Leslie Parrish (born Marjorie Hellen; March 13, 1935)[2] is an American actress, activist, environmentalist, writer, and producer. She worked under her birth name for six years, changing it in 1959.
Early life
As a child, Parrish lived in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. At the age of 10, she finally settled in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. At the age of 14, Parrish was a talented and promising piano and composition student at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music.[3] At the age of 16, Parrish earned money for her tuition by working as a maid and a waitress, and by teaching piano. At the age of 18, to earn enough money to be able to continue her education at the Conservatory, her mother persuaded her to become a model for one year.[4][3]
Modeling and acting
In April 1954, as a 19-year-old model with the Conover Agency in New York City, Parrish was under contract to NBC-TV as "Miss Color TV" (she was used during broadcasts as a human test pattern to check accuracy of skin tones).[5][3] She was quickly discovered and signed with Twentieth Century Fox in Hollywood. In 1956, she was put under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[6] Because acting allowed her to help her family financially,[7] she remained in Hollywood and gave up her career in music.
Films and television
With Ralph Taeger in Acapulco (1961)
Parrish co-starred/guest-starred in numerous films and television shows throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She first gained wide attention in her first starring role as Daisy Mae in the movie version of Li'l Abner (1959), where she changed her name from Marjorie Hellen to Leslie Parrish at the director's request.[8] She appeared in the film The Manchurian Candidate (1962), playing Laurence Harvey's on-screen fiancée , Jocelyn Jordan. Other film credits include starring opposite Kirk Douglas in For Love or Money (1963) and Jerry Lewis in Three on a Couch (1966), among others.[9]
Parrish amassed an extensive résumé of television credits.[9] Among many other credits, Parrish appeared in guest starring roles on episodes of The Wild Wild West, My Three Sons, Family Affair, Bat Masterson, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Adam-12, Good Morning World, Police Story, Batman and McCloud.[9] In 1967, she guest-starred on Star Trek in the season two episode entitled "Who Mourns For Adonais?" She portrayed Lt. Carolyn Palamas, the love interest of the character Apollo, played by Michael Forest.[10][9] In February 1968, she played opposite Peter Breck in an episode of The Big Valley entitled "A Bounty on a Barkley".[9] The following month, Parrish made her first guest appearance on Mannix in the episode "The Girl in the Frame."[11][12]
Parrish was the Associate Producer on the film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). Among other things, she hired the director of photography Jack Couffer—who later received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts—and she was responsible for the care of the film's real-life seagulls, which she kept inside a room at a Holiday Inn for the duration of the shoot. When the relationship between author Richard Bach and director Hall Bartlett disintegrated and a lawsuit followed, Parrish was appointed as the mediator between the two men. However, her final credit was demoted from Associate Producer to "Researcher".[13] In 1975, Parrish appeared in the low budget B-Movie The Giant Spider Invasion which is now regarded as a cult film.
While acting provided financial stability, her main interest was in social causes including the anti-war and civil rights movements[14] and, as far back as the mid 1950s, the environment.
Political activism
Parrish's interests and activities in social movements and politics grew to become her main work. She was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, a member of the Jeannette Rankin Brigade, a group of notable women who fought against the war and for civil rights.[15] In 1967, she participated in a peace march in Century City (near Beverly Hills) where she and thousands of other protestors were attacked and beaten by police and the National Guard. President Lyndon Johnson was present at the Century Plaza Hotel and helicopters were flying overhead with machine guns pointed at the marchers,[16][17]
Parrish started to make speeches in the Los Angeles area, telling residents what the media did not report and speaking out against the war. Impressed with her speaking abilities, several professors from UCLA aligned with the anti-war movement asked her to organize more like-minded actors and actresses who would be willing to speak out.[18]Two weeks later Parrish had created "STOP!" (Speakers and Talent Organized for Peace), an organization of two dozen members ready to engage the public.[19][20] Shortly thereafter, the organization grew to 125 speakers, and many more subsequently.[18]
On August 6, 1967, Parrish helped organize a protest march of 17,000 people on the "Miracle Mile" of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, which received extensive media coverage and national attention. She also created a popular bumper sticker: 'Suppose they gave a war and no one came'.[21][22][23] Parrish and her friends distributed hundreds of them from their vehicles. Walter Cronkite reported that Bobby Kennedy had one in his plane. Someone later published the bumper sticker, changing the original wording to 'WHAT IF they gave a war and no one came' but to Parrish, the important thing was spreading that message.
In October 1967, a private meeting was arranged between Parrish and Bobby Kennedy by mutual friend and well-known Kennedy photographer, Stanley Tretick.[24][25] She begged Kennedy to run for president, telling him that huge, influential organizations opposed to the war in Vietnam were ready to support him were he to run. Kennedy refused again and again, saying he could not oppose Lyndon Johnson, a sitting president.[26][27] On November 30, Eugene McCarthy, a little-known senator, declared he would run against the war and challenge Johnson. Parrish was elected chair of his speaker's bureau and utilized STOP! to develop support for McCarthy.[26] On March 12, 1968, McCarthy almost defeated Johnson in the New Hampshire primary winning 42% of the vote. On March 16 (four days later) Bobby Kennedy announced that he would run for president. Two weeks later, on March 31, Johnson declared that he would not run for re-election. Parrish remained loyal to McCarthy and was elected a delegate to represent him in August at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.[28]
On April 4, 1968, Parrish and Leonard Nimoy (who was a STOP! member and supporter of Eugene McCarthy) flew to San Francisco to open McCarthy's new headquarters there. After they left, they learned of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Nimoy and Parrish cried during the speeches they gave that evening.
In August, during the Chicago Democratic Convention, McCarthy delegates, including Parrish, spent little time on the convention floor. The real work on the night of the nomination, August 28, was outside the Hilton Hotel where violent actions by police against anti-war demonstrators and spectators were being covered by live television [29][30] and thousands of people chanted "The Whole World is Watching."
