Song Name: Dil To Bachcha Hai
Film/Album: Ishqiya
Singer(s): Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Music Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyricist: Gulzar

Aisi Uljhi Nazar Unse Hatt Ti Nahin
Daant Se Reshmi Dor Katt Ti Nahin
Umar Kab Ki Baras Ke Safaid Ho Gayi
Kaari Badri Jawani Ki Chatt Ti Nahin
Wallah Yeh Dhadkan Bhadne Lagi Hai
Chehre Ki Rangat Udne Lagi Hai
Darr Lagta Hai Tanha Soney Mein Ji
Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji
Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji
Thoda Kachcha Hai Ji
Haan Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji
Aisi Uljhi Nazar Unsey Hatt Ti Nahin
Daant Se Reshmi Dor Katt Ti Nahin
Umar Kab Ki Baras Ke Safaid Ho Gayi
Kaari Badri Jawani Ki Chatt Ti Nahin
Ra ra ra ..

Kisko Pataa Tha Pehlu Mein Rakha
Dil Aisa Baaji Bhi Hoga
Hum Toh Hamesha Samajhte The Koi
Hum Jaisa Haaji Hi Hoga
Hai Zor Karein, Kitna Shor Karein
Bewaja Baaton Pe Ainway Gaur Karein
Dilsa Koi Kameena Nahin
Koi Toh Rokey, Koi Toh Tokey
Iss Umar Mein Ab Khaogay Dhokhey
Darr Lagta Hai Ishq Karney Mein Ji
Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji
Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji
Thoda Kachcha Hai Ji
Haan Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji

Aisi Udhaasi Baithi Hai Dil Pe
Hasne Se Ghabraa Rahe Hain
Saari Jawani Katraa Ke Kaati
Piri Mein Takra Gaye Hain
Dil Dhadaktaa Hai Toh Aise Lagta Hai Woh
Aa Raha Hai Yahin Dekhta Hi Na Ho
Prem Ki Maarein Kataar Re
Taubah Yeh Lamhe Katt Te Nahin Kyun
Aankhon Se Meri Hatt Te Nahin Kyun
Darr Lagta Hai Mujhse Kehney Mein Ji
Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji
Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji
Thoda Kachcha Hai Ji
Haan Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji

And while we are at it, Striker also looks very interesting…looks like the 80s!

Lara Dutta overcomes severe hydrophobia and it’s all thanks to her co-actor Akshay Kumar and their upcoming release Blue. Not to mention that Lara’s body is impeccably toned and we totally envy her…maybe it’s because of all the swimming. We’re eagerly awaiting this film and will be at the theater on October 16.

Bipasha Basu is out of Ravaana…why would anyone do that! Well, whatever the reason may be we’re still as excited about the film…good director, good actors, good history lesson, and the best of all Sabyasachi is doing costumes for the film!

We were so happy to see Preity back on screen but sadly enough it’s only for a special appearance in Main Aur Mrs Khanna! However, we’re still pretty excited about the film because we quite liked the Kareena and Salman jodi in Kyon Ki and hope that it works this time around as well…especially with Salman and all his recent disasters, we’re kinda worried. But one thing’s for sure, we’ll have to take out some extra money on the weekend of October 16th because even this film releases on the same day as Blue! We just wish the filmmakers thought about people like us who have to budget their week to take out extra money for a film

YAY!!! We’re just so happy for Arjun, he is finally getting some good films with big production houses. The latest news is that the shooting for Stepmom’s remake has commenced today and it stars Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, and of course Arjun Rampal. Once again Dharma Production has a new director on this project…hmmm we really think Dharma will give our script a chance soon!

Sampooran Singh Kalra, better known by his pen name Gulzar is an Indian poet, lyricist and director. He was born to Makhan Singh Kalra and Sujan Kaur, in Dina, Jhelum District, British India. Before he was Gulzar saab he worked as a car mechanic in a garage. He took the pen name Gulzar Deenvi after becoming an author. He’s won countless accolades for his work including an Oscar for “Jai Ho” but that’s not of extreme importance because he’s also won a Padma Bhushan, five National Awards and 20 Filmfares.

Gulzar saab has also given a new genre to Hindi Literature known as Triveni. Triveni is a form of Hindi/Urdu poetry initiated by the poet Gulzar. Unlike sher, a triveni consists of three misras. The first two are complete in themselves, but the addition of the third misra gives a new facet all together. You can hear this genre in the album ‘Koi Baat Chale’ on which he collaborated with Jagjit Singh.

He also has one of the most beautiful voice; it’s so calming to listen to. Check out this poem he recited at the Vishwa Hindi Sammelan.

“Jungle Jungle Pata Chala Hai, Chaddi Pehen Key Phool Khila Hai” – this is what we looked forward to on Sunday mornings. We’d get up early and make sure to catch the theme song of ‘The Jungle Book.’ Obviously at that age we didn’t know who had written the song, but today we pay tribute to the one and only Gulzaar saab whose worked we’ve admired since we were little kids.

