The scene above is from the film Aasha, which I might write up more fully sometime in the future. (Or I might not. I have learned not to make promises about such matters, given how much my blogging here is directed less by planning than by whim.) Anyway, of course, that is Vyjayanthimala, standing on the ceiling. This scene takes place in a play within the movie. (One might ask, how can someone stand on the ceiling in a live performance? Or, for that matter, how can women suddenly appear on the tops of giant candles, as in a previous play within the film? But these questions belong to a sort of realism that simply doesn’t apply in many old Indian movies – one of the things I love about classic Bollywood.)
The reason this play is being put on is to reveal the truth about a murder, which has been covered up with a big lie. In this scene, Vyjayanthimala plays the truth (or the goddess of truth). She is standing on the ceiling, upside down, because the world around her has been taken over by a lie. And you know what happens to truth when the world is ruled by lies…
The details in the play will reveal the truth about how the murder was committed. The writer of the play, Kishore (Kumar, of course), figured out how the murder was committed and has followed through on his plan to reenact the scene of the murder with the murderer in the audience. (And the murderer, by the way, is a really nasty character – played, of course, by Pran.)
I looked up this play a while back and read at one site that it was inspired by Hamlet. Well, yes, it apparently was. And in addition to that literary reference, it is just chock full of poetry, social commentary (of a socialist-leaning variety), and somewhat experimental innovation, including a lot of little metafictional references and twists that just aren’t supposed to happen in a regular murder mystery/suspense film. (One of my favorite moments: The character Nirmala, played by Vyjayanthimala, is at an audition where she is asked to play a scene done by Vyjayanthimala, and she says that’s difficult, but she will try. Then she plays a snippet from Nagin.)
And all along the way, there’s lots of comedy and great song-and-dance scenes…
Including “Eena Meena Deeka,” a song done twice, first by Vyjayanthimala (with singing by Asha Bhosle) and later by Kishore Kumar, which became a rock’n’roll hit in India in the late ’50s.
Although it’s got some familiar themes and plot elements, this movie is full of surprises that go way beyond mere twists in plot; there are a whole bunch of different things going on here.
…Another good example of why I just love these Indian films from the “classic” era – especially the 1950s.
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P.S. Movie details: Directed by M.V. Raman; starring Kishore Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Pran, Om Prakash, Minoo Mumtaz, and Sunder, with a special appearance by Asha Parekh wearing a mustache;
music by C. Ramchandra; singers Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar.
P.P.S. You can tell that the upside-down image in the screen cap is a real scene from the movie, not a rotated picture, because the “Moser Baer” company logo appears in the upper-left corner, rightside-up. That’s annoying, as is the low quality of this video. But these are videos deliberately made to be purchased cheap.
They sell tons of these Moser Baer videos in $5 or $4.99 bins in a couple of all-night (or at least very late-night) stores on 73rd Street in Jackson Heights. The place where I bought this one also sold all kinds of knick-knacks and perfume. Obviously not high-end stuff…
(There’s a longer explanation of the Moser Baer selling strategy over Wikipedia, I wrote more about it here, but I’ve edited that out, because it was taking up way too much space.)
And for trying to challenge Padmini she is to be hung upside down on Rough in here, Rougher out there? ;-)
Good point, Bollyviewer! :) Though while you were sending your comment, I was expanding this post, so as you see, there is another explanation now.
I have one or two Moser Baer DVDs and I don’t find their quality to be any worse than any other manufacturer (I think usually it’s the quality of the original film print that’s at fault, although certainly most of the manufacturers could make them better if they tried, after all the guys who upload films at torrent sites can do it!)…MB has at least been making hard to find early films easier :-) I love the music from this movie.
Well, the copy of Aasha was pretty bad in places (though the color parts were, thankfully, pretty nice), but it’s good to know that there might not be much difference from one brand to the next. Tonight, I picked up DVDs from two brands that I’ve never tried before: Pyaasa, on Sky Entertainment, which according to the address is located one block from the store where I bought it, and Bhai-Bhai, which only gives an address in New Delhi. Both found in the $4.99 bin in that little all-night(?) place on 73rd Street in Jackson Heights. Keeping my fingers crossed, because I’ve been wanting to see these movies a lot (Pyaasa, especially, for a while), so I would hate for anything to go wrong with them.
Back to Aasha… Yeah, I love the music in that too. I might just pop it in the computer and play the songs before I go to sleep this morning…
Sky is pretty reliable and as I recall they subtitle songs too (a BIG plus in my book) :-)
Can’t wait for you take on Pyaasa, it’s a wonderful film with lovely music and the very *handsome* and tragic Guru Dutt…
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can anyone tell me if this soundtrack has ever been released on CD? OR if anyone has a copy they could send me??
cheers.
captain_wasp@hotmail.com