Ep2: Migration In Our Popular Culture, Jaidev and A Surprise At The End
Release Date: 08/02/2020
Ep 10: What India Gave To The World & The Incandescent Talent Of Renu Saluja
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
When we speak about India and its relationship with the world, we often focus on what we have received from the world. But what about what we have given to it? This doesn’t get covered as much. Even when it does, we go to the extremes. Either we were a vishwaguru or our only contribution is ‘zero’. Is there a more nuanced view? That’s what we explore in this episode. What have we given to the world? From the stories of our mythology that have parallels in Persian and Greek myths, the versions of Ramayana and Mahabharata in Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia, the spread of Buddhism from...
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Ep 9: Swanand Kirkire On Popular Culture & S.P. Balasubrahmanyam - A Voice For The Ages
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Aimless conversation is therapy. It is good for the soul. We drifted a lot in this episode. Because we had Swanand Kirkire as our guest. With Swanand we wandered all over the cultural landscape of India – the bylanes of Indore and its usal-poha, the ragas of Kumar Gandharv, the social commentary of Dada Kondke films, the multi-faceted genius of B.V. Karanth or the forgotten lyricism of Kamlesh Pandey. Swanand’s genius stems from his deep immersion in our popular culture and it shone through in this 2-hour long conversation. What also came across was his honesty, his conscious engagement...
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Ep8:Food In Our Lives & Mallika-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.” - Oscar Wilde Good food does that and more. We talk about food in this episode – its salience in our celebrations, its magic in evoking memories, being a marker of our identity, in experiencing the divine and as an expression of love. There’s no stopping our appetite to talk about food. From Gandhi’s letters and Vivekananda’s wanderings to Naipaul’s distaste and Rushdie’s memories, in the chaats of Assi Ghaat, the mahaprasad of Puri, in films like The Lunchbox and Maya Bazaar – food is everywhere in...
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Ep7 Finding Art In Bureaucracy & The Renaissance Man That Was Salil Chowdhury
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy. —Franz Kafka We don’t take such a dim view. There’s more to bureaucracy than the dreary reign of rules, files and approvals. We discuss the portrayal of bureaucracy in popular culture in this episode. We talk and talk – of the dry humour in Yes Minister, about Kafkaesque nightmares, on the satire in Krishan Chander’s Jamun Ka Ped, about Harishankar Parsai’s vyangya, of Madna in English August or Travancore of T.S. Pillai and the darkness in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. Bureaucracy didn’t bore us, for sure....
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Ep6 The Lifeline Of India And That Magical Sparsh Of Sai Paranjpye
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Trains. Watching them, travelling in them or waiting for them. Trains offered us an escape. Watching the world pass by through its windows, the fleeting glimpses of incomplete lives outside or falling asleep to their rhythmic sways. We discuss trains and the long journeys we made in them.
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Ep5: The Voice From The Sky And The 'King of Forest' Among Composers - Vanraj Bhatia
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
“I'd sit alone and watch your light My only friend through teenage nights And everything I had to know I heard it on my radio” (Radio Ga Ga: Roger Taylor, Queen, 1984) We couldn’t agree more. Radio was our friend. It united us. It forged our national identity. And it brought the world to our homes. It is often said politics, films and cricket are what bind India. Radio made that cohesion possible. In today’s episode we talk about Radio and its profound impact on our society. The iconic mournful signature tune and its history; the sabha on the eve of our independence, the legends who...
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Ep 4: The Variegated Shades of Truth And V.K. Murtyh - Guru Dutt's 'Eyes'
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Twain wrote: “The Lie, as a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Muse, man's best and surest friend, is immortal, and cannot perish from the earth.” We examine this immortality of the Lie and its bete noire, the Truth, in today’s episode. The legend of Ashwathama, the contribution of Dharmvir Bharti to our intellectual landscape, the unreliable narrator of Andhadhun, the straight-as-an-arrow Dharmendra in Satyakam and the lies in the fiction of Premchand and RK Narayan – we look for the role of deception and honesty in all of them. Is truth...
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Ep3: Rains In Our Culture And Mangesh Desai - A Forgotten Legend Of Indian Cinema
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Rains! The smell of the wet earth. In today’s episode we discuss rains in our culture. From Kalidasa, Tagore, T.S. Pillai to Raj Kapoor, Ramsays and Mani Ratnam. We discuss the influence of rains in our books, films and songs. In spotlight, we turn our attention to an artist who Satyajit Ray called indispensable. We close with our usual recommendations on what we are reading, writing and listening to these days.
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Ep2: Migration In Our Popular Culture, Jaidev and A Surprise At The End
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
02 August, 2020
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China in Indian popular culture, Haqeeqat and Manohari Singh
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
In this first episode, Pavan and Subrat talk about their backgrounds, China’s presence (or absence) in our popular culture, the legendary instrumentalist of Hindi film music, Manohari Singh, and what they are reading, listening and watching. They talk about how China appears in films like Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani, Haqeeqat, Bhool Na Jaana and Neel Aaksher Neechey. They discuss trivia about the combination of Madan Mohan and Kaifi Azmi, the ensemble cast and the roles of Bhupinder, Balraj Sahni and Jayant in the making of the Haqeeqat. They consider the invasion of Chinese martial...
info_outline02 August, 2020
शुक्रिया दोस्तो,
हाल-चाल ठीक-ठाक है के पहले एपिसोड को समय देने के लिये और आपकी प्रतिक्रियाओं के लिये बहुत सारा शुक्रिया.
कोरोना काल ज़ारी है, और इस हफ़्ते दूसरा एपिसोड लेकर हम हाज़िर हैं जिसमे इस बार की बात-चीत का विषय है मजदूरों का पलायन, हमारे देश में कोरोना काल की सबसे मार्मिक घटनाओं में से एक, और बड़े स्तर हुआ पे ये पलायन हमें विभाजन के समय हुए बड़े पलायन की याद दिलाता है..
इस एपिसोड में पॉपुलर कल्चर ने किस तरह से विभिन्न किस्म के पलायनों का दस्तावेजीकरण/डॉक्यूमेंटेशन किया है, इस पर चर्चा करते हुए धरती के लाल, दो बीघा ज़मीन, सुबर्नरेखा जैसी फ़िल्मों के साथ साथ ये चर्चा भी कि शैलेन्द्र ने अपने गीतों में इस पलायन को जितनी बखूबी से पेश किया है वो एक सांस्क्रूतिक विचारक के तौर पर उनकी कला को एक नया आयाम देता है. स्पॉट-लाइट में इस बार संगीतकार जयदेव हैं जिनकी ३ अगस्त को १०२वीं जयंती है. इसके अलावा हमेशा की तरह बातें हाल में पढ़ी किताबों की और देखी फ़िल्मों की.. और अन्त में एक खास पेशकश..
Friends,
We are grateful for the love and the feedback you shared with us for our first episode.
In today’s episode we talk about migration. The pandemic has led to the exodus of millions of our fellow citizens from our cities. We look at migration in popular culture and trace its origins from the times of Saigal, Mehboob Khan, Ritwik Ghatak, Ray, Bimal Roy and Raj Kapoor. We discuss the poetry of Shailendra that captured the lived experience of migrants and the gentle yet deep impact his words had in our cinema and wider culture. In our spotlight section, we profile Jaidev – a music director who often doesn’t get his due despite an oeuvre that’s rich in Indian music heritage and quality. On the eve of his birth anniversary, we pay our tribute to his genius through films like Hum Dono, Gaman, Gharonda and Reshma Aur Shera. We close with our what we are reading, listening and watching section. And we have a surprise guest at the end.
LinkOuts
Books
A House For Mr. Biswas (V.S. Naipaul); Interpreter Of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri); Jhoota Sach (a novel in 2 volumes by Yashpal); Gated Republic by Shankkar Aiyar; Dastan-e-Mughal-e-Azam (Rajkumar Keswani); Parakhnali (Akbar & Azam Quadri)
Films
Subarnarekha (1965): The third part of Ritwik Ghatak’s partition trilogy
Roti (1942): A film by Mehboob Khan
Parakh (1960): A film by Bimal Roy
Songs
Babul Mora from Street Singer: K.L. Saigal
Jaidev Playlist by Pavan: small excerpts of immortal Jaidev melodies