Adventures of a Writer

The era of Golden Jubilees has long gone. In fact, Gen Z is probably unfamiliar with the term which was once the most coveted standard for a successful movie - 50 weeks of an uninterrupted run at the movie theatres. For Deewaar , that milestone has been done and dusted. On 24 January, 2025, it achieved new heights as it continues to reign our collective consciousness, fifty years after its release. Not a day passes when one or the other of its many memorable lines is transformed into a meme on social media. With every such retelling, it reaffirms the vitality and relevance of the original. In a realm where content is king, this is one "Wall" that refuses to gather moss, crack or crumble. Amitabh Bachchan's dialogue in the film -- " Jo pachchees baras mein nahi hua hai woh ab hoga " (What has never happened in 25 years will happen now) -- resonates today in the context of Deewaar 's domination of the Indian psyche, with an upgrade of an additional 25 years!  ...

 By Jaideep Sen Deewaar one of the two greatest Films ever made in Indian Cinema – the other being Sholay – celebrated its glorious forty-fourth birthday on 24 January, 2019. On the august occasion, I take a look at one of the female characters who provided the film with strength, style and substance. While many of you may think this is going to be an ode to Sumitra Devi, the mother of Vijay and Ravi who has gone into the hall of pride of Indian cinema, I would like to put the spotlight on Anita, performed with such flamboyance and great sensitivity by Parveen Babi-ji. Anita enters the film at a pivotal juncture in a high-end hotel bar and comes across as a upmarket escort who is instrumental in unintentionally saving Vijay’s life when he is attacked.  From here on Salim Saab and Javed Saab etched out a very understated, mature and progressive bond between Vijay and Anita.  Parveen Babi as Anita in Deewaar Consider this exchange between Vijay an...

By Jaideep Sen As an avid viewer of Kaun Banega Crorepati , I’m struck by the fact that every time a contestant praises Amitji’s (Amitabh Bachchan) glorious body of work, the reference point is always one of the two milestone films of Indian Cinema: Deewaar or Sholay . In one of my previous posts I have already mentioned that my personal all-time favourite is Sholay . Not just for its epic writing but also the sheer scale of the film: for once the powerful writing was more than backed up by an audio-visual extravaganza that had never before been seen by the Indian cinegoer. I would not be wrong in saying that it would have come as a surprise for even the veteran writing duo of Salim Saab and Javed Saab. And for this the Indian viewer will forever be grateful to the father-son combine of G.P. Sippy Saab (producer) and   director Ramesh Sippy Ji.  The tsunami effect of Sholay and the reverence that the writing of Deewaar has achieved draws me to tha...