—File Photo

Akkar bakkar Bombay bo, assi navvay pooray sau; sau sau baras ka hua, yeh khiladi na boorha hua

There isn’t a better way to commemorate a 100-year-old film industry than Bombay Talkies — a bouquet of four films designed brilliantly and presented in a very mature manner.

The winds of change are obvious here: no more mere dance drama but instead hardcore storylines told in an equally hard-hitting way.

The only hitch is that there is a presumption that all Hindi films revolve only around the city of Mumbai just because the industry headquarters is located there.

Maybe the four well-established contemporary directors — Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap — had to face financial restrictions in making the anthology within Rs60 million and so couldn’t go out of town to grand locations.

This has resulted in a selection of commonplace stories which any aam insaan can identify with.

Day-to-day stories representative of the urban middle class milieu told in a realistic style.

Both Dibakar and Anurag have established themselves in this genre of filmmaking but Karan and Zoya was a surprise packet.

Even the background song penned by Amit Trivedi and sung by Mohit Chauhan — Akkar bakkar Bombay bo, assi navvay pooray sau, sau sau baras ka hua, yeh khiladi na boorha hua — instantly has your feet tapping.

The opening shot of the first film, Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh by Karan Johar, has Avinash (Saqib Saleem who debuted with Mere Dad ki Maruti) barging into a typical matchbox Mumbai home, haul up his sleeping father and shout, “I’m not a eunuch but gay!” It tells you that this fare is going to be different: bold and not afraid to come out of the closet.

An urban couple, played by Rani Mukherjee and Randeep Hooda, both media professionals, have been living a make-believe happy life without realising their falsehood.

In comes a trainee journo Saqib and their life turns upside down.

The bold and snappy banter of Saqib and Rani is very much like the present-day office tête-à-tête. Within 30 minutes, Johar manages to convince us that films needn’t be a mere dance and song affair.

“Start accepting the truth,” says the director.

All of the three protagonists have lived their character.

The second film in the anthology, Star, is by Dibakar.

He always gets his casting right and knows how to get his actors to do the needful.

He has gotten the Kahani-fame actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

This guy can act and touch your heart with his powerhouse talent.

Added to this Dibakar has adapted the story idea from the original Patol Babu Film Star, a short story by filmmaker and writer Satyajit Ray.

What more could he have asked for?

The way he has used space, camera moving seamlessly from close-ups to long shots across the backdrop of high-rise buildings which dwarfs the protagonist — Ray would have been very proud of the young director.

It is story of a failed theatre actor struggling to make a living with a depressed daughter and a cheerful and understanding wife.

To bring cheer to his daughter’s face he makes up stories and enacts them with an intention of proving himself. Siddiqui is Ray’s Patol Babu.

The third story, Sheila Ki Jawani by Zoya Akhtar, is a short film about a school-going child who dreams of becoming Sheila (Katrina Kaif).

Child actor Naman Jain of Chillar Party fame is good in his innocent portrayal of a child wanting to pursue his dream of becoming a dancer against his father’s (Ranveer Sheroy) wishes to see him grow up as a strong man by pursuing sports activities in school.

The dialogue “Mujhe football nahin khelni hai. Sirf goal maro, goal maro bolte rahte hain. Mujhe Sheila banna hai” is delivered with such innocence and sense of frustration that you feel like grabbing hold of Ranveer and shaking him by the shoulders.

Naman’s ideal is Katrina Kaif and he dreams of her as his fairy godmother and loves dancing to the Sheila Ki Jawani dance number.

Films inside films is Zoya’s forte if you can recall her debut, Luck By Chance.

The last film in the series is by Anurag Kashyap titled Murabba.

At first it will make you think that it is an ode to Amitabh Bachchan.

But a closer look will remind you of the madness, euphoria and obsession people have of film stars, especially people from small cities and towns.

In India when people come to know that you are staying in Mumbai, the first thing they ask you is about the film stars you have encountered.

And to make oneself known in your hometown you start concocting stories about dalliances with film stars and that is exactly what Anurag has portrayed here.

He has a gem of an actor Vineet Kumar Singh who comes to meet Bachchan Sr. at the behest of his father with a lone murabba in a glass bottle for the veteran actor to taste.

Any day of the year, especially on birthdays, hundreds arrive at the locked gates and wait for hours to have a dekho at their favourite stars. Some even wait for months to have a glimpse.

A glimpse which becomes a story to be retold hundreds of times to eager hometowners.

Anurag has captured this essence well. Looking at Vineet’s acting, one feels that even he sometimes in his life must have waited patiently outside Prateeksha for a glimpse of Amitabh Bachchan.

