Starring Rishi Kapoor, Sridevi, Vinood Khanna.
175 minutes.
Produced and directed by Yash Chopra. English subtitles on
dialogue.
Video is excellent but has occasional glitches.
Audio is fair Dolby
Digital 2 channel mono that unfortunately fails to clearly and
accurately reproduce the higher and lower frequencies of the memorable
soundtrack.
"Chandni" is a love story between Rohit (Kapoor) and Chandni (Sridevi) whose love is complicated by Rohit's upperclass, non-approving parents and by tragedy. Later, Lalit (Khanna) appears in Chandni's life and further threatens the future of Rohit and Chandni. "Chandni" is a Sridevi "tour-de-force," and she acts and dances brilliantly in it.
The songs by Shiv Hari are all exceptional (Especially "Tu Meri Chandni," and "Mere Haathon Mein"). The latter features outstanding dancing by Sridevi and singing by Lata Mangeshkar (Who cites the song as one of her 50 all-time favorites along with "Tere Mere Hothon Pe" in Zee Premiere magazine, May '99. It's a shame that EROS/DEI didn't attempt to upgrade the audio via 5.1 Dolby Digital, as they are reportedly doing to the mono "Mr. India," or by using the master tapes from the recording sessions to improve the sound of the songs. "Chandni" also contains haunting background music, which is used poignantly throughout the movie's more emotional scenes.
Although containing many memorable scenes, the highlight of the film is "Chandni's Dance." Sridevi's incredible, classical-style dance accompanied by a steady percussive beat. Brilliant. This dance alone is worth repeated viewings, and the price of the DVD.
Definitely recommended.
SUBTITLE UPDATE: It appears that Video Sound is now subtitling their dvds. "Virasat" and "Koyla" now have English subtitles. And Chinese and Japanese too! Unfortunately, still no subtitles on the songs. Both dvds have 5.1 audio, very good video and an excellent main menu choices ( especially "play all songs" and "star profile" filmographies).
"Aa Ab Laut Chalen" has now been officially released by Asian Video with English subtitles on the print. No subtitles on songs, however. The video, although very good is plagued by speckles and other signs of wear. Audio is good Dolby 2 channel. Avoid using song menu, as it may freeze your player, as it did mine. Irwin Marin
I rented Aarzoo yesterday and was really disappointed with the sound quality (and the video quality wasn't too good either). The sound distortion made it almost impossible to sit through the movie (and the fact that the movie itself was so stupid). My question is, are all Video Sound DVDs this bad? I mean, I'd heard good reviews of the quality of Kaun, Hits on DVD vol 5, Zakhm, etc. I really wanted to buy Video Sound's re-released Yes Boss and Virasat, both with English subtitles, but now I am reconsidering. Anyone care to enlighten me?..Zed
Zed wrote: are all Video Sound DVDS this bad? I don't have Arzoo, but IMHO, Koyla, Virasat, and Yes Boss have very good to excellent video and the best main menu that any DVD company offers.
The 5.1 Dolby has some problems. The rear channel speakers are too active. They either recorded them at too high a level or I suspect that they might be inadvertingly switching the front and rear channels during transfer of the audio to DVD. Otherwise, the audio is clear and dynamic. I didn't hear the distortion that Arzoo supposedly suffers from.
There is a problem in Virasat, one song has been recorded at a much higher level than the others. Still, even though they've got some kinks to work out, I wouldn't give up on Video Sound. At least they're trying to improve their product. Hopefully, they will have worked out these problems on future releases..Irwin
1986-Episodes 1-6 , English , French and
Spanish subtitles - Superdigital
Picture quality -Very good
Sound -Very good
Picture quality is not perfect like other Superdigital discs but much better than the reruns being shown on Zee TV .
One great section on this DVD is 'The making of the 104 part series ' where the director and the actors discuss their views . After great thought they picked a Muslim - Mansoor Ali Reza to write this great Hindu epic and he has done a superb job . Outstanding Hindi/Sanskrit language and because of the subtitles it is a great learning experience to pick up so many words to add to one's vocabulary .
They also showed the screen tests of those who failed to get picked as actors . Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two great Hindu epics - ancient stories of Kings and Dynasties . Of terrible wars . Ramayana is more of God Vishnu coming to earth doing his bit in killing some demons and going back but Mahahbharata is a story of humans - of their power plays , greed , treachery , valor , generosity , triumph over terrible circumstances .
The dialog is superb - will ring in your ears for days . Words of wisdom true for ever . The costumes , setting rich and gorgeous . Will put some more details later. A must have DVD for those who want to understand Hindu culture and way of thinking - as Orion will no doubt tell us !
