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Madhubala, the queen of black and white cinema, set the bar which forever served as a challenge for all other heroines. Madhuri came closest to her charm and beauty.
It was ot all blakc-and-white though. Here she is in probably the most famous song of hers, dancing as Anarkali in front of Emperor Akbar with Dileep Kumar as Saleem.
Like most beautiful heroines later, Madhubala tagged along with Kishore Kumar a relatively small hero for her movies (Madhuri did that with Anil Kapoor, while Karishma Kapoor with Govinda, though calling Karishma beautiful is stretching the truth a teeny weeny bit). Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi was one of the best comedies of Kishore Kumar's and the song Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhagi Si stays a cult classic.
It's easy to forget that Ashok Kumar was a young hero at a time given his long career as dada muni. Here's Madhubala doing a Helenesque Aaiye Meherban with him and K N Singh.
It's no wonder that the remix generation fell back to Madhubala's songs. Here's her Ek Ajnabi which has been remade several times since!
Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi had several beautiful songs. The combination of Kishore's comedy and Madhubala's beauty was able to make a song like Paanch Rupaiya Barah Aana so popular!
Here's Madhubala in Ruk Jao Na Jee in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi.
Evergreen Dev Anand has acted with a wide range of heroines but he never looked as good with someone as he did with Madhubala. Here he is in Kaala Paani with Madhubala singing Achchha Ji Mai Haari.
Madhubala left us in 1969 but her posters are still the most popular today just as they were when she was being called out by Bharat Bhushan in this song - Jo Baat Tujhme Hai.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Madhuri Dixit: The Gorgeous Apsara
Beauty is typically associated with the Aries sign, the sign of Venus. Madhuri was born slightly later and is actually an earth sign - Taurus. I don't think it's any of our business to know the year she was born in, but her debut was a little known movie Abodh.
She got her a big break as a protoge of showman Subhash Ghai who did Uttar Dakshin with her. However, it was N Chandra's blockbuster Tezaab which gave Madhuri her first major hit, especially with the song Ek Do Teen, penned by Shabana Azmi.
In Tezaab Madhuri demonstrated both her dancing abilities as well as her incredible acting prowess. In almost all of her follow-on movies Madhuri had a great song, and often that song was credited with the success of the movie itself!
Movies with a male name in their title were often modified in popular discussions to the female name. For example, Beta, a remake of a South Indian movie, was dubbed Beti by fans crazy for Madhuri's trademark Dhak Dhak song. The song was especially sweet for her since it was originally filmed on her competitor Sridevi in the south Indian version.
Shah Rukh Khan started out in anti-hero roles. One of the more severe was Anzaam which had Madhuri perform so much violence in revenge that she refused to give dates for the movie's completion before she was sued by the producer. Good thing she finished the movie, since it gave the viewers some of the best songs of hers. Here she is enacting the story of a girl lost in chane ke khet.
Hindi movies have often been inspired by Sidney Sheldon's novels. One of his stories had the heroine helping the paralyzed husband get better by forcing him to swim after tipping his wheel chair in water. In Anjaam, Madhuri has to fix SRK before she can enact her revenge and so she does what she does best as seen in the song Barson ke Baad.
Rajshri Productions' Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is considered one of Madhuri's best films, though the entire movie appears to just be about a wedding! Her song Didi Tera Dewar Diwana made the backless blouse very popular in India.
Julia Roberts' Sleeping with the Enemy was remade at least thrice in Bollywood. Madhuri's version - Yaarana - had her trademark dance show song Mera Piya Ghar Aaya (you can see similarities with the much older Tezaab song which stayed with her forever).
Aditya Pancholi has never been a big hit in the movies despite his good looks. But he has definitely been lucky. His movie Sailab with Madhuri was probably his biggest movie and had some great songs from her. Humko Aajkal Hai was her standard item number.
Madhuri also pushed the envelope with her songs going places where it used to be the job of the Helens and Bindus to go to. It had to be the combination of Madhuri and Subhash Ghai again which would create that cultural phenomenon Choli Ke Peechhe with one of her few acknowledged lovers - Sanjay Dutt - in Khalnayak.
While Choli ke Peechhe got all the attention, my favorite song from the movie is Palki Me Hoke Sawar Chali, which made the obligatory Subhash Ghai appearance (he had originally arrived in Bollywood to become a hero!).
Madhuri was blamed for putting on some weight by the time she played with Rishi Kapoor in Prem Granth. But she was still terrific in Jungle Me Sher.