Gulzaar saab has never really been in the limelight, but whenever you see him, he’s dressed in the most beautiful plain white khaadi kurta-pyjamas…that’s one of our favorite things about him. Apart from his dress sense, we can’t really comment on Gulzar saab the person. We certainly wish we had a way with words like Gulzar saab taanki hum unki tareef main chand alfaaz likh sakein…lekin hum toh unki juti ke barabar bhi nahin, so instead we’re going to talk about some of our favorite works by Gulzar saab.

He directed Maachis (1996), Lekin… (1990), Ijaazat (1987), Angoor (1982), Khushboo (1975), Mausam (1975), Aandhi (1975), Mere Apne (1971) among others. Many of his movies tackled issues that were relevant and still are many years after, but he also has a great sense of humor…as seen in Angoor, an all time favorite movie!

He also produced a TV serial, Mirza Ghalib (1988), telecast on DD National in which Naseeruddin Shah played the role of Ghalib.

As we were making a list, it became terribly difficult to post every song we love because it’s so long, so we’ll post a few and try to post more of our favorite Gulzar saab songs on the site occasionally. Here are some of them:

Khamoshi – ‘Hamne dekhi hai’ (1969)
Khamoshi- ‘Tum Pukar Lo Tumhara Intezar Hai’ (1969)
Anubhav – ‘Meri Jaan Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho’ (1971)
Parichay – ‘Musafir Hoon Yaro’ (1972)
Aandhi – ‘Zindagi Mein Shikwa To Nahin’ (1975)
Ghar – ‘Aap Ki Ankhon Mein Kuchh’ (1978)
Thodi Si Bewafai – ‘Hazar Rahen Mud Ke Dekhi’ (1980)
Sannata – Bas Ek Chupsi Lagi Hai (1981)
Masoom – ‘Tujhse naraaz nahin zindagi’ (1983)
Ijaazat – ‘Mera kuchh saamaan’ (1987)

Favorite Albums:

Maachis (1996)
Dil Se (1998)
Satya (1998)
Asoka (2001)
Saathiya (2002)
Bunty Aur Babli (2005)
Yaahan (2005)
Omkara (2006)
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007)
No Smoking (2007)
Kaminey (2009)

Okay this will never end, so we’ll stop here…

We feel so fortunate to be able just share time with this living legend, that hum aise mahaan kavi ki kavitaaon ka lutf utha sakte hain. We look forward to many more songs by one of our most favorite lyricist in filmistan…

Yeh kaise ho gaya…a film named “Kaminey”…who would’ve thunk!

All these years the word “kameeni” has been a favorite among our group of friends and it’s a been a word that is used to express our love for each other…we don’t have weird nicknames for each other but just call each other by the universal nickname “kameeni.” Hazaar logon ki bheed mein bhi agar koi kameeni bolega toh hum peeche murd kar zaroor dekhenge!

So naturally we were excited about the film from day one, well there a few reasons behind it…
1. Title of the film.
2. Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj – loved Maqbool and Omkara, even The Blue Umbrella.
3. Music was amazing and the lyrics were by the one and only Gulzar Saab.
4. Priyanka Chopra – no need to say anything else about this.
5. Shahid Kapoor in a different look and a double role.

Kaminey is the story of Charlie (Shahid Kapoor), a small-time gangster dreaming to become a bookie, and Guddu (Shahid Kapoor), a righteous NGO worker, who get caught up in web of speech impediments, coke filled guitars, and remnants of a 70s masala movie with Guddu’s girlfriend Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) and the kamineyest of Kamineys.

Walking into a movie with huge expectations can sometimes lead to big disappointments, but gladly that wasn’t the case this time. The cake goes to Vishal Bhardwaj all the way. Vishal Bhardwaj the writer, the director, the music composer. We are the kind of people who can love a movie just because it has intelligent dialogue and beautifully shot scenes. And Kaminey was just that.

Vishal has written well-defined characters and has managed to extract the best out of each actor in every shot. We mean the best, these were truly the best performances so far of Shahid and Priyanka. And all the other Kamineys, the supporting cast, were so good one after the other. Amol Gupte as Sweety’s (Raj Thakery inspired?) bhai, Tenzing Nima as the cool drug-lord, Chandan Roy Sanyal as Charlie’s best friend Mikhail. When the supporting-cast was on screen, you did not miss the lead actors. Vishal definetily knows how to get great performances from each actor.

He used the old ghisi-piti story of the 70s and managed to give it a somewhat new treatment for the audience of today, the dialogues really make the movie stand out. There were splurges of laughter heard in the theater and that was quite contrary to the look of the movie, which was shot pretty much in these grayish, rain cloud kind of tones. People definetily got the humor. Editing and cinematography was WOW thanks to Meghna Manchanda Sen and Tassaduq Hussain respectively.

