THE BELA BOSE DVD INTRODUCTION As the 1960s wore on a number of new Indian dancers began to make their presence felt. Many of the already established dancers were also still going strong and their careers continued to flourish. In addition, by the mid-sixties a sort of dance revolution was going on with the music directors and dance choreographers reacting to the changes going on worldwide in popular music and dance. Although the careers of the already established dancers like Helen, Kumkum, and Vijayanthimala were healthy, and they were able to adapt to the changing times, it was the newer ones that really carried forward these changes in movie dancing. I'm referring to people like Mumtaz, Laxmi Chhaya, and Bela Bose. Bela Bose is the subject of this DVD compilation. WHO IS BELA BOSE? Like many of the other 'B' movie actors and actresses of the period, there's not much information available about Bela. I'll quote from one article in its entirety: "Starting her career as a group dancer, Bela Bose played many memorable dancing roles in her career. She acted in as many as 150 films. Later, she enacted character roles with equal aplomb. Talking fondly of her roles in Watan Se Door, Bandini, Opera House, CID 909 or Dil Daulat Duniya, Bela recalls her entry into films. "I had no filmi background neither did I have an intention to get into films. I was still into schooling when my father expired. I began to dance in groups and soon was picked up to put in a few appearances in films. I took up more offers after I finished studying," she says. Films started coming in plenty and at a given time she had as many as 30 to 40 films on hand. Most of her roles were glamorous ones that usually involved a few dances. Her peak time was between 1961-66 when the system of working in shifts was introduced in the film industry. She used to work in three to four shifts and had little time to sleep. A talented dancer, Bela was No. 3 after Helen and Mumtaz. A role of a dancer-cum-performer which the first two would refused, used to fall in Bose's lap. Helen used to hog the roles of 'A' class films but a majority of 'AB' and 'AC'-class films went to her. Her first role was in Mukul Dutt's Sautela Bhai opposite Guru Dutt at the age of 17. The film was directed by Mahesh Kaul. She honed her acting skills performing in Bengali plays. Amongst her memorable films she recalls Bimal Roy's Bandini, F.C.Mehra's Professor and Amrapali, Atmaram's Shikar, Umang, Yeh Gulistan Hamara, Dil Aur Mohabbat, Jai Santoshi Ma, Zindagi Aur Maut and Wahan Ke Log. After she married producer Ashish Kumar Sengupta in 1967, she bid goodbye to films in 1973 after giving birth to two children-a daughter and a son. Of all her films, she treats her role as Jeetendra's foster sister in Jeene Ki Raah as the most memorable followed by a Maithili film, More Man Mitwa. Talking of the film industry Bela observes, "Every profession has its store of good or bad. It is up to an individual to choose which road to take. People say the industry is bad. These days lot of respectable, well- educated people are entering films. Hope they make it good." Recalling her achievements she adds, "If a person is commited he is bound to be successful. Being totally committed in life is my achievement." This is taken from a FilmIndia article. The writer is incorrect on at least one point; although she may have been in this Sautela Bhai, it's a 1962 film and her first role was in 1960's Ek Phool Char Kaante where she had several lines of dialog and even took a quick spin with Sunil Dutt while he romanced Waheeda Rehman. And I'm not sure that I believe she was only 17 in 1962. There's another and quite long article about her. Unfortunately, the article is in Dutch and the Google translation is mostly gibberish, although a lot can be gleaned from it anyway. Here's a link to it: GOOGLE TRANSLATION OF BELA ARTICLE and another in the original Dutch: DUTCH ARTICLE ON BELA BOSE Here's a picture as she appears in her first film in 1960: She's in the left foreground. Apparently her first dance was performed in 1961's Opera House, which is available on VCD but which I don't have. The earliest dance of hers which I own is from 1961's Zabak, but it's short and inconsequential. Although her acting career was progressing, and although I'm pretty sure there must have been some dancing over the next couple of years, I don't know of any films from 1962 and 1963 in which she danced (she has a small part in a dance from 1962's Professor, but it's not 'her' dance). 1964 is the year when she finally blossomed, and for the next 6 years or so she was very busy. Most of the songs and dances included in this compilation are from the years 1964 to 1970, with a couple of later ones. She was almost unique in her dancing style. Although she did many many dances with others, she preferred solo dances. She had the ability to combine humor and sexiness both in her dancing. Her preferred dance costume seemed to have been tight slacks with a form fitting top of some kind, with her midsection sometimes covered and sometimes not, although the type of dance being done often dictated the costume being worn. She performed all kinds of dances and wore all kinds of clothes. She often danced and walked with her feet splayed out, giving her a kind of odd back-and-forth duck-waddle appearance, which added to the humor of her dance style. This can be seen in a number of the included dances, especially the fifth included dance, from the film Boxer, where she accentuates the awkwardness and also twists her body into a number of unusual positions, in an effort to seem more Chinese (I guess). The Google version of the Dutch article on her seems to imply that she had some sort of a physical deformity, but I couldn't understand if this was related to the way she walked or not. If anyone interested in this subject can read both Dutch and English, a translation of the article into English and then forwarded to memsaab's blog would be greatly appreciated. If she really did have flat feet, it would explain a lot about her dance style, but I just don't know. THE VIDEOS Although she appeared in and danced in many 'A' films, she was mainly a 'B' film actress and dancer, as she mentioned in the article I quoted earlier. She appeared in many many more films than are listed at IMDB and than are available on DVD or VCD. I expect there are many more of her films available only on VHS tape so far, but I don't have access to them. Because so many of her films are available only on VCD, necessarily the video quality isn't always of the same quality as that from DVDs (which itself is often pretty bad). That's the price we classic Indian film fans pay for our love of these films - putting up with sometimes atrocious video quality. The ones sourced from VCD often have a softer or blurrier appearance than do those from DVDs, although I do what I can to improve their quality. THE SUBTITLES Not speaking a word of Hindi, I'm usually at the mercy of the DVD subtitlers (when they even bother to subtitle the songs). With so many of the songs sourced from VCD this time, as compared to the other 2 compilation albums I've made so far (for Minoo Mumtaz and Johnny Walker) which were all from DVD sources, more of the songs are unsubbed. However, I've been gifted with a fine translator to whom I shall remain forever grateful. Ava has provided translations for all the VCD sourced songs, some of the DVD sourced songs, and has also improved the translations for others that came with subs. If you're so inclined, please visit her 2 blogs (one on books, the other on films) which will be linked at the bottom of this document. THE DVD There are 24 videos in this collection. The first five are my favorites, but I think all are good, my own particular favorites won't be other people's favorites, and most people should find gems throughout the collection, some new even to the most experienced classic Indian film viewer. I've tried to include a cross section of the kinds of dances Bela did, with a special emphasis on the more 'modern' dances, which in some ways she helped pioneer in Indian films of that period. 1. Aaja O Zara Aaja Performers: Bela Bose, Feroz Khan Singer: Usha Khanna Music: Usha Khanna Lyrics: Asad Bhopali Film: Main Wohi Hoon, 1966 Starring: Feroz Khan, Kumkum, IS Johar, Bela Bose, Lata Sinha, Roopesh Kumar, Madan Puri, Murad This one in many ways is so typical of the kind of dancing Bela Bose was best at - uptempo, with many over-the-top elements highlighted by her unique dancing style. I don't really think Feroz Khan was completely comfortable performing in this but he gives it his best shot, and Bela seems to be having the time of her life.