NAMOONA

NAMOONA (HINDI) / Length 3410.79 meters
*ing Kishore Sahu, Kamini Kaushal, Leela Chitnis & Dev Anand, Madan Puri…Cockoo
Story: J C Jain
Dialogues: Mohanlal Bajpai
Lyrics: Santoshi & Nakshab
Music: C Ramchandra, Asst: Paigankar
Dances: Badri Prasad
DOP: L N Verma
Cameraman: P C Sinha
Director of Audiography: B N Sharma
Recordist: P Raymond, Asst: Raman, Majid
Editor: Vittal Banker, Asst: Harish Pathare, Krishan Chawhan, U Naik
Make up: P Nikam
Dailogue Director: B M Dixit
Asst Director: C P Dixit, G P Shakhal
Production Manager: M S Pathare
Produced at: M & T studios
Recorded on: RCA
Produced by: C R Shah, S R Bhattacharya
Directed by: Hira Singh
(Dev’s name in film- Jeevan, Kamini Kaushal- Rekha)

Song# 1 (on stage Kamini Kaushal)
Chalne walon ke saath sab chalet hain,
Girte huon ka daman koi thaam le
Himmat se koi kaam le, sahas se kopi kaam le
Song# 2 (on stage Nautanki, unknown actors)
Mhari gadi maa aavjo, Surat wala sethia, arey poonawala sethai
(Kehte hain teri hazaron dukanei, humein ek de de toh hum bhi jane…)
Song# 3 (Kamini Kaushal)
Jiya mora dole, dhandkata hai dil,
sajan mann bhaye balam mann bhaye
Song# 4 (Kamini Kaushal)
Jiya dhadak dhadak ho phadak phadak tadpaye,
Tum aao toh chain aa jaye
Song# 5 (Unknown actress- Banaras street)
Tam tam se jhanko na raniji, gadi se gadi lad jayegi,
Tirchhi nazar pad jayegi, bijli si dilpe gir jayegi
Song# 6 (unknown actress doing Mujra & dev)
Aji Ajee tan ban ke, ho, tan ban ke ho lala,
Dekho nikal na jaye diwala kahin dil ka diwala…o lala
Song# 7 (Kamini Kaushal, Dev / Talat Mehmood, ---)
Tadpa ke mujhe ab chhod diya, dil todne wale yaad rahe,
Aansoo na bahana mere liye, duniya teri aabad rahe
Song# 8 (Kamini Kaushal)
Ek thes lagi, aansoo tapke, ek chot lagi dil toot gaya
Song# 9 (Kamini Kaushal)
Mujhko sazayein deen tune kisi ke gunah ki,
Bhagwan tune kyon bhagwan tune kyon
Meri duniya tabah ki, mujhko sazayein de ke.

Villain Madan Puri narrates urdu couplets:-

Jalwe meri nigah mein kono makan ke hain,
Mujhse kahan chhupenge wo aise kahan ke hain

Yaar kee mehfil mein kyon kar yaar aana chhod de
Kis tarah bulbul chaman se ashiyana chhod de

BLACK CAT

G P Sippy Films (P) Ltd
BLACK CAT / Length: 4203.5m
*ing Balraj Sahni, Minu Mumtaz, N A Ansari & Johny Walker
Supported by: Shammi, Nelofar, Sheila Kashmiri, Mumtaz Begum, Hari Shivdasani, Kailash, Abdul… Tuntun & Lilian
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues: K B Pathak
Art Direction: D G Bhojwani
Photography: K S Jaitly
Sound: N S Shah
Song Recording: Minoo Katrak
Editor: M S Shinde
Processing Lab: Famous Lab, Tardeo
Processing In-charge: S S Lingayat
Make up: Sarang Kumar
Production Controller: Kripal R Mirchandani
Costumes: Chellaram
Produced at: Asha, BT, Mohan, M&T and Ranjit studios
Discs on: HMV
Recorded on: RCA
Lyrics: Jan Nisar Akhtar
Playback: Lata, Mohd Rafi, Suman Hemadi
Dances: Satyanarayan
Music: N Dutta
Produced by: G P Sippy
Directed by: N A Ansari

