Qalandar
I promise somewhat irregular posts on (in no particular order) Indian politics, cinema, and anything else that catches my fancy... Why "Qalandar"? So-called "liminal" religious traditions are a particular interest of mine, and "qalandar" is the sort of untranslatable, ambiguous, yet enormously evocative word that for me touches upon and articulates the experience of the sub-continent's "little" traditions in a particularly memorable way...not to mention the fact that in popular lingo the word has more than a merely religious/spiritual connotation, and can mean a bunch of other things, including a smart alec, wannabe, what-have-you...
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Dhoni is one of the best wicket keepers now. Dont complain about the few dropped catches. He has caught some ...
Lalit Modi tweets..
"" Uk figures for viewership on itv already 10 times that of setanta last year. Fantastic ...
1 more held in fake IPL ticket 
btw - from the FI numbers MNIK has done 68-68.5 cr in 4 weeks in India.
BOI is already 5 cr ...
Well, a universally accepted repeat-watch movie from Hrithik IMO would make way more than 60cr. 
Housefull has a 'Pirates of the Caribbean' connection
A lot is heard and said about monkey business. Mostly referred to ...
Fox bought MNIK for 98 crores for all rights exept music rights.
Its known all along since last six moths.
Anyway lets ...
neelu 7 June 2009
06:53:26 pm
Thanks Q! I have in my hands the DVDs for Nayak and Aranyer Din Ratri. Now I need no more incentive to see them both.
Qalandar 8 June 2009
12:32:03 am
Yeah Aranyer Din Ratri is one of my favorite Ray films, I like it even more than Nayak… would love to read your thoughts on it and Nayak once you get to see them…
utkal 11 June 2009
05:54:53 am
Aranyer Din Ratri is among my favourites too. Just bought the DVd and have watched it already. ( In my long piece on Hum aapke Hain Koun..! I have pointed out the similarity between the Memory Game sequence in ADR and the Passing The Pillow sequence in HAHK. Both are used to throw light on the characters involved rather than present an item ( unlike the antakshari sequence on Maine Pyar Kiya, which WAS an item, albeit an entertaining one.)
Som 14 June 2009
01:16:10 am
Q:You know,I have downloaded “Goopy BaghaTrilogy”.Can’t wait to watch it especially when guys like you,Ach and Satyam highly recommend. I’m sure It would be one hell of a cinematic experience much like Ray’s other sublime and enviable works.
ACHILLES 14 June 2009
02:54:42 am
Som – Ray does not have any trilogy on Goopy Bagha … he made two wonderful films … the third part is again a sad attempt by his son.
The first Goopy Bagha movie is a children fantasy classic ( note the excess use of innocence by the characters in that genre … something that Hrithik has very effectively used to capture the imagination of the kids in his KMG and Krrish) … another plus point about Goopy Bagha is that I could understand the movie even without sub-titles!
The second Goopy Bagha I have been told has wonderful lyrical dialogues throughout (an unique style adopted by Ray here), which got lost in the translation of sub-titles. I wish my Bengali was good enough to understand the beauty of the dialogues. You will be rewarded if you are fluent with Bengali.
But if one is in a mood to explore Ray, then the place to start his his masterpiece ‘Kolkata trilogy’ – Pratidwandi (1970), Seemabaddha (1971), and Jana Aranya (1975).
Som 14 June 2009
03:06:34 am
Ok. I had thought “Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne”, “Heerak Rajar Deshe” and “Goopy Bagha Phire Elo” (the one directed by his son) would make for a trilogy.Thanks for letting me know.
The “Kolkata Trilogy”,I am aware of, Dad thinks very highly of it and I am definitely gonna check it out.
So far I have seen his “Apu Trilogy”,”Charulata” and “Abhijaan” and “Teen Kanya” which I must admit are wonderful works.
ACHILLES 14 June 2009
03:14:41 am
Abhijaan is one of my fav … its one of the under rated early works of Ray.
Qalandar 14 June 2009
11:11:51 am
Agreed on the Calcutta trilogy: I love Pratidwandi and Jana Aranya, Seemabaddha somewhat less so.. But visually I think Pratidwandi is just awesome, one of the most high impact representations of any Indian city on film IMO…