Video- varies from excellent to very good with a 7.5 to 8 bit rate transfer throughout. Audio- varies from poor to outstanding. Exceptional main menu graphics.
The song menu features moving images of all the songs, and when you select a tune you are treated to a special moving graphic before the song appears.
The highlights of the dvd are: Chaiya Chaiya (Dil Se), Sona Sona (Major Saab), Mehfil Mein Baar (Soldier) and Hai Re Hai Rabbha (Jeans) for their excellent video and 5.1 dolby.
The weakest selections are: Didi Tera Dever Deewana (HAHK) for it's poorly mixed and distorted audio whether you listen in 5.1 or stereo (Platinum Edition audio overhaul is a must), Awaaz Do Humko (Dushman), Pardesi Pardesi (Raja Hindustani), and Tu Shayar Hai (Saajan) are all plagued with noisy, muffled soundtracks. In closing, it's obvious that a lot of attention and detail was spent on the video quality and the main menu graphics. However, it also appears that the audio was ignored and recorded as-is, resulting in a sonic hodge-podge grab-bag. Recommended, but with reservations.. Irwin Marin
Bhangra Dance hits - ? Producer , No subtitles
Picture quality -excellent
Sound- very good-no info on 5.1 etc.
Must have disc for all that high energy dancing ! Just watching it will give you a workout ! Hope its not pirate , sound could have been recorded with a bit higher volume but is still very good.
An amazing 25 hits ! from Daler Mehndi . Bhuppi, Malkit Singh, Bally Sagoo , Rageshwari, Sukbir , Sereo Nation, Nitin Bali , Milka Singh , Baba Sehgal , Sukhbir , Gurdaas Maan , Jassi , Aziz , Udhan Singh , Tabun .
A bevy of beautiful girls to gawk at -the best one is in red in No. 23 . 25 hit song videos for $25 , cant be beat . And of course the DVD player functions as a CD as well so one can have this disc for parties . With machine prices falling to less than $300 , DVD is set to take off in a very big way. What I would like is a DVD of all the Bhangra hits from movies - eg Daag , BMCM etc
One of the reasons Daler Mehndi is so popular is that he dresses in traditional Punjabi silk costumes and that is appealing to the eye . The others wear t shirts and jeans and dont stand out .
The best of these 25 videos are those as in Hindi songs tell a complete story in the lyrics and picturization for eg look at the one where the girl prefers the pub scene in dance and is then gradually won over to the Punjabi one.
Bhangra could be the most fun way to do aerobics. Its MY IDEA and if anybody starts these classes I want my CUT !!..
Chinagate - 1998 -English subtitles -Eros DEI
Picture quality -excellent
Sound - Perfect ! -Dolby 5.1
Based on the seven Samurai
Mamta , Om Puri , Denzgopa , Urmilla
What joy to hear such perfect sound ! The song Chama chama is excellent . Menu selection superb . One must give credit to the ever inventive people at DEI who are always thinking of new ways of presenting the info . Here for example in the song menu three little pictures come and after a few seconds each of the little picture starts playing and the chama chama song starts - Great !
However a couple of brickbats -there is no display information so that one doesnt know how far one is into the movie but the chapter search back does work . Also the last memo button is non functional so you cant stop the movie and resume at the same place ( the DVD machine will remember 5 such DVDs) .
Some movies have started dropping the Urdu name in the titles - a pity because the movies are more Urdu than Hindi but here the Hindi name has been dropped as well ! The miseducated elite will kill the language they make their living from if they are not careful .
Apart from that it is great to see the 3D desert western effects and background music in the titles , always a pleasure when a company takes such pains as first impressions are vital .
Urmilla is fantastic in that 'chama chama' song -she wore about 20kilos of gold jewellery apparently and still danced well ! Mamta is the main heroine but as she told the scandal magazines , the director Santoshi cut out her songs and dances when she refused to sleep with him . And Mamta can dance well - remember Jo jaye le aye from Ghatak and the ones in Qila ? A few more songs and dances would have made the movie a big hit.