Hubert Humphrey was nominated by the convention but lost the election to Richard Nixon. While still in Chicago, the peace movement began working toward the 1972 election, hoping to elect George McGovern. McGovern did win primaries and Parrish served as a delegate at the 1972 Democratic Convention in Miami, Florida.[31][32] But McGovern lost to Richard Nixon.[33]
During this era of political activism, Parrish worked in numerous political campaigns (presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, congressional, mayoral) and with many different organizations, producing public events and fund-raisers for them. Her last major production was the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE) held November 16, 1969 at San Francisco's Polo Grounds.[34]
Los Angeles municipal government
In 1969, Parrish joined many in an effort to remove Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty from office. She supported and campaigned for a former police lieutenant named Tom Bradley who was then the city's first black city councilman. Despite high polling numbers prior to the election, Bradley lost to Yorty, giving rise to what was later known as "The Bradley Effect."[35] Next day, he decided to run again, and over the next four years Parrish worked with him closely to help secure his victory in the next mayoral election. In 1973, Tom Bradley became Los Angeles's first black mayor. Parrish was one of forty activist citizens who served on Bradley's Blue Ribbon Commission to choose new Los Angeles Commissioners.[36] Over the next 20 years, Tom Bradley brought massive development to the city and was reelected five times, setting a record for length of tenure. Parrish and Tom Bradley remained friends for many years.
Creator of innovative television
The lack of media coverage during the Century City riots in 1967 prompted Parrish to think of a new way to cover such events live to prevent suppression and/or manipulation of the news. In 1969, she began to create a television station that would devote itself to covering public events and provide in-depth analysis and discussions of important developments in the world. In 1974, KVST-TV[37] (Viewer Sponsored Television, Channel 68, Los Angeles) went on the air as part of the PBS system of stations. Film notables, business people and local activists formed the board of directors and provided support for the unique station. After a difficult start, KVST was receiving positive reviews in Los Angeles and nationwide attention. However, by 1976, internal dissension on the board of directors led to the demise of the station.[38] The signal was turned off and KVST-TV was never heard from again.[39] In 1979, C-SPAN went on the air. It mirrored many of KVST's objectives including the mobile bus to cover distant events live. It developed the concepts further, and is a major success today.
Environmental activism
Parrish's concern for the environment dates back to the 1950s when Los Angeles’ severe smog, and the reason for it, worried her. In 1979, she and her then-husband, Richard Bach, built an experimental home in southwest Oregon using 100% solar power with no cooling or heating systems, in order to prove it could be done.
While living in Oregon, Parrish saw devastated forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and decided to protest a local timber sale.[40] With two neighbors, she and Richard established an organization called "Threatened and Endangered: Little Applegate Valley" (TELAV). They worked for two years researching and writing a 600-page legal and scientific protest of BLM's logging of forests which would not regenerate, which was illegal.[41][42][43] The BLM assistant state director eventually agreed, telling the Medford Mail Tribune that ..."The sale involves enough improprieties in BLM rules and procedures that it can’t be legally awarded. In order to comply with our own procedures we had no choice but to withdraw the sale and reject all bids." The TELAV protest document served as the basis for many future timber sale protests in the U.S. and Canada. TELAV continues to fight for the environment to this day and the Little Applegate Valley has never been logged.[44]
In 1999, Parrish created a 240-acre wildlife sanctuary on Orcas Island (in the San Juan Islands, Washington State) to save it from normal development techniques which include logging. She named it the "Spring Hill Wildlife Sanctuary".[45] For seventeen years, she carefully developed the ridge-top property by creating nearly a dozen small, hidden home sites on 25% of the land while preserving the remainder in perpetuity within the San Juan Preservation Trust. While the property is now fully developed there are no breaks in the heavily forested ridge line. The developed land is invisible from the island community and the forest is intact.
Marriages
Parrish married songwriter Ric Marlow in 1955; the couple divorced in 1961.[46] In 1981, she married Richard Bach,[47][48] the author of the 1970 book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, whom she met during the making of the 1973 movie of the same name. She was a major element in two of his subsequent books—The Bridge Across Forever (1984) and One (1988)—which primarily focused on their relationship and Bach's concept of soulmates.[49][46] They divorced in 1999.
Leslie Parrish (born 18 March 1935; age 86) is the actress who played Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?". Parrish was born as Marjorie Hellen, but changed her name in the late 1950s. She filmed her scenes between Thursday 1 June 1967 and Thursday 8 June 1967 at Desilu Stage 9 and Stage 10.
According to author Stephen Whitfield, Parrish, when she had to adorn the titillating dress gifted to her by Apollo (designed by William Ware Theiss), was herself completely comfortable and had no qualms about wearing and moving in it, though it were "the crew and set visitors who had all the qualms". (The Making of Star Trek, p. 361)
The dress as worn by Parrish has gained somewhat of a legendary status in Star Trek-lore as being the prime example of Theiss' own "Theiss Theory of Titillation", and has been the eye-catcher in the 1992 Star Trek Smithsonian Exhibit. [1] When it was one year later sold as Lot 918 in the 1993 The William Ware Theiss Estate Auction, it brought in over ten times the high estimate of US$700 – $900, amply demonstrating its stature in lore. Incidentally, Parrish wore the dress again in the episode "The Girl in the Frame" of another Desilu production, Mannix, which aired on 16 March 1968, a half year after the Star Trek episode. (To Boldly Go: Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage - Season Two, p. 40)
Parrish herself has expressed immense pride in her Star Trek performance in later life, "Whenever I watch it, I go right back to the whole thing again and cry my way through it. I relive it. My impression of it is that it's one piece of work that I'm very proud of. Of all the work I did, this is outstanding, because it is rooted in something which I believe so deeply." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two, p. 115)
Nearly five decades after the Star Trek episode had aired, Parrish became acquainted again with it when she was invited to reminisce on her performance for the special feature "Inside the Roddenberry Vault (Part 3)" included on the 2016 Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault Blu-ray Disc-set, commenting on recently rediscovered outtakes from the episode, including some featuring herself, most notably the one in which it was divulged that her character was pregnant from Apollo which had been omitted from the episode as aired. She also reiterated her beliefs in the futuristic philosophy behind Star Trek and her friendship because of them with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, whom she had already met when she appeared in an episode of the 1963-64 television series The Lieutenant, which he created.
Career
Parrish played Daisy Mae in the 1959 film version of the musical Li'l Abner alongside Julie Newmar. She played the wholesome civil libertarian Jocelyn Jordan in the 1962 political psycho-drama The Manchurian Candidate, which also had work for her future fellow TOS guest actors Reggie Nalder, Whit Bissell, and James Gregory. She starred alongside Robert Easton in Bill Rebane's 1975 B-movie The Giant Spider Invasion (which was later used on Mystery Science Theater 3000).
