Coordinates	28°36′50″N77°12′32″N
Name	Paheli
Caption	Theatrical release poster
Director	Amol Palekar
Producer	Gauri KhanShahrukh Khan
Story	Vijayadan DethaSandhya GokhaleAmol Palekar
Screenplay	Sandhya Gokhale
Narrator	Naseeruddin Shah
Starring	Shahrukh KhanAnupam KherRani MukherjeeAmitabh BachchanSunil ShettyJuhi ChawlaRajpal Yadav
Music	M.M. Kreem
Cinematography	Ravi K. Chandran
Editing	Amitabh Shukla
Distributor	Red Chillies Entertainment
Released	June 24, 2005
Runtime	141 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Paheli (Devanagari: पहेली, Nastaliq: پہیلی, ) is a Bollywood ghost movie, released in India on 24 June 2005, directed by Amol Palekar and produced by Gauri Khan, Sanjiv Chawla and Shahrukh Khan, who also plays the male lead. Paheli is based on the short story written by Vijayadan Detha and tells the story of a wife (Rani Mukerji) who is left by her husband (Shahrukh Khan) and visited by a ghost, disguised as her husband, who is in love with her and takes her husband's place.

Sunil Shetty, Juhi Chawla, Rajpal Yadav and Amitabh Bachchan have special appearances in the film.

The movie opened the ninth Zimbabwe International Film Festival at the Libertie Cinema Complex in Harare. Critics claim that this movie's screenplay is loosely based on the Girish Karnad's critically acclaimed Kannada movie Nagamandala. The working title of the movie was Ghost Ka Dost (translates to Friend of a Ghost).

Synopsis

The movie is narrated by two puppets, voiced by Naseeruddin Shah and his real-life wife Ratna Pathak Shah. Enthusiastic young Lachchi (Rani Mukerji) is to be married to Kishen (Shahrukh Khan), the son of the rich merchant Bhanwarlal (Anupam Kher). Kishen is a dutiful son who honors his father's wish to start a new, far-away business on a predetermined auspicious date, which happens to be the day after the wedding ceremony. On the wedding night, Kishen turns away from his wife to finish his bookkeeping, and in the early morning hours sets off on a business trip that is to last five years. Lachchi is devastated; Gajrobai (Juhi Chawla), her husband's sister-in-law, consoles her, empathizing on the grounds that Gajrobai's husband Sunderlal (Sunil Shetty) has also disappeared. The next day, a ghost appears, having taken Kishen's shape and voice because of his own attachment to Lachchi.

Lachchi is thus presented a riddle (hence the title "paheli") between the representation of all of her desires in the form of the ghost and her real husband. She takes this new, fond, sexual, magical, social, self-confident version of Kishen as hers. As Kishen, the ghost befriends all of the real Kishen's family and keeps Bhanwarlal happy by providing him with magical, possibly illusory, gold coins. His only blunder is in his treatment of the messenger Bhoja, who is perplexed by the idea that Kishen has sent a letter from his business trip only to receive it himself in his own house and offended when the ghost (who appears as Kishen) does not offer him a drink of water. Lachchi's bliss goes on until four years later, when she is pregnant and the real Kishen returns to see if the rumors about his wife's pregnacy are true. He returns to find the ghost in his (Kishen's) own form. Kishen's family is unable to determine which of the doppelgangers is the real Kishen (the ghost refusing to confess). They decide to visit the king so that he can arbitrate. On the way to the king they meet an old shepherd Gadariya (Amitabh Bachchan) who helps them out. He asks the real son of Bhanwarlal to pick up hot coals, asks the real husband to gather the sheep, and asks Lachchi's real paramour to enter a water-bottle. The real Kishen is found out and everyone returns home. Lachchi is devastated over the loss of the ghost. In the very end it is revealed that the ghost has escaped the bottle and taken control of Kishen's body in order to live with her. By now Lachchi has given birth to a daughter, Looni Ma, by whose identification the ghost exposes his identity to Lachchi. The puppets close the film, remarking that the film's plot is "an old story".

Reception

The film was screened at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It was nominated as India's official entry to the 79th Academy Awards. Some critics accused the Film Federation of India (the body in charge of nominating official entries to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) of succumbing to lobbying, or pandering to the Academy by appealing to their stereotyped view of Indian society.

Cast

Shahrukh Khan .... Kishanlal/The Ghost as Prem

Rani Mukerji .... Lachchi

Anupam Kher .... Bhanwarlal, Kishanlal's father

Sunil Shetty .... Sunderlal, Kishanlal's brother

Juhi Chawla .... Gajrobai, Sunderlal's wife

Amitabh Bachchan .... Gadariya

Rajpal Yadav .... Bhoja

Dilip Prabhavalkar .... Kanwarlal, Bhanwarlal's brother

A.K. Hangal .... Jeevraj

Naseeruddin Shah .... Male Puppet (voice)

Ratna Pathak ... Female puppet (voice)

Soundtrack

Music Label - T-Series

Music Director - M. M. Kreem

Lyricist - Gulzar

Song List and Singers:

Dhire Jalna - Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghosal, for which Sonu Nigam won the Star Screen Award Best Male Playback singer award and Shreya Ghoshal won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer.

Dhire Jalna (Instrumental)

Kangna Re - Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghosal, Madhushree, Bela Shende, Kalapini Komakali

Khali Hai Tere Bina - Hariharan, Bela Shende

Laaga Re Jal Laaga - M.M Kareem, Sonu Nigam, Shruti Sadolikar

Minnat Kare - Shreya Ghosal, Madhushree, Bela Shende

Phir Raat Kati - Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh

Phir Raat Kati (Remix)- Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh

Technicians

Cinematographer - Ravi K.Chandran

Art Director - Muneesh Sappel

Editing - Amitabh Shukla

Box office

The film was a flop in India and hit in the overseas market. It collected about Rs. 13,09,00,000.

References

External links

Category:2005 films Category:Indian films Category:Indian ghost films Category:Hindi-language films Category:Music by M.M. Keeravani Category:Films set in Rajasthan

Coordinates	28°36′50″N77°12′32″N
Name	Manna Dey
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Prabodh Chandra Dey
Born	May 01, 1919Calcutta, British India
Instrument	Vocalist
Genre	Playback singing
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1939–present
Url	http://www.mannadey.in

Prabodh Chandra Dey (born 1 May 1919), better known by his nickname Manna Dey (), is a playback singer in Bengali and Hindi films. Along with Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, he was a part of Indian film playback music from the 1950s to the 1970s. He has recorded more than 3500 songs over the course of his career. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2009.

Biography

Dey was born to Purna Chandra (father) and Mahamaya Dey (mother) on 1 May 1919. Besides his parents, his youngest paternal uncle Sangeetacharya (meaning "Venerable Teacher of Music" in Sanskrit). K. C. Dey highly inspired and influenced him. Dey received his early education in a small pre-primary school named Indu Babur Pathshala. Thereafter he attended Scottish Church Collegiate School and Scottish Church College, followed by Vidyasagar College where he received his graduate education.

During Dey’s years at Scottish Church College, he sang to entertain his classmates. He began taking singing lessons from his uncle, Krishna Chandra Dey and Ustad Dabir Khan. During this period, Manna Dey stood first for three consecutive years in three different categories of inter-collegiate singing competitions.

In 1942, Dey accompanied Krishna Chandra Dey on a visit to Bombay. There he started working as an assistant, first under Krishna Chandra Dey, and then under Sachin Dev Burman. Later he assisted other music composers and then started to work independently. While working independently as a music director for various Hindi movies, Manna Dey continued to take musical lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.