This is the story of seven men -misfits but brave out to nab a killer bandit -so ferocious that vultures accompany him everywhere ! Subtitling seems good . Highly recommended.Another interesting scene in this movie is the stampede of hundreds of Indian white bulls . Even with wicked curved horns they dont really look that fierce. The movie really is compelling watching and if they had few more songs - or put them in now - it could become a classic like Sholay . Jagira is not as endearing as Amjad Khan - rape and killing is OK and expected from dakus but not what he does in here .
The background Western military music is fantastic . It is good to watch with the subtitles on -how many of us know that future in Urdu is 'mustaqabil' or nature in Hindi is 'prakriti' ?
Sunil would identify with one of the characters in this movie -Amrish Puri . There is an undercurrent of humor throughout -when the Police Officer lets the big bad bandit go he explains to the audience 'its best to stay on their right side . Who knows when they will turn into politicians ? !' Of course with reference to Phoolan Devi of Bandit queen and some other current politicians.
The still step on the DVD is great to have a closer look at some of the dancing girls in the chama chama song . The amount of money Bollywood is spending on sets is amazing . They even spent millions painting the huge rocks on the hills pink to give it an authentic look and there is one very nice one with two huge pillars on either side and a wedge shaped stone at the top in between forming the bridge and the bandit rides underneath the bridge . It must be a prop , I cant imagine how they would have cut those huge stones but it is very good .
The Eros logo is on throughout but it is in such transparent grey color that one hardly notices it . One of my friends has a DVD without the macro protection and it would be an idea to make a VHS of the music from different movies - 'Chama chama ' form this one for example . Has anybody done it and were the results good ?
I still think that in multiplexes with four or five screens in India or the West if they have musical show on one of the screen with all the songs and dances of four films -it would be a great hit and revive the fortunes of the cinemas ..Mo
I AGREE! Chamma Chamma has it all- great dancing, choreography, direction, music. Urmilla has never danced better or looked sexier. A great performance. Sounds GREAT in 5.1 dolby, too... Irwin Marin
Prem Aggan - 1998 - No subtitles -PEI(post entertainment
incorporated)
Fardeen Khan , Meghna Kothari
Picture quality -Very good -glorious full screen
Sound - Very good -Dolby 2
The last memo button comes in very useful watching 3 hrs button as one can stop a movie and resume at the same place next day .
This one has interesting story - in just the first half hour I have seen , Meghna is a girl who is a quiet and a bit weird .likes to challenge death - runs her sports car head on into a truck , persuades her boyfriend to leap with her over a 300ft cliff (not kidding ! ) etc. Dialog is excellent .
There is also a nice scene of a rotweiler dog being set on a man and good karate action .
The best song of course is with the foreign girls and looking at their size and shape they must be Australian . Many of the actresses ( and the females seem to be losing the language faster than the males for some reason) have their voices dubbed - Pooja Batra , Sridevi , Rambha etc. and really there is no reason why one of these Australian girls cannot star in a Hindi movie and have their voices dubbed .
Anybody with story ideas ? Would love to see them doing Qawwalis etc. guaranteed superhit ..Mo
Now with English subtitles, enhanced picture quality, and improved main menu graphics. Video picture quality-excellent. Audio- has outstanding 5.1 Dolby Digital.
Dil Se, one of the very best films of 1998, has now been re-releaed by EROS/DEI in an improved Platinum Edition version. They've restored the missing opening credits, which contains an intriguing, though brief, uncredited song as the credits roll by.
Suprisingly, the print used for this version is the same as before. That annoying vertical scratch at the end of "Chal Chaiya Chaiya" has been digitally repaired as much as possible. Although a new "Chaiya," from a better print, would have been preferable. Obviously, a lot of work was done to improve the flaws of the previous release.
This dvd's picture is much brighter and sharper with the scratches and blemishes minimized as much as possible. And for whatever it's worth, the dvd's bit rate has increased from a 5.5 to 6 rate to a 7.5 to 8 rate. Which is the amount of data per second compressd on the dvd, and which will arguably result in a better picture.
The audio, outstanding in the first Dil Se dvd, sounds even better in the Platinum Edition. The audio appears to have been recorded at a higher level. And the rear speaker sound output is even more dynamic than before. Improved main menu graphics also add to the dvd's appeal.
