First I would like to invite you to an article written by in my Blog: -eclectic.blogspot.com/2008/04/mohammed-rafi-creator-of-dosti-mania-in.htmlThe above explains how Rafi Sahaab was the actual creator of the Dosti Mania in 1964 and the influence it had on me, and how it went on to win filmfare awards, especially for songs and music against so many outstanding songs of that year, notably YEH MERA PREM PATRA PADH KAR from Sangam. Idealism went on to survive the Nineteen Sixties too. Dosti is one such movie. The critic's view about Dosti resonating for gay audience is just a hogwash and an exercise in sterile and puerile imagination. Viewing friendship between the same sex as gay attraction is generally a recent phenomenon. It's a gross insult to the innocence embedded in the friendship as shown in DOSTI. The hutment (Zopadpatti) scenes depicted with realism as they are common in such settlements. Much can be written on this subject but suffice it to say that Rafi Sahaab's songs are a moving spirit behind the movie. This was also a movie that was exhibited to school students for a number of years for motivating them to study hard and steadfastly despite the overwhelming odds. An earlier version was a Bengali movie.
@ Nasir: I agree with you that the story of Dosti has always been part and parcel of Hindi movie stories.And sexual attraction between male friends has never been shown. But at the same time a thing which is prohibited by law can not be shown.Take for e.g. Sohrab Modi's Sikander. Everybody agrees that it has a strong message for Indians fight against the British. But in the film no mention is made of the British at all. The same thing is with homosexual love, if an author wanted to show same-sex love, he could show it only at the level of Dosti.A platonic Dosti!Now let us take a different example: a person familiar with the inequalities and hardships of the rural life will see behind the curtainof romanticism shown in, let us say 'Palko ki Chaon me'. Similarly a gay person sees behind the curtain of platonic dosti shown on the screen.Now that doesn't mean that people in villages don't rally around and help each other like in Palko ki Chaon Me, nor does it mean that inequalities and hardships aren't an integral part of rural life. Both are true. This is also true for the stories of Dosti in Indian films and lore. When aheterosexual man looks at the story he sees in it a platonic story but a homosexual person, who has experienced the other side will see his experineces reflected in such storiesHomosexuality can not be classified under 'sexual acts against the order of nature' since homosexuality abounds in nature from the lower organism (on the ladder of evolution) like fungi and also insects to the dolphins and also the apes. Thus it is quite natural that homosexuality is to be found in human race as well.And I completely agree with your comment 'The only sad part to the episode was that Rafi Sahaab's "Yeh Mera Prem Patra Padh Kar..." which was from Sangam and easily the most romantic song of 1964 lost out in internecine competition'. That was a pity for sure! I wanted to leave a comment on your site, but somehow I couldn't with my wordpress account.@ BD: Thanks for the 'Celluloid Closet' Site. I didn't know that it was available online. I saw it ages ago on the local TV channel and was blown away by it.@ dustedoff: How True!!!
Old Hindi Movie Dosti 1964 45
@bollyviewer: Sanjay Khan was a rank newcomer and most probably this was his first movie. To me, he seemed very attractive being tall and lean with puffy hair, as I try to remember the 1964 scene. Secondly, how perfect are your observations on the two songs: MERAA TOH JO BHEE QADAM HAI and GUDIYA...viz., that they were at the lower wrung of the ladder of popularity compared to the other songs of Dosti which naturally in later decades must have had a "cloying effect".
Hello Bollywooddeewana,First you may want to erase the latest contribution?!Then I'd like to attract the honorable crowd to the fact that the story never gives the spectator any indication whatsoever as to the possibility that it may have been made with the tacit intention of evoking homosexuality... I don't find it shocking that 2010 spectators see the movie in that light (it's always possible te revisit movies and enjoy them from another angle), but I believe it's simply artistically wrong. There is probably a political reading, though, that could be more arguably made, one that says that education and social success in 1964 India had to come from the people, that the rich classes were failing in their contribution to the building of the nation. I believe there's also a Christian reading to the film. For those who are interested: -dosti-a-christian-parable-59514893.htmlcheers!yves 2ff7e9595c
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