The movie was almost a complete entertainer but there was something missing. The first half was really well-paced, but there were lulls between scenes during the second half…the excitement of one scene didn’t transition smoothly with the next. Also the film could’ve been a tad bit shorter because some of the scenes in the second-half were a bit repetitive.

The music of the film was refreshing, a great collaborative effort by the music director, Vishal Bhardwaj and the lyricist, Gulzaar saab. “Dhan tena” really stands out and almost makes you want to get up and start imitating the moves in the theater. We were looking forward to “Pehli Baar Mohabbat” but unfortunately it was played during the end credits. This song was a signature Gulzaar saab love song, a little reminiscent of “O saathi re” from Omkara…he pens the most unsual and unexpected words – “Gelehri* ke joothe matar khaaye the. “Dhan Te Na” has been on our minds since the music released with “Raat Ke Dhai Baje,” and the title track being our other favorites. The words, the words! Gulzar saab is just such a genius. In the song “Fatak,” there’s a line…”Yeh Ishq Nahi Asaan, Aids Ka Khatra Hai,” he’s just so funny, we couldn’t stop laughing for like five minutes.

This hardly ever happens in a movie, but the audience was clapping during a few scenes and it was the loudest in the climax when Sweety was shooting at people with a gun! The audience was definitely having a great time.

Priyanka spoke her Marathi dialogues effortlessly, it seemed effortless to us non-Marathi speakers anyway. She brought magic onto the screen, we really wish we had seen more of her in the film! She was dressed in printed-cotton churidaars with minimal make-up, but immaculately manicured nails…well her brother was Bhope Bhai and had money, so she could obviously afford the manicure!

Shahid managed to play both completely different characters convincingly and made the audiences roll with laughter. One scene there was a stammering Guddu and the other, there was Charlie, jo S ko F bolta hai.

Overall, this was a fun entertainer with great dialogues. The scenes, especially Charlie’s dream sequences and the climax, viewed individually are just genius…but somehow as a whole it was missing something. You have to watch it once for sure and than rent the movie and re-watch your favorite scenes.
___________________________________________________________________
*Gelehri means Squirrel

Film: Ijaazat (1987)
Cast: Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah, Anuradha Patel, Ram Mohan, Sulabha Deshpande, Dina Pathak
Director: Gulzar
Music By: R. D. Burman
Lyrics: Gulzar

Mera Kuch Saamaan Tumhare Paas Pada Hai
O o o… Saavan Ke Kuch Bheege Bheege Din Rakhe Hain
Aur Mere Ik Khat Main Lipti Raat Padi Hai
Vo Raat Bhujaa Do, Mera Vo Saamaan Lauta Do
Mera Kuch Saamaan Tumhaare Paas Pada Hai

Patjhad Hai Kuch…Hai Na?
O o o… Patjhad Main Kuch Patton Ke Girne Kee Aahat
Kaanon Main Ek Baar Pahan Ke Laut Aai Thee
Patjhad Kee Vo Shaakh Abhi Tak Kaanp Rahi Hai
Vo Shaakh Gira Do, Mera Vo Saamaan Lauta Do – 2

Ek Akeli Chhataree Main Jab Aadhe Aadhe Bheeg Rahe The – 2
Aadhe Sookhe Aadhe Geele, Sukha To Main Le Aaye Thee
Geela Man Shayad Bistar Ke Paas Pada Ho
Vo Bhijwa Do, Mera Vo Saamaan Lauta Do

Ek So Sola Chaand Ki Ratain Ek Tumhare Kaandhe Ka Til – 2
Geeli Mahendi Ki Khushbu, Jhoot Mooth Ke Shikwe Kuch
Jhooth Mooth Ke Wade Bhi Sab Yaad Karaa Do
Sab Bhijwa Do, Mera Vo Saamaan Lauta Do – 2

Ek Ijaazat De Do Bas, Jab Isko Dafanaaungee
Main Bhi Vaheen So Jaungee
Main Bhi Vaheen So Jaungee

Most of us have grown up admiring and enjoying Gulzar Saab’s lyrics, remember Mogli’s “Chaddi pehan kay phool khila hai*,” and Mr. Rahman’s music, from the days of Roja to Delhi 6.

While we already knew how brilliant they were, they’re finally being recognized on an international stage. Both of these artists and Resul Pookutty won Oscars for original song and sound mixing. We’re extremely proud and are having an ultimate filmy moment! I think this calls for a week-long party!
_________________________________________________________________________
*We used to loove this show when we were kids and can still hear the title song of Mogli so distinctly; Gulzar saab is the one and only…who can write the lyrics “chaddi pehan kay phool khila hai” and “Dil Se Re”