About the filmi dancers

Recently, we watched an episode of the Comedy Circus that had a hilarious skit about a conversation between 2 hindi film background female dancers. The skit was presented funnily enough by a duo of males and it reminded me of the multitude of dance troupes that might have earned employment due to the background dancing. Surely, each choreographer must have had his/ her own dancers. Each had a dedicated or lucky troupe. 

In the cabaret songs of the 70s, there was a repetitive face prancing around with Helen. I was watching 'Monica, my darling' on TV, one day. A guy with a curly mop of hair and a pencil-moustache started his jumping act to the music. My dad pointed out to me that his name is Michael and he is a choreographer, too. I have noticed him in more songs that I cannot recall now. But that is probably how I started noticing the background dancers, too.

In the 80s, there was the group of male dancers that was seen in 'Jahaan chaar yaar' (Sharaabi) as well 'Padosan apni murgi ko' (Jaadugar) and some more Amitabh songs.

During the 90s, in the days of 'Superhit Muqabla', there was one male dancer that used to appear in 5 out of 10 songs. He was the one who did the hip-hop rapper dance to the voice of Bali Bramhabhatt with Jackie Shroff. The song was 'Munda Dekh' from the movie Stuntman. 'Bambai ka babu' had a scene shot in Fantasy Land where Saif calls 'Mangesh' to do some task and Mangesh runs off a kid asked to get an ice cream - a wide smile on the face. One could not miss this guy dancing sincerely behind the hero and more importantly, enjoying himself even while doing the stupidest of the dancing steps. The songs were always a big hit, but the films were bigger flops. The producers must have noticed this coincidence because I have not spotted Mangesh for quite some time. 

The producers should stop allowing Ganesh any screen appearances for the same reason. Every film that Ganesh appears in to dance flops. He is responsible for the dismal fate of 'Jaanam Samjha Karo', 'Money hai toh Honey hai', 'China Gate' to name a few.

In the recent times, there is a very pretty female dancer who has appeared in some popular songs of recent times. She has rolled her eyes with Abhishek in 'Say na say na' (Bluffmaster), had a better tummy than Kareena in 'Its Rocking' (Wah kya love story hai) and even fluttered her colourful long skirt behind Govinda in 'Soni de nakhre' (Partner). Go look for this square jawed girl.

By the way, I m still searching for the mp3 of Shankar Mahadevan's version of 'Hoga tumse pyara kaun'.

Like Akbar Birbal stories

I have opened my 'notepad' (yeah, that is my favorite editor) about 4 times before, but gave into the temptation playing a stupid powerpoint game called - Bubbles. Blame it on bubbles for not having blogged about:

1. background dancers

2. potty snippets from school

3. a hindi movie

4. autograph from Alan 'Watchmen' Moore

Leave them aside for some other time. (Thats what I have been saying about my gym since the last 2 months). The season is changing and it is getting colder by the day. I cannot cycle without the gloves on. The sun will soon be a rare sight. The trees have already started shedding as if trying to symbolise the financial crisis of the world economy. Retailers are trying various discounts and price cuts to bring back the money flow in the market. 

There are the usual BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) offers. Retailers are giving out loyalty points in abundance. A well known retailer has been selling alcohol at a very low price. One of the local councils sued the retailer for selling alcohol that is cheaper than water. The council's argument was that cheap liqour encourages binge drinking. The retailer has enough money to hire the smart brains in the market. It sued the council for water being costlier than alcohol. The council withdrew the case and they all binged heavily ever after.

This location of the neigh

"Throw... quick quick... oh NO"... POP! CRACK!! CRACKLE!!! THUD!!!

"Can you walk?", they asked.

"Yes." I said, clenching my teeth.

I had scored enough to save the team from the blushes, but as I ran for that last run, I could hear my right knee snap under the pad and I landed with a thud in the crease and just missed from being run-out. I straightened my leg as I sat in the mud and the cracking-popping orchestra replayed. I limped back to the pavilion with support from 2 team mates. As I sat down on the chair, I realised that I could not straighten the knee anymore. There was a lot of pain. I took off the gloves and the pads and asked for some water. Someone passed me an ice pack, too. .. thankfully.

Later that night, the pain aggravated and the knee was swollen and tender. An injury in the foreign land is always scary business. A crocin put me back to sleep. But when I woke up the pain woke up with me. I googled the symptoms and was convinced that this is a dislocated knee.

Knee dislocation is different from fracture. But people normally tend to diagonise for a fracture to begin with. The swelling is not as severe as a fracture and the pain is bearable. One can touch the tender soreness on the knee without feeling much pain. I had a swelling on the inner side of the leg on the left side of the knee cap and a bit of pain behind the knee. A knee dislocation could cause a cartilage and a ligament pull. An internal clot can cause an immediate swelling and if there is internal bleeding it has to be taken care-of immediately because there is a risk that the clot might travel to the lungs.

I ordered a cab in the morning which dropped drop me at the 'accident and emergency' department (A&E) of the local hospital. After a quick record entry, I was asked to wait for the doctor to call me. I was first sent to get an x-ray done. The x-ray can only see the bones, which turned out to be normal (no fracture) and that meant that the dislocation had reset itself.

The doctor asked me to drop the pants (I was still wearing yesterday's underpants) and flex the knee. I showed her that I could not bend or completely straighten my knee. It was as-if the knee was locked and there was considerable pain when I tried to force the bending/ straightening. A normal knee should bend to an angle of at least 100 degrees. My knee angle was hardly 45 degrees and that too, slowly and painfully.