On television, she guest starred on Batman twice, first in 1966 alongside Charles Picerni and directed by Robert Butler, then in 1967, with Elisha Cook. She also appeared in two episodes of The Wild Wild West, once with Michael Dunn, Bill Catching, Troy Melton, and Hal Needham, and once alongside William Windom and Bob Herron, directed by Robert Sparr. For Mannix she made two additional encores in otherwise unrelated guest starring roles. Additionally, she also guest-starred in the series Follow the Sun alongside series star Gary Lockwood, having already done so when she made her The Lieutenant appearance.
She married Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1977. She has amassed about seventy-five television and movie credits (including a role in the film adaptation of Bach's novel). She and her (now ex-)husband lived in the San Juan Islands off Washington State.
ஜிக்கி (Jikki, நவம்பர் 3, 1935 - ஆகத்து 16, 2004) என்று பரவலாக அறியப்பட்ட பிள்ளைவாள் கஜபதிநாயுடு கிருஷ்ணவேணி புகழ்பெற்ற தமிழ்த் திரைப்பட பின்னணிப் பாடகி. இவர் பாடிய பாடல்கள் பத்தாயிரத்திற்கும் அதிகமானவை. தமிழ்த் திரைப்படங்களில் மாத்திரமன்றி, தெலுங்கு, கன்னடம், மலையாளம், இந்தி, சிங்களம் ஆகிய மொழிப்படங்களிலும் பாடியுள்ளார். 1943 இல் பந்துலம்மா திரைப்படத்தில் நடிகையாகவும், பின்னணிப் பாடகியாகவும் அறிமுகமாகி 2002 வரை, கிட்டத்தட்ட அறுபது ஆண்டுகள் திரையுலகில் பாடியிருக்கிறார். எழுபது வயது நெருங்கும் சமயத்திலும் இவருக்குப் பாடல் வாய்ப்பு கிடைத்திருந்தது. இவர் பின்னணிப் பாடகர் ஏ. எம். ராஜாவின் மனைவி.
ஜிக்கி தனது 6 ஆவது வயதிலேயே இசையார்வம் கொண்டிருந்தார். இவர் தனது 11 ஆவது வயதிலேயே இவரது தாய்மாமன் சிட்டிபாபுவின் முயற்சியினால் இசையமைப்பாளர் எஸ். வி. வெங்கட்ராமனின் இசையில், ஞானசௌந்தரி1948 திரைப்படத்தில் பாலஞானசௌந்தரி பாடுவதான பல்லவிஅருள்தாரும் தேவமாதாவே ஆதியே இன்ப ஜோதியே என்ற பாடலைப் பாடினார். தொடர்ந்து பந்துலம்மா, தியாகையா, கொல்லபாமா, மனதேசம் ஆகிய தெலுங்குப் படங்களில் வாய்ப்புக் கிடைத்தது. இப்படங்களின் பாடல்களைக் கேட்ட இசையமைப்பாளர் ஜி. ராமநாதன், ஜிக்கியின் 13வது வயதில், 1950 இல் மொடேர்ன் தியேட்டர்சின்மந்திரி குமாரி திரைப்படத்தில் வாராய் நீ வாராய், உலவும் தென்றல் காற்றினிலே முதலிய டூயட் பாடல்களைத் திருச்சி லோகநாதனுடன் சேர்ந்து பாடவைத்தார். இப்படமும் பாடல்களும் பெற்ற வெற்றியானது 1950 - 1960 காலப்பகுதியில் ஜிக்கியின் பொற்காலத்தை உறுதி செய்தது. 1952 இல் கே. வி. மகாதேவன் இசையமைத்த குமாரி படத்தில் தனது வருங்காலக் கணவரான ஏ. எம். ராஜாவுடன் ஜிக்கி முதன்முதலில் பாடினார். ராஜாவுடன் இணைந்து ஜிக்கி நூற்றுக்கணக்கான காதல் பாடல்களும், சோகப்பாடல்களும் பாடியுள்ளார். வட இந்திய நடிகரான ராஜ்கபூரின் சொந்தத் தயாரிப்பான ஆஹ இந்திப்படத்தின் தமிழ்ப்பதிப்பு அவன் என்பதில் ஜிக்கி ராஜாவுடன் சேர்ந்து பல இனிய பாடல்களைப் பாடினார். மேலும் பல்வேறு பின்னணிப் பாடகர், பாடகிகளுடனும் ஜிக்கி பாடினார்.
ஜிக்கி ஆந்திராவின் சந்திரகிரியைப் பூர்வீகமாகக் கொண்ட கஜபதி நாயுடுவுக்கும், சென்னையைச் சேர்ந்த ராஜகாந்தம்மாவுக்கும் பிறந்த ஒன்பது பிள்ளைகளில் மூத்தவர். 1955 இல் மகேஸ்வரி படத்தின் அழகு நிலாவின் பவனியிலே பாடலின் ஒத்திகை இடைவேளையின் போது, ஏ. எம். ராஜா தனது காதலை ஜிக்கியிடம் வெளியிட்டார்.[சான்று தேவை]1958 இல் பெற்றோர் ஆசியுடன் ஜிக்கி ஏ. எம். ராஜாவைத் திருமணம் செய்து கொண்டார்.
Nishi Kohli (known professionally as Nishi) is an Indian actress who has worked in Punjabi and Hindi-language films.[1] She frequently acted with Dara Singh.[2]
Although Nishi[3] was a Punjabi film star, she also worked in Hindi films where she was often cast in secondary roles. She worked in A-list films in Punjab that earned national film awards. Her most prominent Punjabi films are Main Jatti Punjab Di, alongside co-star, Prem Nath and Satluj De Kandhe, alongside co-star Balraj Sahni.
Nishi Kohli has a son, Armaan Kohli and a daughter, Gogi Kohli. Her son is also an actor. He acted in his father's films Badle Ki Aag and Raaj Tilak as a child actor. Nishi Kohli launched her son in her husband's production film too, but the actor then went on to appear in TV shows such as Big Boss.
