Movies on rebirth – hot favorites of Bollywood

After twins, another popular genre of Bollywood movies is the one about rebirth. Although there are not too many Bollywood movies on this, the ones that have seen the light of day have been blockbusters. The general theme is usually about revenge that the wronged one takes and the storylines are designed accordingly with plenty of scope for song and dance sequences.
In real life there are many stories of rebirth – like the 10-year-old kid from Oklahoma. He believed that he was the reincarnation of Hollywood actor Marty Martyn, a man who died in 1964. He even recounted to his mother stories of meeting Rita Hayworth, dancing on Broadway, traveling overseas and working at an agency.
There are 10 other interesting cases of rebirth here.

Or - a kid suddenly starts to talk about a long lost family in a totally different part of the country. His parents are puzzled, they discuss the matter with their family and friends and even with local priests. They feel that some evil spirit has taken control of the boy. The boy keeps repeating strange facts and stories of a past life. Finally, the parents decide to take the plunge and travel to the place as directed by the boy. And – once there, the boy begins to impress the people with his knowledge of intricate affairs of the family. That in short is rebirth – when one is reborn in a different family.
That is the theme of Bollywood movies on the theme of rebirth.
Only, in order to make it more dramatic, it is not about one stray rebirth but of two of them. It is certainly a bit of a coincidence but Bollywood movies thrive on coincidences.
The 1995 movie Karan-Arjun was about the rebirth of two brothers Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. They had, in their previous birth, been hunted down and killed by landlords of a village in Rajasthan. Their mother continues to threaten the landlord and his henchmen that one day, her sons would return to take revenge. And – that is exactly what happens. Another blockbuster rebirth movie was Om Shanti Om of 2007 - in this movie, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone are killed and are reborn to take revenge against the man who had conspired to kill Deepika. Once again we see two rebirths, simultaneously. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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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 …)