Tying the knee only increases the swelling, so crepe bandages are a strict no. Hot or ice massage only soothes the pain, it is not going to heal anything. Ibrufen is a recommended anti-inflammatory capsule and not really a pain killer. 400mg of capsules should work for a stretch of 12 hours. Keeping the leg in the same position for too long can worsen the swelling, I don't know why!
It has been a week and I am feeling much better. The pain only stings at night... mid-way during a deep sleep. I cannot completely straighten my leg yet. I am on a no cycling and no running order from the doctor. This means I will miss the cricket season. :(

People come and ask how it happened and I narrate the episode to them in the most gruesome way and end it by saying it is not as scary as it sounds, there is no pain. I still don't get a free lift home.

Bums on the Saddle

My email to the admin at http://blog.bumsonthesaddle.com
Damn the knee!!

Hi guys,

I dropped at your site from the article on rediff.com and I was so glad to learn that there are cycle-to-work-enthusiasts in India, too. I have been cycling to work since the last 2 years in London. If I ignore the dislocated knee last week, my overall experience has been very good. I have been off the cycle for 6 days now and I am missing it already.

The cycle I use is an old mountain bike with 18 gear combinations. It saves me time and money in addition to giving me the flexibility of not relying on the bus or train timings. Most trains in London have facilities for carrying a bike in a separate compartment. There are regular camps for cycles, where they have a health check and lots of freebies. The roads here have dedicated lanes for cycles to ensure safety and to encourage cycling. At the signals and roads, cycles are definitely treated with a lot of respect.

I have managed to get a handful of colleagues to cycle to work as well. I have managed to get bikes for them too. The public transport and fuel in UK is much more expensive than that in Mumbai, so it is only wise to invest in a bike. I would have to cycle 90 mins in the sultry, dusty and dangerous Mumbai roads and that thought gives me a shudder. I think I would prefer traveling to work in Mumbai by the company bus that takes 50 mins to reach office in the mornings and 90 mins to take me home in the evenings.

Regards,
Bricks

Date Ali

"Who is Ali? Why do they want to date him?", Alex kept wondering throughout the film.

De Taali
Starring: Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Ayesha Takia, Rimi Sen, Anupam Kher

Genre: Comedy, Drama

This is a light story of 3 childhood friends who are now 26 years old. Aftab (Abhishek) is a rich kid who is always falling in love with the wrong girls (cameos by Hrishita Bhatt, Neha Dhupia and a couple more). Ayesha (Amruta) is a sundar-sushil girl. Ritesh (Paresh Gurudev) is an unemployed guy and is the brain of the club who comes up with plans that fail. Aftab falls in love with a con-girl Rimi. The other 2 try to save him. As expected, Aftab and Ayesha end up together.

Scenes I remember:

• Aftab ineffectively doing a Sandra Bullock from Miss Congeniality when he teases Ayesha by saying 'Amu lurrvhs me. Amu crieess for me...'
• Aftab saying that for the first 6 months of their friendship, they did not know that Ayesha was a girl! (He does not mention how they finally realised it :P )
• At the hair-dressers, Ayesha and Ritesh watch their hair fly using the blow dryer and when Aftab tries the same on his short crop, there are a few giggles
• The eccentric behaviour of Rimi's family members... 'chai chahiye? toh jaake banaao. mere liye bhi banaao.' Who is that lady? She has acted quite well in most films that I have seen her in.
• I was told that the film is like 'Saving Silverman' and the tree club house scene definitely suggests that there was an inspiration
• Ritesh mimics jadoo from Koi Mil Gaya

Pros:

• Ritesh provides the comic relief with support from Ayesha
• A very light movie with a not-so-bollywoody story
• There are some giggles through out... like the Rimi torture sequence

Cons:

• The music is nothing to remember about
• Aftab seems out of place and lost

Watch it for some time pass.

Wood stocked pilla

Woodstock Villa

Starring: Sikandar Kher, Arbaaz Khan, Neha (?) Oberoi, Sachin Khedekar, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover

Director: Hansal Mehta

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Similar movie: Aggar, The Train

The film starts with Arbaaz Khan being phoned to pay ransom for his wife, kidnapped by Sikandar Kher. Arbaaz reports this to the cops. The wife is found dead. Sikandar then tries to flee away from the city, but realises that he might be innocent and ends up solving the mystery.

Scenes I remember:

• The intentional graphic novel feel of the titles
• The initial sequences that show the landmarks of Mumbai in a new light and eventually end with a heavy rain shot from above
• Sanjay Dutt crooning and scratching the guitar with the Aryans!
• Sachin Khedekar trying to be a comic relief - Itni acchi gaadi ka satyaanaash hua!

Pros:

• Makes a good video cassette promoting Kiron Kher's son's acting, dancing, filmy fighting abilities
• Sikandar Kher does well for his debut, accepting that the wooden glances were part of the script
  
• Music might do well at the city's pubs
• Shortened length of the movie

Cons:

• Gulshan Grover has better screen presence than the hero :P
• The twists in the story are expected

Recommended if:

• Sikandar becomes a star and a fan wants to watch his debut movie
• You liked 'The Train' and 'Aggar'
  

Random sketch

This was a random sketch based on a guy I noticed changing clothes on the train. The clean shaved head and the creamish-orange tikka on the forehead possibly meant that he was part of the ISKON - 'Hare Rama, Hare Krsna' organisation.

He just dropped his pants and held the lower end of the short kurta between his teeth. He unfolded a length of white cotton cloth and wrapped it around like a lungi. The entire changeover was completed in a couple of minutes. He then turned around with a wide smile and packed his things back into his shoulder bag.

By the way, that writing in pen is that of a manager who could not find anything else to scribble his instructions on. How could he! Hare Ram, Hare Ram.