Sujata – A beautiful movie that talked about a societal problem; A lovely love story too….

Sujata was made in 1959 and has a strong storyline – about an untouchable girl, who is adopted by a Brahmin family, though very reluctantly. 

All the characters are very real and sketched very lovingly. There are really no bad people or villains in the movie. The villain is the custom of treating people as untouchables – the custom which had become such a strong belief that even good people find it extremely difficult to move away from it.

Sujata comes to the Brahmin couple, Upendra & Charu on the first birthday of their daughter Rama, as an orphan, when both her parents die in an epidemic. Upendra & Charu keep her reluctantly and decide to find someone from her cast as soon as possible to hand her over to. When a person of her cast is found, they refuse to hand Sujata over to him because he is a drunkard and a useless slob. So Sujata stays with the family. They take her along with them, when XYZ gets transferred. The maid in the house is the one taking care of Sujata, not Charu. But slowly, both Upendra and Charu get more and more attached to Sujata. Once again, when she is a child of about 6-7, they try to send her to an orphanage. But both of them find it difficult to send her, and in the end she grows up at their place.

Sujata and Rama are close. They are like sisters, with Sujata treating Rama as her younger sister. But there are differences – Rama goes to college to study, Sujata does not. Rama plays badminton and piano while Sujata is busy in housework and gardening. Sujata is aware that she is not Upendra & Charu’s daughter because she has heard them say “She is like our daughter” many times, but she does not know that she is an untouchable.

For Charu the biggest blow is delivered by Adhir, the person she hopes would like Rama and marry her. He instead falls in love with Sujata, and wants to marry her, even after he finds out that she is actually an untouchable. His grandmother too finds it almost impossible that her grandson is willing to leave her to marry an untouchable. In the end, she accepts her defeat and quite gracefully.

The movie is directed so well – but then it’s a Bimal Roy movie. Even when you don’t agree with the character’s point of view, like Adhir’s grandmother when she is trying to stop him from marrying Sujata, you can actually feel her pain too. All her beliefs that she lived by all her life are being turned upside down by the one person she loves the most.

The movie has a good pace throughout. It does get rather melodramatic in the end, but its for a short while only.

Music is melodious. Two most famous songs from this movie are – “Ore Manjhi” sung by S.D. Burman himself and “Jalte Hai jis ke liye” sung by Talat Mehmood. In the movie Adhir sings this to Sujata on phone.

Everyone has acted  well – Tarun Bose & Sulochana as Sujata’s adoptive parents are very good. Their growing attachment for the untouchable girl and their turmoil is well presented. Lalita Pawar as Adhir’s grandmother is wonderful! Shashikala as Rama is really lovely and charming. Rama’s character itself is lovely – she is not jealous about the fact that Adhir is interested in Sujata instead of her. Sunil Dutt as Adhir is just right for the role! He looks very handsome and sensitive. His role too is very good - a strong character - someone who knows what he wants to do and is willing to go against the customs and traditions of the society.

But the movie belongs to Nutan. She is tremendous as Sujata. Sujata, who is playful with Rama, respectful with her parents and very shy with Adhir, is portrayed skillfully by Nutan. You can feem her happiness when she realizes that Adhir likes her as well as her pain when she finds out that she is untouchable. No one else could have done this role, but Nutan.

So watch this movie for –

• A beautiful presentation of a societal problem, and yet a lovely love story that it is
• Wonderful acting by everyone, but most specifically Nutan
• Great direction
• Melodious music

Sacchai – Completely avoidable – that’s the Sacchai…

Sacchai is a movie from 1968-69, starring Shammi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Sadhana. I like Sanjeev Kumar a lot, I like Sadhana too. And Shammi Kapoor is my all-time favorite actor!! The movie also stars Pran and Helen, two other people I always liked. But Sacchai is a REAL bad movie.

Long back, before all these Star & Z and Sony channels changed India, when we had only Door Darshan, Sacchai was shown on a Sunday in the weekly slot reserved for Hindi movies. But I didn’t remember anything except for 2 songs – “E dost mere maine Duniya dekhi Hai” and “Sau Baras Ki Jindagi se acche hai”. I remembered the tunes and words, but not the visuals – well I had an impression that in “Sau baras ki Jindagi” Sadhana and Shammi Kapoor are on an elephant!! But I wasn’t sure if I was remembering it quite right.
Being a Shammi Kapoor fan, I have been looking for whichever of his movies are available – in stores and on the net. I got this one after a lot of search on the web. With Shammi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar, I guess I expected the movie to be interesting. And then last weekend I watched this movie.