On the downside, EROS/DEI has once again made subtitle access a chore using the main menu and an impossibility via the remote. In closing, Dil Se-Platinum is a must have dvd with repeat viewing value especially for it's fantastic music (Jiya Jhalay etc.) by A.R. Rahman and great choreagaphy (Satrangi Re etc.) by Farah Khan. Cinematography, direction by Mani Ratnam, and acting by SRK, Koirala, and Zinta are all first-rate. Highly recommended... Irwin Marin
Bandhan (1998)- English subtitles. 165 minutes. Dolby Digital 2 channel mono.
Starring Salman Khan, Jackie Shroff, Shweta Menon, Rambha, Ashwini
Bhave.
Video is excellent. Audio is very good.
"Bandhan" is a melodramatic and sexy film of the bonds between brother (Khan) and sister (Bhave), husband (Shroff) and wife (Bhave) that are tested to the breaking point by outside forces (the stunning Shweta Menon, who steals the movie as the seductress Vaishali), and the struggle to maintain those bonds.
"Bandhan" has Khan in some exciting action scenes and features some fine songs, especially the excellent "Tere Naina" and the risque dance by Menon of "Dil Kis Ko." The video is an excellent, bright transfer with few faults. It's a shame that "Bandhan" wasn't made with 5.1 or stereo sound, yet the mono soundtrack is very good and clear considering.
"Bandhan" is worth viewing on dvd for the memorable music and interesting performances by Shroff and Bhave, and especially for Shweta Menon's sensuous portrayal of the "fallen woman" Vaishali. Released by EROS/DEI.. Irwin Marin
This is a brilliant movie set in a prosperous Indian village . Love the way the women and men wear traditional dresses and look so glamorous . I have seen an hour of it so far and loved every minute -great comedy throughout .
Shweta Menon looks great although her skin color is very light , a complete change from Ishq . Subtitling is excellent , I could spot only one mistake -when her brother says , seeing all the landlords who have come to woo her - they are bleating like goats do before being cut - the last two words are left out by mistake .
The translator is really good and I am glad he has done it literally although I think it sometimes can give rise to unintentional humor as for eg. when Shweta the vamp asks the landlord -'Whats the matter ? , you are staring at me as if you want to eat me !' - I dont think the words mean the same in Hindi and English !
I rented this movie from the local video store but will certainly buy it . Its a great one to show friends. One useful feature is to discuss movies and songs by mentioning the exact time the event happens , as on a DVD there is a time display .
Some other bits worth mentioning about B is the hut where Salman is raised - a kind of Sanyasi ( hut where people retire to in the jungle)- really nice. I loved also the dirty look the horse gives the vamp ! .
At 55 minutes look at the temple steps , which must be half a mile long ascending the hills . I think what South Asian cultures do have is an eye for beauty - vastu shastra etc. Ordinary drab white stone temples steps have been cleverly painted with a horizontal red stripe on the right and left holds to give a strikingly beautiful effect . Wish the titles would tell us where this temple is , so that people can go and holiday there.
At 74' there is a double swing which has again been beautified with a velvet green seat and back . Lovely . Who is the dialog writer ? , there is an undercurrent of humor througout . For eg Salman's father tries to reassure his fiancee with some Urdu shairi 'Dark clouds of sorrow will go away , the tears on your lashes will dry , it will rain happiness ...' And his sceptical wife interrupts him 'When will all that happen?' and when he cant answer says' This girl is crying her eyes out and all you can talk is nonsense !
She also goes to the rich man's house and asks 'Richie rich ' to come out , actually she says something equivalent but the translator obviously has knowledge of both American and Indian culture and has done a fantastic job . Now for heaven's sake do the songs and complete the job -there are only four I think in this movie.
At 144' she uses more choice swear words - a long string . This movie is really colorful and I just wish I had had the chance to see it on the big screen. With such excellent subtitiling all people will really enjoy it , Highly recommended.DVD has 25% better picture quality than LD and you dont strain your back carrying them.Just loved the look and feel of this movie - art direction. Also liked the paintings in the opening titles but they dont say who wrote the dialog or did the art direction .
It has obviously been shot in India and not Switzerland judging from the beautiful temples , the thick trunked trees , with multi above the ground roots , and the superb furniture in the Thakur's house . The movie actors have to be very fit - many including Akshay , Ajay and Salman do many of their own stunts -although Salman refuses to go through a glass door as he says people always get cut . I have actually seen a person in real life come through a glass window - he didnt seem to come to any harm .
