Ah, spring, time for all kinds of creatures to come out – including the snakes?
I’ve seen quite a few snake movies in my time, but I was mesmerized by this scene from a 1954 movie called Nagin (not to be confused with so many later movies called Nagin or Nagina or Nihagen: Nagina Part II, which might be completely different, though they often return to the same snake-charming music). Of course, one big reason why this was so mesmerising to me was that it starred that other great bharatanatyam-trained actress-dancer, Vyjayanthimala.
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P.S. I found this clip first at Papy Potage, a blog that seems to have a similar strange combination and proportion of ingredients to what this one has right now – which is why I like it so much - so it’s getting added to the blogroll.
P.P.S. [5/24] – Substituted another copy, with subtitles!
Excellent Richard! I also really like this blog, Papy Potage, very enjoyable! I sitl have to see the Nagina from 1986 with Sridevi
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091601/
if only for THIS:
And know thanks to you I know there are 3 more snake movies I will need to get to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagin
So many movies, so little time. :)
Thanks, Sitaji. Glad you like Papy Potage too…
I also have to find the Nagina from 1986. I saw all of Nihagen… Sridevi’s snake dance is the most marvelously snake-like…
There have been some interesting amateur snake videos floating around too. I imagine that Sridevi was the main inspiration for this:
Yes! She must have been the inspiration.
Here’s a nice image for you:
http://www.thehotspotonline.com/eyecandy/70s/080b.JPG
Ah, so yet another one… And looking it up, I see that it was a big hit too, with quite a cast. (I wonder if we get to see Rekha and Mumtaz become snake women too… ) By the way, that Hot Spot Online – Eye Candy site looks like quite a treat also; no doubt I’ll be going back to that…