Sanjeev Kumar was a good actor, but not in Sacchai – in Sacchai he over acts!! I wouldn’t have believed it possible, if I had not seen this movie. Sadhana has very little scope to be good. She is drowned in the melodrama of the film. And Shammi Kapoor has no way to be Shammi Kapoor – he has couple of scenes where he has to be “fun” but these scenes seem forced, they do not go with the whole movie and these scenes by themselves are not good enough to make the movie anything more than what it is – a REALLY bad movie!!

As for the story, Shammi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar are two friends who start their lives in opposite directions – Sanjeev Kumar being an honest person and Shammi Kapoor being a crook. They part ways after college with different ideologies and decide to meet in three years and find out what has become of each other. As the story progresses, Shammi Kapoor falls in love with a girl (Sadhana, who happens to be Sanjeev Kumar’s sister but he does not this, she does not know that Shammi Kapoor is her brother’s friend and Sanjeev Kumar does not know that Shammi Kapoor and his sister are in love – this is because Sanjeev Kumar has left home and gone away because his father was a dishonest person) and then Shammi Kapoor becomes an honest person after seeing Sadhana’s mother suffer. Then he becomes a police inspector. Just like that. On the other hand, Sanjeev Kumar gets into bad company and becomes a don.
In three years when the two friends go to meet each other, Sanjeev Kumar is the biggest criminal and Shammi Kapoor is the inspector who is after the don. Both of them have vouched to kill each other. Oh did I not mention, that each of them don’t know who the other is? The name of the don is different from Sanjeev Kumar’s real name. And though he hears about an inspector “Ashok” he does not think it’s his friend with same name since his person was not honest, see? Anyway, so in true Hindi movie style, each of them goes to meet the friend singing the same song they had sung last time, when they parted ways.
And though you think the story has been happening in Mumbai all this while, suddenly they are singing in the Himalayas and running miles and miles to meet each other.  They meet and find out what the other person has become and after a real convoluted climax in which first Helen and then Pran die, Sanjeev Kumar manages to get Shammi Kapoor to kill him – and of course he dies in arms of his friend!!

There is a lot of melodrama in the film that just does not touch you. And there is no logic!! Even Hindi film logic is missing!! Songs are nothing to talk about either.

I have seen many bad movies, but this one was very painful to sit through – maybe because its really terrible to watch your favorite actor in a bad role in a bad movie.

So DON’T watch this movie. Even if you are a diehard Shammi Kapoor fan, like me, do not watch this movie. Actually, I would say especially if you are a Shammi Kapoor fan, do not watch this movie!

Tere Ghar Ke Samne - Light and Enjoyable - time and again!!

Tere Ghar Ke Samne is a black & white movie from 1962 or 63. It is one of my all time favorite movies.

Dev Anand & Nutan make an AMAZING leading pair in this movie! Both of them look very good individually and they look great together. Dev Anand was 40 years old when he made this movie, but he looks much younger. I wish there were more men looking that good at 40!! Nutan looks really nice and plays her role skillfully. She was anyway one of the best (if not THE best) actresses to ever act in Hindi movies.  She is so natural in serious as well as light roles, like Tere Ghar Ke Samne.

Apart from the leading pair, there is Om Prakash, playing Dev Anand's father. Again a really good actor - especially in comic roles. And this is a comic role where the actor does not have to behave like a joker, like many other Hindi movies. And there is Harindranath Chattopadhyay, another wonderful actor playing Nutan's father.  Om Prakash and Harindranath Chattopadhyay have considerable footage in the movie and they make their roles so enjoyable to watch. Rajendranath is also there; and for a change he has a good role; he does not have to be a total loser or a joker or an idiot, like many of his other roles.

