Well Hello There

I was thinking about Sounds Like Power the other day, and missing it. Unfortunately, my life these days just doesn't allow me to maintain it the way I'd want to, while doing the other things I want to do and have to do.  But wouldn't it be nice if I could pop in from time to time, maybe a post a month or so, just to keep the flame alive?

Since the last update here, I've watched a few more of Shabana Azmi's films.  Some of them have reviews over at Filmi Geek.  They include:

• Midnight's Children
• Gangvaa
• Yeh nazdeekiyan
• Lahu ke do rang

Recent Filmi Geek reviews of Shabana Azmi movies

In recent months I've added a few more reviews of Shabana Azmi movies to the archives at Filmi Geek. 

• Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola (2013) - Vishal Bhardwaj's latest, playing in theaters at the time of this writing.  This is an absolute must-see for any Shabana Azmi fan.  If you liked her character in Loins of Punjab Presents, the corrupt minister she plays in this movie will delight you.  She chews the scenery with obvious relish and is just hilarious to watch.  I could watch Shabana Azmi all day in this kind of role.
• Namkeen (1982) - My review of this touching Gulzar movie gave short shrift to Shabana ji; there was just so much to say about other facets of the movie.  Shabana ji plays a mute character with a penchant for poetry, and her performance is touching, with funny moments.  Late in the movie, however, it turns tragic and disturbing.  This is an excellent movie that's worth seeing with or without the draw of Shabana ji.
• Chor sipahee (1977) - There is always a perverse sort of WTFery in Shabana Azmi's earliest masala roles, before her persona as a mature actor was fully formed.  As with most masala movies of its era, Shabana Azmi and the other female stars of this movie are underutilized.  She does have a few hilarious scenes early in the movie where she outsmarts Vinod Khanna's character.  She also gets an excellent qawwali (link embedded in the review).

As always, you can find links to my reviews of every Shabana Azmi movie I have ever seen in the column to the right.

Apne paraye (1980) - review and gratuitous screencaps

I finally finished my review of Basu Chatterjee's 1980 movie Apne paraye - you can read the review on Filmi Geek. I was somewhat disappointed with the movie but Shabana Azmi's performance was one of its strong points. Her expression was able to add nuance to her characterization that was missing from the dialog alone.

Here at Sounds Like Power, though, we are all about the pretty. And so here are some gratuitous screen captures from the film, for your enjoyment!
















One thing that seems to be true of Basu Chatterjee - he (well, his costume designers) seem to love draping Shabana ji in an endless parade of gorgeous saris. I once tried to count all the different saris in Swami - I lost count around 14, all vibrant and lovely with wonderful detail work. Apne paraye offers almost that many. Sartorially, at least, the movie does not disappoint!

"Halke halke aai chalke" - Apne paraye

A quiet few weeks here as my real life once again drags me away from the blog. I am 2/3 of the way through Kaifi & I and have a few things to say about it when I get time.

I managed to watch Basu Chatterjee's 1980 film Apne paraye, which stars Shabana Azmi with Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutt, Girish Karnad, and a few others. I'll review it on Filmi Geek soon. In the meantime, it provides a Shabana-gaana for us, this sweet and sad lullaby "Halke halke aai chalke."

"Halke halke," Apne paraye (1980)

Our first post-hiatus Shabana-gaana is a pretty song from Basu Chatterjee's 1980 film Apne paraye. I have had this film in my collection for ages but still have not got round to watching it.

The song is sung competently by Lata Mangeshkar but I don't find her a great match for Shabana Azmi, who by the way looks completely lovely in the song.

The video is not embeddable so click here to watch it on YouTube.

Gratuitous screencaps: Main Azaad hoon (1989)

Marbs and Sally aced the trivia question I posted the other day: the two movies that Javed Akhtar wrote and Shabana Azmi starred in were Jhoothi shaan and the subject of today's gratuitous screencaps, Main Azaad hoon.

Main Azaad hoon is, to my knowledge, the only movie in which Shabana Azmi starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan. It was a pretty good movie - I have a half-written review which will be posted at Filmi Geek some time in the next couple of days. Until then, here are the screencaps.



















(I doctored that one - the print I watched had dreadful color in some scenes)

"Tum se roshan hai," Lorie (1984)

Today's Shabana-gaana is "Tum se roshan hai" from the 1984 film Lorie. The song features Shabana Azmi looking particularly lovely and Farooq Shaikh looking particularly fuzzy.



Lorie is also the answer to SLP's first trivia question, which I posted last week. The question was: Name a film to which three Azmis contributed their talents. Lorie featured Shabana ji in a starring role, Shabana ji's mother Shaukat Kaifi in a supporting role, and Shabana ji's brother Baba Azmi, behind the camera as cinematographer. I haven't yet seen this film so I can't say much more about it.

Thanks to a great SLP reader - you know who you are - for the trivia question and the song clip.

Shabana Azmi narrates a history of filmi music

Thanks to HemaMalini at the BollyWHAT forum (not that Hema Malini :) for bringing this spectacular video series to my attention. It is a history of filmi music, narrated by Shabana Azmi. The first segment is embedded below.



There are 14 segments altogether! Here is a link to a search that should help you find all of them.

Judging by Shabana ji's appearance in this video (screencap below) I'd say this was shot in the early 1980s; I have not yet watched the whole series and the date may become more obvious later on. The Hindi narration is very good practice for me, as Shabana ji's diction is slow and clear, but it would take me hours upon hours to thoroughly translate and transcribe all of the text in all 14 segments so I am afraid you are on your own.

