Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of Om Dar-b-dar

Timestamp:

Jul 29, 2012, 6:34:53 PM (12 years ago)

Author:

Trupti

Comment:

--

Om Dar-b-dar

@@ +1 @@
+'''Om Dar-b-dar'''
+
+
+1988 101’ col Hindi
+d/p/s/lyr Kamal Swaroop pc NFDC c Ashwani
+Kaul, Milind Ranade m Rajat Dholakia
+lp Anita Kanwar, Gopi Desai, Lalit Tiwari,
+Aditya Lakhia, Bhairav Chandra Sharma,
+Lakshminarayan Shastri, Ramesh Mathur,
+Manish Gupta, Peter Morris
+
+
+One of the most unusual independent films of
+the 80s, Kamal Swaroop’s debut briefly
+suggested the possibility of an avant-garde. Set
+in a mythical small town in Rajasthan, akin to
+the Jhumri Talaiya whence stem the largest
+number of requests for film music singles
+addressed All India Radio’s commercial
+channel, the film tells of a boy, Om, growing
+into adolescence (Manish Gupta plays the
+young Om, Aditya Lakhia the older boy). The
+son of a fortune teller (Shastri) and the younger
+brother of Gayatri (Desai), Om’s major problem
+is that, riddled with guilt about his voyeurism,
+he believes himself to be responsible for
+everything that happens around him. Gayatri is
+courted by Jagdish (Tiwari) as she dreams of a
+future that would allow her to ride a bicycle or
+to sit in the men’s section of a movie theatre.
+Many of Om’s fantasies about sexuality and
+death are graphically realised in remarkable
+song sequences: a science teacher dissecting a
+frog expands into the Felliniesque Rana
+Tigrina number, or the moonwalk on a terrace
+on the night that Neil Armstrong landed on the
+moon. This double-edged satire acquires a
+further dimension with the entry of
+Phoolkumari (Kanwar), whose sexuality sends
+out beguiling and horrifying messages evoking,
+for Jagdish, the world of cheap Hindi
+novelettes. Then war is declared as the Diwali
+firecrackers become real explosions, the
+father’s (Shastri) diamonds hoarded for blackmarket
+purposes are lost on the sethji’s
+property where they are swallowed by frogs. In
+the end, Om atones by enacting the traditional
+legend of Brahma’s descent to earth, the origin
+of the Pushkar fair which today is a major
+tourist attraction in Rajasthan. Om learns the art
+of breathing underwater and turns into a tourist
+exhibit. The jerky, fast-moving and witty film
+proceeds by way of symbolic imagery
+including tadpoles, skeletons and fantasies
+derived from Hindi movies, advertising,
+television and the popular Hindi novel. The
+music and soundtracks are remarkably
+inventive (e.g. the transformation of Come
+September into the number A-a-a mohabbat
+humsafar ho jaye).
+
+[[Film]]