The story is very simple. Rakesh (Dev Anand)'s father and Sulekha (Nutan)'s father are rival businessmen. Both of them buy plots of land opposite to each other in a government auction. Each of them wants to build a house on the new plot. Rakesh is an architect who is recommended to Sulekha's family as the best architect. So he takes on that assignment  wihtout being aware of the rivalry. And obviously, his father too wants him to be the architect for his house.  For both the houses he has same instructions from the 2 fathers - "Our house has to be bigger and better than the one being build on the neighbouring plot". He can't give up his father's assignment. And by the time he finds out about the rivalry, he is in love with Sulekha and does not want to give up that assignment either. So he is hiding the information that he is the architect for both the houses. Also, both the houses are being made to the same design since both like exactly the same design from many he makes.
Rakesh finally tells Sulekha who he is, and though she gets angry first, he manages to convince her of his love. They want to get married but now they need to convince their parents and get them to forget their rivalry. This is the basic plot.

The music is very good and though all the songs are good, I especially like Dil Ka bhanwar Kare Pukar, Yeh Tanhaai hai re hai, Tere Ghar Ke samne and Tu Kahan - Sung by Mohd. Rafi & Lata Manageshkar!! Great songs to listen to again and again. They have been directed and picturized amazingly well. And Dev Anand & Nutan make these songs worth watching again and again and again.... Each of these songs has a very unique feel and mood. In Tu Kahan, you can almost feel the night, the cold weather....  In Yeh Tanhaai hai re hai, Nutan is so playful and lovely. The picturization of Tere Ghar Ke Samne is so creative - Dev Anand is in a bar, drinking, and he starts seeing Nutan in the liquid in the glass. Lovely song, with amazing expressions from both of them. And my most favourite song of the movie - Dil Ka Bhanwar. This is one of the best ever picturized songs in Hindi movies, sung by one and only Mohd. Rafi. No one BUT no one else could have sung this song so beautifully. Even the scene leading to this song is just wonderful. Dev Anand & Nutan are climbing the Kutub, flirting with each other. The dialogs are really good and delivered wonderfully. Followed by this most amazingly romantic song! I think this is the best part of the movie...

 The movie keeps its comic tone till amost the end. The dialogs are good and apt. The cast is perfect!! The director is Vijay Anand and direction is not just good but brilliant in places.  Everytime I watch this movie, I realize how much I like it.
I only get annoyed with it towards the end. I think it gets too dragged out towards the end. I find it especially irriating when Dev Anand starts singing standing between the two newly constructed houses.
But the movie is mostly over by then. And its anyway only last 10 mins or so. The rest of the movie is just too good to be discouraged because of the last 10 mins...

So watch this movie. And specifically for -

• Dev Anand - Looking very handsome and is perfect for this romantic role in a musical comedy.
• Nutan - Her expressions!! And change of expressions. Her timing. Everything about her acting. Looks really good opposite DEv Anand.
• Om Prakas & Harindranath Chattopadhyay - they both are outstanding!!
• The music - simply wonderful
• Picturization of songs - Wonderful!
• Romantic scenes between the lead pair
• Comic scenes
• The tone of the movie

Sikandar - A movie that many tended to use as the benchmark

Sikandar was made in 1941. That is 70 years ago. In fact it released the same year Orson Welles’s “Citizen Kane” was released in America. “Citizen Kane” is often considered the greatest movie of all time by many. It is always on the list of top 100 that different portals and magazines and channels in America keep coming up with. I watched that a few years back and just didn’t understand why it is considered to be such a great movie. Maybe it has something to do with not having the right cultural information or background.

Sikander, was another movie praised by many of my father’s generation. My father himself is a big fan of this movie. Anytime I said some actor looked good or handsome, he would tell me how handsome Prithviraj Kapoor looked in  Sikandar. Having been disappointed with “Citizen Kane”, I expected to be disappointed by Sikandar; at least to some extent.  And I had seen Prithviraj Kapoor only an old person – in “Mughal-E-Azam”, in “Kal Aaj Aur Kal” etc.  I did like him in “Kal, Aaaj Aur Kal”, but not in “Mughal-E-Azam”. In fact I didn’t like “Mughal-E-Azam” at all. But that’s a different topics altogether.

So I was watching Siakndar, expecting to be disappointed. But I wanted to see it so that next time when my father told me about it, I could say, “I have seen it and I don’t think its good at all”. And now you know what is coming, right? I was completely surprised by this movie. The print was not very good, and still I could see and feel the magic.