Date of Birth – January 1st, 1935 (Sialkot, British India, Now in Pakistan)
Date of Death –
Debut Film – Pagal Khana (Incomplete)
Last Film –
Significant others in the Film Industry – Rajkumar Kohli (Husband, Producer/Director), Armaan Kohli (Son, Actor)
Miscellaneous Info – Nishi, whose real name is Krishna Kumari was born in Sialkot on January 1st, 1935. She made her screen debut in P.L. Santoshi’s unfinished film Pagal Khana, but her real break came in Ramesh Saigal’s Railway Platform.
Nishi was unable to establish herself as an A-Grade actress in Hindi films and was mostly seen in side-roles in films like Samunder (1957), Chaubis Ghante (1958), Phagun (1958) etc. Later, she formed a popular pair with Dara Singh in few B-Grade stunt films including Ek Tha Alibaba (1963), Hercules (1964), Lootera (1965) etc. She remained a popular leading actress in Punjabi films especially Bhangra (1959), which became quite popular even in Pakistan.
Nishi married producer/director Rajkumar Kohli who directed many popular Hindi films including Nagin (1976), Jaani Dushman (1979), and Naukar Biwi Ka (1984). Their son Armaan Kohli also worked in few Hindi films. (Some of the information has been provided by Sudarshan Talwar).
Shyama (born Khurshid Akhtar); (7 June 1935 – 14 November 2017) was an Indian film actress. She was active between 1945–1989. She is best known for her roles in Aar Paar and Barsaat Ki Raat.
Shyama arrived in Mumbai from Lahore in the 1940s. As a young girl, she acted in a few films such as Noor Jehan's husband Shauqat Rizvi's Zeenat (1945) and Meerabai (1947).[1] She worked with Shammi Kapoor in romantic classic Mirza Sahiban (1957).
Director Vijay Bhatt gave her the stage name Shyama, by which she is credited in her movies. She had starring roles in Guru Dutt's classic Aar Paar, and later in Barsaat Ki Raat, which was perhaps her best performance. She was a major star in the 1950s and 1960s and acted in more than 150 movies, many in starring roles. During the period 1952-60, she appeared in as many as 80 films, mostly in leading roles. In 1963, she had as many as 18 releases and in 1964 she had 17 releases.
Her best known roles were in Aar Paar (1954), Barsaat Ki Raat (1960) and Tarana. She was also noticed for her versatility through her performances in Milan, Bhai-Bhai (1956), Mirza Sahiban (1957), Bhabhi (1957) and Sharada (1957). For her performance in Sharada, she was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She was the actress in late 50s who has been most responsive to the rhythm and lyrics of the music directors and poets. Songs picturised on her such as "Ae Dil Mujhe Bata De", "O Chand Jahan Wo Jaye", "Ae Lo Main Hari Piya", "Dekho, Wo Chand Chhup Ke Karata Hai Kya Ishare", "Chhupa Kar Meri Aankhon Ko", Sun Sun Sun Sun Zalima and "Ja Re Ka Re Badara" are examples of her sensitive acting. She did a double role in Do Bahen (1959), portraying twins who were completely different in character.
She quoted in an interview: "I never needed to be taught [about acting]... I was confident and didn't need to think too much." She believed stars are born and not made.[2]
Johnny Walker and Shyama had worked in films such as Choo Mantar, Aar Paar, Musafir Khanna, Khota Paisa and Khel Khilari Ka.[3]
She was married to cinematographer Fali Mistry in 1953. Her husband was a Parsi (Zoroastrian) from Gujarat, India. They kept the marriage secret for as many as 10 years because of the fear that Shyama's career would suffer if her marriage became known; in those days, it was thought that the fan following of female stars became less as soon as they married. The marriage was revealed to the public shortly before the birth of their first child, their elder son. The couple had three children, two sons, Faroukh and Rohinton, and a daughter Shirrin. Fali Mistry died in 1979, thereafter she continued to stay in Mumbai.[4]
Shyama's close friends were actress Ameeta and Johnny Walker. Nasir Kazi, Johnny Walker's son, expressed his grief on hearing the news of her death. In an interview with Mid-Day, he said, "It's really disheartening to know about the demise of Shyama aunty. She had done several films with my father and in a lot of them she was opposite him also. In fact, in the film that was made on his name "Johnny Walker", she was the heroine with him.[5]
Today is the 78th birthday of one of my favourite actresses, the gorgeous Shyama. Born in Lahore on June 7, 1935, Shyama debuted at the tender age of 9, when she appeared onscreen as one of the chorus in the Zeenat (1945) qawwali , Aahein na bhareen shiqve na kiye. In a career that spanned 40 years and close to 150 films, Shyama played everything—from the shrew to the vamp, the tomboy to the domestic goddess. And she invariably shone, quite literally. Shyama’s sparkling eyes and bright, 1000-watt smile could light up the screen like few other actresses were capable of doing.
So, to celebrate Shyama’s birthday, a list of some of my favourite Shyama songs. Shyama has had some lovely songs picturised on her, both solos as well as duets—and songs that feature a panoply of singers (Na toh kaarvaan ki talaash hai is a stellar example). If I went about listing each Shyama song I love, my list would run into dozens. I have therefore, restricted myself: these songs are all solos, in which Shyama lip-syncs to the song, and they’re all from pre-1970 films that I’ve seen. Furthermore, no two songs are from the same film.
Here goes, in no particular order:
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1.Saiyyaan pyaara hai apna milan (Do Behnen, 1959): I did mention that this list isn’t in any particular order, but if the songs here had been in order of preference, this beautifully romantic one would’ve been pretty close to the top—if not the first song on my list. It’s a suhaag raat song, sung by a lovely bride to her new husband. Everything—from the unmistakable affection, now shy, now teasing, in Shyama’s eyes (and for Rajendra Kumar, too! What splendid acting!) to the words—“Baat hi baat mein, raat hi raat mein, ban gayi main tumhaari dulhan” (“In the course of a conversation, in the passage of the night, I have become your bride”), to the very soothing music—is perfect.
2. Kaare-kaare baadra jaa re jaa re (Bhabhi, 1957): Shyama is the sole emphasis of this song as she dances through a seemingly empty house, scolding the darkening clouds and shooing them away. They have woken her from sweet dreams (of her love, no doubt), she says—and tries to cajole the pawan, the breeze, into taking her side and blowing the clouds away. A very melodious song, and one which allows Shyama to hold centrestage.