The icing on the cake of Bombay Talkies is vignettes of milestone films and stars from the day films started being made in India and ends with a title song-cum-dance by the current crop of commercial film stars.

— Photo Mohammad Farooq

Heather Schmid on her soon-to-be-out music video, Pehle Hum Pakistani Hain, Pakistan Zindabad!

Why would an American singer want to sing in Pakistan and share her feelings for this country with her people back home? Well, Heather Schmid says she has plenty of reason to be doing so.

“Back in America when we watch the news, we only see bombs exploding in Pakistan. If the Americans see this country through my eyes they’d see colourful shaadis, the most beautiful mehndi ceremonies, bhangra dances, and the Sabzi Mandi!” She tries to explain, thinking that another Pakistani would be able to understand her feelings but even I fail to understand the connection with Sabzi Mandi.

Suddenly the tall, blonde singer breaks into a chant: “Aloo aath rupay kilo, piaz paanch rupay, tamatar bees rupay…” (potatoes for Rs8 per kg, onions Rs5, tomatoes Rs20).

Her Pakistani husband, Dr Syed Rafay Mehdi, is obviously amused by his wife’s imitation while it becomes obvious to me that she has a good ear as she speaks clear Urdu without any hint of an accent.

“Heather is a very curious learner and has learnt all of this on her own. The Urdu language she picked up watching our television dramas and the vendor patter from the local vegetable and fruit market itself,” explains Dr Mehdi. “The moment we land in Karachi, she wants me to take her to the Sabzi Mandi. God knows why she is so fascinated by the place,” he shrugs.

“I always find some new fruit there that I have never heard of, never had before and which is even more sweet and delicious than the last one I had,” she cuts in. “This time it was the loquat. They are as sweet as candy this season,” she says. “I must have eaten over 300 of them so far,” she beams.

The couple were recently in Karachi in connection with Heather’s new music video called Pehle Hum Pakistani Hain, Pakistan Zindabad!

This Boston University graduate in Music and classically-trained Opera Soprano pop rock singer has been visiting Pakistan as a performer since 2005. “It was after the earthquake that year when my husband was coming here as a doctor as part of a relief team for the Northern Areas. I wanted to come too and was recording at the Paramount Studio in LA.”

“I thought she would only get in the way. I could imagine her on CNN with duct tape across her mouth, begging for help in some kidnapper’s released video clip,” Dr Mehdi laughs, shaking his head. “But she had obviously made up her mind.”

Heather came to Pakistan and then took part in a benefit show at the Rafi Peer Theatre in Lahore. “I sang two songs for the thousands of people gathered there. One of them was Jeevay, Jeevay Pakistan. Then there were more performances, including one at the Punjab Governor’s mansion and the response I got made me realise what music was all about. It was about my personal perspective as a musician living in two different worlds and integrating them to create unity. That was when I felt that I could use my voice and music to create bridges,” she explains.

The lyrics for Heather’s new song have been conceived by one of Pakistan’s foremost writers, but whose name the couple wants to keep under wraps… for now. It will also feature a music video along with a six-episode programme about the making process.
“At present we are in production. The basis of the song is kind of integrating my story and why I harbour so much love for this country,” she explains.

The release date is set for Pakistan’s Independence Day (August 14) both here and in the US. The song and its accompanying music video will bring together musicians with the most amazing musical instruments from all corners of Pakistan in an attempt to fuse local culture coupled with the singer’s story of how she fell in love with Pakistan. “I have such an intimate connection with Pakistan that this song will be my best work to date. It has a deep connection to my soul and with what I truly feel,” says Heather who has gained a notable fan-following in China after turning their folksong Mo li Hua into a dance track.

“Every time I’m about to visit Pakistan, everyone from my manager, lawyer, agent and even my friends try to talk me out of it. I want to tell them about samosa chaat, the spices that feel like they will burn your tongue off and so many other great things along with the people who sincerely welcome us here. That’s a unique Pakistani trait, you don’t find it in America,” she points out.

The artist recently posted on her Facebook page and her website ‘Five things you don’t know about Pakistanis’. She lists them as “Passion; hospitality; smartness and intelligence; fun-loving and caring. I find the people here very articulate and caring too… like caring for your elders, calling them ‘aunty’ and ‘uncle’. I also find them very bighearted and giving people. We have charities too but when I was researching Islam, I was so inspired by the concept of Zakat. Charity is a part of the religion,” she observes. “It’s the humanity that draws me to this country. I am Pakistan’s ambassador, well, self-elected,” she smiles.

It’s not really a question of why Brian Helgeland’s 42 has it easy; the question is why even with all of the right ingredients (including Mark Isham’s grand background score) it feels passably significant.

