Growing up in a god-forsaken small village on the south east coast of West Bengal, life was never easy. The technology, which existed in our lives are the usual suspects. A Videocon color TV, a Philips two in one radio, a Kelvinator fridge and my most favorite Nintendo TV games which introduced me to two of my all time favorite games, 'Mario' & 'Contra'. But as we had to live in the era of state electricity boards, most of the time these gadgets never worked due to load shedding. And that got me hooked into reading story books. Especially thrillers and science fictions. Issac Assimov & Phillip.K. Dick were the two authors I loved to read. There were a few Bengali science fiction writers who were badly inspired by H.G. Wells. And the local library had all the books.
In one such book, I read about a device which is like a smaller version of a computer. Please note, the time that I am talking about was the time when Windows 95 was not released and the only portable device we know off was the five and half inch floppy disk. That time, the thought of this device made me visualize it my own way. That time every machine used to have a jog dial, so my dream portable computer had a screen that is portable and can be attached to any device on the world. Remember, internet was not a known thing then. So my first thought was to put this portable device to good use by playing Mario and Contra on it. With one of my imaginary devices I could connect it to any corner of the world and play a 2-player Contra. That device will also back up as a communication device and by attaching a handset to it, I could use it as a high powered satellite radio (That was also the pre-mobile age).
Other than these, that device would store all the comic books in the world and I could read from those, write all my stories there and whenever I am tired, it would play music to soothe my mind. So that imaginary gadget was all I needed to have a happy life. That gadget would let write my stories, let me connect with people, keep me entertained, and keep my mind relaxed. I named it Vic-live (I was so sure, I would invent it, but my physics marks betrayed me big time).
Ten years down the line, with the invasion of laptops, I finally believed, that something like this would happen and a tablet was exactly what I envisioned Vic-Live to be. And surprisingly it does the same things that i wished Vic-Live to do (well, without my imaginary jog-dialled accessories). And with the portability it allows me to do all those things on the move. Working, reading, listening to music, all of those. But the one thing I still enjoy on a tab is playing a game. Well, unfortunately I dont have the contra anymore, but I have Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Batman and my most favorite Plants vs Zombies. Wherever I have a little time in my busy life , be it at Airport, waiting to meet someone, taking a break from work, I quickly go back to my game to finish another level. And this takes me back by twenty years when I used to sit in front of my Nintendo and wait to finish one level. Technology changes, gadgets change but the emotions always stay the same. For years we build this emotional connect with technology, and it never lets us down...
I hope the new ASUS T100 will get the technology much closer to our emotions. We can surely find that out here http://asusindia.co.in/T100/.
Before you start reading it, there is a statutory warning. Please don't expect the names of great Indian classic films in this list. The reason I want to remake these films is because I think I could make these a wee bit better than the originals. That doesn't mean that these are trashy films. To some people, these are cult films, I've known people who swear by the dialogues and know each scene by heart. Undoubtedly, I am one of them and from the time I have watched these films, i have always thought about remaking them. Just the actors kept changing over the years.
Remaking a film is a great art, not only you will have a lot of expectations from people who have already seen it, but critics are also there to have a shot at your expense. For me one of the best remakes among Bollywood films would be 'Don'. The genius called Farhan Akhtar, kept the essence of the movie intact, and then played with the storyline. And the result was a brilliant thriller. Sajid Khan got it terribly wrong in Himmatwala. Two of the most remade films in Bollywood, 'Parineeta' and 'Devdas' are like algebra formulas. The directors contained themselves within those formulas and didnt take the risk to break those. Anuraag Kashyap did that with Dev.D, which is easily another great remake of all time. The list of remade films will go on, let us just come to those six films that I would love to remake
6. KALICHARAN: (1976)
Director: Subhash Ghai
Cast: Shatrughan Sinha (double role), Reena Roy, Danny, Prem nath, Ajit
What is it all about :Subhash Ghai's first film which launched Shatrughan Sinha into stardom. Classic 70s tale of a gang lord killing a police officer and then a look alike criminal taken into the force to fight the evil lord. Kalicharan is more famous for the dialogues of Ajit as the immortal LOIN, "Saara sheher mujhe Loin ke naam se jaanta hai"
What do I want to change: I would take out the emotional play with the kids bit. Not really my type. I wanna make this a proper pulp story of look alikes, evil lords, police-mafia tussle, revenge and the victory of the good. All of these, without using any of Prabhudeva's (or his followers) style. A clean, commercial remake without any cable-actions/vfx bomb blasts/over the top dialogue deliveries.