Mehndi 1999 Post Entertainment - no subtitles
Rani , Faraz Khan
Picture quality -good
Sound -perfect - Dolby 2 channel
Two songs are on the lyrics page of ukindia .
The sound is truly outstanding on this movie .It is a very very good film showing the evils of the dowry system . A girl gets married with a small dowry because her husband and in laws think the parents are rich and can be touched for more later but all the wealth is in debt to the banks . There is one funny scene where she has had enough and takes the form of Durga - the Goddess who likes slaying a few bad demons .
So they start to inflict one indignity after another on her even trying to kill her . Her husband then gets implicated in the murder of a dance girl and an enemy eye witness who can clear his name demands that the wife Rani sleep with him for one night as payment . Should she save her no good husband and lose her virtue ?
Two songs are outstanding - the dancing girls at the Kotha and the comedy one where tunes from many of the recent hits - Border , Maachis , Bhangra etc, have been totutured with new lyrics in a setting where the 7 brothers and sisters of another bride come along to live with her and prevent the husband and wife coming together . That song alone is worth the price of the disc .
There is also a wedding song from HAHK with a petite but very beautiful Madhuri look alike . Pity it has no subtitles and the picture couldnt have been mastered by Superdigitial . Surely they can call those guys in as consultants ? With such good sound and excellent picture this could have become a must have DVD
A must buy! This is a very good transfer. I have never seen this film with a resplendant B/W print like the one on DVD. The opulence of the sets and the dresses is so apparent, as are the excellent lighting effects. Also, the DVD is very well packaged.
It has six trailers of Raj Khosla/Shakti Samanta films. It has a picture of the entire cast, a separate songs audio and video menu and a chapter menu. The 2-channel sound is very good. It is a dual layered disc. As far as the movie is concerned, there is not much that people don't know about. It is one of the classics with a performance by Meena Kumari that could be used as a yardstick for performances. The music by Hemant Kumar is excellent too. There are four very good songs by Asha and three superb songs by Geeta. Don't miss this one. You can get it for $23.
Anarkali:
A dump! What a nasty little product this one is. I feel cheated and I would love to give the manufacturer (Parag) a piece of my mind if I can get hold of their e-mail address. The print is decent, but not better than a good, original VHS print. The sound is annoying since it keeps fluctuating all the time. It has a list of songs and you can go to the songs randomly. Besides that there is NO other extras. I can't even "pause" or "fast forward" this disc! I thought that was a feature all DVDs had, but this one doesn't allow it! The other annoying this is the logo is posted on the lower right corner in blue and it is extremely distracting.
The movie itself is pretty horrific but the songs are totally out of this world. This is the best Lata/CR effort, and that was the only reason I bought this DVD. Don't waste your money on this one. But a good VHS copy instead, or just stick with the CD for the music. -- Cheers, Anil P. Hingorani
Fromwhat I understand from reading audio-video magazines, and from personalexperience, stereo CDs sound better than stereo DVDS. However, IMHOhaving 5 separate audio channels easily compensates for any shortcomingsdvd audio may have. The ambient sound effects and music are heard with much greater clarity in 5.1 Dolby when compared to stereo or mono. Aboutsong subtitles, as you already know, I coudn't agree more that song subtitling is needed.
Very helpful. Thanks. I even printed it out for whenever I watch the song. It was interesting to hear that the lyrics were as provocative as the dance . Urmilla: " This is my skirt..is expensive..Dont lay a hand on it"-Chinagate Irwin Marin
Rangeela DVD by Video sound has one great feature which should be copied by all South Asian producers . It can play all the songs in sequence . At most one watches a movie a couple of times but the songs can be seen endlessly and this feature will lead to greatly increased sales of DVDs . One can of course switch off the TV and just listen to the stereo. It would be interesting to hear from Irwin what he thinks of DVD sound -5.1 compared to normal CDs of the same movie . Subtitiling of the songs must be an added option . Since Hindi songs -or most of them -do tell a story - its quite often necessary to understand the words for greater enjoyment . For example one song has Amir Khan singing about Urmilla who really makes all of them sizzle -' I love her very much but am too scared to tell her - while I am agonizing about it I think somebody else is going to walk off with her '..
To reinforce his point about subtitling lyrics - a friend came visiting this weekend . He is white and the wife is Lebanese Arab and I put on Mohra for their seven year old daughter . She followed the movie avidly during the time the subtitles were on and was even laughing at the jokes but would lose interest during the songs as they are not subtitled . So if the DVD makers want their market potential to expand from the 2m South Asian market to the 250m American one they MUST subtitle the songs . There is no need to make the words ryhme - most English songs one doesnt understand all the words anyway ! but the viewers must get a sense of what the songs are trying to say . Imagine watching Wizard of Oz without being able to understand the words during the songs ! As a matter of interest is there ANY movie VHS or DVD which has had the songs subtitled ?.
