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Showing posts with the label K.N. Singh

AWARA (1951) (All Time Top 99 Best Hindi Films)

Awaara (English: "The Tramp") is a 1951 Hindi film directed and produced by Raj Kapoor who also plays the leading role. Music was composed by the team of Shankar Jaikishan. Kapoor's real-life father Prithviraj Kapoor stars as his on-screen father Judge Raghunath. Kapoor's youngest real-life brother Shashi Kapoor plays the younger version of his character. Prithiviraj's father Dewan Bashwanath Kapoor also played a cameo role in his only film appearance. The film centers on the intertwining lives of poor Raj (Kapoor) and privileged Rita (Nargis). In the film, Kapoor's poor, innocent "little tramp" character references Charlie Chaplin and was further developed in other Kapoor films such as Shri 420. The film became an overnight sensation in South Asia, and found success abroad in the Soviet Union, East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In particular, the song "Awara Hoon" (I am a Tramp), sung by Mukesh with lyrics by Shailendra, becam...

CHALTI KA NAAM GAADI (1958) (All time Top 99 Best Comedy Films)

Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi was the first out-and-out comedy film to be a hit in the Indian film industry. Kishore was inspired by the art of Hollywood’s Marx brothers. It was also the first film that presented the titles in a comical style. Kishore Kumar apparently made Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi hoping it would flop. He wanted to show losses in his income and avoid paying a huge income tax to the authorities. So he made two films, Lookochuri in Bengali and Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi in Hindi, and waited eagerly for them to collapse.  Both went on to be raging successes. Kishore was so disgusted with this that he gifted Chalti Ka Naam… and all its rights to his secretary Anoop Sharma, who retained the copyright.The income tax case on Kishore Kumar was not solved even after forty years. Two songs in the film were plagiarised on Kishore’s request. Hum the who thi…is a take-off on The Water MellonSong and Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi sion 16 Tons from the album 16 Tons of Tennessee Ernie. ...