The Mod Song which represented a new generation’s anger and frustration at the older generation’s complete lack of understanding for what all they stood for.
How the tables have turned. Ironically the song has now been adopted by the older generation the other way around. The Zimmers, which as Guardian would have us believe
have a combined age of over 3,000 years and are more likely to have problems with arthritis than hard drugs
have released a video of the classic “The Who” song. And its amazing to see how easily the song can represent a generation of old people many of them whom would have been target of this song way back in 60s. Lead Singer singer Alf Carretta for sure as he would have been in his 40s at that time. And as Zimmer’s website state
The sentiment behind Alf signing “I hope I die before I get old” is something else.
First it was the duplicate dude Balvir Chand, now it’s the Litchi Man or Walking Indian Flag.
Meet Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, the cricket-crazy fan who has the Indian flag painted on his body. With his entire torso, face and his head painted in the colours of the national flag with the words ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ boldly written over
Both of them want to extract favour from Sachin Tendulkar. However, with Litchi Man its a give and take relationship with Tendulkar. He supplies 1000 litchi every year to Scahin in lieu of the tickets for cricket matches he receives from Tendulkar. The man seems to be spreading the message of “litchi love” across the Indian team. Veeru and Dada have already been beneficiaries of Litchi Man’s benevolence and now Bhajji and Yuvi seem to be the next fortunate ones to get a dose of “litchi love”. Wonder what happens if Litchi Man gets tickets to India’s tour to England this summer. Maybe we just might see the whole Indian Team nibbling litchis while sitting in the Lord’s Pavilion.
However, just like Balvir Chand, referred here after as BC with no disrespect to anyone’s sister, Litchi Man is also worried about the shelf life of Tendulkar. BC has already seen the effects of complete reliance on Tendulkar on his livelihood and Litchi Man also seems petrified with the thoughts of his fun filled days getting over once Tendulkar retires. But unlike BC, Litchi Man is more smart and has already done a “patriotic striptease” in front of Sharad Pawar in order to get a lifetime guarantee of ticket for cricket matches. Alas! it was of no avail and the fear still lingers in the mind of Litchi Man.
DDLJ – The movie which took my generation by storm, the movie which cut across all the segments whether it was Govinda- Karishma Fan Club or Tom Cruise/ Mel Gibson followers, the movie which made my flatmate & I be up and ready by 9:00 am on Sunday as it was being screened on the Cable. The movie which seemed so perfect.
And that belief held on till I had the misfortune of watching In the Line of Fire in 1998. Bit late in the day I know but then in 1993 I wonder any Hollywood movie went beyond the metros. Was happily watching the movie, blissfully unaware that within few minutes a scene would shatter my belief in the originality of DDLJ, please note that this term originality has been used compared to other Bollywood flicks. To my horror and utter disbelief I could see the famous “Palat Palat” being played out at Washington Monument by once upon a time Man with No Name and once upon a time Fashion Model.
To be triply sure that the scene was really copied from In the Line of Fire I watched that movie three times more. I was convinced but the end result was nightmarish. For almost a week, in my dreams I had innumerable reruns of a Remixed – DDLJ & In the Line of Fire and another Clint Eastwood movie series. Dirty Harry jumping on the piano and crooning to Kajol, SRK trying to protect the US president while playing his Banjo, John Malkovich, being the nemesis of Eastwood, crossing over to play Kajol’s Babuji and slapping Dirty Harry mercilessly, Dirty Harry thrashing Kuljitay. Oh those nightmares….
Before I lose it further here’s that scene which I have remixed just to show that how easily Clint & SRK could have changed the roles, at least for this scene.
Still the only thing for which I will ever criticize DDLJ …
No I am not trying to compare their singing prowess its just that Hassan Jehangir was most probably the first Pakistani Singer to take the Indian Music scene by a storm. He was not good, in fact if one listens to him now he would sound horrible. But then way back in late 80s Hawa Hawa somehow caught fancy of the whole nation.
Now I wonder why Hawa Hawa became such a big hit in India. Maybe because this music was different from the regular filmi music, not the sound just a concept of pop artist or maybe it just benefited from the success of Pakistani entertainment industry on the back of some excellent serials like Ankahee, Tanhhaiyan, Bakraa Qishton Pe etc. Goodwill towards most of things Pakistani, Javed Miandad’s last ball six in Sharjah notwithstanding. The music was so popular that a producer even made a movie to ride on the popularity of some of Hassan Jehangir’s songs. A series of painful events woven around Hawa Hawa songs and called Don2. No Farhan Akhtar was not responsible for the second coming of movie called DON though he could be credited for second coming of “THE DON”. This movie was original Don 2 and had some really faltu story which even my mind, full of lots of useless stuff for eternity, refused to remember. The songs however ensured that there was decent enough circulation on the video circuit.
And to top it all there was a duo who came up with an English Version of this song and few other songs as well. I think they were called Ashley Beverley or something sounding similar to that.
All the Cool Dudes in the school used to hum this song while I, in my effort to be cool, tried to learn the lyrics while walking past various paan-beedi shop in a non-chalant way but listening very intently to the blaring sound coming out of the old music systems. In case you ask why, like any good middle class family this was a low brow music to my parents and I was supposed to be a good boy, a geek in present day terms, preparing for the most important thing in life – IIT JEE. So no allowance for buying the audio cassette featuring the ultimate signing sensation from across the border. This lack of proper exposure to the path breaking music still makes me feel bit culturally retarded. If not for paan beedi shops and autos, many good middle class kids would have been completely bereft of appreciating real good music when they hear it.