3. Ae dil mujhe bata de (Bhai-Bhai, 1956): I tend to confuse this song with the one before it when it comes to picturisation, because Ae dil mujhe bata de is also all about Shyama, singing to herself in a large and seemingly empty house. (Not really, though; unknown to her, the man she loves—and whom she has been eagerly awaiting—has arrived even as she’s singing, and is walking towards her, entranced by her song).
This is a song that makes me think, as I’m watching it, that while Shyama may not have been one of the top dancers of the league, what she may lack in talent, she makes up for in enthusiasm. To see her trip about the room, leaping and frolicking, going from piano to divan to bed to parapet, her smile never dimming and her eyes always sparkling, makes you forget that she may not be as accomplished as some of her contemporaries.
But, this list is about solos, and here is a Shyama solo from Barsaat ki Raat. Here she dances and skips about while her ‘sister’ (played by Ratna) accompanies her on a dholak. The song embodies all the joy of an upcoming Eid, the celebrations of which will give our singer a legitimate excuse to meet and talk to the man she loves. Shyama at her chirpy, starry-eyed, best.
(Incidentally, while I am a die-hard Madhubala fan, this is one film where I feel she was upstaged. Shyama is sublime in Barsaat ki Raat: lovely, sensitive, wise, sweet. Perfect).
5. Le jaa meri duaaein tadpaake jaanewaale (Lala Rookh, 1958): In a complete about-turn from the romantic, starry-eyed songs that I’ve listed so far, this one, which is addressed to a lover—but a seemingly faithless lover, who has broken the heart of the woman who loves him. Lala Rookh’s best-known songs were either Talat’s or duets (or, in one case, Mohammad Rafi’s), but this sad yet beautiful song is Asha’s—and Shyama’s. Her eyes are so expressive, that even without shedding tears, Shyama manages to convey all the pain and betrayal she feels.
6. Barkhaa ki raaton mein (Shrimatiji, 1952): The lyrics of this song bear a passing resemblance to the previous one: our heroine is bemoaning the loss of her love, the roothna of the man she had hoped was going to be hers for ever. That, though, is where the resemblance stops. Shyama in Shrimatiji was no shrinking violet; she was the ultimate kick-ass heroine. In this song, too, even though she talks about “aankhon se aansoowon ka dariya chalta-chalta hai” (“rivers of tears flow from my eyes”), you can see, now and then, that she is fairly certain of being able to get back the man in question; there’s steel beneath the silk.
7. Dil se main mujhse dil (Bus Conductor, 1959): At first glance, this song looks very much like another Ae dil mujhe bata de or Kaare-kaare baadraa: Shyama dancing and singing all by herself in an otherwise empty house. But, even though it begins with the lady sitting at a dressing table (and looking very sweet in a fluffy towel robe), it then moves outside—to a swing, to the beach where she sits under an umbrella or splashes along the shore, and finally to a boat. A lilting and frothy little love song, and there’s the bonus of seeing Shyama not just in sari or salwar-kurta (not to mention that robe!), but also in trousers—she looks wonderful.
8. Yeh lo main haari piya (Aar-Paar, 1954): From Aar-Paar, my favourite song that features Shyama unfortunately doesn’t qualify for this list—because while it has her at her athletic best (dressed in overalls, and climbing all over a car), it is also a duet. But this song comes a close second, and it is a Shyama solo, so here it is. This one’s featured in other lists of mine, and with good reason too: it’s a good example of not just great music and direction, but also excellent acting and lyrics.
Our heroine here is setting out to woo back her huffy sweetheart, and she uses everything she has in a fairly formidable arsenal: she begins with apologies and pleading, then goes on to emotional blackmail—telling him how her poor little heart will break if he goes on like this—and ends up with a threat to get angry and fling a few abuses at him. Along the way, she also swings into sultry seductress mode for a little while.
It’s easy to understand why Guru Dutt’s character, by the end of the song, is back in a good mood.
9. Yeh zaalim nigaahon ki ghaat (Khota Paisa, 1958): Besides her beauty, her vivacity and her acting ability, one thing I really like about Shyama is that she doesn’t seem to have had any qualms about which roles she’d do and which she wouldn’t. At a time when actresses swiftly got typecast—good girl (read wife material), vamp, suffering mother, sister, etc—Shyama did it all. In Aar-Paar, Shrimatiji, Mai Baap, etc, she was a convincing heroine; in Bhabhi,Chhoti Bahen, and Dil-e-Naadaan, she was the shrew; in Barsaat ki Raat, the woman who loved the hero but never spoke of her love—and in Bhai-Bhai, the other woman.
And here, in a madcap film opposite Johnny Walker, Shyama shows her flair for comedy too. She doesn’t get the nuttiest lines, but she’s quite clownish for a leading lady—and she gets to dance this absolutely delightful club song, where she puts on a seductive act for the benefit of an approving NA Ansari.
10. Dil toh razamand hai (Mai Baap, 1957): To end, a song that is very quintessentially Shyama: bubbly and cheerful and just so full of joy that it makes me want to get up and dance. Although there were two versions of Dil toh razamand hai, I prefer this one, which appears only about five minutes into the film. It’s a sweet panghat song, with Shyama’s character telling her friends—all of them ostensibly here to fill their matkas, but combining it with some dancing—about her views regarding her husband to be. Shyama, even with just a matka for a prop, steals the show.
Do you have any favourite Shyama songs? Please share!
(By the way, there’s a nice little interview with Shyama, here).
'Shyama was an entertaining friend during the shooting and we continued our friendship even after the film was over.
"During those days, we formed working relationships that lasted beyond the workplace.'
Waheeda Rehman pays rich tribute to her late co-star
Yesteryear actress Shyama, who worked in a slew of musicals in the 1950s and 1960s, like Guru Dutt's Aar Paar, Barsaat Ki EkRaat and Sharda (for which she won a Filmfare award) passed away on Tuesday.
Waheeda Rehman speaks to Subhash K Jha about her late friend and co-star
"After Nanda and Sadhana, I have lost another co-star and friend. Shyama was very good looking and a good human being. She was warm and affectionate," Waheeda recalls.
