As I've said before, one of my favorite things about Bollywood is the song picturizations. They can add so much to a film. The 1990s were a decade of extremes, packed full fantasy from titilating item numbers (most of which seem to feature Madhuri Dixit doing things like emerging from a golden net to wriggle around a paper mache fishing village) to sedate family-friendly trips to Switzerland, but we also begin to see more and more naturalistic song picturizations. Picturizations that take place in everyday locations with people in everyday clothes. Sadly, 10 songs are not enough to feature all of my favorites (like "Tu Cheez Badi Main Hai Mast Mast" or "Main Khiladi Tu Anari"), but I think these are the best the decade had to offer.

#10 "Choli Ke Peeche" (Khalnayak - 1993)

Why? Of the many (many) hip-shaking item numbers that Madhuri Dixit performed in the 1990s, this one is by far the best. This erotic parody of the village maiden song has an undercover Madhuri Dixit asking what's under her blouse. (Her heart of course, filthy minds...) The added subtext of Madhuri being undercover and playing with covering her face while singing about revealing her...dil... raise "Choli Ke Peeche" above some of her other well-known dance numbers of the decade.

( Choli Ke Peeche )

#9 "Chota Kad" (Vastaav - 1999)

Why? We can see a direct line from Sanjay Dutt's tragic gangster in Vastaav to self-aware Munnabhai. "Chota Kad" is picturized in the naturalistic style that the Munnabhai films would excel in. Here we see Sanjay Dutt's character before his fall, we can see that he's happy with his lot, yet he still looking ahead for more material comforts. The easy affection and exuberance in this track always put a smile on my face even though I know it doesn't end well for Sanjay at all.

( Chota Kad )

#8 "Jumma Chumma De De" (Hum - 1991)

Why? Amitabh's last big hit as a hero was due partly to this song, which to be fair is really something else! What makes the picturization for me is that despite having the heroine all decked out in a pink dress and surrounded by chanting men, the item in this item number is Amitabh, himself. It's like even at the ripe old age of 49 there is no question that the audience would rather watch the Big B than some heroine.

( Jumma Chumma De De )

#7 "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha" (1942: A Love Story - 1994)

Why? The way that this picturization shows us the ladka echoing his ladki's movements is really just beautiful. Anil rips his pillow apart spreading feathers - Manisha catches the feather and we see that she's shooing chickens. She lights a candle as he drives past a crowd carry torches. The small movements are magnified.

( Ek Ladki Ko Dekha )

#6 "Rangeela Re" (Rangeela - 1995)

Why? I love dream sequence numbers and this showcases Urmila's "girl next door" charm as she teaches the world to dance. The picturization works because Urmila is not traditionally beautiful, like Madhuri, and she is dressed in everyday clothes for most of it. It's all very realistic and manages to transform everyday streets and people into Bollywood streets and people just by focusing the camera on them.

( Rangeela Re )

( The Top 5 under here! )

There's a nice, little summary up of some past and recent Bollywood remakes at the Hindustan Times.

Excuse me. But a cult movie is best left re-treaded. Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag put a seal on that. Doing it again is second-hand and they just can’t match the original. The solitary counterpoint to that is of course Mehboob Khan’s Aurat being turned into the classic Mother India.

Some credit may also be given to Pradeep Sarkar whose Parineeta did live up, to a degree, to the original by Bimal Roy. As for the others, frankly Farhan Akhtar’s new age Don wasn’t bad. But J P Dutta’s Umrao Jaan was. Victoria No 203 redone by Anant Mahadevan is not worth mentioning.

I tend to dislike remakes for one reason: they are usually poorly thought-out, as if the fact that a film is a remake is a chance to ignore story in favor of star quality and improved visuals. Wanting to place Aishwarya Rai in Rehka's bangles in Umrao Jaan is not a good reason to remake Umrao Jaan. If instead of retreading the material without adding anything new, why not go back to the story and find something new to emphasize? See what could appeal to a new generation and concentrate on making a new film instead of spending piles of money to make a copy of a film that was made 30 years ago - image quality deteriorates with each photocopy...

As for the upcoming remakes - well Karz is being remade as Karzzz.
( Blah, blah, Karz and Karzzz...and a couple of screencaps under here... )

Somehow, I just know they wouldn't have taken my advice, especially since Ravi and Monty are both going to be played by Himesh.

Because I'm on the topic, here are a few of my favorite Bollywood heroines - ( Item girls and character actresses will be for another day! )

From, of course, Rangeela - the first movie I watched in my new apartment last night! Yay!

This is one of my all time favorites - despite the terrible choreography on display here and in every other track.

Aamir is just too cute as Munna and Urmila does a great job at being film obsessed and clueless in love and her family is hilarious!

I love this movie and I love this song - it pops up on my iPod every once in a while on random. Because of that, I must have a mental block about how terrible the choreography is in this movie! Seriously! It is awful!!

So much for the wistful mood I was feeling this morning - it has been purged by terrible pelvic thrusts. Ahmed Khan has a lot to answer for. Checking his credits on imdb, he was an orphan in Mr. India. Also he was responsible for choreography in Mujhse Dosti Karogi, Salaam Namaste, and the upcoming God Tussi Great Ho. He went from terrible to mediocre!

It's such a shame that the choreography is awful, because the song is lovely and Aamir's expressions are really touching. *hugs Aamir*

It's nice to see Urmila before she became so odd looking. I don't buy that she is only 33. Am I the only one who thinks she looks strange now - like in her appearance in Om Shanti Om and the mis-guided "Mehbooba" number in Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag?