho Na Ho.

In the lyrics department, Shailendra has 5 songs in the list, Kaifi Azmi has 4, Sahir has 2, Anand Bakshi has 2 and, Javed Akhtar and Gulzar have 1 each. Guide is the most popular movie with 3 of its songs nominated by the panel. Father S.D. Burman has 5 compositions while son R.D. has 4.

I think it is a decent listing. There would always be some songs that some people feel should not have been included and some that should have been. Also, I think Outlook could have conducted a public survey as well to determine the popular choice.

What do you think of the compilation? Is there any song that you feel has been left but should have been in the list?

Update: Here is the complete list of top 20 songs.

1. Man re, tu kaahe na dheer dhare
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Chitralekha (1964)
Music: Roshan
Lyrics Sahir Ludhianvi

2. Three songs tied for the second position
Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Guide (1965)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

Din dhal jaaye, hai raat na jaaye…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Guide (1965)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics Shailendra

Kuch to log kahenge logon ka kaam hai kehna… Singer: Kishore Kumar
Film: Amar Prem (1971)
Music: R.D. Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

3. Three songs tied for the third position

Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam…
Singer: Geeta Dutt
Film: Kaagaz ke phool (1959)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Jo vaada kiya woh nibhana padega…
Singers: Rafi-Lata
Film: Taj Mahal (1963)
Music: Roshan
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

Pyar kiya to darna kya…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

4. Thirteen songs tied for the fourth position

Ai qaatib-e-taqdeer mujhe itna bata de…
Singer: K.L. Saigal
Film: My Sister (1944)
Music: Pankaj Mullick
Lyrics: Pandit Bhushan

Ayega, ayega, ayega ayega aane wala…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Mahal (1949)
Music: Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics: Nakshab Jarachavi

Piya tose naina lage re…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Guide (1965)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

Mai ye sochkar uske dar se…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Haqeeqat (1964)
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

O sajna, barkha bahar ayee…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Parakh (1960)
Music: Salil Chowdhury
Lyrics: Shailendra

Kuch dil ne kaha, kuch bhi nahin…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Anupama (1966)
Music: Hemant Kumar
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Zindagi ke safar me guzar jate hain jo makam…
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Film: Aap ki kasam (1974)
Music: R.D.Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Tum jo mil gaye ho to ye lagta hai, ke jahan mil gaya…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Hanste zakhm (1973)
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye…
Singer: Asha Bhonsle
Film: Umrao Jaan (1981)
Music: Khayyam Lyrics Shahryar

Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko…
Singers: Asha Bhonsle-Mohammed Rafi
Film: Yaadon ki baraat (1973)
Music: R.D. Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh

Tum pukar lo…
Singer: Hemant Kumar
Film: Khamoshi (1969)
Music: Hemant Kumar Lyrics Gulzar

Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi…
Singer: Sonu Nigam
Film: Kal ho naa ho (2003)
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Poocho na kaise maine rain bitayi…
Singer: Manna Dey
Film: Meri soorat teri aankhen (1963)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

I haven’t seen Fanaa but hope to do so in the near future, now that I am through with my exams. It’s review in Outlook writes about an impromtu antakshari between Aamir and Kajol.

There are some genuinely nice romantic moments. Like when Rehaan and Zooni sing in an impromptu antakshari. The choice of songs like Lag ja gale ke phir ye haseen raat ho na ho underlines the pathos in their relationship and also places it in an old-worldly context.

That song of course is from the movie Woh Kaun Thi and is one amazing song. IMHO, it is one of Lata’s very best. Sadhana looks beautiful as always and for once, Manoj Kumar is tolerable.

Enough talk, now enjoy !

