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9 Responses to “Four Songs from the T-Series Mujras Vol. 1”
What is your opinion? You haven’t said anything towards it.
Maybe this is what you get to see if one goes to a modern-day mujra in a modern-day kotha, if there exists one.
>Maybe this is what you get to see if one goes to a modern-day mujra in a modern-day kotha,
Hahaha! Harvey didn’t you see that group of men specially directed to sit there and do the wah wah actions (and feeling very self conscious about it too).
I must say the singers voice is not bad. She has copied the tune very well without going flat (except a couple of times).
The paan khaye saiyan song confirms strongly how good a dancer Waheeda was. Not only did she dance well here, but also brought out the body language of a nautanki dancer.
Harvey, I had originally posted some words and then I deleted them, because I wanted to see what other people had to say if they watched these without any introduction or expectation. :) I am still hoping somebody tells me more about them, because I can’t find any information regarding who the performers are or why this series was done in the first place.
I think the better example of modern-day mujras would be the somewhat more vulgar ones from Pakistan that we’ve talked about a little here and (in the case of some of us) at Bollywood Food Club. :)
I am a fan of stage show mujras (or stage show mujra videos), and I am always curious about how it’s gong to be when people recreate old film scenes in this context. Certainly, these are better versions of the old songs, visually and aurally, than 99 percent of the contemporary remixes that we hear/see (which are usually more vulgar than any mujra could be). These are also better than most of those Pakistani mujras, though some of those are actually better, especially in the dancing. (The sets here, on the other hand, are much better done than in most of those, but, then, this seems like a better funded production.)
The selection of the songs is actually impressive. Certainly, we would expect to see them do scenes from Pakeezah and Umrao Jaan, but it was a surprise to see selections from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Teesri Kasam.
Altogether, I don’t think these are all that bad… The music isn’t bad at all and even the dancer is all right much of the time. There’s also some good humor in these (“Chalte Chalte” had me nearly ROTFL and I do think it was intentional. On the other hand, the “wah wah guys” whom Pacifist mentioned were funny in a bad and somewhat annoying way.)
I don’t think it’s fair to compare these to the original film scenes, since I don’t think they were meant to match those exactly. But then, how much we want to compare may depend on why and how much we are attached to the originals.
I originally had posted Thade Rahiyo, but I had trouble watching it a second time because the dancer was looking more homely to me there and I couldn’t help mentally comparing her appearance to Meena Kumari’s.
Overall, though, I don’t mind watching these more than once; they are fun, amusing, and sometimes even charming. (And what else can I say?)
harveypam, if it is chandeliers… of course it isn’t but since you mentioned it … Ray’s The Music Room. And more recently (relatively) … Om Shanti Om. O maybe this is a theme – Twinkling toes Twinkling lights. sorry…
@ pacifist: I noticed and admired their involvement as well.
@ richard: agree with you. I was also wondering what was the intention behind these remakes and who the dancers were and what is the background of the whole project.
@ ann: I wanted to say something positive about the whole thing. :-)
These are very interesting Richard! Just wanted to say, the thing that struck me as I watched some of these was that they make clear to me how talented the dancer actresses that did the originals were! There seems to be things “missing” from the modern versions here that I can’t quite put my finger on… something to do with the expressiveness and variations of the face, the whole general charisma that keeps your eyes glued to the screen, a charisma that the actresses portrayed as an innate and expertly honed skill for these women… a different era and style then, perhaps. That “musician” at the beginning of the last video had me cracking up. Perhaps the worst imitative instrument playing I’ve seen, lol! :D
Well, this wave of comments is kind of refreshing… I have seen too many positive comments on this blog, so it is good to see that just about everyone at least somewhat dislikes something that I posted. LOL
January 13, 2012 at 9:10 am
Nice palace and chandeliers! ;-)
What is your opinion? You haven’t said anything towards it.
Maybe this is what you get to see if one goes to a modern-day mujra in a modern-day kotha, if there exists one.