Pictures from June 1986 Filmfare

I mentioned that I'd picked up a 22-year-old back issue of Filmfare with a cover story on Shabana Azmi. Here are scans of some of the images from the magazine. Click on the pictures for larger (in some cases, much larger) versions.

The cover:


A closer look at that image:


The two-page pinup inside:


... and a closer look at that as well:


And finally a couple of black-and-white looks at the adorable blunt cut:

"Lawangi mirchi," Ashanti (1982)

Today's Shabana-gaana is from the movie Ashanti, a Charlie's Angels-esque story in which Shabana Azmi joins Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi, Rajesh Khanna, and Mithun Chakraborty in a quest to take down a nasty gang of drug dealers and thieves who have wreaked havoc in each of their lives.

I had been saving this song until I saw the movie, and last night I finally got my chance - I sat down to watch it with David and Greta - but the DVD crapped out halfway through. We barely got to see Shabana Azmi fire a pistol, and we missed both of her songs. I'll finish the movie and review it fully as soon as I get my hands on a working copy. In the meantime, here is "Lawangi mirchi," the final song from the film, which I was really looking forward to seeing in somewhat better quality than this dinky YouTube stream:

Omigod, gorgeous!

... and I am not talking about Shabana Azmi.



That is Javed Akhtar, isn't it? I've never seen a picture of Javed sahib from that era. Oh my stars and garters, what a beautiful man. No wonder Shabana ji lost her head.

This picture comes from a most amazing collection of pictures of Shabana that was brought to my attention by HemaMalini of the BollyWHAT forums (not that Hema Malini, just someone named in her honor :D). The collection is full of shots I have never seen before. I could give you the link to the collection but ... that would just spoil my fun (*). Instead, stay tuned, and I'll post the highlights here over the weeks to come.

(*) Okay, if you ask me nice I'll share it with you.

Gratuitous screencaps: Mandi (1983)

Let there be screencaps!

I published my comments on Mandi yesterday at Filmi Geek, and here as promised is a rich selection of screencaps therefrom. Shabana Azmi was delectable in this excellent film, and it's the kind of performance that yields wonderful screencaps - a wide range of emotions, expressed vividly and broadly. So there we have Shabana ji

yelling:




primping:



smiling:


resting:


lamenting:


fretting:




praying:


and just looking pretty:






Enjoy.

New banners

I've added a couple of new banners into the rotation - reload the page a few times and perhaps one of them will pop up. The new pictures include this beauty:



(Thanks for Beth for adding the text.) That's a screencap from Mandi, which I finally saw this weekend. Mandi, you might recall, surprised me by winning SLP's October poll, and I felt very chastised for not having seen it yet. So there's the banner, as a teaser for more about Mandi - a review at Filmi Geek and screencaps here - in the coming days.

"Din mahine saal," Avtaar (1983)

Today's Shabana-gaana is not pretty.

When I saw Avtaar, I hadn't yet seen many of Shabana Azmi's mainstream films - I hadn't seen Fakira, or Parvarish, and the idea of Shabana ji prancing around trees in full-on masala mode just blew my tiny little mind to the point where I didn't really appreciate just how horrible the picturization of this song is.



Today, with some perspective, I can only conclude that she was made to look ungraceful on purpose. Shabana ji was not a great dancer in her mainstream heroine days - but she really wasn't this bad. Look for the moment at about 1:35 where she tumbles ass-over-teakettle off the berm - as I said, not pretty.

It gets a little better after that - Shabana ji looks much better in the blue sari she wears in the second segment of the song than in the hideously unflattering dress of the first segment - but it's still not good. After a few more snuggly scenes, a sinister character with a pistol shows up to interrupt the amorous frolickling - that's Shabana ji's character's father, who doesn't like the thought of his daughter canoodling with the mechanic.

I didn't much like Avtaar at the time I saw it, and having recently confessed my true feelings about Rajesh Khanna, it's only getting worse in my memory with time and distance. And the twinge of embarrassment I feel watching this song is not doing it any favors, either. I'm sharing the song with you because for me part of loving Shabana ji is exploring her weaknesses as well as her strengths, taking a little time for the places she went wrong even while reveling in all of the many things she does right. Watching her founder in a stinker like "Din mahino saal" makes gems like "Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho" and "Do naina aur ek kahani" that much more lovely.

Shabana the pin-up girl

In Sai Paranjpe's wonderful movie Chashme buddoor (really, I can't recommend it highly enough - totally delightful) there are three students who live together in a tiny Delhi apartment. Each decorates his own wall with the images that appeal to him. Ravi Baswani's character is obsessed with the movies, and so he of course decorates his wall with pictures of film-stars clipped from magazines. And look who gets pride of place over his dresser:



Yep, it's Shabana Azmi, looking ever so glam and pouty. Here's a closer and brightened look:



This film came out in 1981, when Shabana ji was perhaps nearing her peak of glamorous starriness, before she threw herself into political activism (though already, of course, known for her arty, realist sensibility as an actor). She also had worked with Sai Paranjpe before (on the sweet film Sparsh) and was a good friend of Farouq Sheikh, who starred in Chashme buddoor. So it's perhaps not a surprise that she'd feature prominently here on Ravi Baswani's wall of film stars. But still - Shabana the pin-up girl - it's quite a different image from the one I am accustomed to. I would love to hear from people who remember Shabana ji's public image from those days; I'm obsessively curious about it.

(Thanks to Beth for the caps.)