Category: Misc.

  • Quickies on Hu Tu Tu

    You do probably know that my Hindi should suck, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping my iTunes library in order… which means I take all of the tracks from Indian movies that I’ve downloaded and try to give an English translation — after all, I should know, at least, what the title of a song means! That, of course, means that titles from hard-to-find movies/OSTs have to do with my own interpretation. One of them is Hu Tu Tu, because no one’s bothered to translate the songs… and my copy of the movie doesn’t come with subtitles in the sung parts.

    Most of the titles are easy- Chhai Chhapa Chhai is classic onomatopoeic Gulzar (Jhini Mini Jhini from Maqbool gave me a clue), Jai Hind Hind (Hail, India!), Bandobast Hai (It’s the System), Ghapla Hai Bhai (It’s a Mess, Brother), and Jago Jago Jagte Raho (Get Up, Always Be Awake) seem quite straight forward. Even Yeh Nam Aankhein (These Drenched Eyes) can seem easy when compared to Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron and Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla.

    So what do those last titles mean?

    I’ve sort of translated Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron– since Itna refers to a Quantity (this much or so much), Lamba refers to the Length (height or otherwise), Kash means to Take a Puff or a Smoke (considering the scene), and Yaaron refers to Friends. I sorta translated it to It’s Such a Long Smoke, My Friend. And in the lyrics~

    Itna lamba kash lo yaaron, dam nikal jaaye
    Zindagi sulagaao yaaron, gam nikal jaaye
    Yaaron, yaaron

    Dam = (staying) Power
    Nikal = Get out/get lost
    Sulagaao/Sulagana = Ignite/set on fire
    Gam = Regret

    It’s such a long smoke, my friend.
    Power, be gone.
    Life is set on fire, my friend.
    Regret, be gone.

    How did I do with that?

    Though, Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla escapes my comprehension. It doesn’t even look Hindi to me- oh, wait. Never mind. *goes crazy* Why is Talese together when it should be Tale Se? As in Nikla Neem Ke Tale Se Nikla (निकला नीम के तले से निकला) *growls*

    Anyone ANYONE who is able to help me out with that title and make my life easier?- I’ll love you forever! LOL From the deep Google that I did, Nikla seemed to refer to “being out,” or “something that sticks out” and I know Neem can refer to the bitterness of the Neem tree [1] or the tree itself, and Tale is “the bottom or base of something” — Does that mean… The Bottom of the Neem Tree Turned Upside Down? LOL, I need to watch this movie again. xD


  • The Tabu Filmography in Just Music

    In honor of the release of Haider today/tomorrow and me not being able to watch it until it hits the DVD/Bluray shelves… or EROSNOW (or someone else) decides to VOD it early or *cough*… I had been curating a YouTube playlist of all the music sequences -choreographed or not- (and item songs or special apperances) in Tabu’s filmography, which has resulted in a list of over 83 clips (est: 6 hours) from Tabu’s participation not only in Hindi films, but also Telugu, Tamil… and the random Malayalam clip that I was able to find.

    The list has time to expand with rarer to find clips, I suppose, including (at least) one or two more clips for Idee Sanghati, as well as other regional movies that aren’t on YouTube. There are also clips that are included in their dubbed version (with the original title and the language they’re on), because the original audio isn’t available… as well as repeated clips in better resolutions than their “official” uploads.


  • The Girl and Her Dad

    The Boy and the World screen print that reminded me of my dad, who is ‘turning one-year old’ this week. Us, sitting together and looking up at the sky.

    o-menino-e-o-mundo-dad
    But you know what takes the cake? O Menino e o Mundo opened in Brazil on my dad’s bday: January 17th. You gotta be kidding me.


  • El Peñón de las Ánimas vs. Ram-Leela – FIGHT!

    It’s another double feature!