Dream Cast:
Ranvir Singh replacing Shatrughan Sinha. (Dont worry, there's no 'Khamosh' in this film)
Sonakshi Sinha replacing Reena Roy ( You know why)
Naseeruddin Shah replacing Prem nath (To cut out all the frenzies of Prem nath)
Sonu Sood replacing Danny ( He does look like someone named Shaaka, right?
Abhay Deol replacing Ajit (Eat that. A suave LOIN)
5. DOLI SAJAKE RAKHNA: (1998)
Director: Priyadarshan
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Jyothika, Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher, Aruna Irani, Moushumi Chaterjee, Mohnish Behl, Tej Sapru
What is it all about : This film is actually a remake of a Malayalam film called "Aniyathipraavu". This film is one of the biggest hits of Malayalam Film Industry. But the Hindi version fared quite poorly in the box office despite of a great storyline. Personally, I love this film and watched it almost seven- eight times. The story is a pretty simple one, where a guy from a wealthy family, falls in love with a girl from an equally wealthy family. They fall in love, but the three brothers of the girl play spoilsport and that fuels them to elope. In a few days they start missing their respective families and they decide to return home, relinquishing their feelings, but ultimately their families accept their love, and they are reunited.
What do I want to change: The film's a painstaking 176 minutes long. I would really want to cut at least 30 minutes out from the film. I love the music of the film, it's by the pre Saathiya, un-polluted A.R.Rehman. I would keep all for the album, but I would take out a couple of unnecessary songs from the main film, especially 'Khewa re Khewa'. The build up of their love story is not portrayed satisfactorily, so would really want to concentrate on that. I would make the characters a little older. Especially the guy's character. But I would really like to keep the ending as it is, The moment with the two mothers were absolutely adorable.
Dream Cast: Ranbir Kapoor replacing Akshaye Khanna
Alia Bhatt replacing Jyothika
Arya Babbar replacing Mohnish Behl
Sudesh Berry replacing Tej Sapru
Ronit Roy replacing Paresh Rawal
Dimple Kapadia replacing Aruna Irani
Supriya Pilgaonkar replacing Maushumi Chaterjee
Dont even wanna replace Anupam Kher
4. ITTEFAQ: (1969)
Director: Yash Chopra
Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Nanda, Madan Puri, Bindu, Iftekhar
What is it all about :
This film is also a remake, but the original is a British film called
"Signpost to Murder". Ittefaq is regarded as a cult film in the history of Hindi movies. This was one of the first Bollywood movies to be made without any songs and dance numbers. Yash Chopra even bagged a best director Filmfare award for this film. One of my all time favorites, this film was not a commercial success though. But undoubtedly this film is one of the best thrillers made in Bollywood.
What do I want to change: Storywise, mostly nothing, except the painter can be a graphic designer. I would want to add a couple of theme songs for the characters, which would mostly be used as background music. Will set this story in a small town, preferably a place on the hills. The background music has to be by Ranjit Barot and no one else.