Those were the times when “Pepsi’s Generation X” was about to take wings. Some really funny fashion trends were evolving – baggy pants with leg room enough to fit in five people, fluorescent shirts, Action shoes if one could not afford the expensive foreign brands and soon to emerge Rahul Roy hair style. Even here I got left behind. Aargh !!!! A retard in fashion too. What a deprived teenage existence I had. Before I deviate any further from my take on one of the greatest singer of 80s let me close this post.
By the way some equally talented (?) Indian pop artists were also trying to make an impact around the same time – Sharon Prabhakar, Parvati Khan, Malkit Singh of “Tootak Tootak Tutiya” fame. Maybe a topic for another nostalgic post some other time.
Confession : While I may not appreciate Hassan Jehangir’s voice anymore, I still enjoyed Hawa Hawa and few other songs for the memories they brought back.
So John Howard has shown the world that he has the courage to stand up to Robert Mugabe and toothless, spineless ICC.
I hope the rest of the cricketing world understands that, and it would be a very good idea if the rest of the cricket world adopted the same attitude towards [Robert] Mugabe’s regime. I’m not going to stand around and allow some kind of aid and comfort be given to him by the greatest cricketing team in the world visiting his country
I totally endorse John Howard’s view that what is happening in Zimbabwe is utterly reprehensible but if this bothers him so much then he should break off all the connections with Zimbabwe. Why target Cricket tour only. Just a political ploy, nothing else. By the way in his article, Dean Jones while backing the tour, has pointed out that
At the same time, the Government won’t impose trade restrictions on the country because it believes that would hurt only the suffering population.
Well go the whole hog Howard if you feel so strongly about Zimbabwe. Wonder what provides more aid and comfort to Mugabe – the ongoing trade or the ticket sales and sponsorships for thrashing of Zimbabwe cricket team by World Champions.
Now I would be really interested if he will take the same tough stance for Beijing 2008 Olympics considering that China has just been clubbed in with Zimbabwe as one of the most repressive regime in the world. But then its always easy to take on a minnow and it will be a different matter offending one’s largest trade partner.
The South Korean county of Koesan has decided it will discontinue giving out its “Drinking Culture Prize” after being flooded with complaints that the award promotes drunkenness among municipal employees and encouraged binge drinking.
Excellent idea to get people high on their job. Why discontinue?
Would Noted Economist, Management Guru and Author of all time best sellers keep on Counting his Chickens before they hatch. Or would the authorities and potential MBA aspirants finally realize that eggs are rotten. We may find out hopefully if this news item is to be believed.
Seeking to give relief to lakhs of aspiring business managers, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has initiated a probe into enticing claims made by Arindam Chaudhuri-controlled Indian Institute of Planning and Management ((IIPM).
Taking suo-moto cognisance of IIPM ad campaigns that promise free laptops and tours abroad for its students, MRTPC last week directed its investigative arm DGIR to look into the promises made by the institute.
Why? Why? Why? What were you trying to achieve? Maybe my words are being influenced by Chandler’s antics on one of the Friends re-run which I am watching while writing this post. But this is what I would really like to ask Aaj Tak on their recent sting operation on politics and factionalism in Indian cricket team.
Totally TRP driven news, unnecessarily trying to create rift, based upon the comments of people who would hardly know the details of what was going in the dressing room in Caribbeans. Yes Sanjay Jagdale was there but he did not talk about major rifts and lets be honest there are bound to be odd instances of problems among 15 men, especially when they are under enormous pressure of living up to “blue billion” hopes .
By the way I wonder if there was a need of real sting operation at all. Looking at our ever “ready to comment” cricket administrators, thrusting a mike and camera into their faces would have been enough to get these soundbites. But then all such topics were already done to death last month and would have hardly been newsworthy without the word “Sting” attached to it.
I count my lucky stars that sitting outside India, I am not being exposed to the meaningless reruns of this sting operation with over excited presenters, minute analysis of each and every word said by the selectors etc.
Aaj Tak, what did you achieve except highlighting your proficiency in yellow journalism?
Pakistan Cricket Board seems to be really desperate for a coach. Look at the announcement on their website. I thought that search for a national team coach would be done in a more professional manner rather than waiting for applications to pour in from one and all.
On a separate note, a look at PCB’s website made me wonder what BCCI’s website looks like – Outdated and defunct one but with intentions very clear in the domain name itself. Hopefully to make more money in future by telecasting cricket matches directly.
So arrest warrant has been issued against Richard Gere and summons against Shilpa Shetty. This well thought ruling was delivered by the court after duly noting that
The judicial magistrate noted on the order that there was prima facie evidence against the accused for committing an offence under IPC Section 294 (committing obscene act in a public place to the annoyance of others)
I wonder if tomorrow I approach the court stating that I find people pissing in public as really obscene and annoying ,would a significant population of India be put behind bars. Or would I be reprimanded for wasting court’s time on trivial matters? And pissing is not the only thing. We, Indians, have a number of public habits that can be easily described as obscene and if law is to be followed to the letter, it might result in three fourths of the population having a criminal record.
Enough said. Decide for yourself what is more annoying and obscene (Apologies in advance for the Obscene picture, depending on your outlook)
First it was the duplicate dude Balvir Chand, now it’s the 
DDLJ – The movie which took my generation by storm, the movie which cut across all the segments whether it was Govinda- Karishma Fan Club or Tom Cruise/ Mel Gibson followers, the movie which made my flatmate & I be up and ready by 9:00 am on Sunday as it was being screened on the Cable. The movie which seemed so perfect.
Hassan Jehangir….
On a separate note, a look at PCB’s website made me wonder what BCCI’s website looks like – 