Shyama and Waheeda have worked in only one film together.
"It was the ill-fated Dil Diya Dard Liya in 1966, where she played my friend. Though the film didn't do well, it is remembered for its powerful theme," Waheeda says.
Shyama was an entertaining friend during the shooting and we continued our friendship even after the film was over.
"During those days, we formed working relationships that lasted beyond the workplace. So even after Dil Diya Dard Liya, Shyama and I would meet often," she adds.
ur friendship became easier to maintain for two reasons," she shares.
"One, we lived on the same road (Napean Sea Road in south Mumbai), in buildings opposite each another. She lived in a building called Gulmarg and I lived in a building called Poonam. We'd run into one another quite often.
"Secondly, Shyama was married to legendary cinematographer Fali Mistry. He shot some of my most well-known works including the film that I'm closely associated with, Guide.
"Later, Falisaab also shot me in Neel Kamal and Prem Pujari.
"So there was a bond with Shyama that went beyond the one film that we did together," she adds.
"Of late, she had not been keeping well and, now, God has chosen to take her away. May her soul rest in peace."
Shyama’s Interview
It’s not a task getting an interview with veteran Shyama. She answers the landline herself, her feeble voice betraying excitement. I am also keen to meet the actor who romanced Guru Dutt in the spiffy Sun sun sun zalima in Aar Paar. When I reach her flat at the plush Napean Sea Road, she’s all ready and waiting in a pink salwar kameez, her short hair neatly combed. Daughter Shireen has dropped in to check on her 74-year-old mother, who insists on staying alone. Shireen gives a barrage of instructions to the maids, gives her mother a lingering hug and leaves us to chat on a drizzling afternoon. “I fractured both my legs sometime back. I stay at home. Main kahin nahin jaati hoon (I do not go out at all),” says the erstwhile actor pointing to the walker waiting in attendance.
Apart from dhagas (holy threads) around her wrist there are emerald green beads. “My hairdresser gave them to me,” she says. She hands me a black diary. The pages, yellow with the years, hold a record of her films. Black and white moments of her trysts with legends Guru Dutt, Nargis, Meena Kumari and Raj Kapoor stand framed on her drawing room shelves. Memories, unlike people, do not have a shelf life. She relives those years in bits and pieces, some easily and some with effort… Shyama, born Khurshid Akhtar, began her jaunt in Hindi cinema as a nine-year-old. She became one of the chorus singers in the qawwali “Aahen na bhari” in the Noorjehan starrer Zeenat (1945). “I had gone with my friends to watch Noorjehan shoot for a film in Dadar. The director Shaukat Hussain (Noorjehan’s husband) asked us, `Does anyone of you want to work?’ I put my hand up and said, ‘Main karoongi (I will)’. She continues, “My parents were not well off. Yet, Abba didn’t want me to work in films. I said, ‘What’s the harm?'”
I was always interested in acting. During the lunch break in school, I’d stand on the table and dance. Later, I even learnt singing and dance. I watched every film,” recalls the actress who was one of the busiest stars of her times, playing lead, second lead and vamp roles in around 147 films. “I was lucky to get good roles. I even got the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for Sharda. I enjoyed doing family dramas like Do Behnein, Choti Behen, Bhai Bhai and Do Bhai. In Do Behnein I played the good girl and the bad girl. Rajendra Kumar was a newcomer then. So initially, the film didn’t do well. But when it was re- released, it became a hit,” says the actor who was also appreciated for her roles in Barsaat Ki Raat, Tarana and Aar Paar in the ’50s. “I had a photogenic face. Whatever direction the light fell from, I photographed well. I maintained my figure. I was particular about my diet and for days I’d just be sipping glucose water to remain slim. I used to wear all kinds of clothes — ghararas, salwars, saris and pants,” smiles the actor who was known for her puckish prettiness.
While doing Sazaa (1951), the 16-year-old Shyama fell in love with director and ace cinematographer Fali Mistry. “We were fond of each other. But I was very shy. I couldn’t express myself,” she confides. “Initially, he asked me not to work after marriage but I said that wasn’t possible. I had worked very hard to reach where I was.” They got married in 1953 and had three children, two boys Farook and Rohin and a daughter Shireen. “I was very content in my married life. Even after my first child, I didn’t give up acting. Fali had confidence in me. When it would get late I’d say, ‘Fali hum late hogaye hain. Magar khana hum saath khayenge (I’m late. But we will have dinner together)’. We had a great understanding,” she says of the Muslim-Parsi marriage. Though she chose Fali as her husband, she did have her share of suitors amongst her co-actors. “I got many proposals from my peers. I don’t want to take their names. Some of them are no more while the others have their families. Sometimes we call each other up and ask kya haal hai?” she laughs.
She continued acting, doing character roles, even after Fali passed away prematurely in 1979. The last film she did was the Sanjay Dutt starrer Hathyar. The highlightof her day today is just aaram (rest) she says. “I rest; I sleep and see my old films. I have sent the DVDs to my sons too,” smiles the mother who says she has `secured’ her children’s future. Her close friends are Waheeda Rehman, Nanda and Shashikala but she greatly misses Nirupa Roy and Nadira. “I was very close to Nirupa. She died suddenly. It was a great shock,” she says softly. About friendships in the industry then and now she says, “We used to hide each other’s secrets, today they let them out.” She seems a wee tired as it’s time for her afternoon siesta. The memory jog has also been an exertion of sorts. I gently draw the interview to a close. Any regrets I ask her. “I miss my family” she says referring to her sons who have settled abroad. “Also, my parents had nine children. Today I’m the only survivor.” She continues, “Log aaye our chale gaye, yaadein chhod gaye. Meri dushmani kisise nahin, dosti hai sabse (People came and went, leaving behind memories. I have enmity with none, friendships with all). Any unfulfilled wishes? “Last year I was honored with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Let’s see if I get some more!” Down yes, but definitely not out. That’s Shyama for you! – [Interviewed by Farhana Farook in 2010]
The beautiful Indian film industry actress of yesteryears, Shyama now lives a reclusive life in Mumbai, but in her heyday, she was a much sought after artiste. She played the lead role in many films, notably Aar Paar (1954), but her forte was as a supportive actress in which she excelled in many great films. Among them I include Shabnam (1949), Patanga (1949), Tarana (1951), Sazaa (1951), Chhoo Mantar (1956), Chhoti Bahen (1959), Barsaat ki Raat (1960), Bahu Rani (1963), Dil diya Dard liya (1966) and many more. In Sharada (1957), she won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Personally for me, her role as Shipalee, who loves the rebel, Raj (Balraj Sahni) in Zia Sarhadi’s Marxist classic, Hum Log (1951), is unforgettable, especially the picturisation on her of the song Chhun, chhun, chhun baje payal mori, which Roshan had composed so sweetly.