Even the villains are good . Gajendra at 67 minutes when Salman unleashes a backward Karate kick flies through the air doing a double or triple somersault and sailing over a vegetable cart. These well choreographed fights I find more appealing than Kung fu which is more shouting than fighting and is another reason these movies are so popular the world over .
The dialog is by Anwar Khan and it is superb . One thing that is surprising is that these writers are able to convey the language in Hindu temple rites and festivals so well .
At 27' there is a great striptease kind of dance by Shweta Menon . Its almost as good as the one in Mrityudand . I dont think the villages in India have these tent covered dances where all the men are seated round the raised dias platform - a bit like the male striptease shows in Las Vegas - only on a much bigger scale . It is something that villages could copy from Bollywood if only to reverse the migration to towns. These movies make the culture as much as they show it.
The background score is very good and tugs at the emotions - something that is missing in Arzoo . The yellow and red mixtures that Rambha wears is also very eye catching.. Bandhan might actually have been inspired by Monica . What happens to a family when a rich poweful brings his mistress to stay in the house.
Is there any significance to the Gold reflectance on discs as on this one ? Do they have better picture quality ?.. The background score by Surendar Sodhi is fantastic . the art direction by R Verman superb , the cinematography excellent and the gorgeous costumes by Sadanand Nagraj out of this world .
Just do a freeze frame at the temple scene . Such beautiful color co-ordiantion , the pubescent pink purples worn by the vamp , the deep orange holy hues by the devoted wife , the colorful red and yellow mixture by the fun loving Rambha , even the villain has a marvellous chocolate silk outfit . It is examining scenes like these in detail that a DVD player comes in so useful..
Now single sided with dual layering. Video picture is much brighter, sharper and without the blemishes or speckles that plagued the previous release. Nice upgrade.
The 5.1 dolby remastering is a huge improvement over the 4-channel DD of the first one, in which the center channel sound was missing, and adds alot to the enjoyment of the movie and songs ("I Love My India" and "Meri Mehbooba" in particular).
The main menu graphics are colorful and fun to use especially the chapter index and song menu, where instead of a still picture you get a moving image of each possible selection. Unfortunately, EROS/DEI has once again made remote control use of the subtitles impossible.
You have to select from the main menu. And speaking of subtitles, wouldn't this have been a good time for EROS/DEI to try putting subtitles on the songs as well, since this is a platinum edition? And couldn't they have put a few more extras: filmographies, biographies, audio commentary, deleted scenes, etc.
As American dvd special editions do. Maybe I'm nitpicking, because overall I'm very pleased with the quality upgrade they did with "Pardes." Hope they do as good a job on their upcoming Platinum dvds- "Dil Se" HAHK and "Sholay."..Irwin Marin
80 minutes. Released by Indus. Video and Audio varies from good to very good. Full and widescreen.
Songs are taken from 100 Days, Jaan, Rudaali, and Souten Ki Beti. Contains some very good songs from an early Madhuri film "100 Days" from 1991. Particularly the ghost song "Pyar Tera Pyar Khinch Laya." Sung by Lata, "100 Days" music composed by Raam Laxman of HAHK fame.
Other highlights are a bouncy dance number "Aai Bo Woh Kaata" from "Jaan" and the lovely Rekha in "Me Bus Patni Hu" from "Soutien Ki Beti." BTW, shouldn't a dvd titled " Love Songs" contain only love songs? Doesn't matter, this a fun disc worth repeated viewings. .Irwin Marin
Superdigital, 90 minutes, 2 channel DD stereo and mono.
18 film songs. Video quality varies, but is mostly excellent. Audio quality changes song to song from excellent to good to poor. Song 5- "Tu Mere Dil Mein Basja" has outstanding stereo seperation and is the best sounding song on the dvd.
Song 16- "Aaj Mein Upar" is a sonic mess (bass distortion). Video transfer of the song is also substandard.