Music Box - 20 songs
Media Digital Picture quality -variable from Okay to Excellent Sound quality -as above . Liked Amitabh's -Eir Bir , Sonu Nigam's -Bhangra top and a couple of others . Artist's featured - Amitabh, Lata, Abhijeet, ASha , Udit Narayan, Sonu, {ankaj Udhas , Stereo Nation , Sukhbir ,Hamayani, NFAK, Altaf Raja, Bally Sagoo, Talat Aziz , Piyush Soni, Usha Uthup, Anu Malik , AR Rehman..
Mr. Natwarlal (1979) -EROS/DEI-155 minutes-English subtitles. Amitabh Bachchan, Rehka, Amjad Khqan, Kader Khan. Video- excellent for a 20 year old film.
Most likely was transferred from the original film negative. Audio- acceptable, considering the limitations of a mono soundtrack. Perhaps the best-looking dvd of Bachchan made by EROS/DEI. Unfortunately, it is also by far the weakest movie of the previous Bachchan releases. "Mr. Natwarlal" is a very slow paced, poorly written and directed film .
A very overweight and bloated Amjad Khan fails to project any menace as the villain (Vicky). And despite the best efforts of Amitabh and Rekha, the film lacks the energy or excitement of most of Mr. Bachchan's films made during this period.
Amitabh makes his movie playback singing debut with the rather ordinary- "Mere Pass Aao, Mere Dosto." There is one excellent song- "Pardesia," which is very nicely choreographed. For Amitabh fans only..Irwin Marin.
Dil - early 90s
Madhuri , Amir Khan , Video Sound
Picture quality - very good
Sound - very good , Dolby 2 channel
The picture quality gets better further into the movie . A curious thing noted with lot of DVDs . Does the laser have more info to pick up ? . There is a new web site mentioned www.postentertainment.com
Mera Gaon Mera Desh 1981- EVP
Dharmendra , Asha Parekh ,Vinod Khanna
Picture quality -Good -full screen
Sound -2 channel mono
Not seen the movie . Nice to hear Lata's older songs -Maar diya jaye ya chod diya ja , sings the woman (shall I kill you or let you go ?) . Sound could be better .
Lamhe ?90 - T series
Anil Kapoor , Sridevi
Picture quality -grainy
Sound -distorted
Story of a man in love with a woman , breaks up , then falls in love with her daughter who looks exactly like her . Genes do not permit a daughter to be a look alike with the mother as she gets half her genes from the not good looking fathers but Bollywood doesnt know this ! -did the same in Khuda Gwaha .
Dont even rent this one as you will be put off DVD for life ! However do buy the T series 'Khandan' as the picture quality on sound on that much older movie is just excellent. Lamhe illustrates why the GOI must step in and make minimum quality standards for all DVDs . Will outline that again in the May thread ..
Lots of pixalization, and the sound was even worse!! The box stated Dolby 2 channel, but it wasn't.... To be honest, I think it was in mono !
The only good thing was that it was presented in widescreen... Unless there has been another release (like they did with Rangeela) this DVD sucks!!!.. Bijal Patel
Kaun - 1999 - 100 mins - Video Sound
Urmilla , Manoj Bhajpai
Picture quality -very good
Sound -Dolby 5.1 -Perfect -No subtitles
A very enjoyable movie about a woman -Urmilla - alone in a house in the thunderstorm with news of a serial killer on the loose . Along comes a manic Manoj Bajpai -carrying on from Satya wanting to be let in as he has been locked out of his car in the rain and is feeling cold . When she wont let him in , he says OK give me a sandwich and let me watch TV through the window !
Bollywood is copying Hollywood with this short 100min movie and no songs , but it is still in my view more entertaining than a typical Hollywood movie and much of the credit is due to the excellent backgound music -a lot of Western classical elements .
Non South Asians probably wont miss the lack of subtitles as the language is over 50% English . After a first seeing one can switch off the TV and listen to the DVD through the stereo and the music is very good and I love Urmilla's voice too ! Again this is a movie that could be re-released with a few songs added . It would be much more marketable on satellite in that way . Recommended .
Chaalbaaz -1990 ? - Video Sound
Picture quality - Good Sound -Superb - Dolby 2 channel Sri Devi , Sunny , Rajnikanth
An excellent comedy movie with Sri Devi in a double role - one girl is a beer drinking man's woman and the other is a homely one who loves to dance the classical temple dances -and they dont know about each other and are accidently swapped by their boyfriends .