Dream Cast:
Akshaye Khanna replacing Rajesh Khanna ( Only Akshaye can match the best of Kakaji)
Anushka Sharma replacing Nanda ( I really wanna see the dark shades of her)
Gauhar Khan replacing Bindu
Mukesh Khanna replacing Madan Puri
Gaurav Chopra replacing Iftekhar
3. SABSE BADA KHILADI: (1995)
Director: Umesh Mehra
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Mamta Kulkarni, Mohnish Behl, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Gulshan Grover
What is it all about : Undoubtedly the best of the Khiladi series. Classic 90s at its best. The charisma of Akshay, the oomph factor of Mamta Kulkarni and one of the best Indian pulp. Twin brothers get separated during childhood because of a conspiracy of the villain and the story of redemption. Umpteen twists and turns, make this film a must watch for all the thriller junkies.
What do I want to change: As far as the story goes, frankly, nothing. I would love to stylize a little bit, make it a little more pacy. Would love to keep the original songs as well with new voices and some minor tweaks. I would also want to make it a little more erotic, would definitely want to keep it edgy. Would also want to make Gulshan Grover & Mohnish Behl's character a bit more.
Dream Cast:
Vidyut Jamwal replacing Akshay Kumar ( On a second thought, I should leave 'zeher hai ke pyar hai' out of the film)
Priyanka Chopra replacing Mamta Kulkarni
Aditya Roy Kapoor replacing Mohnish Behl
Ram Kapoor replacing Sadashiv Amrapurkar ( me lord, bade bahut achhe lagte hain)
Suniel Shetty replacing Gulshan Grover ( Anna as Kekda)
2. BULUNDI: (1981)
Director:Esmayeel Shroff
Cast: Raaj Kumar, Danny Denzongpa(double role), Raaj Kiran, Asha Parekh, Kader Khan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
What is it all about : WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT? HOW CAN SOMEONE EVEN ASK THIS QUESTION? Its the immortal tale of Praafessar Khurana (khh from the epiglottis). Seriously, all people remember from this film is the legendary dialogue " Humko mita saakey, yeh zamane mein dum nahi, humse zamana khud hai, zamane se hum nahi". But besides all of that, Bulundi is a great concept based on college politics. Just that the director smoked something weird, and went on to make a superhero-esque film out of it. This film is about how a college professor, changes the lives of the sons of three gang-lords, and THEN he creates a squad with them to beat the s*#t of the evil force of these gang-lords
What do I want to change: Mainly, heavy changes should be done in the story and screenplay. I would not want my professor be the superhero and beat everyone to pulp. The only power he should possess is the power to inspire students. It should be brought to the modern context. Maybe a fight against drugs ( How about some crystal meth, eh!). I would NOT give Danny (or Tiger Shroff) a double role and call them Ranjit Singh Lobo and Manjit Singh Lobo respectively. This could very well turn into a student political thriller ( We havent had any good one other than Yuva). All I am saying now, that it has scope, and Professor Khurana is definitely one character I want to play with
Dream Cast: Anil Kapoor replacing Raaj Kumar (Come on, dont tell me that you were expecting Brian Cranston)
Arjun Kapoor replacing Raaj Kiran
Ali Fazal replacing Beta Danny
Jackie Shroff replacing Papa Danny ( Alas! no Batla Danny)
Kay Kay menon replacing Kader Khan
Rajesh Sharma replacing Kulbhushan Kharbanda
1. GUMNAAM: (1965)
Director: Raja Nawathe
Cast: Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Pran, Helen, Madan Puri, Manmohan, Tarun Bose, Mehmood, Dhumal
What is it all about :Based on the classic Agatha Christie's classic 'whodunit' story 'And then there were none', Gumnaam is by far one of the most interesting and intriguing thrillers that's been made in Bollywood. I watched it more than twenty time since it first came on DD-1, almost nineteen years ago. Gumnaam is about a group of people stuck on an island, getting killed one by one. The killer is one of them, and everyone is hiding something from their pasts
What do I want to change: I would like to set it up in the 60s itself, keep the backdrop as it is. Some more twists and the end action scene should be a mindboggling one.