 I can just imagine the kind of storm it must have created in 1941! Pritviraj Kapoor does look very handsome. He also looks very well built and muscular. And he looks so young and charming; he has a wonderful smile. Yes, I could understand why he would be considered the benchmark to measure all other actors who came after him in terms of physic and handsomeness.

Vanmala who plays Rukhsana, Alexander’s Iranian lover and is the heroine of the movie was another surprise. I had seen her earlier in a Marathi movie (“Shamchi Aaai”) as the ever-suffering, non-complaining, too good to be true mother of Sham (Sane Guruji). It was so difficult to believe that this girl, who was so playful and young and lively, was actually her.

The movie is a great epic, with some wonderful scenes of the army; the cavalry charging out. It has really powerful dialogs. And in 1941, they must have had such an impact! I even liked the songs. Especially “Jindagi Hai Pyar Se” and “Sawan Ke Din Aaye Re”.

I think people who like to explore, people who like to see different kind of movies, will definitely like it. If you pick this movie to watch, watch it for the following things –

·        Prithviraj Kapoor – looks really good as Alexander! (I don’t know if Alexander was this handsome and well built)

·        Vanmala – big surprise as Rukhsana J

·        Sohrab Modi – as the King Puru

·        The scenes of big army, the cavalry riding out

·        The costumes & art direction

·        The powerful dialogs – and their patriotic appeal. Imagine people hearing these in 1941.

·        The songs – the feel they give

·        Overall the direction and the flow of the movie 

Shammi Kapoor - Inse Acchhaa Koi Nahin…

Shammi Kapoor, son of Prithviraj Kapoor and younger brother of Raj Kapoor, it seems, didn’t want to act or be in theatre or movies. He wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. And so he went to a college to study further instead of joining his father’s theatre. We all should thank that college and the curriculum of that time!  Because those things bored him and after two years he went back to his father and asked whether he could join the theatre. I am sure, his father must have felt relieved.
He finally started acting in movies in early 50s. Obviously, being the son of such a famous actor and brother of someone who had already started making waves, the expectations must have been very high. But none of his movies seemed to work; he made some 18-19 flop movies in the 50s. I have only seen one of these early movies – a movie called “Mem Sahib”, starring Meena Kumari, Kishor Kumar and Shammi Kapoor. And Shammi Kapoor was the villain in this movie. I think by this time, he had tried various roles and was open to try out any role, even that of the villain. In those days, it was not so easy to play a villain and then be accepted in a positive role. And of course, Hindi movies have done this to many a good looking men – Pran, Prem Nath and Prem Chopra – all good looking men slated to the “villain” category for years and years. (Even for that matter, Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna played the bad guy in their earlier movies, but they could move out of that mould successfully) So Shammi Kapoor could have very easily been one more in this category.  He says that he wanted to leave the show business and go and manage tea estates in Assam. So I guess, he must have been feeling quite disappointed, disillusioned and dejected by his experience in movies till then.

But finally, in late 50s he got the kind of role that was meant for him in a movie that was definitely his kind of a movie. “Tumsa Nahin Dekha” was released in 1957, and it finally gave the hindi movie lovers the real Shammi Kapoor. We should be grateful to Nasir Hussain for casting Shammi Kapoor in the lead role in this movie. But before him, we should thank Dev Anand for walking out of this movie and forcing Nassir Hussain to look for a replacement.  This movie it seems, was supposed to launch Amita in the big league. But people went crazy over Shammi Kapoor instead!! And when you see this movie, you can understand why. “Tumsa Nahin Dekha” is totally his movie. He looked so young & handsome, had amazing expressions and could move with such amazing grace. And all those wonderful songs – he made each one his own!!

After “Tumsa Nahin Dekha” there was no looking back for him. Instead of playing the roles in the earlier, predefined fashion (something he had tried earlier and failed miserably), he now started playing these roles in the style that came naturally to him. He brought a high level of energy and a different kind of intensity to the hero’s characters. That energy, that exuberance and the rhythm that he moved with, set him completely apart from all other actors of that time. He was the change that audiences loved. And after “Tumsa Nahin Dekha” was successful, people were more than willing to make movies for him, movies that were “his” kind of movies.
 

