Chhoti Si Baat | Has It Aged Well? ft. Eshan Sharma of

This week on 'Has It Aged Well?' Abbas and Urjita are taking a trip to the 70's to discuss a quintessential Basu Chatterjee film: 'Chhoti Si Baat' from 1976 starring Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha, Asrani and Ashok Kumar. Our guest is cinephile, author and "film historian in the making" Eshan Sharma. Topics discussed include: The 'middle of the road' cinema championed by Basu da, Amol Palekar's simpleton persona, the iconic portrayal of the city of Bombay in Chatterjee's films, Asrani's screen presence, Eshan's Bombay heritage walk based on Basu Chatterjee's cinema and lots of interesting cinema tid bits.

Chapters:
0:00 Highlights
02:10 Opening quote/intro
06:38 Eshan becomes a cinephile at the age of 8
09:45 Introduction to Basu Chatterjee
10:49 The iconic Gateway of India scene and the mystery of its location
13:00 Was this film 'Hitch' before 'Hitch'?
15:08 What is 'middle of the road' cinema?
18:31 The english comedies that influenced Chhoti Si Baat
19:39 The backstory behind the character name 'Prabha'
21:08 The forgotten Aakashwani Theater
23:37 Was B.R.Chopra unhappy with the film?
27:10 Amol Palekar's simpleton in the era of 'Angry Young Man'
31:50 Asrani, the stud or the villain?
38:12 The starry cameos of Amitabh, Dharmendra and Hema Malini
41:21 Why Basu Da didn't want songs in the film?
43:39 Break
45:07 The 'problematic' second half
48:32 Is Arun a stalker?
52:51 Is colonel Julius based on Hugh Hefner? / Ashok Kumar's casting
54:15 The agency of women characters and the female gaze
56:52 The importance of dream sequences
58:43 The shocking truth of "Chicken Alapoos"
1:01:33 The iconic Bombay landmarks in the film
1:04:16 Basu Da's on screen cameo
1:05:19 Basu Chatterjee's connection with an iconic leader from Maharashtra
1:06:02 What happened to 'middle of the road' cinema?
1:13:19 What's aged the best/worst?
1:16:05 Double feature
1:17:40 Rating scale
1:19:22 Alternate Endings
1:23:17 Basu Chatterjee Heritage Walk/Karwaan Heritage
1:25:23 Plugs/Sign off

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Follow Urjita here:   / urjitawani  

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