Dream Cast: Siddharth Malhotra replacing Manoj Kumar
Shradhha Kapoor replacing Nanda
Emraan Hashnmi replacing Pran
Chitrangada Singh replacing Helen
Manoj Bajpayee replacing Tarun Bose
Manoj Pahwa replacing Dhumal
Ravi kishen replacing Manmohan
Pawan Malhotra replacing Madan Puri
and our very own Sharib hashmi replacing Mehmood
AND that brings us to the end of the list. Honestly there are a few more movies that I wanted to put in the list, but none of those were closer to me than these six. Like my other features, you may not agree with my choice of cast, but you will definitely visualize these characters while reading it (Oh, of course, you have to know these movies). If you yet haven't watched any of these movies, please don't even think of going to piratebay.com. Please buy DVDs, it will be cheaper than your next meal at Mcdonalds (Come on, these are Hindi films). Anyway lets stop blabbering about remakes and move onto other stuff, who is the kid dating Chloe Moretz, by the way?...
I'm getting a feeling that I'm sounding very preachy nowadays. Well preaching is an occupational hazard too. But to be very frank, I've been preaching since I have started being friends with younger kids (That would be from the sixth standard). Sometimes I wonder, where do all this wisdom come from, because only when I see someone in distress (especially a damsel), all the wisdom starts oozing out and it simply vanishes at the moment I need to practice it.
But that has nothing to do with this blog post. I dont intend to preach anything in this blog. I just want to talk about the importance of some music cassettes ( well we can also call those albums, but 'cassettes', the word, gives that indescribable nostalgic feeling, which is shared by at least 67% people of my generation). The time I was talking about is before Aamir Khan brought the millennium with 'Mela'. This was the time where compact disc players were not compatible with middle class Indian's pockets, two-in-ones meant something else than desserts and Phillips did much more than flashing on Ranbir Kapoors atrocious suit in the Filmfare awards.
It was that time when the music loving youth of India was introduced to Indipop, Sameer's oh-so-naughty lyrics was blown away by a fresh 'hawa ka jhonka' and somewhere in a small town on the south east coast of West Bengal, a teenager got inspired by music and shaped his life around it. This blog is about 10 such cassettes which he never parted with...
10: DHOOM : EUPHORIA
Archies music presents, Dhoom by Euphoria. That's how the promo used to come. I first saw this album at an Archies store itself in the winters of 1998. I haven't heard a single song before that and bought the album from my hard earned (saved rather) 50 bucks to impress the salesgirl at the counter. The cassette was lying there for almost a month. Then one day I heard this particular song called 'dhoom pichuk dhoom' on ETC and realized that the time has come to put this album on trial. I did. Rest, as they, say was history.
Technically if we see, I only liked three songs of the whole album, but there's isnt any party since then where I havent sung 'Dhoom' ( Thats because it's a damn easy song to sing and impress), 'Tum' is one of my most favorite romantic songs ever and whenever 'Sha nanana' is playing anywhere, I have to hum along. 13 years later when I met Dr. Palash Sen on the sets of my show MTV Unplugged, it all came back to me. Didn't enjoy Euphoria much after that (except Maaeri, Mantra and maybe Ab na jaa), but Dhoom still remains one of my favorite album.
9. DOLI SAJA KE RAKHNA
In my small town, there was this small cassette shop called M.M.Electronics. There was this cute uncle there, who use to suggest new arrivals whenever I visited his shop. He used to listen to all the albums that he sold in his shop. There are times when he used to make me mix tapes of popular English music, as I couldnt afford the original ones and didn't want to ask dad to buy me extra cassettes ( My assigned quota was 4 cassettes per month). One fine day M.M uncle asked my to try out this new album called Doli Sajake Rakhna. One look at it, and I bought it.