The Magnificent 7 are: SRK, Govinda, Kajol, Salman Khan, Juhi Chawla, Anil Kapoor, and Madhuri Dixit. Amitabh Bachchan also appears in 2 songs. The fourth in the Superdigital song compilation series, this dvd repeats one song from Vol.1- "Tere Bina Dil Lagta."..Irwin Marin
Eros DEI -?1985 English subtitles - Digital mono Picture quality -very good Sound -very good
Amitabh , Sridevi
A movie about the warring tribes of Afghanistan - beautifully photographed high shots . The music is a mixture of Hindi and Afghan tunes . Later on it shifts to Nepal . Those who have seen the movie please add a comment .
Is it possible in the more advanced countries where they have teletext to put the subtitles as an option when broadcasting from DVD ?. Some cable channels have awful picture quality and if they started playing DVD with optional subtitles instead of pirated VHS they could increase the audience tremendously . I imagine you would have to play a second DVD to take off the subtitled information.
Its good that DEI is bringing out good prints of these classics although I wish they would make them full screen ! Again one has to fiddle with the color , contrast and brightness buttons as the DVD settings seem to be different from normal TV but once you do that the effect is magical .
One comment about Satya . Another excellent song is the wedding one ' Girl of my dreams' very well danced by Manoj Bhajpai . Its the sort of thing one would see at weddings rather than the more elaborate ones shown in movies.The subtitling on Khuda Gwah is very good and very accurate
I think its the same person who did MKS . Quality shows ! It really is a tremendous way of learning Urdu words which we all hear but have never got round to figuring out what they mean - eg Murraba , Parcham etc.
A minor criticism -sometimes a line or two is missed completely as for eg when AB says here comes my maut ( death) looking at Sri devi about 15mins into the movie but still it is a delight to watch a movie with such excellent subtitling and learn all the words . Sadly for some strange reason - i dont think DEI WANT these movies to get a big market ! - the songs are not subtitled although they are pretty easy to do .
Blockbuster wont store them as they will get endless complaints but if they did subtitle the songs they could make a guaranteed profit from every film mastered.English is a wonderful language with a huge vocabulary and so it should be easy to do literal translation from another language . For me the best thing about Bollywood is the superb Urdu dialog , it really it stays in your brain for days and if the DVD producers want their discs to be commercialy succesful they need to pay attention to accurate subtitling - of the songs the most important part but also of the rest of the movie .
For example in this movie when a chief says to AB I am going to arrest you he replies ' Khuda ke bande ko Shatan kya jail karege' - ' Man of God will be arrested by Satan ? ! ' The translator who has done a very good job however does this one as 'How will you arrest a good man?' Weak and not accurate and loses its punch . That' why I say do it literally - more accurate and more fun and punchy.
Bollywood movies can take years to make unlike Hollywood ones which are completed within months . One took 14 years - Mughle Azam I think and they had to change the heroine as she had grown too old ! - it was a superhit . The reason is the tremendous attention to detail in each frame . Just look at the background scenery , camera angles . In this movie even the credits are done extraordinarily beautifully .This movie was made to please the Afghans but probably only gave them a headache . Do Pathans shout all the time they are talking ?
And without comedy breaks it becomes too tedious -all this melodrama , ones blood pressure goes up and up until it ends in a stroke . It breaks the Bollywood rule that after every death there must be a comedy sketch to restore the mood .
I felt compelled to fast forward after the interval an luckily with the DVD one can do it in 20 seconds , stopping to put the still frame on some of the breathtakingly beautiful mountain scenes from Afghanistan.Of the 150 Bollywood movies made each year with an average of 5 songs each - about 700 songs are composed each year and even if 20 or 30 are copied tunes its a small and insignficant amount and in fact serves a useful function of bringing the best music to the Indian masses who wouldnt see Hollywood movies or listen to Western music anyway.
They should of course acknowledge that but that might lay them open to copyright laws and Indian producers probably couldnt afford the fees .
Just after the oye oye song -copied from an American singer - there is a scene at the jail where the prisoner is being difficult and the rich man tells him to shut up or 'the officer will send you to hell '. Thats the way its translated . What he really says is more colorful 'shut up or the officer will take your skin off , make shoes out of it and make you wear them !'
Once again a plea to the translators , leave the words as they are and dont sanitise them and lose all the charm of the movie . If they do this throughout it does ruin the ambience of the movie..Mo