1. Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela and Mast are complementary films in some way. In Rangeela, a common girl becomes a film star. In Mast, a film star goes into hiding to become a common girl.
2. At one stage in Jasmeet K. Reen’s Darlings, a character watches Kaun Banega Crorepati. Some time ago, I had written on other Kaun Banega Crorepati references in the post on television in films here.
3. The two brothers in Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na are named Ram Prasad Sharma and Laxman Prasad Sharma, inspired by Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal.
4. Women and their confusion about choosing from two SRKs: Amol Palekar’s Paheli and Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
5. Shah Rukh Khan in shadows and silhouette.
6. Lights in R. Balki’s Chup: Revenge of the Artist and Guru Dutt’s Kaagaz Ke Phool.
7. I asked a few quiz questions to guess the film on my Instagram account. The first answer is Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo, and the second one is Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.
Gulabo Sitabo
The Lunchbox
8. R. Madhavan with a rose in Anant Mahadevan’s Dil Vil Pyar Vyar and Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein.
9. “Hansi badi mehengi ho rakhi hai duniya mein.” — Indu, Omkara
10. Love comes in its own time.
- “Pyaar ke liye chaar pal kam nahin the, kabhi tum nahin the kabhi hum nahin the.” — Dil Kya Kare
- “Har ishq ka ek waqt hota ha, woh hamara waqt nahi tha, par iska yeh matlab nahi ki woh ishq nahi tha.” — Jab Tak Hai Jaan
11. Deserts in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela.
12. Some related terms on film distribution in India.
13. The song Haule Haule from Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi summarizes the theme of the film perfectly. “Khud se khud ki kaisi yeh jung hai.“
14. Meeting in a graveyard in Shakun Batra’s Kapoor And Sons and Habib Faisal’s Ishaqzaade.
15. Pareshaan from Habib Faisal’s Ishaqzaade is a wonderful song. Kausar Munir’s lyrics are beautiful, describing the state of confusion when someone falls in love. Some of the lines are lovely.
- “Naye naye naina mere dhoondhe hain, darbadar kyun tujhe.” — She sees someone with a new set of eyes.
- “Chaahat ke chheente hain, khaare bhi meethe hain.” — The drops of love are salty but feel sweet.
- “Zara zara kismat se ladne laga dil mera.” — Her heart has begun to fight against fate.
- “Zara zara kaanton se lagne laga dil mera.” — Her heart started to feel a little love for the thorns.
Kuch To Hua Hai from Nikkhil Advani’s Kal Ho Naa Ho and Saawariya Saawariya from Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades are some of the other favorite songs where women describe the perplexing feelings of love.
16. The Twitter bio of Amitabh Bachchan.
17. Butterflies in Hanu Raghavapudi’s Sita Ramam.
18. Parallels in Hanu Raghavapudi’s Sita Ramam and Sanjay Leela Bhansalis’ Saawariya.
19. A beautiful line from Pan Nalin’s Chhello Show.
20. A few days ago, Bharati Jaffery passed away. She was the daughter of veteran actor Ashok Kumar. Bharati married twice. Her first marriage was to Mr. Patel, a Gujarati gentleman. Through this marriage, she had one daughter, the actress Anuradha Patel, who married the actor Kanwaljit Singh. Later, Bharati married Hameed Jaffery, the brother of the actor Saeed Jeffery. By this second marriage, Bharati also acquired step-daughters, Geneviève and Shaheen, who were Hameed’s daughters by his first wife Valerie Galway. Geneviève married a businessman named Jagdeep Advani. Their daughter is actress Kiara Advani. Thus, Ashok Kumar has no blood relationship with Kiara Advani, but he is related to her. Another trivia: Bharati played Naani in Neena Gupta’s television show Saans where she was the mother-in-law of her real-life son-in-law Kanwaljit Singh.
21. Shefali Shah in Mohabbatein, Rangeela, and Aarohan.
22. Pista in the lyrics of Gulzar.
- “Tere liye kishmish chune, piste chune tere liye.” — Tere Liye, 7 Khoon Maaf
- “Darte darte hum to dry fruit ho gaye, pistey pistey hum pista ho gaye.” — Pleaj, Darlings
23. Ram Gopal Varma’s love for Sridevi in Mast and Rangeela.
24. In Siddharth Sen’s Good Luck Jerry, the lead character is named Jerry (Janhvi Kapoor). She shares her name with the lovable mouse from the cat-and-mouse cartoon show Tom and Jerry. Another recent film using Tom and Jerry in the narrative is Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo.
25. In Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) is married to Vanraj (Ajay Devgn). Their wedding was a rushed one. But it is only in the final scene that Vanraj ties the mangalsutra on her, and a voice chants the mantras; in a sense, they truly get married now. The mangalsutra had its own journey in the film.
26. In Shoojit Sircar’s October, Gitanjali Rao plays Shiuli’s mother, Vidya, who has an immense strength of character. The scene between the mothers of Shiuli and Dan is heartbreaking. They are talking about losing their children. “Hamari zindagi sochte sochte nikal jati hai kahin unhe kho toh nahi denge,” says Dan’s mother Smits (Rachica Oswal). One mother has lost her child to a tragedy, and in some way, another mother has also lost her child to a tragedy. I also think of another moving scene about a mother talking about losing their child in Ram Madhvani’s Neerja. Rama Bhanot (Shabana Azmi) gives a beautiful speech at a function after her daughter Neerja’s death. She says is no greater pain than losing your own child. Shabana Azmi delivers the speech with empathy and humanism without a single false note. All these mothers are united by their sense of loss.
27. Water in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades. Mohan (Shah Rukh Khan) embraces the water of the motherland after encountering the young boy at the railway station. Earlier, he was always drinking water from a bottle.
28. A thoughtful line from Reema Kagti’s Talaash. Rosie (Kareena Kapoor) was the answer, who was sitting right in front of Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan).
29. The series of Aankhen films in Hindi Cinema.
- Aankhen (1993) by David Dhawan.
- Aankhen (2002) by Vipul Amrutlal Shah.
- Aankhen (1950) by Devendra Goel.
- Ankhen (1968) by Ramanand Sagar.
30. Some lovely stills from Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding.
31. The physical distance between the characters represents the emotional distance between them in Raj Mehta’s Jugjugg Jeeyo.
32. A poster of Raja Nawathe’s Gumnaam in Suresh Krissna’s Love.
33. Udumbke (Damian Thompson) of Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish in Tom Dey’s Wedding Season.
34. In Remo D’Souza’s ABCD 2, Navjot Sidhu says a beautiful line,”Ek patthar chot khake kankar kankar ho gaya, ek patthar chot seh ke Shankar Shankar ho gaya.” One stone turned into pieces when it was hit, and one turned into God when it was carved. When pain hits us, it can break us, but for some, it makes us strong, like the repeated hammering of stone leads to a fine statue. I also remember a similar dialogue from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat when Padmavati (Deepika Padukone) says that beauty is subjective. “Kisi ko patthar me bhi Shivling dikhta hai, aur kisi ko Shivling me bhi patthar.” Some see God in a stone, while some see God as another stone.
