A growing Roman Catholic following

 Hindu

                                                                           Cinema in India

I have nothing against posting about religion, not that I do a lot about the subject, other than posting about Hindu films from India, as I post often about Bollywood

Until this week, my posts didn't have much following in the Roman Catholic world, other than Poland, and Mexico; this week, they have been joined by Lithuania, Estonia, Romania,and Spain. I haven't posted much about Spain on this blog, but I did a lot on my old blog; at the time I was into films, and series on Netflix based in Spain

The lost story of Satyajit Ray

 His only Ghost Story

                                         Cinema in India

This is the story of how I came across the lost film of Satyajit Ray, the premier film director in India during the 1960s, and 70's.

I could say I found the film through a dedicated search stretching over years, that is partially, but not totally, true. When I read the story behind the disappearance of the short story, Mohinara, I was intirgued.

As a top director, Ray was invited to enter stories for the 1961 International Film Festival, held in Paris. He entered the trilogy Teen Kanya, a triple bill of stories about three girls, and moments that shaped their lives. However, to enter, he was asked to cut the film as his entry wsa too long. The director cut Mohinara, and left it on the floor of the cutting room, where it lay for years.

There was no trace of any part of the film since 1961, this roused my interest, and I began a search online; after a while I gave up the serious search, and did the odd hunt, but never imaging to get anywhere.

Then, the unthinakable happened!

While watching another film, on the same site, I came across a link to the lost film. My first thought was "This has to be another film of the same title." The film had been lost for over 60 years, without trace, how could I have come across it when reaswerchers with knowledge couldn't locate it?

I was wrong.

The link took me to the lost film, which I downloaded.

Dynasty

 The Kapoor Family

                                                Cinema in India

Whether you look back to the begginings of the Cinema in India, or view today's scene in what is called Bollywood, one family has its threads running through all eras, the Kapoor family.

The great grandfather is Prithviraj Kapoor who often perforned with Durga Khote back in the late 40's. Until recently, with the ascent of Kareena Kapoor, and her sister, Karisma Kapoor, the most known were Raj Kapoor who founded R.K. Films, and his brother Shashi Kapoor who was married to Jennifer Kendall.

Though I enjoy most, not all, of the family, I dislike Rishi Kapoor, and Shakti Kapoor.

Long ago, I stopped trying to trace which member is related to which part of the family, as some of the family are related via uncles, and brothers of aunts. Being in the movie circle limits who your family see fit for you to marry, they are linked to the Tagore family a well-known Bengal family of poets via Kareena, who is married to Saif Ali Khan, the son of Sharmila Tagore.

Vidya Balan

Begum Jaan

Cinema in India

In this film about the Partition of India, in 1948, Vidya Balan plays a role far from her usual glamorous roles.

In Begum Jaan she plays the head of a group of ladies in a brothel in Kashmir. She has set up her business in an area she thought would be beneficial to men travelling. In 1948, the British government split India into three parts, India, Pakistan, and Bengal; the reason was the arguments between Hindus, and Muslims in India.

Though repeatedly ordered to move, she refuses saying, "When I built my business there was no border; you made the borders, why should I choose which country I am living in?"

The film Rajkahini looks at a similar case only in the Bengal area.

Rani Mukerji stars as a lawyer

Mehndi 

             Bollywood and Sexism

It is good to see Bollywood giving ladies such as Rani Mukerji (above), Vidya Balan, Shefali Shah, and Raveena Tandon the opportunity to play strong roles, rather than the usual romantic role as the lady for the leading man.

My favourite channel on YouTube

 tommydan55

Cinema in India

The reason why tommydan55 is my favourite channel on YouTube is because the subtitles are expertly liked to the words the actors, and actresses are speaking.

I realise adding subtitles is hard, even today, some of the channels I have watched make no attempt to link the voices to the subtitles; some even ignore the story and use subtitling as a chat to friends.

An Unresolved Question

Indian Horror Movie Mystery 

I have a question I may not be able to answer to my satisfaction, among the many questions I ask. 

This question revolves around a movie I saw on YouTube several months ago.

Among the few things I do know is the movie was made in India. From what I recall, the film is pre-1980, as it is in black & white, and had few big names such as Shahrukh Khan, or Salman Khan in.

The film is in the horror genre, after that all is a blur; to the extent, I am not sure my memories are of one film or several.

What do I recall?

I recall a murder where the wife is seen fleeing a house with her child in her arms (B&W)

I can recall a group of witches climbing a wall like spiders (B&W)

What makes me consider my memories are an amalgamation?

A body found by a river (colour)

YouTube videos

 YouTube editor

                                                                                                      YouTube Channels

As a Freelance Editor who watches many channels on YouTube, one thing is obvious to me.

Accuracy is of no importance, I have come across some very bad grammar, and spelling errors, discounting the difference is usage of English between the USA, and the UK. While US English is grammatically correct, UK English is easier to understand at times.

I would have considered being accurate more important than being able to push incorrect information at a quick speed; but that is me, and I am old school.

It does show a lack of care, when I can pick up errors for videos about the cinema in India, which I would have thought an Indian would have seen before they added the to YouTube.

Perhaps being old school means care is ahead of quality.

I am not surprised

 Cinema in India

                                                                                                 YouTube videos

Over the past few weeks, I have left several comments about the cinema in India on YouTube; usually about the spelling of names, such as Ravina Tandon (Raveena Tandon), Madhuri Dicksit (Madhuri Dixit), and Sanjay Datt (Sanjay Dutt) to name a few.

Today is another example of me knowing more about Indian Cinema than people in India. I say Indian Cinema, as opposed to Bollywood, the term Bollywood didn't get used until the late 1980's, and most of the people mentioned had been in movies since the late 60's, if not before. How ever, the ladies mentioned and Sanjay are active to this day.

Today's mistake concerns two ladies who died many years ago; the actress is named as Durgha Khote who was active from the late 40's, until her death in the late 80's. She was a trailblazer as she was the first lady to be dressed as a lady in films, before then men used to be dressed as ladies.

The actress in the photo is Sulchana Laktar who died in 2013.

It only takes a few seconds to get the facts correct, which shows knowledge of your subject, and enhances your channel.

My other bugbears with YouTubers is the terrible grammar, and spelling ability the show regularly.