Madhuri's marriage to a doc in Denver broke many a heart. Her return to movies has not been as successful yet but it would be interesting to see if she can recreate herself!
She got her a big break as a protoge of showman Subhash Ghai who did Uttar Dakshin with her. However, it was N Chandra's blockbuster Tezaab which gave Madhuri her first major hit, especially with the song Ek Do Teen, penned by Shabana Azmi.
In Tezaab Madhuri demonstrated both her dancing abilities as well as her incredible acting prowess. In almost all of her follow-on movies Madhuri had a great song, and often that song was credited with the success of the movie itself!
Movies with a male name in their title were often modified in popular discussions to the female name. For example, Beta, a remake of a South Indian movie, was dubbed Beti by fans crazy for Madhuri's trademark Dhak Dhak song. The song was especially sweet for her since it was originally filmed on her competitor Sridevi in the south Indian version.
Shah Rukh Khan started out in anti-hero roles. One of the more severe was Anzaam which had Madhuri perform so much violence in revenge that she refused to give dates for the movie's completion before she was sued by the producer. Good thing she finished the movie, since it gave the viewers some of the best songs of hers. Here she is enacting the story of a girl lost in chane ke khet.
Hindi movies have often been inspired by Sidney Sheldon's novels. One of his stories had the heroine helping the paralyzed husband get better by forcing him to swim after tipping his wheel chair in water. In Anjaam, Madhuri has to fix SRK before she can enact her revenge and so she does what she does best as seen in the song Barson ke Baad.
Rajshri Productions' Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is considered one of Madhuri's best films, though the entire movie appears to just be about a wedding! Her song Didi Tera Dewar Diwana made the backless blouse very popular in India.
Julia Roberts' Sleeping with the Enemy was remade at least thrice in Bollywood. Madhuri's version - Yaarana - had her trademark dance show song Mera Piya Ghar Aaya (you can see similarities with the much older Tezaab song which stayed with her forever).
Aditya Pancholi has never been a big hit in the movies despite his good looks. But he has definitely been lucky. His movie Sailab with Madhuri was probably his biggest movie and had some great songs from her. Humko Aajkal Hai was her standard item number.
Madhuri also pushed the envelope with her songs going places where it used to be the job of the Helens and Bindus to go to. It had to be the combination of Madhuri and Subhash Ghai again which would create that cultural phenomenon Choli Ke Peechhe with one of her few acknowledged lovers - Sanjay Dutt - in Khalnayak.
While Choli ke Peechhe got all the attention, my favorite song from the movie is Palki Me Hoke Sawar Chali, which made the obligatory Subhash Ghai appearance (he had originally arrived in Bollywood to become a hero!).
Madhuri was blamed for putting on some weight by the time she played with Rishi Kapoor in Prem Granth. But she was still terrific in Jungle Me Sher.
Madhuri's marriage to a doc in Denver broke many a heart. Her return to movies has not been as successful yet but it would be interesting to see if she can recreate herself!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Indian Screen Apsaras
It is no wonder that a country of a billion people has some of the most beautiful women in the world. Given the wonderful new world of youtube and the availability of videos from all over Bollywood and its sisters in Tollywood etc it is now feasible to show all these beauties on one page and not just the static images that were in vogue earlier.
Be careful as you go over the videos though. Indian movies have been known for some strangely erotic stuff, especially given the supposedly puritanical society created by a mish-mash of first Mughal and then Victorian rule which together pretty much cleansed the country of the past which gave it that tome kama sutra. So I'd recommend that you move off to other pages if you are under 18. For the most part, I'm counting on youtube's age appropriate check mechanisms to manage the viewer appropriateness.
MADHUBALA
No talk of Indian apsaras can start without the all-time favorite Madhubala, the screen Goddess of black and white celluloid. The term bollywood wasn't even coined yet! An untimely death took her but not before she managed to usher in an era of color movies in Indian cinema.
MADHURI DIXIT
Though several beauties before, during, and after Madhubala reigned the screen, there was none like the scorching hot Madhuri Dixit Nene. Madhuri movies became hits due to her songs, and often created new controversy which only made them more popular. The song 'Choli ke peechhe' took this to new heights and it was only the blessing of Mumbai supremo Bal Thackarey which stopped theaters from being burnt down when they showed Khalnayak!
Sridevi came to bollywood after a long successful stint down south. She took the mantle from Rekha and reigned the silver screen until Madhuri essentially took over. A highlight of her career was the movie Mr India. Here she is dancing to an invisible hero.