Song# 1
Main Tumhi Se Poochhati hoon, mujhe tumse pyar kyon hai,
Kabhi tum dagha na doge, mujhe aitbar kyon hai
(Minu Mumtaz, Balraj Sahni/ Lata, Mohd Rafi sings only a short line in beginning)
Song# 2
One two three four, dil se poochho
Five six seven eight, oh you are great
(Restaurant performance - Johny Walker, unknown girl/ Mohd Rafi, Suman Hemadi)
Song# 3
Kaun tujhe roke kaun tujhe tokey,
Duniya ko diye ja dhoke pe dhoke
(Restaurant performance Johny Walker, Shammi/ Mohd Rafi. Suman Hemadi & Chorus)
Song# 4
Nashe mein hum nashe mein tum,
Kya khabar dil ho gaya hai ghum
(Restaurant performance Johny Walker, unknown girl/ Mohd Rafi, Lata)
Song# 5
Sitare raah takte hain chale aao chale aao
Hazaron dil dhadakte hai chale aao chale aao
(Minu Mumtaz/ Lata/ Very good stop frame photography)

Guide with Waheedaji

Enlighten, a film society, arranged a screening of the landmark Hindi film ‘Guide’ at Cinemax, Versova. I am a member with them. Generally they show movies on Sundays at 10am. But this program was to not a routine one. Guide was being shown in Waheedaji’s presence and she was to be honored with an award from Taj (tea makers), after the show. So other than the film itself, seeing grand old lady in person was a tremendous attraction for me. Though I had seen this film quite recently on DVD, but I did not want to miss it for being in the same space as Waheedaji.
I was a little late. As I got inside the theatre the scene between Kishore Sahu and Waheeda Rehman in the ruins was on.Revisiting any film there is always something new to learn or discover. I was so thoroughly bowled over by the dialogues of that scene and then every scene later on. I found the ‘lines’ so realistic, sharp, pat on, entertaining and yet within the boundary of the scenes and the characters. In some I noticed that comic scenes were written well, sometimes romantic scenes moved me… this film is no ordinary celluloid. It is perfect in all areas, be it different point of views between Rosie and her husband, Raju and his uncle (mamaji), crowd jeering at Rosie walking with Ghunghroos, Raju pleading with Nalini in the bedroom or a long soliloquy by Raju guide to Rosie. All are T perfect; not a word more, not one less.In my life Guide enjoys the status of my maximum viewings, five. No other film has been given that kind of respect by me and yet it was difficult holding back tears on many occasions. To put it on record my eyes don’t well up always because of emotional scenes; but many times a great shot or perfect strike of a chord on a visual or even a perfect cut can do it.After red color ‘The End’ filled the screen, Waheedaji was made to sit facing the journalist Bhavna (I guess). She was barely 6 ft away from me. Bhavna asked her a question, which turned out to be three times the length of Waheedaji’s answer. I have seen it with journalists that they start showing off their own knowledge through their questions. Poor things! I have seen many people doing that in the past. Just check out the intelligence and depth of questions, ‘what did you feel when you signed this film?’, ‘tell us an anecdote while on shooting with Vijay Anand’, ‘how was working those days?’… in fact much better quality of questions came from the audience!In a few minutes the setting was moved in the lobby of Cinemax, as next film show was to start. I stood on the side as all the chairs had been taken by the youth brigade reporters. Right at the back were some 15-20 DV Cams aiming at the stage. Waheedaji entered and immediately a loud commotion among the young journo brigade started. It sounded like many animals fighting for a single piece of meet. There was chaos. I couldn’t hear anything. Then a young man took the mike. He was representing Cinemax and kept addressing Waheedaji as Waheeda Rehman, without any respectful Indian suffixes, like ‘Ji’. He called the lady Waheeda Rehman more than once in his own American culture or uncultured ways. I asked the girl sitting next to me if she knew his name. She didn’t. I just wanted to give the ‘a-- hole’ a little respect here in my space. Suddenly some people stood up in front and entire gang of journos picked up their cameras and moved forwards to grab the meet. There was no order left. There was more growling, pushing and shoving. At one point I made up my mind to ask Waheedaji, ‘whether English and Hindi versions of Guide were shot together, some of it together or entirely separately.’ I stood up to speak; but I was growled down. Quite easily, I gave up, thinking, I will get my answer from some other source. But it would have been nice if she heard me when I addressed her and she addressed me back in return, in the bargain I would have got my answer straight from the person involved. Din was so persistent that at a point she also told the young ones that in India we have to show respect for elders and what she saw was not right.Later the ‘chai wala’, err, a representative of Taj tea came up and said that they wanted to give away their first award to a person who really matched up to the stature of ‘Taj tea’. That filled up my cup of patience. It was my cue to get up and try to find my way through. I looked around and found a safe passage. Chai wala was saying, ‘now I request Waheedaji to come here and accept this award. He couldn’t go to her? She was right there. The ‘Chai wala’ was handing over a silver kettle to Waheedaji. I felt suffocated. I wouldn’t be surprised if last scene of Pyasa was playing in Waheedaji’s mind. It surely was playing in mine.Last thing I remember was, a reporter fully stretching his arm with a microphone (read bowl) towards Waheedaji and begging, ‘please madam, ek byte ka sawal hai’.

