Dahi Handi with human pyramids is a part of Krishna Janmashtami festival

India celebrates many festivals and the dahi handi festival is unique. It is to mark the birth of Lord Krishna. He is one of the most beloved Gods of Hindus and loves milk and all milk products, especially butter. To commemorate his birth, his devotees offer him butter. This is called ‘dahi’ in Hindi. They hide it in a pot (known as ‘handi’) and hang it high up. The festival is for his devotees to climb and get that pot of butter. It is difficult and the young men and women form human pyramids to get not just the butter but also the prize – nowadays, this incentive runs into a sizeable amount in lakhs of rupees. The festival has become popular because some Bollywood movies have used this theme in their movies. One of these is 'Govinda Aala Re' from "Bluffmaster" - the Shammi Kapoor film of 1963. This year, the dahi handi festival has been revived after two years – it was banned due to COVID-19. Dahi Handi Celebrations: 12 ‘Govindas’ Injured, 7 Remain in Hospital in Mumbai. The youngsters (called Govindas), dress in colorful attire and climb on each other to create human pyramids. This way they try to reach the ‘handi’ containing butter. It signifies victory through unity.

The government of Maharashtra had announced that there would be no restrictions on celebrating religious festivals this year. These include Dahi Handi and Ganesh Chaturthi. In the last two years, COVID-19 restrictions had played spoilsport. Incidentally, those who join groups and form the human pyramids are experienced and work as a team. It is not restricted to the boys but girls also participate and they practice regularly. The prizes carry handsome amounts and, at times, there are accidents. The participants treat these as a part of the game.

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Entertainment in Kanpur meant Hindi movies

My stay in Kanpur was for two years and, in that period, I became a fan of Hindi movies. The period was late 1960 and it was and still is the golden era of Hindi movies – most of them were in black and white but the storylines were gripping as were the songs and music.
For movies the first choice was Majum cinema nearby in the Air Force campus and when movies like Sharabi or Teen Deviya of Dev Anand was advertised or Mujhe Jeene Do of Sunil Dutt and Waheeda Rehman it was difficult to get tickets. Then there were other equally famous hits like Bhoot Bangla of Mehmood.
Of course, Hindi movies in color of the period were equally fantastic – especially those starring the inimitable Shammi Kapoor – some of his movies of the 1964 were super hits like Kashmir ki kali, and Rajkumar while his elder brother Raj Kapoor gave us his Sangam.
Some movies dealt with mystery like Who Kaun Thi and Kohraa alongside Dilip Kumar’s Leader and Asha Parekh’s Ziddi. In those days, the radio was the only entertainment available in the houses and people kept waiting for Wednesday evenings when Radio Ceylon would transmit its weekly Binaca geetmala. Its sponsor was Binaca toothpaste. It was a one-hour program and Amin Sayani was the Radio Jockey. His beautiful voice would make the accompanying songs still more appealing. And – on the last Wednesday of the year, he would present the top songs of that year. His audience would be kept on tenterhooks to know which songs would reach the top of the charts. (to be continued … )

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Growing up days – 1960s was the coming of age of Hindi movies

1960s was the coming of age of Hindi movies from Bollywood because it was the transition from the black-and-white era to the era of color. And, the movies used to feature stalwarts of the Hindi cinema – names like Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Khanna meant box office stars.

The heroines added the glamour quotient and their running around trees was an integral part of Bollywood movies. Moreover, kissing was and still is taboo in Hindi movies and the symbolic depiction was through a pair of birds nestling close and rubbing their beaks.
There was experimentation and producers began to shift the locales from built-up sets in the studio to more exotic locations both inside the country as well as abroad. Legendary Raj Kapoor set the trend with his 1964 super-hit movie Sangam where he went abroad to shoot some portion of the movie.
Then there was Shammi Kapoor who redefined entertainment in Hindi movies by his exuberance and high level of energy that mixed with beautiful music and lyrics to produce masterpieces – the songs are popular even today after half a century. Raj Kapoor –Jis Desh mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960), Chhalia (1960), Dil Hi To Hai (1963), Sangam (1964), Teesri Kasam (1966)
Dilip Kumar – Kohinoor (1960), Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Ganga Jamuna (1961), Leader (1964), Ram aur Shyam (1967), Aadmi (1968)
Shammi Kapoor – Junglee (1961), China Town (1962), Kashmir ki kali (1964), Raaj Kumar (1964), Janwaar (1965), Teesri Manzil (1966), An evening in Paris (1967), Brahmachari (1968)

Dev Anand – Kala Bazaar (1960), Hum Dono (1961), Asli Naqli (1962), Tere Ghar ke samney (1963), Guide (1965), Teen Deviya (1965), Jewel Thief (1967)
Manoj Kumar – Hariyali aur raasta (1962), Woh kaun thi (1964), Himalaya ki God Mein (1965), Shaheed (1965), Upkar (1967) Rajesh Khanna – Baharon ke sapne (1967), Aradhana (1969), Do Raaste (1969), Ittefaq (1969), Khamoshi (1969), Bandhan (1969) (to be continued …)