Edwina (Part 3): Her Fellow Dancers

Tom and Edwina’s fabulous guest posts on Edwina’s career as a dancer in the Hindi film industry of the 50s and 60s: part 3, about the people whom Edwina danced with. If you haven’t already read the first two posts, click here to read post 1 (a short biography of Edwina) and here for Edwina’s reminiscences on the actors, actresses and choreographers of  Hindi cinema’s Golden Age.

(As before, Tom’s words in this article are formatted in blue; Edwina’s words remain in black). Over to Tom:

In this article we’ll get to know the people with whom Edwina worked, we’ll see what they looked like, and we’ll view videos that feature each of them. If you enjoy the films of the 1950’s and 60’s, then you’ve seen these people before. By now you should already be able to pick Edwina out from the crowd. By the time this article is done you should also be able to do the same for such people as Oscar, Pamela, Herman, Teresa, and many others. These are the people that livened up the dances and made them ‘zing’. Without them the dances wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as they were. In addition to being in the songs and dances, they often were also used in a dance setting where there might not be a song associated with it, but the plot was being developed. I’m referring to dances set in clubs and homes where Edwina’s group provided the background to the hero meeting the heroine, or maybe where some nefarious plot was being hatched.

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Edwina (Part 2): A Cast of Characters

Continuing from where we left off in the last post: the second instalment of the four-part guest posts by Tom Daniel and Edwina Lyons about Edwina’s life in the Hindi film industry of the late 50s and the 60s… (as before, Tom’s writing is in blue, Edwina’s in regular black font).

Where the first article was about Edwina’s life so far, this one and the next will cover the people she encountered during her nearly ten year career in the movies. Of course, the first thing I wanted to know when I began asking questions was what she could tell me of the famous stars with whom she danced. In spite of my frequent requests, she refused to make anything up just to suit me and always said that she didn’t know anyone. Apparently there was a very real hierarchy within the movie business and stars didn’t mingle much with dancers and dancers didn’t mingle much with extras. In addition, our convent educated young miss (and later mrs.) was painfully shy and never dared push herself on anyone, famous or not. So this first part will consist mostly of random observations she gave me when I asked about various well known stars after seeing her in dances with them. 

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Edwina: A Short Biography (Part 1)

A few months back, I got an e-mail from Tom Daniel, the man who’s been the brains, the initiative and most of the work behind some of the most wonderful song compilations I’ve come across, ever. Tom wondered if I would like to host a series of guest posts about  Edwina Lyons, the dancer who was there, smiling and pretty, in so many films from the 60s.

I leaped at the offer, of course. We’d have liked to publish the posts to coincide with Edwina’s birthday in July, but that couldn’t happen because this blog was in the middle of a complicated linked-posts project. But better late than never, right? So, a belated happy birthday to a very lovely lady (and, as you’ll see in this and the next three posts, an amazingly vibrant, lively and strong person too).

Happy reading!

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Announcing the Answers – and the Winners!

Ever since I announced the classic Hindi cinema quiz last week, though I’ve published no new posts, I’ve had a lot of traffic on my blog – and a large amount of it to the quiz post. Thank you, everybody, who commented on it, gave up on it (!), and – very especially – sent in answers. Even if they weren’t all correct, even if they were just wild guesses. Your enthusiasm touched me and encouraged me. You’re the reason I keep this blog alive. Thank you.

Okay, we’ll get around to the winners in a little while, but first, the answers:

Q1. In the film Detective (1958), what is the profession of the character played by Pradeep Kumar?
Answer: A magician. Anu was the only one who came close – she thought he might be a street entertainer. (If you listen to the song Aankhon pe bharosa mat kar, duniya jaadoo ka khel hai – “Don’t believe all you see, this world is a magical show” – it does contain a hint).
The detective in the film is actually the father of the character Mala Sinha plays.

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… And a revised quiz

All right, we had some hiccups with the original ‘Classic Bollywood’ quiz, because some readers got confused about how to submit answers. Never mind. I always have more trivia up my sleeve! So, an updated quiz. Forget about the last one; I’ve already posted the answers to most of those questions, at the end of the post.

What I’m doing is: I’m changing most of the questions (basically, the questions people didn’t get right). And here’s a mostly-new quiz.

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How about a ‘Classic Bollywood’ quiz?

To begin with: don’t bother with this quiz; it isn’t valid any more (see my next post for the quiz that’s now THE quiz). You can scroll down to the end of this post to see the answers to most of the questions (the ones that didn’t get correctly answered are part of the latest quiz).

But first, an announcement regarding a mini project this blog’s been on.

Back in May this year, I set a target for myself: to create a series of posts, each of which would be linked to the post preceding it, and the post succeeding it, in some way or the other. Posts could share common themes, genres, crew (directors, writers, actors and actresses, whatever), or – well, just about any logical connection. I decided I’d continue until I either:

(a) Ran out of ideas, or
(b) Closed the loop – that is, ended up with a post that somehow connected with the post that began the series.

So here we are. The post I began with was Ek Saal (1957), which starred Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. The post I published last week was Mahal (1949), also starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. Loop closed.

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Mahal (1949)

Since my last post was about my uncle, the guitarist David Vernon Kumar, it seemed appropriate to devote this post to one of the films for which he played. Mahal, made when my uncle was about 20 years old, featured the hauntingly melodious Aayega aanewaala, the song that shot Lata Mangeshkar into the limelight – also a song, which, if you listen carefully, has some beautiful guitar notes. Played by my Vernie tau.

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Two Reviews of The Eighth Guest

My latest book – The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries (released in August 2011) – has already begun to receive some reviews. Read on for a couple of excerpts.

The first, by film-maker, writer and blogger Batul Mukhtiar:

“… For anyone who is fascinated by Mughal monuments, clothes, way of life, these detective stories are a pleasure to read…

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Introducing ‘Kumar Sahib’

After having waxed so long and eloquent about my parents, my sister, my cousin, and a couple of other relatives (not to mention servants!) in the context of our love for cinema – it’s time to focus on the one link my family does have to cinema. The one person from our family who made it to the Hindi cinema industry in Bombay, back in the golden years.

David Vernon Liddle, who called himself David Vernon Kumar. People in the industry used to call him ‘Kumar Sahib’, and he was my father’s elder brother.

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My Family and Other Film Fanatics

…with due apologies to Gerald Durrell.

Since my review of Aan consisted to a large extent of my family’s almost constant commentary on the film, I figured it was time to introduce you to them – and show you what we’re all about, especially when it comes to watching, appreciating, and mangling cinema.

This is an early shot of the Liddles:

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