Shyama was born as Khurshid Akhtar in Baghbanpura, Lahore on June 7, 1935. She hails from Lahore’s most populous biradari of Arains, who before the partition of India were the main Muslim landowning biradari in Lahore district besides the Sikh Jatts who were almost entirely in the rural tehsils of Lahore district.
The pioneer of the Lahore film industry and later, a legendary filmmaker in Bombay, A R Kardar was also a Lahore Arain belonging to the Zaildar family of Bhaati Gate. Another Arain at Bombay film industry was the gorgeous Begum Para. Her father, Mian Ehsan-ul-Haq of Jullundur, was a judge who joined the princely state of Bikaner, now northern Rajasthan, where he became chief justice of its highest court.
For several reasons, the Arains were radicalised towards fundamentalist Islam and that created extremely conservative values among them. I know this because I myself was born in that group. I shall probe this and the overall trend of other Punjabi Muslim castes and biradaris towards ‘Arabisation’ in a forthcoming series.
Anyhow, among old-timers of Lahore, Shyama remained a legend. For a legend to evolve, it needs people who for some emotional and psychological reasons need to associate themselves with an individual. Each time I am in Lahore, I find some addition to the legend of Shyama. Yet, all this happens in gossip and whispers and not in media where there is a hush-up, even among those who write in films about Shyama.
This is because her fans, especially those from her biradari, cannot disown her because she attained fame and ruled hearts once upon a time. That in itself does not sit well with Islamism, but she violated some more taboos. She married the famous Bombay cinematographer, Fali Mistry, a Parsee. Her two sons have been raised as Parsees. One lives in New York and the other in London.
I talked to her in her Mumbai home on June 2, 2012 from Stockholm. The same day I had spoken to Kamini Kaushal who also lives in Mumbai. Shyama’s father Chaudhry Mehr Din was a fruit merchant who set up business in Bombay. Shyama’s family shifted to Bombay when she was only two. The megastar Dilip Kumar’s father was also a fruit merchant in Bombay, so those who are into novelty hunting can probe the connection between fruit and films. I would only stick to the facts.
Shyama was only a child when she left Lahore so she has no personal association or memories of Lahore. By the way, the same is true of the late Suraiya who died in Mumbai some years ago. In 2001, I was in Mumbai and knocked on her door, pleading for an interview but Suraiya refused it. On that occasion, Shyama was not in town.
And now, some gossip about Shyama’s Lahore connection. One is that she was at college in Lahore and then went to Bombay. Another, that she was engaged to Chaudhry Abdullah, popularly known as Chaudhry Thhailla of Mozang, Lahore. Another is that she visited Lahore in 1960 and was given a rousing reception.
According to Shyama, she visited Lahore only in the 1990s and stayed with Madam Noorjahan, whom she met in Bombay at the age of 10 when she visited the sets of Zeenat (1945). She was recruited to take part in the famous qawwali Aahein naa bhareen shikwa naa kiya by Noorjahan’s first husband, Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. She had come to the sets to watch the shooting with a bunch of schoolgirls and was offered the job. That gradually paved the way for more roles.
Shyama told me she had an old sister and brother who were settled in Lahore, but when she came in the 1990s, they were not alive anymore. Therefore she did not meet any relatives in Lahore. I know, however, that her cousin, Naseer Maliki, who worked at the Lahore Television Station, used to talk about her. He was a good friend of my brother-in-law.
On March 26, 2004, I met Ripudamman Singh in his shop at Rambagh Bazaar, Amritsar. He gave me an eyewitness account of what happened in that town in the 1947 riots (The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed; Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2012). He told me that in the early 1960s, he met a Muslim woman and her daughter who wanted to see their old home in Amritsar They had come from Lahore and were going to take the train to Bombay next day. He brought them home. She told him that she was a relative of Shyama and was going there to meet her. Hence, until then at least, Shyama did have contact with her Lahore relatives. All this had faded from her memory when I talked to her.
There was magic whenever Geeta Dutt lent her voice for Shyama. This vibrant singer and exuberant actress complemented each other perfectly through several films like Shrimatiji.
She was the impish girl in dungarees in Aar Paar (1954) and the qawwali singer in Barsaat ki Raat (1960). She had no problems playing the parallel heroine and more than held up her end with actresses like Meena Kumari and Madhubala. With her winning smile, Shyama was one of the best known faces of the 1950s and with her passing on Tuesday at the age of 82, another link with the golden era of Hindi cinema has ended.
Born Khurshid Akhtar in Lahore in 1935, Shyama began her film journey when she faced the camera as a pre-teen as part of the qawwali back up players in the Noor Jehan starrer Zeenat (1945). She then went on to play younger sister/sister-in-law roles in various films before getting more important roles by 1949-50 and breaking through in the early ’50s.
Though she never really got her due, at her peak, Shyama was perhaps the busiest actress of the decade playing different roles ranging from the heroine in mostly B films to second leads and even negative characters in the A-list ones, working with every actor or actress worth their salt.
With her gorgeous looks and talent, she was in great demand. It was Aar Paar, where she played the garage owner’s daughter who falls in love with the taxi driver Guru Dutt, that made her a bankable star.
Guru Dutt and Shyama in Aar Paar.
Some of her well known films of the time are Zia Sarhady’s Hum Log (1951), Bimal Roy’s Maa (1952), Guru Dutt’s Aar Paar, M.V. Raman’s Bhai Bhai (1956), L.V. Prasad’s Sharada (1957) – for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Bhabhi (1957), Chhoti Bahen (1959) also directed by Prasad, Do Behnen (1959) playing the double role of the good and bad sister, P.L. Santoshi’s Barsaat Ki Raat (1960), Zabak (1961) and Bahurani (1963). She teamed up with Johnny Walker in many comedy films centred around the actor.
In the mid 1960s, she shifted to doing character roles, ending her acting career of well over 200 films with J.P. Dutta’s Hathyar (1989).
I was lucky to meet Shyama thrice, nine years ago, as part of researching a project on Guru Dutt. Straight off, Shyama recalled her admiration for Noor Jehan and how happy she was being part of the qawwali in Zeenat, starring the singing star. She recalled the highlight of her trip to Pakistan in the 1960s where she met the ‘Mallika-e-Tarannum’ (as Noor Jehan was called), showing off the photograph of her and the melody queen together at a function.
She was all praise for Guru Dutt’s handling of actors in Aar Paar and among other things, she spoke about her deep friendship with fellow actress Nirupa Roy. But she also admitted that after the death of her husband, the well known cinematographer-director Fali Mistry, whom she married in 1953, and with whom she has three children – one of whom, Faroukh, is also a cinematographer – she did feel lonely at times with all of them leading their own lives. She spoke about the fun she had accompanying Mistry, who passed away in 1979, to Nepal when he was filming Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971) for Dev Anand. And talking of Dev Saab, she naughtily added that when she got a copy of his autobiography, she first went to the pages to read what he had written about his love story with Suraiya and then immediately thereafter to what he had to say about Zeenat Aman. That sense of humour that reflected in her face was very visible till her final years.
Shyama has been filmed in some wonderful songs. An early song where Shyama first made an impact is the second version of the main love duet, ‘Tu Mera Chand Main Teri Chandni’, from A.R. Kardar’s Dillagi (1949) starring Suraiya and Shyam. The original version was filmed on the stars, but this version on Shyama voiced by Geeta Dutt is less known.
Dillagi – ‘Tu Mera Chand’
By the early 1950s, in both Sazaa (1951) and Tarana (1951), Shyama found herself in strong supporting roles but as the one who loses heroes Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar to Nimmi and Madhubala respectively. Sazaa was directed by Shyama’s future husband, Fali Mistry, while Tarana, directed by Ram Darayani, is an out and out Madhubala show. Nevertheless, Shyama makes an understated but strong impact as the third point of the triangle as the woman who loves Dilip Kumar selflessly and is willing to marry him even though he tells he can never love her. The film, with music by Anil Biswas, has a lovely all female duet sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Sandhya Mukherjee (on Shyama) as both women declare their love for Dilip Kumar.
Tarana – ‘Bol Papihe Bol Re’
Talk of Shyama, and the first image of her that would probably come to mind to most old-timers, is her being dressed in dungarees and plaits, being wooed by Guru Dutt in the crime-thriller Aar Paar. In the film, Shyama plays Nikki, a Punjabi garage owner’s daughter romanced by ex-convict and taxi driver Kalu, enacted by Dutt. Her character is said to based on a girl that Guru Dutt had loved in his Calcutta days. Shyama recalled that she was extremely busy when the offer came from Guru Dutt but relented and made time or the film when Geeta Dutt met her personally and requested her to take on the role. With his flair for song-picturisations and inherent talent as a choreographer picked up from Uday Shankar’s dance school in Almora, ‘Sun Sun Sun Zalima’ is beautifully filmed by Guru Dutt inside an actual garage as the two lovers play out their romance. It is one of the most charming performances of Shyama’s career.
Aar Paar – ‘Sun Sun Sun Sun Zalima’
There was magic whenever Geeta Dutt lent her voice for Shyama. This vibrant singer and exuberant actress complemented each other perfectly through several films be it Shrimatiji, Aar Paar, Musafir Khana (1955) or Chhoo Mantar (1956). But if one song truly stood out in their collaboration, it has to be the beautiful ditty from Bhai Bhai composed by Madan Mohan, Ae Dil Mujhe Bata De. Even though Shyama played a negative character, the wife of conman Om Prakash who is after the already married Ashok Kumar for his money, few could blame Kumar from being led astray when Shyama turned on the charm fully with this song.
Bhai Bhai – ‘Ae Dil Mujhe Bata De’
Shyama also made a popular team with filmmaker M. Sadiq, comedian Johnny Walker and composer O.P. Nayyar in several films – Musafir Khana, Chhoo Mantar, Mai Baap (1957), Duniya Rang Rangeeli (1957) and Johnny Walker (1957). In the last, Walker played an alcoholic who pretends to abstain from alcohol making Shyama fall in love with him. The film had two lovely duets by Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt, filmed on Sheila Vaz and Shyama including the fabulous Thandi Thandi Hawa. Asha Bhosle, by now becoming Nayyar’s main singer, lends her voice for heroine Shyama, while Geeta Dutt sings for Vaz.
Johnny Walker – ‘Thandi Thandi Hawa’
One of the big successes of Shyama’s career was Barsaat Ki Raat, directed by P.L. Santoshi. From being just another face in the qawwali in Zeenat, Shyama gives a great peformance as a full fledged qawwali artiste in this love triangle where she ultimately loses the hero, Bharat Bhushan, to the leading lady of the film, Madhubala. Barsaat Ki Raat is deservedly known for some of the best qawwalis ever composed on the Indian screen by music director Roshan.
Barsaat Ki Raat – ‘Nigahe Naaz Ke’
Besides her Hindi films, Shyama also played the lead in some Punjabi films including two of the early hits of Punjabi cinema in post-Independent India, Posti (1951) and Koday Shah (1953). Posti, directed by K.D. Mehra, saw Amarnath, Manorama, Randhir and Majnu co-starring with Shyama, while Koday Shah, helmed by S.P. Bakshi, saw Daljit being introduced opposite her in the film. Both films had extremely popular soundtracks composed by Sardul Kwatra, who also composed music for the Shammi Kapoor-Shyama starrer Mirza Sahiban (1957) where Shyama reprised her idol, Noor Jehan’s role of the tragic Sahiban. Interestingly, in a role reversal, Noor Jehan, herself, would play Shyama’s role in the Pakistani remake of Chhoo Mantar.
Koday Shah – ‘Chad De Tu Mera Dupatta’
Karan Bali is a filmmaker based in Mumbai who is also the co-founder of Upperstall.com, a website on cinema of the sub-continent.