January 13, 2012 at 12:57 pm
>Maybe this is what you get to see if one goes to a modern-day mujra in a modern-day kotha,
Hahaha! Harvey didn’t you see that group of men specially directed to sit there and do the wah wah actions (and feeling very self conscious about it too).
I must say the singers voice is not bad. She has copied the tune very well without going flat (except a couple of times).
The paan khaye saiyan song confirms strongly how good a dancer Waheeda was. Not only did she dance well here, but also brought out the body language of a nautanki dancer.
January 13, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Harvey, I had originally posted some words and then I deleted them, because I wanted to see what other people had to say if they watched these without any introduction or expectation. :) I am still hoping somebody tells me more about them, because I can’t find any information regarding who the performers are or why this series was done in the first place.
I think the better example of modern-day mujras would be the somewhat more vulgar ones from Pakistan that we’ve talked about a little here and (in the case of some of us) at Bollywood Food Club. :)
I am a fan of stage show mujras (or stage show mujra videos), and I am always curious about how it’s gong to be when people recreate old film scenes in this context. Certainly, these are better versions of the old songs, visually and aurally, than 99 percent of the contemporary remixes that we hear/see (which are usually more vulgar than any mujra could be). These are also better than most of those Pakistani mujras, though some of those are actually better, especially in the dancing. (The sets here, on the other hand, are much better done than in most of those, but, then, this seems like a better funded production.)
The selection of the songs is actually impressive. Certainly, we would expect to see them do scenes from Pakeezah and Umrao Jaan, but it was a surprise to see selections from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Teesri Kasam.
Altogether, I don’t think these are all that bad… The music isn’t bad at all and even the dancer is all right much of the time. There’s also some good humor in these (“Chalte Chalte” had me nearly ROTFL and I do think it was intentional. On the other hand, the “wah wah guys” whom Pacifist mentioned were funny in a bad and somewhat annoying way.)
I don’t think it’s fair to compare these to the original film scenes, since I don’t think they were meant to match those exactly. But then, how much we want to compare may depend on why and how much we are attached to the originals.
I originally had posted Thade Rahiyo, but I had trouble watching it a second time because the dancer was looking more homely to me there and I couldn’t help mentally comparing her appearance to Meena Kumari’s.
Overall, though, I don’t mind watching these more than once; they are fun, amusing, and sometimes even charming. (And what else can I say?)
January 13, 2012 at 5:19 pm
harveypam, if it is chandeliers… of course it isn’t but since you mentioned it … Ray’s The Music Room. And more recently (relatively) … Om Shanti Om. O maybe this is a theme – Twinkling toes Twinkling lights. sorry…
January 13, 2012 at 11:20 pm
@ pacifist: I noticed and admired their involvement as well.
@ richard: agree with you. I was also wondering what was the intention behind these remakes and who the dancers were and what is the background of the whole project.
@ ann: I wanted to say something positive about the whole thing. :-)
January 14, 2012 at 7:47 am
The effects of such remakes canbe washed out only by several repeat shows of the original.
Good someone had a feww good words about chandeliers!
January 14, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Gosh. I had no idea T series had video ‘cover’ version of songs like this. No no, Not for me at all. I never liked their ‘cover’ cassettes either. ew.
January 19, 2012 at 5:05 am
These are very interesting Richard! Just wanted to say, the thing that struck me as I watched some of these was that they make clear to me how talented the dancer actresses that did the originals were! There seems to be things “missing” from the modern versions here that I can’t quite put my finger on… something to do with the expressiveness and variations of the face, the whole general charisma that keeps your eyes glued to the screen, a charisma that the actresses portrayed as an innate and expertly honed skill for these women… a different era and style then, perhaps. That “musician” at the beginning of the last video had me cracking up. Perhaps the worst imitative instrument playing I’ve seen, lol! :D
January 19, 2012 at 5:30 am
Well, this wave of comments is kind of refreshing… I have seen too many positive comments on this blog, so it is good to see that just about everyone at least somewhat dislikes something that I posted. LOL