Aishwarya Rai is probably the one heroine who can safely claim the super status abandoned by Madhuri's marriage (Indian heroines tend to quit the star roles after marriage). Often called a director's actress, here she is in a folksy song.
Before her career imploded due to alcohol abuse, bad relationships, and a general mismanagement of life, Manisha Koirala, a Nepali girl found by Madhuri, appeared to be all set to take her mantle. Though now she's known more for her scenes seducing a young kid in Ek Chhoti Si Love Story, her career got a huge boost with the love story based on the backdrop of Indian Independence Movement: 1942 a Love Story.
Kajol, the daughter of a beautiful actress of yesteryear, was probably the only actress who guaranteed a hit after Madhuri. She recently returned after a mandatory going away period after marriage. Here's a song from her super-hit movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
Rani Mukherji, Kajol's much shorter cousin, is one of the most bankable heroines of today, despite her reported break-up with the very powerful Amitabh Bachchan camp. Here she's romping with Abhishek Bachchan in one of the superhit movies of recent times - Bunty Aur Babli.
Preity Zinta, another intelligent actress, in a world dominated by bimbos, has been popular lately due to her brave testimony against the Mumbai underworld connections wiht bollywood. But the dimpled girl is also one of the biggest stars of today. Here she is enjoying down under with Saif Ali Khan, son of another hot actress of yester-years - Sharmila Tagore!
So here's my list of the top 10 beauties of Bollywood:
Be careful as you go over the videos though. Indian movies have been known for some strangely erotic stuff, especially given the supposedly puritanical society created by a mish-mash of first Mughal and then Victorian rule which together pretty much cleansed the country of the past which gave it that tome kama sutra. So I'd recommend that you move off to other pages if you are under 18. For the most part, I'm counting on youtube's age appropriate check mechanisms to manage the viewer appropriateness.
MADHUBALA
No talk of Indian apsaras can start without the all-time favorite Madhubala, the screen Goddess of black and white celluloid. The term bollywood wasn't even coined yet! An untimely death took her but not before she managed to usher in an era of color movies in Indian cinema.
MADHURI DIXIT
Though several beauties before, during, and after Madhubala reigned the screen, there was none like the scorching hot Madhuri Dixit Nene. Madhuri movies became hits due to her songs, and often created new controversy which only made them more popular. The song 'Choli ke peechhe' took this to new heights and it was only the blessing of Mumbai supremo Bal Thackarey which stopped theaters from being burnt down when they showed Khalnayak!
Sridevi came to bollywood after a long successful stint down south. She took the mantle from Rekha and reigned the silver screen until Madhuri essentially took over. A highlight of her career was the movie Mr India. Here she is dancing to an invisible hero.
Aishwarya Rai is probably the one heroine who can safely claim the super status abandoned by Madhuri's marriage (Indian heroines tend to quit the star roles after marriage). Often called a director's actress, here she is in a folksy song.
Before her career imploded due to alcohol abuse, bad relationships, and a general mismanagement of life, Manisha Koirala, a Nepali girl found by Madhuri, appeared to be all set to take her mantle. Though now she's known more for her scenes seducing a young kid in Ek Chhoti Si Love Story, her career got a huge boost with the love story based on the backdrop of Indian Independence Movement: 1942 a Love Story.
Kajol, the daughter of a beautiful actress of yesteryear, was probably the only actress who guaranteed a hit after Madhuri. She recently returned after a mandatory going away period after marriage. Here's a song from her super-hit movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
Rani Mukherji, Kajol's much shorter cousin, is one of the most bankable heroines of today, despite her reported break-up with the very powerful Amitabh Bachchan camp. Here she's romping with Abhishek Bachchan in one of the superhit movies of recent times - Bunty Aur Babli.
Preity Zinta, another intelligent actress, in a world dominated by bimbos, has been popular lately due to her brave testimony against the Mumbai underworld connections wiht bollywood. But the dimpled girl is also one of the biggest stars of today. Here she is enjoying down under with Saif Ali Khan, son of another hot actress of yester-years - Sharmila Tagore!
So here's my list of the top 10 beauties of Bollywood:
- Madhubala
- Madhuri Dixit
- Sridevi
- Aishwarya Rai
- Manisha Koirala
- Kajol
- Rani Mukherjee
- Preity Zinta
- Priyanka Chopra
- ...
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