Friday, May 06, 2011

PoV: the Amitabh cameos

From Chhoti si Baat to Hero Hiralal...my Yahoo! film column today is about the intersection of mainstream and "Middle" cinema, and the use of the big star in a small frame. Here goes.

7 comments:

  1. Jai,I thought you'd find this write-up about disability in Amitabh Bachchan's films interesting after reading your column.

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  2. Thanks, Paresh - nice post. For some reason I have a very vivid memory of the disabled character (the informer?) played by Mazhar Khan in Shaan. And yes, here's to more interesting Hindi-film representations of the handicapped - it's long overdue.

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  3. Excellent post! I really liked it and agree to the big-star-refitted-to-small-screen theory.

    Thanks for sharing it.

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  4. Hi Jai

    This is funny. Yesterday I saw 5 youtube videos with 5 of Bachchan's guest appearances, and today you had a new post on the subject! You should check out the videos "Amitabh Bachchan guest appearance [1 to 5]". There is also a lesser known clip from a movie made by Amjad Khan which is shot outside Bachchan's house (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR6bwB-HVoY).

    Cheers,
    Ajay

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  5. An interesting post, enjoyed reading it. Very perceptive, the comment about how cameos by superstars are a two-way street..it helps us identify with the non-superstar at the same time making the superstar more approachable. Well written!

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  6. Interesting post , There is one point which is both poignant and thought provoking , when you describe old times not being as simple as they looked.

    Agreed to a point , however they were still much simpler and less complex bordering sometimes on the mundane if you look at it from the perspective of day to day living. As far as human emotions , instinct and thought goes , they were as complex as they are today and would remain so for ever.

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  7. Agreed to a point , however they were still much simpler and less complex bordering sometimes on the mundane if you look at it from the perspective of day to day living.

    Shwet: well, of course - an era without cellphones or the Internet (to name just two very obvious things) would perforce be much "simpler" in some practical ways compared to today - while also heightening the complexity of human relationships in other ways. (In fact, the narratives of films like Chhoti si Baat and Rajnigandha would have played out very differently in the cellphone era.)

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