At The Edge

Aaao baby tumhay estar banaye. Lo yeh Bandh Gobi...aur imagine karo yeh tumhara dil hai. Thoda Emotion  dalo. Aur thoda sara pout.  From December 1, 1972 issue of Filmfare, this is Jaya Bhaduri in possibly one of Bollywood's freakiest photoshoot ever. Interestingly this was the issue that had Amitabh Bachchan on cover, it was his first ever Filmfare cover. -0-

It seems I and Mr. Bawaseer Kumar from Aonla are the only two people interested in this - Maneka Gandhi's Towel Ad. Bawaseer Kumar's interest is driven by curiosity about the colorful history of his Parliamentary representative (But I suspect his is a closet Nehru-Gandhi Clan hater just looking for ammunition - the proof, the ' dekha mainay kaha tha these Nehru/Gandhi's are sickular people' kind of proof). My interest, I am just vella . It is either all that or that nobody reads or rather cares for India Today anymore. The infamous 'deleted from history' ad was recently re-published in December 26, 2011, 'Makers & Breakers of Modern India' special issue of the magazine. Maneka Gandhi in DCM's 'Towels so good you want to wear them' campaign, 1973. Note with the ad reads: "This was justly Maneka Gandhi's, 22, first claim to fame. As an aspiring model, she had  signed up with DCM to model for their entire campaign of tow...

from 1970 -0-

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The hair. Flip through some old family album. Code 10 Tonic for Hair Dressing, 1978 -0-

1979 Guy has a cigarette hanging from a corner of his mouth, preferably left. He still talking, almost enjoying the talk as just much as the smoke. His hands are busy working on something. There's a woman in the frame too, worshiping him. Her mouth agape in pretend awe. A classic smoking situation, for films and ads. Just the thing to get you started. The scene tells you it is a classic situation for life too. The guy enacting the situation in this ad happens to be Shekhar Kapur. It is a funny thought there is now a generation in India that grew up without seeing ads for cigarettes in magazine, and certainly without seeing celebrity endorsement of cigarettes. The impact of government policies and directives in shaping public lives in never so obvious. [P.S. Nice watch]

"Massacre for the Media: In his book 'Pictures on a Page, Sunday Times editor Harold Evans reveals that at the end of the Bangladesh war, photographers in Dacca were invited to a 'photo opportunity' in a polo field. It turned out to be the bayoneting of Biharis who were alleged to have collaborated with the Pakistani army...'" -0-

The famous Cherry Blossom Ad from late 70s, early 80s featuring model Nandini Sen. Shot by Adrian Steven

"Muhammad Ali, celebrated heavyweight boxer, has been offered the role of an African revolitionary in the film 'Zameen', written by Harbance Kumar and to be produced by Prakash Mehra. The film's hero Amitabh Bachchan, the producer, and Amitabh'a younger brother can be seen in photograph at Muhammad Ali's home in Los Angles." From Debonair, December 1979

Indira Gandhi with Soniya, Maneka, Rajeev, Sanjay, Rahul and Priyanka. The famous shoot by Jitendra Arya. 1979. Came across it in December 1979 issue of Debonair. -0- Zeenat Aman and Shobha De. 1975. Came across it in docu-film 'Key-Fill-Cut' (2010) on the work of Jitendra Arya [ watch it here ]

You can say lot of things about him, but only thing you could surely say about him is that he had a wicked sense of humor .  December 1971 issue of Baburao Patel's Mother India.

Came across it in a film magazine from 1970s. -0-

Vinod Khanna in Cinthol Ad, 1986.  Men finally got a soap. Only a decade earlier, in 1970s, Cinthol  'India's only deodorant soap' too was targeted at ladies.   -0-

Medimix Soap Ad, 1970s Launched in 1969. The early campaign was...simple and the soap was beach friendly.

Just got back from Jammu. It's a city that I will forever associate with 'pricklyheatpowder' Nycil. Back in early 90s, apart from Odomos (that used to be lemony green back then and smelled nothing like lemons), Nycil was part every Pandit family's ' Essential Migration Survival Kit'. I remember growing beans in old used Nycil packs.  -0-

for some reason found it a bit eerie.

Baluchari brocades of baluchar, a village in murshidabad, west bengal are known as 'amru'  and are woven only with coloured silk threads without any use of 'jari'. this fabric is mainly used for saris known as 'baluchari', which are noted for their elaborate dramatic pallavs depicting human and animal forms and distinctive elaborate mango motifs locally known as 'kunja'. (notice jarring reflection of the woman in the background! ) ikat this technique of tying and dyeing yarn to weave simple as well as elaborate motifs is very adept hand technique of precision and perfection producing fabrics of unparalleled beauty. it represents one of the traditional indian textiles and is known as 'patola' in gujarat, 'bandh' in orissa 'pagdu bandhu', 'buddavasi' and 'chitki' in andhra pradesh. -0-

Love and Horror, 'Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche' Evil wife: ' Kaha le ja rahe hai app inhe. ' Husband's doctor friend: ' Hospital. ' Evil wife: ' Yeh kya zulm kar rahe ho aap. Main nahi lejanay doongi.' Husband's doctor friend: ' Aagar inhe sahi treatment nahi mila toh inkay pair hamesha ke liye kharaab ho jayengay. ' Evil wife: ' Wahan jayengay toh ilaaj nahi ho sakayga. Main janti hu waha kya hota hai . Opration karkay inki zindigi kharab kar denga.' A scene from Ramsay Brothers' trend-setting cult classic horror film 'Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche' (1972). It takes place after the husband accidentally poisons himself while researching on death defying abilities of people of 'Zombie Kabila ' (Ramsay were always good at researching a topic before making a film on it). The scene provides an oblique reference to Indira Gandhi's infamous family planing program. Under the program Doctors were given incentives for...

 'The children suffer. The parents suffer. The nation suffers.' A 'message to the nation' from Morarji Desai on family planning. 1978. In Twilight zone they would play this message ad infinitum to the huddled masses travelling in Metros. Population decreases, at first only in cities. Every time the masses even think about passing on their genes to form  a Guddu, their mind conjures up face of the great leader, and they end up counting the wrinkles on this most benevolent face. With negative population growth in cities, fresh masses are huddled from villages to cities. Population in villages stabilizes. Perceptible share of the fruits of development become available to all.