Reason being A.R. Rahman ( Till One 2 ka 4, I have all the albums which he produced) and Priyadarshan ( Together they had created the soundtrack of Kabhi Na Kabhi prior to this and I love the songs of that album) . Till date I swear by the songs of this album. According to me, by far, Taram Pum is Babul Supriyo's best song by far, First time heard Sreekumar singing in Hindi and he killed it with 'Kissa Hum likhenge'. But the best track of the album, according to me would be 'Bol re Sajni', Sonu at his best.
8. RISING FROM THE EAST: BALLY SAGOO
"Remixes... wait...what? what on earth is that? " Thats what my music teacher asked me when I told him that I like Bally Sagoo and his kind of music. I was intrigued by Bollywood Flashback, but when I heard this album, I was simply floored. Electronic music was an alien thing when this album came out and the remixes and even the original ones were damn good. I remember tripping over 'Noorie' and 'Dil cheez' for days. Sadly we didnt have a loop button then so the good old rewind button did all the trick. 'Teri Ankhiana' was another track which was a classic party song among my group of friends and the classic remix of 'Chura liya' was the very first song which gave me the idea of a remix for the very first time. Till now, for me, remix stands for what Bally sagoo did twenty years back, whatever came after that, were just cheap copies.
7. COLONIAL COUSINS : COLONIAL COUSINS
In the year 2011 when I was working with Lesle Lewis for the Indian version of Coke Studio, Season 1, one of my most favorite moments would be sitting at his studio (It's called Red House) and listening to Colonial Cousin's songs live and unplugged. I remember, when he started playing Krishna, I got goosebumps. I rewind the clock 15 years back, my cousin got me this new album called 'Colonial Cousins' by Hariharan ( my most favorite singer of all time) and another guy with a guitar. I was confused, that why would Hariharan create a band with this guy, and then I heard Sa ni dha pa and my whole notion of music changed.
That was my introduction to fusion music, that was my introduction to intelligent music, that was my introduction with lesle lewis, who had the guts to create that kind of music at that time when every loudspeaker at every local function would cry 'pardesi pardesi jaana nahi' ( I so wanted to suffocate Sapna Awasthi). I also loved 'Indian Rain' and 'Feel Alright' from that album. But 'Krishna' and 'Sa ni dha pa' would always be two of the most favorite songs I grew up with. Sitting on that sofa at Red house on that day in 2011, I realized that the circle of life never fails to amuse us.
6. PATELSCOPE : DEVANG PATEL
Well, all my purist music friends would disown me after I made this choice but funnily it is one of my favorite albums. In fact Devang Patel is the person who insipred me to rhyme with anything and everything. My stupid sense of humor (some would say idiotic), my uncanny knack of cracking funny one-liners ( Some would say irritating) and my talent of word-play ( Some would say I am better at foreplay) all started when I heard Devang Patel for the first time in 'Gambler'. Patelscope, just lifted it to some other level. I remember laughing my guts out every time I hear the songs. I mean, come on, didnt you laugh the first time you heard 'Ae Raju'? didnt you fell off you chair when you heard 'Laddoo Kha'? Did Ricky Martin ever think that someone could make 'Thoka' out of 'Livin la vida loca'? That required a special person and a special album. Patelscope would be immortal in my favorite album list. Always...
5. HAI ENERGY :
SUKHBIR
Being a Bengali boy, thats the last thing you expect from me. But trust me, a big part of my growing up is dedicated to all the Bhangra artists who played their videos on ETC channel. I used to listen to everyone. From Daler Mehandi to Babu Mann, Mika Singh to Sardool Sikander, Harbhajan Mann to Manmohan Waris. And it all started with this man, and this album; Sukhbir with his Hai Energy. I have to thank my school friend Debraj for introducing me to Sukhbir. I used to listen to Sukhbir songs at his place only. One fine day I decided to buy one Sukhbir album. The only album available at M.M. Electronics was this one, so I picked it.
