Dance the Shashi!

I finally managed to upload the clip from Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati to youtube without getting weird errors.

Here it is (although it might take a while to process):

Shashi Kapoor

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I'm the Earl of Bruce …

No, you're not. You're the Earl of Carrick.

Nicht schlafen können kann manchmal ganz schick sein.
Wenn man Links wie diese zwei entdeckt.

Popcorn & Chain Mail

Smart Bitches Love Trashy Books

Ich hab lange nicht mehr so gegröhlt ...

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Happy Akshaye!

Bevor ich jetzt dreimal poste, wie andere Leute das tun, habe ich mich mal für Akshayes mittleren Geburtstag entschieden.
Deshalb: Happy Birthday Akshaye! Feier schön und lass dich von Beth verwöhnen!
Und damit ihr ungestört bleiben könnt, lenk ich die Leute hier mal mit ein paar schicken Clips ab:

Akshaye Khanna

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A Guide to Shashi - Part 3

A Guide to Shashi

Part 3 - Shirttastic

This part is not only about a truly fabulous shirt but also includes multiple Kapoor goodness as both films star Babita, the woman who would later marry his nephew Randhir Kapoor (later they got divorced), which made her give up acting because the Kapoor women weren't supposed to work as actresses.* (Boooo!) Today, Karisma and Kareena, her two daughters, more than make up for that (Yay!).

In 1968 Shashi, Babita and the most fantastic shirt on the planet starred in Haseena Maan Jayegi. And if that wasn't enough, Shashi also played a double role!
Rakesh is the College's resident womanizer and really popular, probably because he gives great lessons on girls:

(Or maybe because secretly all the other boys fancy him? He makes for a fantastic courtesan ...)

One day he sees Archana and wants to make her his next conquest - but of course she isn't interested in someone like Rakesh. What she doesn't know, however, that Rakesh's doppelganger is also at the same college. Kamal is a poor orphan and an all around nice guy who even likes poetry. No wonder that Archana falls in love with him. Who wouldn't? Rakesh of course isn't too happy about that. Things get very dramatic ...

The film isn't perfect, mainly because the script is quite flawed and because there are far too many scenes with Johnny Walker, but Shashi and Babita do a really good job, some of the scenes are great and I had lots and lots of fun watching it (well, I had to admit that I didn't watch it in one go - I rewound and rewatched Suno Suno and Oh Dilbar Janiye about 15 times before I went on to watch the rest ... ). The music is really catchy and some songs are fantastic. (Btw. I'm still trying to find out which songs are used in Suno Suno - I know that one song is from Jab Jab Phool Khile but the others? Help!)

(I've just noticed that the only screencaps I have are of the shirt and the first song, but Maria has some others in her review.)

The second film is Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati, sadly there are hardly any remarkable shirts and only one Shashi, but at least the music is fabulous, Shashi is adorable, Babita grumpy, Prem Chopra suitably smarmy and nasty and there's adorable Laxmi Chhaya (famous for her headshaking skills in Teesri Manzil) and Helen! With feathers! Yay!

Plus: Most of the costumes make up for the lack of amazing shirts. And then there's this bedroom:

And some extremely psychdedelic wallpaper:

Rich girl Deepali is in love with Ajit (Prem Chopra) - a truly nasty character who is actually sort-of married to pregnant night club dancer Sherry. In his "slimy dirtiness" (I'm quoting the text on the DVD cover here) the evil villain even forces Sherry to have an abortion. While at the same time acting all charming and lovey-dovey with Deepali. Booo!

Fortunately for Deepali her uncle has more taste than she has and tries to set her up with yummy Pritam (Shashi) - and he's prepared to use any means necessary. As is Ajit.

Unfortunately the film does drag a bit in the middle - but the second half has enough dramatic revelations for five films, so that's alright.

Both films are really entertaining, while a tiny bit less over the top than most of Shammi's films and so I guess they're a good introduction into 60s romantic comedy. And did I mention that Shashi is more than schnuffig while doing the funky 60s headshake (or rather full-body-shake)? You want proof? Here it is: Here it will be, once youtube actually finishes processing. Whenever that will be. Update: Yay! Finally!


And for the Helenfreaks out there: Feathers!


* One exeption from that rule was Shashi's wife Jennifer Kendal, even though she wasn't in a lot of films.

Shashi Kapoor

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A Guide to Shashi - Part 2

Chronologically this is actually part 3 but as the powers that be somehow don't want me to watch Shashi's first adult performance in Dharmputra, the first half of the 60s will have to wait. (Babasko however was much more lucky than me and actually has seen the film, so click here for her review.)

But don't worry, the second half has some pretty good stuff to offer.

A Guide to Shashi

Part 2 - Mr. Überschnuffig

Such as Waqt (1965), which is not only probably responsible for introducing the lost-and-found theme but whose sets and casting are also extremely lavish (Yash Chopra obviously had quite some money to spend). And of course there's Shashi in überschnuffig-mode (Maria has some very nice screencaps in her review, my DVD drive is still broken so no caps from me - I'll put some in once the player is working).

The plot: Earthquake separates family, 20 years later their paths cross. Shashi is the youngest son of the family and actually gets to stay with his mother. While working as a chauffeur to earn money for his education he falls in love with a rich girl (Sharmila Tagore) who just happens to be his brother's step-sister. Said brother has also fallen in love - unfortunately he's not the only one as brother no. 3, who has become a thief, is interested in the same girl. Lots of drama. Despite that, the film is unfortunately somewhat boring at times. And - I feel bad for saying that - the songs don't exactly help. While they are really lovely individually (and are mostly sung by Asha! Yay!), there are also quite a lot of them in the film, making it drag a bit. Still, Waqt is one of those films everybody should have watched if only because it's one of the biggest blockbusters of the time and really nice to look at.