The highlights of this movie are the classical dances at 11 , 16 and 97 minutes . The first two are Shiva's dance of the end of the Universe when humans have pushed him too far and he does this ' I am very very angry ' tandava just before he opens his third eye and the Universe is consumed in the fire - a brilliant performance by Sridevi which you will want to see again and again .
The other is an equally great one in the cave temple where the holy men excorcists are trying to beat the rebellious spirit out of a woman ( Sridevi again) and she turns on them with the great dance of Kali . A very tribal kind of music , really outstanding .
It is a pity we dont see this classical dances much in movies anymore . There is too much of left brain teaching in schools and there need to be more music , drama and dance lessons to preserve the rich South Asian cultural heritage.
Views on DVD
I have just read some of the reviews on the 'ukindia' webpage, being a keen observer and a UK magazine review writer of all types of movies not just Asian Indian, I would like to offer some of my own observations and questions, here goes:
1. As far as dvd transfer from film goes why is it that the dvd market is allowing so many poor quality transfers on to DVD compared with the majority of US and UK titles? I have even noticed in cinemas that, the most poor quality prints are bought for our cinema viewing pleasure. Is it a fact that durng film production directors/producers have become so tight-fisted that they are prepared to use the most crap quality inter-positve 35mm film to actually make the movie. If this is not so, why don't DVD companies ask the producers of the movie for the original inter-positives to transfer these movies onto DVD if the rights have already been purchased?
2. Why is the price of Indian dvd far greater than English DVDs, manufactures appear to be taking advantage of the low-level of competition, not to mention higer shipping rates, or are Indian dvds heavier??
3. Why is it that little research is done in to a lot of the DVD production as far as aspect ratios are concerned. I am sure the anxiety of awaiting the release of a movie in this superior format does not render a matted 16:9 format, as opposed to the original aspect ratio zoomed to 16:9. For example, I recently posted to the 'Internet Movie Database' 2 reviews of the famous "SHOLAY", once you read this you will realise (a) there is actually a direcor's cut of the movie shown on the UK satellite channel "ZeeTV", however more importantly (b) the original aspect ratio of the movie was originally 4:3, therefore, if you have the DVD you will first see an incorrect 2.35:1 ratio which is then zoomed in to 16:9; as result what is in fact missing now is not only the side of the picture, but the top and the bottom also. "MOTHER INDIA" a classic in all respects, has had it's top and bottom part of the picture chopped off thanks to 'World Wide Entertainment' giving it a matted 16:9 ratio. This can be clearly observed firstly at the start India Censor Board Logo, and then throughout the movie we see details (even faces) missing at the top and the bottom of the movie.
4. Is there not a need for Indian DVDs to take advantage of the Anamorphic transfer process for an even higher quality DVD Picture?
5. I have no objection to people wishing to see films in PAN & SCAN, although the 2.35 ratio should be observed in the case of 99.9% on Indian movies as it is the director's intention. What I cannot understand is, what is the point of having a 16:9 format on all Indian DVDs if you cannot be bothered to Pan And Scan that 16:9 window? There is no point having the image in one place through out the movie and missing the main characters from time to time at the sides of the screen, a prime eample of this error is "PARDES", it is like some one presing the record button on the VCR and then going off to play a round of Golf!
6. After entering the 'Songs Menu' and selecting a song to watch, after it finishes shouldn't the dvd go back to the Song Menu?
This may mail may seem to some that I am unappreciative of all your efforts, you could not be more wrong. Being an Asian and lover of Movies, I feel that there is no reason why our films should be of any lesser quality than their counterparts. We cannot afford the arrogance of Big Indian Producers refusing to release movies such as:- Dil to Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil wale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge on to DVD; we must make them aware and understand that they are quite late into the game already, and their stubbornness is only going to influence an in-flux of piracy.
Superior Quality DVD Transfers can only mean respect to Indian History of Film, 5.1 Sound is a luxury. If I speak only for myself, then I would like to state that when I watch a movie on DVD, I would like to see it as if it was it's first showing at the cinema with a brand spanking new print with all aspects as they were originally intended, and remember: If you want to put movies on to DVD that people love to watch, you have to care about what they are actually seeing.
Purdip Rana
ranap@ecid.cig.mot.com
Ukindia just takes reviews from Ramli . Many DVD prints of Indian movies are excellent , better even than most Hollywood ones - Satya , Chinagate , Dulhe Raja and most Superdigital DVDs , Soldier , Mohra etc. Subtitling of the whole movie literally and of songs needs to be done . These movies are twice as long as most Hollywood ones so a small premium seems fair