Regional Language Film: Geethanjali

Today is Mani Ratnam as well as Ilaiyaraaja’s birthday. So I am posting the movie Geethanjali, a National Award winning 1989 Telugu Film directed by Mani Ratnam with music by Ilaiyaraaja. The only jarring thing in the movie is a vulgar comic track. The movie was remade in Hindi as Yaad Rakhegi Duniya starring Aditya Pancholi and Rukhsar.

The movie is about two terminally ill patients and stars Nagarjuna and Girija who made her debut. Girija was supposed to star opposite Aamir Khan in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and she is even in the song “Jawaan Ho Yaaron”. She supposedly left JJWS because of a previous commitment.

The movie had all excellent songs by Ilaiyaraaja including O Priya Priya which was copied by Anand-Milind in Dil.

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18 Comments
  1. Ritz 12 years ago

    Saw this like 20 years back in Ganesh Festival. Didnt like it back then – typical rona dhona and sad ending mani style.

  2. Ritz 12 years ago

    @Sputnik

    Can I recommend here the latest Marathi movies which are worldclass?
    Can I post them in this thread,?

    I know I dont have the rights. … but if you can post on my behalf ! ? !

    Regards

    • Author
      sputnik 12 years ago

      Yes Ritz that would be great. I had asked everyone to suggest/post one regional movie every week but since there was not much response I stopped doing this after posting just one movie.

      Please suggest some Marathi movies which have English subtitles. I will post one next week on your behalf.

  3. Ritz 12 years ago

    Well here is one Gem which I love.

    Pak Pak Pakaak

    • Author
      sputnik 12 years ago

      The video is not playing here. Says the uploader has not made it available in your country.

      I found other links which plays here too. I will post it next week.

      • Ritz 12 years ago

        Oh!!

        • Author
          sputnik 12 years ago

          I found one links which was playing but the others are not.

          Can you register as some of your comments are going through moderation and I have to keep approving them.

  4. Ritz 12 years ago

    Cont

    Its a fun movie, with a subtle message and happy ending. Not sure if it will appeal to those who do not know marathi – as the kid speaking rural marathi slang and nana patekar role dialogues are just brilliant – and very earthy.

  5. Serenzy 12 years ago

    ^

    The Ending left me Mesmerized…

    Great Acting by Patekar & the Fat Kid.

  6. Ritz 12 years ago

    Ok Sputnik, I didnt know I had to register – will check.

    Maybe this “Pak Pak Pakaak” was too much regional flavour which may not appeal to others as its not-issue based film

    @Serenzy – have u seen “Dahavi Fa” ? I saw it in parts. Its a brilliant film.

    Synopsis in brief:
    रावसाहेब पटवर्धन शाळेत (किंबहुना कुठल्याही शाळेत) वर्ग मुलांच्या कुवतीनुसार निर्माण केलेले असतात. त्यात मुख्यत्वेकरून “अ” तुकडी हुशार मुलांची तर बुद्दू मुलांची तुकडी “फ” असा एक अलिखित नियमच आहे. तशीच “दहावी फ” हि रावसाहेब पटवर्धन शाळेतील मुलांची तुकडी. या तुकडीतील मुले, हि गरीब आई-बापांची, ज्यांना पोटापाण्याची सोय लावण्यासाठी होण्याऱ्या कामाच्या रगाड्यात मुलांकडे लक्ष द्यायला वेळ नसतो अश्या

    English translation: In RaoSaheb Patvardharn School – the divisions are made capability of students. Mainly “A” class is for “brilliant” students and “F” class for those who are dumbs. Its an unwritten rule almost in every school. So this is a story about “class F” in Raosaheb Patwardhan school. These kids are those who dont study well, whose parents poor – these kids do day job to help their parents – and dont have time to study….even their parents dont have time to pay attention to their kids…this is the story of such kids – who are classified as “rowdy” 😛

    (Its a rogh translation by me 😀 )

    Btw @Sputnik – here is a song from the movie – cud not find subtitled version.

    The song is good rock song. Dont know if its copied or not. But I liked it. You may point out to any inspiration/copy as u have heard more western music.

    O sir O sir ..Amhi kelach kaay o sir (what wrong have done?? )

    • Ritz 12 years ago

      Tried to use embed code 🙁

      • Author
        sputnik 12 years ago

        I embedded the video. I think it stripped off the embed code because you are not registered.

        The “Pak Pak Pakaak” movie seems partly inspired from “To Kill a Mockingbird’. The rest of the movie is however about a racist trial.

        “The film’s young protagonists, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch (Mary Badham) and her brother Jem (Phillip Alford), live in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the 1930s. The story covers three years, during which Scout and Jem undergo changes in their lives. They begin as innocent children, who spend their days happily playing games with each other and spying on Arthur “Boo” Radley (Robert Duvall), who has not been seen for many years by anybody as a result of never leaving his house and about whom many wicked rumours circulate. ”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_%28film%29

  7. Ritz 12 years ago

    @Sputnik,

    there might seem a slight similarity in that but it doesnt sound like its inspired.Here the kid is not spying as such in whole movie on the ghost (only initially), but he gets close to the ghost , besides, its a fun film..the dialogues are poetic

    Its all basically about the kid/doing good rather than any other issue.

    Btw did u happen to find other parts in english subtitles?

    • Author
      sputnik 12 years ago

      Thanks for the excellent link Milind. There was some great information above the movie.

      • Milind 12 years ago

        Posting a few more once I have myself read them. 🙂 There is a lot that has never been said about this movie that was based on diaries of a 11 year old girl child suffering from cancer that got published as “Young Die First”.

        I would request you to insert “Young Die First” in the tags. Many people find about that title thinking it is a film though I guess it is not.

  8. Milind 12 years ago

    I worked as an assistant for Mani Rathnam for films like Geetanjali and Gharshana and I address him as ‘Thalaiva'(Leader). With his inspiration, I bought the remake rights of his latest film and released it as ‘Amrutha’. Though the film failed at box office, it gave me immense feeling of owning a film made by my most favorite director Mani Rathnam. He has got terrific visual sense. Other directors can make equally visually rich shots. But nobody can make them look good with minimal resources and budget the way Mani Rathnam does. I still remember one shot in Geetanjali film. The camera hovering over misty hills of Ooty shot was actually taken on a miniature set erected on a table. When they shot that scene I asked PC Sreeram about it, and he replied me to have a look at it when projected on big screen. After sound mixing, the final effect is terrific and unbelievable.

    I started as a distributor for Mani Rathnam’s ‘Bombay’ and I did distribute all his films in Nizam since then.

    https://www.idlebrain.com/celeb/interview/interview-giri.html

  9. Author
    sputnik 10 years ago

    The lead actress Girija talking about Aamir and why she left JJWS.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=Er3hEJRVHWM

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