November 13, 2011
Helen of Pollywood
During her long and storied career, Helen danced in a number of songs for the Punjabi (Pollywood) film industry. Here's one that I think my friend Asli Jat should enjoy. It's a catchy little ditty called "Lak Patla Te Rang Mastana" from the film Yamla Jatt. Mohammed Rafi shares the vocals in his native language with Suman Kalyanpur. And Helen, as usual, shows why no one is her equal. Be it Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood or now Pollywood, Helen continues to amaze us all with her talent and versatility. Long live Helen! :D
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You need to add 'Bollywood lessons' as a tag since you can learn so much from visiting your site !
ReplyDeleteI never even knew Helen had appeared in Punjabi movies or that the industry was called 'Pollywood'.
Thanks for sharing this song & thinking of me.
- Asli Jat
Thanks AJ. I got the term "Pollywood" from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Punjab
ReplyDeleteI wanted to post a couple more of Helen's Punjabi videos, but couldn't find them on Youtube. She appeared most notably in Chaddian Di Doli(1966) and Sacha Mera Roop Hai (1973) according to my research of Punjabi cinema.
Obviously, I thought of you when I posted my first Punjabi video :) Btw, I really like the song. It really has a nice melody and quite an infectious and heavy beat, so typical of Punjabi music that I've heard.
Nice Helen clip and interesting post. But is that the real Pollywood? Or is the real Pollywood Pashto films from Peshawar?
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollywood
I've seen quite a few Punjabi films while following Noor Jehan, but since they were part of the Lahore film industry, I just assumed they were part of Lollywood. (And, actually, I saw lots of other people refer to them as Lollywood, too.)
All a bit confusing...
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ReplyDeleteRichard, I guess they both can be called "Pollywood" after reading your reference from wikipedia. But for the purpose of my post I believe that the real Pollywood comes from the Punjabi cinema of India. Here's a couple more mentions of Punjabi Pollywood:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.writearticles.org/Article/Cinema-of-India--The-movie-industry-of-India-/2
http://bollyspice.com/29515/special-report-speedy-singhs-press-conference-london
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that because the region of Punjab was divided by the British into West (Pakistan) and East (India) the term was coined for the films specifically from East Punjab (India) which is not part of the Lollywood film industry although West Punjab cinema (Pakistan) is. I think that sounds right :)
It is a bit confusing, isn't it:)