I have seen many of the movies from his golden days. And I can see these again and again and again. They are timeless, ageless; funny and graceful. They can be enjoyed by one and all. His movies are light hearted romantic comedies with very good music. And he was a hero, who could dance with amazing grace and could make the romantic songs completely believable; someone who didn’t mind looking funny or doing crazy things. He didn’t seem bothered about how he was looking. He of course looked great (he was so handsome), but his looking good was not only about the looks. He seemed like a very genuine, nice and at the same time fun & interesting person.  And he didn’t ever looked posed; he looked very natural doing whatever he was doing; there was such sincerity in his performances. When he was singing a romantic song to the heroine, or mouthing a romantic dialog, he looked at her like no one else existed or mattered. When he was funny, he was just so funny, in a very crazy and lovable way. He had a very flexible face, a face that expressed so much.

Earlier romantic movies were normally a lot more subdued; there were many tragedies. Even if they had happy ending, hero – heroine rarely had so much fun. And of course there was no hero who could make romancing a heroine look so much fun; or make songs so much fun either.

Oh, his songs!! NO one, but no one – throughout the history of Hindi movies till date, could or can do songs like him. The way he moved with the rhythm, when dancing but even when he was not dancing, it was just wonderful! Even his expressions changed with rhythm!

 Whether it was a comedy song (like “Tumse achcha kaun hai” from Jaanwar or “Suku Suku” from Junglee) or a very charged, romantic song (like “Is rang badalti duniya mei” from Rajkumar or “Hum aur tum aur yeh sama” from Dil Deke Dekho); whether it was a dance number (like “Yaar chulbula hai” from Dil deke dekho or “Aaja aaja” from Teesri Manzil) or a fun, romantic duet (like “Oh mere sona re sona re” from Teesri Manzil or “Na rutho rutho na” from Jawan Mohabbat), he made each and every of his songs worth watching; worth watching again and again!

Mohd. Rafi was his perfect voice. And there must have been a very good understanding between Rafi and him, for each song to not just sound so wonderful but to look like it was sung by Shammi Kapoor himself, with all of his nuances. But basically his songs are in a completely different class altogether.

One thing about songs of this time – they have a lot more close ups than today’s songs – and still lip-syncs are perfect. Another thing about these songs, it seems like there were less number of cuts, sometimes there are no cuts in the complete stanzas. All this was really amazing, and it seems even more so, when we see today’s songs that have thousands of people dancing, very few close-ups and cuts every few seconds, if not practically every second.

And of course, he was a very good actor. Somehow, I think, that never really got acknowledged. Maybe, critics of that time couldn’t appreciate someone who was so different from the established style of acting of the day? Or maybe it was because of the trend that only people who make serious and sad movies were (and still are to a large extent) seen as “good actors”.  Watch him in Professor where he could show two different characters one old and one young so distinctly different. Its very interesting to note how he carried himself as the old professor, his expressions as the old person. Or watch him in Brahmachari – he is so natural with the kids! You can actually feel his love for them…

In many of his movies the heroine was someone new, someone who was not an established actress. But I guess, that helped add a different kind of innocence to those movies. The heroines who debuted against him were I think, Asha Parekh (Dil Dekhe Dekho), Saira Bano(Junglee) and Sharmila Tagore (Kashmir  ki Kali). I am not sure if Professor was Kalpana’s first movie or not… I think amongst all of the different heroines he acted with, the one who suited him the best; suited his kind of movies the best was Asha Parekh. She herself being a very good dancer, I am sure helped for his songs. Also, she seemed to have the same fun element in her; she seemed to have the right spirit, energy, and understanding of music & rhythm. The two of them also seemed to have a very good understanding and an ease working with each other. She seemed like the perfect heroine for his movies… I wish they had made more movies together. Their songs are amongst the best ever to watch.

His wife, Geeta Bali and he never acted as Hero – Heroine in a movie. He met her while making a movie (Rangeeen Ratein) in which he was the hero, but she was only making a special appearance. Of course, she was a famous actress before he became popular, but it would have been great to watch them together in a movie, I think. She herself was very graceful and a good dancer.



One more “I wish we had” – His nephew Rishi Kapoor is another amazing dancer, but though they acted together in some of the RK movies, we never got to see two of them dance together. They didn’t act in the movies where the whole families were dancing, not just the hero-heroines or just the young people. It would have been so cool….

