Giant color poster of the scene from Mughal-E-Azam

From K. Asif's Mughal-E-Azam (1960), one of the most sensuous scenes from Indian Cinema. Salim (Dilip Kumar) and Anarkali (Madhubala) in Garden.
Don't complain about the missing Ostrich feather. 
Download 3330×1318 pixels. 2 MB.

Something about the scene takes you back to the time when moonlit nights were mosquito free and the only hum in the air was that of a distant genset. Ah! the good old Mughal days.

How the image was created?

I had a big two-page B&W scan of the scene published in an old film magazine and a small color version of the scene published in an online version of  a newspaper. I found the colors to be a bit too bright and shiny. A bit of photoshop and a bit of Picasa did the trick.

Holy Snake Spot

Somewhere in Jammu,  stuck to a roadside wall, a declaration of Holy spot dedicated to the Snake God.

47 Wall paintings from Jammu & Kashmir

Something interesting that I came across during a recent visit to Jammu. Culture of the state in wonderfully painted murals. I was't expecting it but my street art appreciation session did wind-up on a rather familiar note.



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Cross posted to my Kashmir blog.

Gopal Kaul Presents

Cross posted to my Kashmir Blog.
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Late 1960s, Gopal Kaul was one of the earliest and famous faces of Doordarshan. According to one of the most intriguing and famous stories from the early days of Doordarshan, Gopal Kaul, in a somewhat comic way, was the reason why Salma Sultan became a newsreader. The story goes that Gopal Kaul, who was already a known face on Doordarshan, didn't want to be a newsreader, he wanted to be a producer and was always was often at loggerheads with the DD people. One day to put an end to his newsreading tussle, in a unique way of protest, Gopal Kaul reported to job with his head completely shaved off. An emergency replacement was found nearby in Salma Sultan.

In my post about 'Famous old faces of Doordarshan' Gopal Kaul was one big and obvious missing name as I couldn't find a single image of him online. But then recently, Gopal Kaul's son Ashutosh Kaul wrote to me and generously offered to share his personal collection with this blog. He also informed me that among many other things Gopal Kaul also used to read President's speech in Hindi.

Thanks to Ashutosh Kaul here are some rare and wonderful images of Gopal Kaul at work:

Gopal Kaul in a play (with turban on right corner) along with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and  Babu Rajendra Prasad.

Gopal Kaul with Raj Kapoor.

Gopal Kaul with Manna Dey

Gopal Kaul after retirement.
Ashutosh Kaul informs that Gopal Kaul finally retired from Lucknow Doordarshan and  settled down in that city.
He passed away in year 1999. And he did became a Producer in Doordarshan.

Afghan Snow Cream, 1941

'Kyonki main Kali Hu!'

Smita Patil in Badle Ki Aag (1982)

Flawless
Snowlike Complexion
Ther's nothing so radiant, so soft, so pure as a complexion made lovely with AFGHAN SNOW.
This famous beauty product protects the skin against sun, wind and dust.

Asia's most famous Beauty Aid.

From FilmIndia magazine, 1941

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If you look at the newspapers, you see advertisements for some cream called Afghan Snow or Fair and Lovely. And all these while women in Bollywood films! Ninety percent of the women in India are black. But, according to Bollywood, if yoou're not white, you're not beautiful. The risisng international popularity of Bollywood films worries me. Most of them reinforce some terrible, some very disempowering values.

poor people, the Dalits and the Adivasis, are mostly black. There's an apartheid system at work here, for anyone who cares to notice.

- The checkbook and the cruise missile: conversations with Arundhati Roy By David Barsamian, Arundhati Roy.

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First produced in 1919, Afghan Snow was one of the biggest cream brand in India right till the late 70s. I don't recall seeing any ad for the cream recently in Newspapers but I do remember seeing ads for it (or some similar snow) on PTV about a decade back.

Their site offer an interesting story about how the brand got its name. On one of his visits to India, King Zahir of Afghanistan was presented with a hamper of E.S.Patanwala products, among the contents was a nameless jar of pearly white beauty cream. King is supposed to have exclaimed that the pearly whiteness of the cream reminds him of 'Afghan Snow'. And the nameless cream got a name.

The cream is claimed to be India's first beauty cream and the first beauty cream to be awarded the ISI mark by the Bureau of India standards (BIS).

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Uski Roti

From a poster of Mani Kaul's Uski Roti (1969) found in a scene from Kundan Shah's Jaane Bhi do Yaaro (1983).

Arundhati draws the beast. The beast. The beast.

 The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy( New Delhi: Penguin, Viking, 2008) 

Songs have refrains.

34's Friday Market

Noida Sector 34.
September 2010

Future telling Machine + Weighing Machine + Heavy Brooding

Vidhya Padhia ki Kasam. Mast Hai.

Chakku Chhuriyan Tej Kara Lo

 Chakkuwalla or the Bicycle Knife and Scissors Sharpener at 34's Friday Market.

Sound Machine Ads 1939-1947

Sometime back got an email from someone with Devi Pictures (do check out the site and look for something called 'Sandra from Bandra') researching for a documentary film on intellectual property rights. They were looking for print advertisements for old gramophones/radio/VCR /cassette players/spool players. And thanks to Memsaab, who generously shared her collection of vintage FilmIndia magazines with me, I have just the stuff. I would have posted it all earlier, but I thought no one would be interested.

Paillard. Tomatic Record Changer. Operated 110 or 280 Volts AC, 40-60 cycles or Universal.
 Plays 10 records automatically. "Swiss Made" Thougout.
1939.

Paillard. Swiss Made. It stands at the top of all.
Available for AC, AC/DC and for AC/Battery (6 volt car battery)
with Magic eye and entracingly beautiful wooden cabinet.
1939

RAP 1939 ModelsEstablish New Records in Performance.RAP. Care-Free British Radio

Hear the Latest "Younf India" Records.
The National Gramophone Record Manufacturing Co. LTD.
1939