Timeless Indian Melodies

" Ram Teri Ganga Maili " is an iconic Bollywood film that left an indelible mark on Indian cinema. Released in 1985, it was directed by Raj Kapoor and starred Mandakini in the lead role. However, it was the controversial aspects of Mandakini's character and her bold scenes that grabbed significant attention, making the film a subject of both praise and criticism. In this blog, we will delve into Mandakini's portrayal of Ganga and explore her impact on the film, the audience, and her career. Mandakini's Breakthrough Performance: Before "Ram Teri Ganga Maili," Mandakini was a relatively unknown face in Bollywood. However, her portrayal of Ganga, a young woman who falls in love with a city-bred man and faces societal judgments, catapulted her to fame overnight. Mandakini's innocence and natural beauty resonated with the audience, and she became the talk of the town. Controversial Scenes and Public Reception: One of the defining aspects o

(Author: Alex Almeida) Premnath an actor of great caliber was known to get into his characters. After facing huge losses with Mera Naam Joker (1970)  (which is now a cult classic) Raj Kapoor wanted to make a love story but was not in a position to cast a big actor. He then decided to make a teenage love story by launching his second son Rishi Kapoor and new comer Dimple Kapadia . As both the actors were new he wanted some powerful actors in supporting cast who could carry the film and cast Premnath & Pran as fathers of the teen lovers. Bobby was a story of rich Raja falling in love with the daughter of local Catholic fisherman Bobby Braganza . Where the teenage lovers face hurdle due to egos of their parents. The film had a scene where Jack Braganza (Premnath) goes to meet Nath (Pran) with the wedding proposal of his daughter Bobby with Raja. On the day of the shoot director Raj Kapoor gave Premnath branded suit looking at which he just walked out of the studio wi

(Author: Alex Almeida) Jalwa (1987) was shot in beautiful scenic location of Goa with a background of fight against the drug mafia. Where the hero Naseeruddin Shah who plays a cop from Bombay comes to investigate murder case of his friend Pankaj Kapur which is connected to the drug mafia run by a powerful person. Films music was composed by Anand-Milind and had a lot of songs with flavor of western culture considering the films background. Pack that smack,Feeling hot hot and Lets do it (hoke rahega jalwa).  After a day’s hectic schedule the cast and crew would set out in the evening to chill out and enjoy the night life of Goa. Once director Pankaj Parashar and Producer Kamlesh Pandey went to a night club for a chill out which belonged to famous Goan musician Remo Fernandes. But then no one knew him outside Goa and he was only stuck to Konkani music and hardly knew Hindi. While the producer and director where chilling in the night club they saw Remo Fernandes entertainin

(Author: Alex Almeida) Who Kaun Thi (1964) one of the finest thrillers during the golden era of Indian Cinema with memorable haunting music by Madan Mohan which gave evergreen songs like Lag Jaa Gale, Jo Humne Dastaan Apni Sunai,Shok Nazar Ki Bijliyaan,Tiki Riki Tiki Riki Takori and Naina Barse ... The music of the film was a big hit. Lag Ja Gale and Naina Barse became all time classics and played even today by many on their cellphones, there was a time when the haunting tune of Naina Barse had no takers for twelve years. Madan Mohan had composed the song in 1952 but no filmmaker wanted to use the tune as they were not finding a haunting situation in their film where the song would work.  'Who Kaun Thi' was made on a complete different note much ahead of her times where every five minutes there would be a haunting situation in the film. Sadhna and Raj Khosla were looking for a haunting tune for the film and came across the tune. Madan Mohan then decided to u

(Author: Alex Almeida) After success of Tridev (1989) director Rajiv Rai decided to repeat his lead trio Sunny Deol , Jackie Shroff and Naseeruddin Shah in his next Vishwatma (1992) .  Rajiv Rai planned to shoot the whole film in African safari in Kenya . Hence Jackie Shroff opted out due to personal commitments and Chunkey Pandey replaced him, little did he know that while shooting in Kenya he will be treated by a Vet. A huge cast and crew of the film left for the shoot in Kenya and had a long schedule. Vishwatma had chartbuster songs like Saat samundar... and Dil le gayi teri bindiya.. .While songs like Toofan... and Aadmi zindagi... were decent hits. Film had one more song Aankhon mein hai kya tasveer teri... which wasn’t that big hit but has an interesting story to share. It was shot in jungles of Kenya with Sunny Deol being paired opposite Divya Bharti and Chunkey Pandey with Jyostna Singh. The other cast members would also be present at the location to enjoy

(Author: Alex Almeida) RK banner does not need any introduction founded by the great showman Raj Kapoor . In 1948 a twenty four year old Raj Kapoor made his debut as producer and director and established the famous RK banner with his initials. Aag (1948) was the first film made out of this banner the film was a decent success. But Raj Kapoor was eyeing something big and following year made Barsaat (1949) which turned out to be a massive hit. In 1950 Raj Kapoor managed to purchase the iconic RK Studio in Chembur (Mumbai) after the success Barsaat.The studio remains one of the iconic landmark of the film industry where several hit films had been shot. Due to the huge success of the film Raj Kapoor decided to use the iconic scene from the movie between him and Nargis as the logo of his banner RK film and RK Studio. The production banner produced many big hits over the period of 50 years between 1948 to 1998 like Barsaat (1949), Aawara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Sangam (196