In the same year, Shashi had another big success with Jab Jab Phool Khile, a love story set, of course, in Kashmir, which definitely deserves mention as one of the main characters as it's filmed beautifully. The film's message is a wee bit conservative but the film itself is quite sweet - and there are bits in which Shashi looks extra-adorably überschnuffig:

He plays a poor Kashmiri boy who rents out a houseboat to rich heiress Rita (Nanda) and guess what? They fall in love. The problem is that there is also a rich guy who wants to marry Rita despite her rather strange taste in hats:

And daddy dearest isn't too pleased with her choice either ...

The film apparently was director Suraj Prakash's greatest hit and the music by Kalyanji-Anandji, which is really nice, did quite well, too. If you're in need for some really cute romance this is a perfect choice. Also, you get to see an ending that has been quite ... inspirational for one or two other Bollywood directors ...
Some random Shashi-cuteness:

Shashi Kapoor

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Wieso ...

sind wir nicht auf diese geniale Clip-Idee gekommen?

Bollywood

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Mehr Stardust!

Der Trailer ist da! Er hängt zwar bei mir beim Abspielen in der besten Auflösung ziemlich gewaltig - aber ich sags mal mit Shammi: Yahoo!

*hibbel*

Stardust

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Stardust!

Neil Gaiman hatte vor ein paar Tagen über einen wirklich inoffiziellen, russischen (und potentiell leicht spoilerigen) Stardusttrailer mit Musik aus PotC geschrieben - jetzt bin ich hier über den Clip gestolpert. Und es sieht schon mal seeeehr schick aus, wenn auch die Beziehung zwischen Viktoria und Tristran im Buch etwas anders ist als sie hier scheint ... *rumhibbel*
Apropos Buch: Ich bin seit ein paar Tagen endlich im Besitz der illustrierten Fassung - und zwar signiert. In Pink. Muah. (Sowas gibts übrigens hier zu kaufen. Großartiger Shop!)

Update: Okay, es war ja zu erwarten, dass der Trailer gleich wieder verschwindet ... Aber dafür ist endlich eine Website zum Film online, mit noch ein bisserl wenig Content aber ganz schicken Bildern. Und mir fällt gerade auf, dass Tristran recht schnuffig aussieht ... yummy. Die Seite ist allerdings nicht ganz so schick, wie die ursprüngliche Stardust-Seite, die mal ein paar Tage online war und die es jetzt hier noch zu sehen gibt. Ich sag nur Digital Coloring Book. Muah.

Stardust

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A Guide to Shashi

I did promise to do an extra special Shashi post today - but as my computer still isn't doing what I want it to (Boooo!), it will take a while to actually finish the whole post. The first part is finished, though and so my Guide to Shashi (and his shirts) will be posted in several installments.

Note on the language: As Beth, who insists on saying far too many far too nice things about me and who has recently joined the ranks of Shashiists, gave me the idea for these posts, I will be doing them in English. I just can't subject anybody to the torture of autmatic translations.

A Guide to All Things Shashi
including Shirts, Skirts, Poetry and Mushrooms.
Part 1

Let's start with two films that sort of mark the extremes of Shashi's acting career: Awaara (1951) and In Custody (1993). (Actually, that's wrong. Awaara wasn't his first film - according to IMDb it was his 12th! - and In Custody not his last - but I haven't seen any of the earlier and later films and they are great films so let's just overlook that ...) Awaara (which is not a very funny comedy as the organisers of Stutgart's Bollywood & Beyond Festival seem to think) is one of those must-see-films that probably don't really need any introduction. There are heaps and heaps of good reviews - so I'm going to concentrate on young Mr. Adorable:


He's actually very very good in the film, which shows him playing Raj Kapoor's character as a child during the first part. Unfortunately, there aren't any psychedelic shirts in sight - one drawback of black&white films - but we are talking about a film by the great master of psychedelic songs, Raj Kapoor, and so there is at least a song sequence (Ghar Aaya Mera Pardesi) which really makes up for that. (Without Shashi, but well, you can't have everything ...)


In Custody, an adaptation of Anita Desai's novel, is the directoral debut of Ismail Merchant of Merchant-Ivory fame. Shashi has worked closely with Merchant-Ivory during his career - several of these films will be mentioned later on.


This film is also sadly lacking in psychedelic shirts and scenes - although there is quite a lot of alcohol and at least some drugs - mostly taken by Shashi's character, a brilliant but also very pathetic Urdu poet who prefers Keats to his own poetry, and his admirers (well, scroungers would be more appropriate). The great cast also includes Om Puri (as a University lecturer trying to rescue Urdu by taping poetry recitals) and Shabana Azmi and Sushma Seth (as the poet's wives - great performances from both!). Although the film is very flawed it still highly enjoyable and beautifully shot - and Shashi gets to recite poetry with that incredibly swoon-inducing voice of his. *sigh*

Shashi Kapoor, Awaara, In Custody

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Internationaler Tag des Psychedelischen Hemds

Dass die Welt unfair und gemein ist, hatte ich ja schon irgendwann mal erklärt. Deshalb bricht ja auch ausgerechnet heute(!) an Shashis Geburtstag (!) mein Computer total zusammen und weigert sich, was zu tun. Deshalb gibts heute auch nur eine kleine Clipsammlung mit schicken Shashiclips - und morgen (wenn das Mistding wieder funzt) dann den Post, den ich eigentlich für heute geplant hatte.
Damit aber niemand an einer akuten Shashiunterdosis leiden muss, hat die unvergleichlich fantastische Beth nicht nur einen, sondern gleich zwei Shashiposts! (Und Doosra Admi ist hiermit auf der Einkaufsliste gelandet.)

Shashi Kapoor

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