Deep Impressions

 Mar jaate hain aashiq, zinda reh jaati hai yaad...! Also published in moveitalkies.com  and  in The Print   Most people would have experienced Dilip Kumar through personal interactions during the last century and through documents and publications in the current century. However, my memories of the institution called Dilip Kumar are exactly the reverse. I have experienced his philosophies, his emotions and his humaneness through the documentation and communications that he had with Sterling Investment Corp Pvt Ltd during 1950s and 1960s and during a series of personal interactions with him and Saira ji at time of release of Mughal-e-Azam ( colour ) in 2004 and thereafter.   By mid 50s, Dilip Saheb was an established star and he was about to take the next leap in his career as a producer. He wanted to make a film with outdoor shoot and in colour. In those days, producers would avoid outdoor shoots due to the high costs involved. Also colour films had just arrive...

    हिंदीभाषा : पर्दे से परिवर्तन    भाषा के लिए अक्सर उस की प्राचीनता उनके गौरव का विषय होता है। किंतु विश्व में सबसे अधिक बोले जानी वाली पाँच भाषाओं में सबसे युवा भाषा होने के कारण हिन्दी का यौवन ही उसका गर्व-बिंदु है। देवनागरी लिखावट वाली खड़ी बोली - जो हिंदी का वर्तमान प्रचलित रूप है - की उम्र २०० वर्ष से भी कम है। और इस छोटे से अंतराल में पिछले ७० सालों में हिंदी का रूपांतरण जिस रफ़्तार से हुआ है, वह अपनेआप में एक शोध का विषय तो है ही पर साथ-ही-साथ इस भाषा के यौवन का द्योतक भी है।    ७० साल के इस सफ़ारनामे को मूर्त-रूप से तो कुछ बिरले भाग्यशालियों ने ही अनुभव किया होगा, पर बाक़ी लोग भी हिंदी सिनेजगत की नज़रों के ज़रिए से हिंदी के इस रूपांतरण के चश्मदीद गवाह बन सकते हैं।    ४० और ५० के दशक की हर फ़िल्म में उस फ़िल्म की भाषा का झुकाव बड़ी आसानी से दृष्टिगोचर होता था - या तो भाषा उर्दूनुमा होती या फिर हिंदीरस से परिपूर्ण या फिर हिंदुस्तानी लहजे वाली। हिंदुस्तानीभाषा , हिंदी-उर्दू का एक नाप-तुला मिश्रण, उस समय लोकप्रियता के पायदान नम्बर एक पर थी।...

  Hindi : Muscling through Metamorphosis   Most languages would take pride in being the most ancient language. For Hindi, however, the pride remains in being the youngest language among the top five spoken languages in the world.  The Devnagari scripted Khadi boli which is largely known as Hindi is as young as 200 years. And if ones consider only the presence in mass media communication as a barometer, it is only around independence movement that Hindi gained its prominence.    During the last seventy years, this young language has seen a metamorphosis of a scale that probably no language in the world has seen. Interestingly, those who have not personally witnessed this metamorphosis, can experience it through the eyes of Hindi cinema.     The Hindi films of 40s and 50s had a clear bent either towards purified Hindi, or towards purified Urdu and yet some had the flavour of Hindustani (a commonly understood mix of Hindi and Urdu). Various literary ...

  Reel, Royalty, & Real Estate ….. "It is not the legal documents that drive long partnerships, it is the silent compromises that define the spirit  of partnership." ( This blog has also been published in Times Of India and in  Business World )      ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------   A young lad in mid 20s bubbling with ideas but with no past achievements. And a construction baron in his 60s - with bountiful of money and experience.    The above could be a very common Founder & VC story of startups of today. But this a story of 1940s and 1950s - when partnerships was always among equals.    K Asif was an Urdu speaking Muslim from Punjab. Seth Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, was a Parsi from Mumbai.  So if  Bambaiya Hindi  was the only mode of communication, their partnership too was uncharacteristic, it was born out of a mammoth alienation - the Par...

In Search of Villain ( also published in movietalkies.com )  OTT  is seen as the key factor in the shift of audience away from cinema halls,  But the absence of 'villain' - who was so instrumental in driving audiences to cinemahalls - has escaped everyone's eye     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   “OTT may kill the business of cinemahalls” was cabinet minister Piyush Goyal’s observation during last fortnight's  FICCI Frame’s virtual event.   Experts would most likely have consensus on the above prognosis. But if the same question was reversed, “What can bring back audiences back to cinemahalls ( post the Covid crisis) ?”,  consensus would most likely remain elusive. However, in a country with limited options for Out-of-the-Home entertainment, a high youth population and  a growing economy, it would only raise one’s eyebrows when one learns that cin...