The film 42 is about Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), an African-American pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs who is employed in the Brooklyn Dodgers by owner Branch Rickey (a cigar-chomping, twitched-lipped Harrison Ford in excellent form).

The year is 1945 as the initial narrative of archival footage tells us. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan have been defeated, and men — including some of the greats of baseball — are back on US soil. Amongst the returning soldiers is Jackie, a not-yet-that-popular baseball player who will go on to break the colour barrier in American baseball.

Jackie — a capable shortstop — has anger issues, which Rickey is quick to tell him will be his undoing in professional sports. It is good advice and one which Jackie is quick to absorb. But the absence of his anger issues is 42’s least frustrating plot point. What pulls it down is not Jackie’s conscious decision to step down, rather the film’s own inclination of stepping down for the sake of simplicity.

Helgeland’s screenplay is neatly governed by historical accuracies, moments of triumph and ethnic bias. In one early scene, Jackie and wife Rachel (Nicole Beharie) have their airplane seats taken because she decides on going to the ladies room that has a ‘White (Women) Only’ sign in front of it.

While Helgeland’s script works (despite Jackie’s one-dimensional character), his direction is mostly composed of standard master shots and settles for being unmotivated and orthodox.

We really have seen this film before such as the subplots about reporter-cum-Chronicler Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) and his own struggle or Ford’s Rickey who reminds us why every sports film needs a star veteran as a supporting lead.

Released by Warner Bros and produced by Legendary Pictures, 42 is rated PG.

Born in Hyderabad, Sanam started singing at the age of seven under the tutelage of her father, Faqeer Ghulam Rasool, a Sufi singer. Singing at shrines helped her further hone her vocal talent and discover her true self. She says that her father used to take her to an open area outside a nearby radio station to sing in front of the masses with the hope of getting noticed. She never gave up in the face of adversity and finally a local channel put her on air. However, she landed her big break with Virsa Heritage on PTV where she truly made her presence felt. Later, she delivered scintillating performances on Coke Studio for two consecutive seasons.

CS provided an ideal platform to Sanam where she got the opportunity to collaborate with Pakistan’s music legends. Her songs Rang Laga with Sajjad Ali, Manzil-i-Sufi with Strings, Haq Maujood with Amanat Ali, Koi Labda with Symt, Pritam & Sanwal Yar familiarises her with contemporary trends besides giving her a career boost. Among her upcoming projects, Sanam has high hopes from director Shahzad Rafiq’s much-awaited film, Ishq Khuda, in which she makes her debut in Lollywood as a playback singer with a composition penned by Riaz-ur-Rehman Sagar and veteran music composer Wajahat Attre. Declaring it as a milestone in her career, Sanam is more excited about the team that she says she is honoured to work with.

A recipient of the Saarc Award, Sanam has performed internationally with the performance she rendered in 2011 with Indian playback singer Rekha Bhardwaj garnering much acclaim. She made her Bollywood debut as a playback singer with the Bollywood production London, Paris, New York and sang with Ali Zafar and Hadiqa Kiyani. These days she can be heard lending her vocal talent to the soundtracks of endless TV serials and plays, and has a number of title tracks to her credit that she has sung for projects such as Sandal, Kokh, Hazaron Saal, Jahez, Baimaan, Ae Dasht-i-Junoon, etc.

Sanam selected the mystical, soulful kalam of Bulleh Shah to open her performance at the Royale Rodale in Karachi and then Yaar ko Hum Ne Ja Baja Dekha, Munn Kunto Maula, Jab Se Tu Ne Mujhe Dewana Bana Rakha Hai. She displayed an amazing vocal range, a phenomenal voice throw and the gift of eloquent singing.

After a break, memorable hits started coming thick and fast with Zulqurnain on the flute, Shahid Ali on the keyboards, Saleem on the trumpet and Irfan Ali on the tabla. Sanam brought the house down with Tere Ishq Nachaya followed by Chaap Tilak Sub Cheen. Her powerhouse vocals on Yaar Di Gharoli took the evening the way of dhamaal, followed by Lal Meri Pat. She struck the right chord with youngsters who danced away while those seated joined in with swaying hands and heads.

On the whole it’s a pretty healthy sign because from mainstream to off beat, all kinds of theatre is now being presented in Pakistan. The latest addition to the list is a play titled Dhaani produced by film actor Shaan Shahid. It’s a light-hearted effort meant to highlight the importance of being patriotic.

Imrana Maqsood (wife of Anwar Maqsood) and Amra Alam are the writers of the play, while Umar Sultan is the director. Dhaani will run at the Karachi Arts Council for a couple of weeks.

Tell you what, the actress has finally come of age. What age? That we can’t divulge.