My friends would say I dance very weirdly, but still at some parties, some friends follow the same steps that I do. All my weird dancing are aftermath of this album. I used to play this tape and let myself free infront of the mirror. With tracks like 'Sauda Khara khara', 'Ishq tera tadpaye', 'Hai Jane' and a bonus track of 'Gal ban gayee' from the previous album, dancing comes naturally. And I love Sukhbirs voice, because it has much more sweetness than any of the contemporary Bhangra singers. Because of this album, I felt connected to Punjabi, learned to love that language, and understand it. It's safe to say that this album indirectly got me closer to all my punjabi friends...
4. DURR: STRINGS
I was roaming around in the newly opened Music World on Park Street, Kolkata. I had already bought a couple of cassettes by then. I had some more time to kill, so went to the music sampler and put on the headphone. There were three newly released album, one was a Bengali new release (one of the disgusting Indranil Sen remakes), second one was one of the Max 5 or 6 compilation album and the third one was this new album by a band called Strings. The track i decided to hear was a track called 'Sarki yeh pahar', it got over and i tried the next one 'durr', then 'kuchh to ho gaya', 'anjaane', 'o jaanewale' and it went on. By the time I finished the album, I was late for my class and had this album in my shopping cart. Been a fan of Strings ever since...
3. BOONDEIN - SILK ROUTE
In the year 1998, my oldest cousin got married. He left for US but his wife, my sister-in-law had to wait for her visa to get cleared. So every month, once she used to come down to our place and hang out with us. She knew that my brother and I loved listening to new albums. So on my brothers birthday, she gifted him this album called Boondein and once again my perception of music changed. For the first time i heard flute playing such an important part in the alternate genre of Indian music. Mohit Chauhan's dreamy voice was trippy enough to make us hear it on repeat mode. Though 'Dooba dooba' and 'Boondein' were hot favorites, my favorite three from this album would be 'Duniya Paheli', 'Jaadugar' and 'Mermaid'.
2. FACE TO FACE: JAGJIT SINGH
I didnt know what a Ghazal was, I didnt know who Jagjit Singh was, I was just a 12 year old boy who got hold of a brown colored cassette in his cousins collection and tried to play it in his two-in-one; and I just pressed the play button. When I heard it then, I was too young to understand the meaning of the songs, I just loved the voice. I bought the cassette and kept playing throughout the years. Every time I listened to it, there was something else that I liked, I figured out something new. Four or five years later, when I brushed up my Hindi by watching at least 100 films a year ( Never had Hindi in my school syllabus), I finally understood one song 'Pyar ka pehla khat'. A few years later I understood a few more and finally, maybe ten years later I decoded all the meanings. I love all the tracks from this album, but my favorites would be 'Be sabab baat', 'Zindagi tune lahoo se', 'Jeete rehne ki saza'
1.SIFAR: LUCKY ALI
In the end, it all comes down to Sifar. Sifar is not an album. Sifar is not a compilation of 10 songs. Sifar is much more than that. Sifar is an inspiration for thousands of young Indian minds who've heard it. Sifar is a cult, Sifar is probably the best music album ever produced in India. It's exactly like Lucky Ali says "Sifar - containing nothing, it encircles everything.Without a beginning, without an end, it stretches from emptiness to infinity and back again".
For me, Sifar is my inspiration, Sifar is my aspiration, Sifar is my crying shoulder, Sifar is my bouncing bag, Sifar made me overcome fear, Sifar is all the expressions that I've not experienced, Sifar is all the experiences that I want to get one day. Sifar is a journey which is never boring and more than anything, Sifar is hope, because it taught me that 'every journey is a new beginning'. And thats what I told Lucky Ali, when I met him for the first time.
I can go on writing a research paper about Sifar. But I guess, I summed it all up in the last few sentences. I guess, it actually comes down to zero.
You are whatever you listen to and I believe music shapes your life. Well, that was my list of 10 favorite albums. I'm sure at least six of these will feature in all the peoples list who grew up in 90s. It would be great to get the list of whoever reads it. Would be a great read to know anyone's favorite albums...