Dey started his career in playback singing with the movie, Tamanna, in 1943. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna sang a duet with Suraiya. The song was an instant hit. He sang a solo composed by Sachin Dev Burman, Upar Gagan Vishal, in the 1950 movie, Mashal. Its lyrics were written by Kavi Pradeep. In 1952, Dey sang for a Bengali and a Marathi movie with the same name and storyline, Amar Bhupali. This established him as a leading playback singer.

Dey recorded a popular duet, Ketaki Gulab Juhi, with classicist Bhimsen Joshi. With Kishore Kumar, he sang duets of different genres such as, Yeh Dosti Hum Nehi Torenge (Sholay) and Ek Chatur Naar (Padosan). Dey sang with singer/composer, Hemant Kumar (Hemanta Mukherjee), in Bengali movies, and also for some other Bengali composers. He sang a duet, "Ke Prothom Kachhe Esechi", with Lata Mangeshkar in the movie Sankhyabela. He also performed Rabindra Sangeet and has recorded over 3500 songs.

Personal life

On 18 December 1953, Manna Dey married Sulochana Kumaran from Kerala. They have two daughters: Shuroma, born on 19 October 1956; and Sumita, born on 20 June 1958.

Manna Dey currently lives in Bangalore in the township of Kalyannagar after spending more than fifty years in Mumbai. He also maintains a Calcutta address. He still travels widely in the world to present musical programs.

His Bengali-language autobiography, Jiboner Jalsaghorey, has been published by the renowned Ananda Publisher in the year 2005 which has been translated in English as Memories Come Alive, in Hindi as Yaden Jee Uthi and in Marathi as Jiboner Jalsaghorey.

Jibaner Jalsaghore, a documentary on Dey's life, was released in 2008. Manna Dey Sangeet Academy is developing a complete archive on Manna Dey. In association with Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, the Manna Dey Music Archive has been developed in the Sangeet Bhawan.

Accolades and awards

Dey has been honored with the titles Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.

The following is the list of Manna Dey's other awards:

1969 National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the Hindi Film Mere Huzur

1971 National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the Bengali film Nishi Padma

1971 Padma Shri Award by Government of India

1985 Lata Mangeshkar Award awarded by Government of Madhya Pradesh

1988 Michale Sahittyo Puraskar awarded by Renaissance Sanskritik Parishad, Dhaka

1990 Shyamal Mitra Award by Mithun Fans Association

1991 Sangeet Swarnachurr Award awarded by Shree Khetra Kala Prakashika, Puri

1993 P.C.Chandra Award by P.C.Chandra Group & others

1999 Kamala Devi Roy Award by Kamala Devi Group

2001 Anandalok Lifetime Award by the Anandabazar Group

2002 Special Jury Swaralaya Yesudas Award for outstanding performance in music

2003 Alauddin Khan Award by the Government of West Bengal

2004 National Award as Playback singer by Government of Kerala

2004 D. Litt Honoris Causa by the Rabindra Bharati University

2005 Lifetime Achievement award by the Government of Maharashtra

2005 D.Litt Honoris Causa by the University of Burdwan

2005 Padma Bhushan Award by the Government of India

2007 First AKSHAYA Award by Government of Orissa

2007 Awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award by the Government of India

2008 D.Litt Honoris Causa by Jadavpur University

Filmography

References

External links

Manna Dey official website

Manna Dey unofficial website

Manna Dey interview at 90 in Anandabazar Patrika

Manna Dey's interview by Chandan Mitra

Shekhar Gupta">Manna Dey's interview by Shekhar Gupta

"Ai Mere Pyare Watan" Little India article

"Being Manna Dey: The modest musical maestro" - IBNLive interview

Category:1919 births Category:Living people Category:Bollywood playback singers Category:Indian actors Category:Indian autobiographers Category:Indian film singers Category:Indian male singers Category:Indian memoirists Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Alumni of Vidyasagar College, Kolkata Category:Alumni of Scottish Church College, Calcutta Category:University of Calcutta alumni Category:Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipients Category:Marathi-language singers Category:Marathi playback singers