Here are the lyrics taken from Geetmanjusha after slight modifications by me.

lag jaa gale ke phir ye hasiiN raat ho na ho
shaayad phir is janam meN, mulaaqaat ho na ho

hum ko milii hai aaj ye ghaRiiyaan nasiib se
jii bhar ke dekh liijiye, hum ko qariib se
phir aap ke nasiib meN, ye baat ho na ho
shaayad phir is janam meN, mulaaqaat ho na ho

paas aaiiye ke ham nahiiN aayeNge baar baar
baaheN gale meN Daal ke, ham ro leN zaar-zaar
aaNkhon se phir ye pyaar kii barsaat ho na ho
shaayad phir is janam meN, mulaaqaat ho na ho

(zaar-zaar : bitterly like phuuT-phuuT kar ronaa)

Lyrics: Raja Mehdi Ali Khan

I am a big IMDB fan and also a regular visitor. I think that the movie ratings at IMDB are mostly credible, mainly because of a large and random sample size of the voters involved. Since The Da Vinci Code was universally panned by the critics, I was quite interested in the IMDB ratings of the movie. It is no surprise that the movie is rated at 6.5/10 with total votes of around 25,000. What is surprising though, is the distribution of the ratings. Around 24% of the voters have given it a 10/10 rating. Such a high percentage of 10 rating is usually reserved for much better movies. Talking of Tom Hanks, his Forrest Gump has an overall rating of 8.3 with 33.4% voters giving it 10/10. For Saving Private Ryan, 31.1% gave it a 10/10 with an overall rating of 8.3. The percentage of 10 rating for some of the other Tom Hanks movies (all better than The Da Vinci Code, obviously) is much smaller:

1.) Philadelphia : 13.5% gave 10/10 with an overall rating of 7.5.

2.) Appolo 13 : 12.3% gave 10/10 with an overall rating of 7.5.

3.) Cast Away : 9.4% gave 10/10 with an overall rating of 7.3.

For director Ron Howard, his academy award winning A Beautiful Mind polled just 19.4% of 10 rating for an overall score of 7.8/10.

Does this mean that the fans of The Da Vinci Code are voting to get the movie a respectable rating at IMDB?

Did I like The Da Vinci Code? No.
Why? Because it is a very poor adaptation of a very poor book.

I didn’t like the book, so one could argue that I was biased against the movie from the word go. But still, when we have Tom Hanks and Ron Howard as actor and the director, the duo that gave us Apollo 13 together and Forrest Gump and A Beautiful Mind separately, one would expect at least an average fare. It wasn’t there.

There is always a problem with the adaptation of hugely successful books (and I am told that The Da Vinci Code has sold more copies than any other book) in defining the intended target audience. To make a movie that mainly caters to the people that have read the book or make a movie that everyone else would also understand? This movie falls somewhere in between. Avid lovers of the book would notice many important details missing and first-hand movie viewers would feel confused by many half-cooked plots. How would anyone understand the undying loyalty of Silas to Bishop Aringarosa without reading the book?

There were just two gasps by the audience in the entire movie. Both involved Silas. One was when he hits the nun, other one was when he jumps on Tom Hanks in Teabing’s house. The most important scene of the movie was the disclosure of the identity of the ‘teacher’ and it was pictured in a manner that audience didn’t react to it.

Some scenes were hilarious. Imagine this,

Sophie (inflight to London, goes over to Silas) : Diid yoo kill my grand-faather?
Silas : I am the messenger of God (or something to that effect).
Sophie (chataakh, chataakh on the cheeks of Silas) : Diid yoo kill my grand-faather?
Silas : Blah, blah, blah.
Sophie (again chataakh, chataakh on the cheeks of Silas) : Blah, blah, blah and so on.

I could almost hear Dharmendra screaming, “kutte ! kamiine ! maiN teraa Khuun pii jaauuNgaa. dishum, dishum”.

The movie is too wordy, the characters have not been developed well, there is zero chemistry between Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou (who by the way, plays her part well), the plot is half-cooked, there is no climax and in the end you just feel let-down.

Thanks to the religious groups for giving undue publicity to the movie because of which the theater was jam-packed. A movie that would have flopped anyway, might go on to recover its cost or may be garner some profit because of dont-watch-the-movie-its-blasphemous. They could have allowed people like me to come out of the theater and say dont-watch-the-movie-its-boring.

Update: There is an interesting article in WaPo on the history of church (read Catholic) protests against Hollywood in USA.