I became a Shammi Kapoor fan when I watched “Dil Deke Dekho” sometime in 80s, when I was in school. As I saw more of his movies, I only liked him more and more. But when I found out that he was the founder of “Internet User Community of India”, I became his fan all over again. And earlier I was fan of Shammi Kapoor, the actor. But then when I saw such different dimentions of him, I became fan of Shammi Kapoor, the person. Most people in India at that time didn’t know anything about the Internet. For him to be interested in it, and get to know it so well and setup a community for Internet users, I felt (and still feel) was quite amazing. Now days, everyone is on the Internet, all the famous people, are on twitter and can connect with their fans. But he did this way back in 90s, when it was not a trend and it was not so simple. And he replied to fan emails. I wrote him once in late 90s and got a prompt reply from him. I was absolutely thrilled to get his reply!!

He is a person who moves with the times; is up to date with today’s technology and tools. He is on Twitter now and he also publishes a weekly called “Shammi Kapoor unplugged”. Each one of these is a 3 to 4 minutes video recording in which he shares his memories with his fans.  But he has not been well for some time now and he is not twitting and “Shammi Kapoor unplugged” is not getting posted every Monday/Tuesday, the way it used to. I hope he will get well soon. Like his many, many fans I too am praying for his good health and wishing him speedy recovery.

<28 Mar 11> - Adding the link to his fan page on facebook -
http://www.facebook.com/shammikapoor.fanpage

Which person or which movie to write about

I have started this blog and I have a lot of movies that I want to write about, and people and music. But where do I start? I first thought I would start with Sikander – an epic of a movie from 1941. But then other ideas came to mind. Finally I have decided that I would first write about Mr. Shammi Kapoor, my favourite Hindi movie hero of all time. There are many good actors, many charismatic heroes and many stylish ones too, but there is no one, but no one like Mr. Shammmi Kapoor. And he is someone who has made a big impact on the Hindi movies but never really got the kind of acclaim that he deserved. On 31^st Dec, while watching “Junglee” for N^th time my sister said with all emotion, “Thank God, he came into Hindi movies and made them so much fun!”, and I completely understand her sentiments; I too feel exactly that.

So the first person I write about would be Shammi Kapoor. Some of the other people I feel like writing about are Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Nutan, Vaijayantimala, Helen, Dharmendra, Guru Datt – apart from many musicians. I don’t know if I’ll write about each one individually or not, but these are people I find interesting.  Also I would write about many movies from this period – sort of reviews of these movies.

What this blog is all about & why

The first Indian full length movie was made by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. 18 years after that, in 1931, Alam Ara, the first talkie movie got made in India. But a lot of people had started making movies in 30s and by 1940, movie making in India had started coming of age.

There were a lot of movies being made on mythology and historical periods but there were also movies being made with present day relevance. Sikander, the big epic was made in 1941 and if you see that movie today, you still can see how magical it must have been at the time, with really handsome Pritviraj Kapoor as Sikander and Sohrab Modi as Pouras. Towards the end of that decade, Raj Kapoor had already started making waves with Aag & Barsaat. K. L. Saigal was still singing in his rich voice, but this was the decade when Mohd. Rafi gave a new voice to Hindi cinema. And Lata Mangeshkar started singing in films in this decade; to go ahead and change the playback singing in Hindi films forever.

1950s saw a lot of new people come in and give a new face to the movies – The three big names of 50s were of course, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor. But this was also the period of superbly sensitive movies of Guru Datt and Bimal Roy.

1960s was the time when movies went color – and romance became a lot more fun, especially with Shammi Kapoor who got everyone singing and dancing to a different rhythm…

Here, on this blog, I want to talk about movies, music and people who made those from about 1940 to 1970, and maybe even beyond. This will not be in any chronological order, and the opinions would be strictly mine. I would write about what I have seen, what I have experienced from these movies and what I have thought and felt about what I have seen.

The reason for choosing this period is that I am really fascinated by movies of this period and I like the simplicity and passion that was there in these movies. The movies of this time had a different grace; people in these movies had a different dignity and class. Songs were the kind that you would want to hear again and again and again…. The lyrics were so meaningful and touching, the music was extremely melodious and there were very capable singers who would take these songs to amazing heights. Then there were such graceful dancers.

Of course, I am no authority on the history of Hindi movies, and this blog is not meant as official or authoritative say on ANYTHING about movies. These are only my impressions and those too only based on whatever movies I have seen from this era.