    La Doña has been in the mood for fighting this week [1], and this time she’s taking Deepika Padukone- or I suppose El Peñon de las Animas (The Rock of Souls) is taking Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela, where both balas and golis are exchanged nonchalantly, and music is spared in between two families that have been warring for generations.

    penon-de-las-animas-ram-leela

    Though Maria Felix is playing much more of a señorita role on this one (than usual), and this western musical (that’s what all rancheras are, right?) gets some pretty nifty cinematography and sassy moments and lyrics, there’s one thing that Ram-Leela has~~~ and that is Supriya Pathak.

    ram-leela-supriya-pathak

    Are! Mashallah, mashallah~


  • Vidya Balan as Mother India for CineBlitz

    I obviously didn’t know about this cover because it predates my Indian movie journey… but it’s just so damn good, you gotta put it out there, you know? Mother India is so the quintessential Indian movie that every single person (in Peru) that has ever spoken to me about what Indian films they’ve seen, they’ve all name-checked Mother India. Regardless of social status… university professors, business owners, bloggers, taxi drivers, waiters… they all name-check “Madre India.”

    cineblitz-april-2013-vidya-balan-mother-india


  • How Languages Evolve

    It’s always interesting to see educational (short) clips about different languages; did you guys ever see the one about the guy that could speak like 20 languages? At that time, my niece (6) and nephew (5) were struggling with picking up Italian and English at school, while they spoke Spanish and Swedish at home. That was, of course, on top of their other school subjects like math, because schooling is just incredibly ridiculous nowadays.

    The only bad thing about the clip is the incredibly boring tone of the voice over. In any case, I thought it was funny they lumped Mandarin, Cantonese, etc into one big chunk of Chinese language. I thought the formal label was “Sino-Tibetan language,” even though Tibetan feels more like it would be more like Indo-Aryan, no? Isn’t Sanskrit both part of Tibetan and Indo-Aryan languages? Sighs.

    I don’t exactly understand how branching works with languages, how does Indo-European come about? Isn’t that like stretching things out? What would languages like Spanish, German and Hindi have in common with each other? And how does Japonic or Koreanic come about? And how do they have more in common with Mongolian than with Chinese?


  • Vishal’s Blue Umbrella

    Kore, nani nani nani??? Kirei~~~ xD

    the-blue-umbrella-vishal-2005

    Here’s Vishal Bhardwaj’s The Blue Umbrella. I think he’s missing a children’s film to make it a full trilogy alongside Makdee, which -in fact- would make it a Little Girl’s Trilogy. Come on, do it, Vishal. Pick another girl and pair her against another great actor. My pick is Naseeruddin Shah.

    The introduction to this movie against the snow is very reminiscent of Iwai’s Love Letter. o-genki desuka? Why the random link-up? There’s random Japanese in the movie. xD What Japanese tourist travels with their Japanese-styled umbrella? xD


  • Rani Fake Criterion Collection

    Since I got my computer back (and found a set of hindi fonts too), I’ve been playing around with a basic Rani Mukerji Fake Criterion collection. I decided to skip Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, but include Aiyyaa. I actually like the movie a lot more than I initially did. Plus, it’s not a supporting role, so it beat out roles in Yuva, Bombay Talkies, Veer-Zaara, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Talaash.

    Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Aiyyaa Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Black

    Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Laaga Chunari Mein Daag Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Paheli

    Serious dramas lend themselves out for cooler Criterion covers, though I must admit that I liked the disorder in the Aiyyaa cover. And I have to apologize for the Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, I just couldn’t think of any particular symbol from the movie… but at least I got to test out that new (tricky) hindi font.

    I think I might do a Sanjay Leela Bhansali set.


  • The Late 2012-2013 Music Highlights

    amys-2012-2013-music-highlights-yammag

    I think I could work more on the 2013 list, but then it will be 2015! LOL I also hate that I don’t have my font pack at hand because this graphic is UHHHH-GLAY. My Frankenstein Computer is back! I’m so happy~

    Anyway, here are 30 album picks by all different artists that released (almost) full-length albums these last two years. And here are all their covers in gallery form, and here’s a Facebook Gallery, it contains some playlists and iTunes links. And here’s a Xiami playlist, where you can (almost) access all the albums. And a Weibo post in case you’re there.

    And here’s the YAM Magazine list that contains all my ramblings, with playlist/streaming and buy links.