4 Southern States in 7 days

On 30 June, 2008, second schedule of the KVK corporate film started. We left for Mangalore by AI, both the Indian airlines are now merged and the new entity is called Air India.
It is the first time I was gong to travel to Mangalore. People have been prasing the beauty of the place for long, especially Beena. In fact I had told her that when she goes there next time, i will come with her. Flight took off at 9.20am and landed at Mangalore at 10.35. It was raining heavily there. The plane was parked a little away from the 'Arrival' building. There was no bus to carry us to the terminal; but the staff had made arrangements for the umbrellas. It was like a relay of orange and white umbrellas from airplane to the terminal. It looked so pretty. Once inside, I asked someone if I could click a picture, "NO", was the booming answer. I gave up. Our baggage was getting a bit late due to rain. I was walked off to check out the small airport building. At the other end I noticed that I was hidden from the view of the security. Slyly I clicked a picture. The stream of umbrellas had dried up; but as they say, 'something is better than nothing.'
Outside a Toyota, Innova was waiting for us. After loading up, the car took off. In this area people paint their homes with very shockingly gaudy and bright colors. I was finding them very unusual. On the way we took some shot of a green patch. We needed it to show it as a forest in the film.
Late afternoon we reached well appointed guest house of KPCL or Kasargod Power Corporation Ltd. Name of this village was Mailotti. We had and freshened up. We were waiting for a signal from the rain to let us shoot. Soon it came and we walked down to the power plant. Once there, we did the outdoor work when it was not raining and when it was, we went in the control room and engine room. We did most of the inside work and wrapped for the day around 8pm. I enjoyed the hospitality of a guest house after very long. In childhood we used to go with our father when he went to tour his 'Tehsil'. We got such royal treatment there. I am happy I got to experience same again. Some of us had a drink. It was a good night after a nice south Indian dinner.
Next morning (July 1) again I took some left over shots quickly and started off to our next location, Paschim Hydro Power Plant. It kept raining through out the journey of 3 hours. Finally we read the sign board and followed the mud road to reach the destination. Driver was not happy with the loose surface below the wheels. He said coming up on this will be difficult.
Surprisingly this plant faced a gorgeous panorama of a lake and hills and to top it, pregnant clouds were hanging all over those hills. I took many pictures here. It was great to find such a visual treat.
Paschim Hydro is new plant, so the engine and control rooms look spanking bright. Name of this village is Kempuhole. This was the only 'hydro power plant' on our shooting schedule. I finished the shoot just when it was getting dark. We were supposed to take shots of the dam which supplies water to this plant, but could not, due to some genuine problems. Firstly the mud road had got a bit washed off, secondly a tree had fallen across the road blocking it and lastly wild elephants were roaming in that area. Hmmm, I thought that were one too many points against me.
The driver told most of us to walk the wet road part. We made it easily to the highway. After an hour's drive we reached Hotel Ashrita at Saklespura at 8.45PM. Had a quick dinner and slept. In the morning the weather was exceptionally cold! I saw people wearing woolens going about. What a difference in climate, I thought? Also the water in bathroom taps was muddy brown. I have never seen tap water that dark in color.
Next morning (July 2) after breakfast we started our marathon drive at 8am. We were headed to Nagappattinam. We reached there 11.30pm. I was dead tired. My back and bottom was under a lot of pressure. I didn’t feel too good. 18 hours drive is no joke! We stayed in hotel Sea Horse. Entire staff was asleep. It took them some will power to give us our allotted rooms. I thought a south India cup of coffee would do me some good mentally. I asked the waiter for it. ‘Impossible’ was the prompt answer. It ended all arguments and hope simultaneously.
Next morning (July 3) we got up at 6am and again I asked the waiter ‘can I get a cup of coffee?’ ‘Possible’ he said as easily. Oh, I thought this was innovative way to communicate, when there is a lack of vocabulary.
As we left the hotel I read a sign saying, ‘Vailankani 5KM’. We had no time otherwise it would not be a bad idea to take quick drive to that famous church. After breakfast in a small restaurant we left for MMS unit-1. I did some detailed shoot of the security staff, also got some long shots of the entire plant, students going to village school and HT transmission towers.
We wrapped the location at 11.45am and moved to MMS unit-2. On the way we passed Thiruvarur. The temple and the lake look very pretty. The weather here was totally reverse of Kerala. It was hot and humid. We stopped at a old woman’s shop to have cold drinks. I took some pictures of the temple. We then passed Mannargudi. The temple here was similar but bigger than Thiruvarur. Some one told that it was bigger than Meenakshi temple too. I have not seen that. We did not stop here as we were late and had to finish the shoot of next plant. We reached there at 3.30pm. I used their luggage carrying trolley as out make shift trolley. The shots came out pretty cool. Luckily the floor was reasonably smooth. After covering the usual part of the plant, we moved to a nearby village. Here I took shots of school kids and huts. This area was festered many with small red flags, denoting presence of ‘Maoists’. We got out from here before dark.

On our way back I stopped the car at Mannargudi town to take some pictures that I had missed earlier. The exposure was down; but I did take a few shots of the temple and the town.
From here we drove to Chennai. We reached KVK guest house at 1.30am. It was difficult finding the place. We passed a fresh site of a car accident. The car was lying toppled and a badly bleeding body of young man was sticking out of the door.
In the morning (July 4) we left for Chennai station to board a train for Vijaywada. Railway staff hounded and charged us for carrying shooting luggage. I am sure they charged us illegally. Any way I paid 250 and got a receipt. That was not bad. Departure time was 6.40am. We reached Vijaywada at 1.40pm, had lunch and proceeded to Machilipatnam. At 4.30 we kept our bags in the RVK power plant’s guest house and started shooting straight away. I made the unit climb a 10 story high water tank for taking top angle shots of the plant and nearby area. It was getting dark. So I used this opportunity ask them to switch on the plant lights and did more shooting. Those shots came out well too. This was my last power shoot. We did some night shoot in the control room and wrapped up. I drove down to Machilipatnam town for having a hair cut. This is my kink that every little place I visit, I put a stamp of hair cut on me.
Next morning (July 5) we shot more of the plant. I went up on the OH crane and took some top angle shots of the engines from the moving crane. We wrapped the location around 11.30am. We moved to Vijaywada and took shots of the bridge on river Krishna. We then took a train at 4pm to Hyderabad. It was not a very long journey. We were in the guest house for dinner.
Next morning (July 6) we came down after breakfast and I saw this scene. A 2 year old naked girl was sitting on a auto rickshaw. I clicked her many times; but the best ones I had missed. In the beginning she was sitting on the driver’s seat. Soon her mother came back carrying a baby in her arms and the family walked to an under construction building site. I think these pictures are some of the best visuals that I managed to grab.
There was drab shoot at the KVK corporate office. Then we took some shots of Tank Bund, with statue of Buddha. I bought two new types of Mithai. One was called ‘paper sweet’. It was like white paper made of rice. And another one was Cashew nuts coated with jaggery.
After returning the guest house we had tea and at 6.45pm left for the airport. Everyone knows about the new Hyderabad airport. It really turned out to be wonderful. In India we are used barely functional airports and railway stations. Expense on the aesthetics was never considered. Hyderabad airport is the face of new India.
A little hesitatingly I asked the security staff if I could take a picture here. ‘Any where you like’, he said.