Kele Handa
''Kele Handa'' is a 1953 Sri Lankan romantic musical starring Rukmani Devi, Stanley Perera, Eddie Jayamanne, Rita Ratnayake and Mabel Blythe. It is based on a popular Sinhala novel by W. A. Silva. The adaption was successful due to the book being widely read in school as part of the curriculum and schools brought in students on buses to see the film. It is technically poor and was shot inside a studio though the story pertained to village life. Plot summary Love story of Malini, a village girl who goes to town to see the Vel festival and falls in love with a rich gentleman John Jayapala who pretends to be of low class. Cast * Rukmani Devi as Malini * Stanley Perera as John Jayapala * Rita Ratnayake as Daisy Attanayake * Eddie Jayamanne as Aanda * Mabel Blythe as Missy * B. A. W. Jayamanne * Peter Peries * Wimala Kumari * Udula Dabare as Mourner Songs *"Ho Manamalaya" – Eddie Jayamanne and Mabel Blythe *"Aley Rahasame" – Eddie Jayamanne and Mabel Blythe *"Mawila Pen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rukmani Devi
Daisy Rasammah Daniels, known popularly as Rukmani Devi (15 January 1923 – 28 October 1978: si, රුක්මණී දේවී) was a Sri Lankan film actress and singer, who was often acclaimed as "The Nightingale of Sri Lanka". She made it to the silver screen via the stage and had acted in close to 100 films, at the time of her death. Having an equal passion for singing as well as a melodious voice, she was Sri Lanka's foremost female singer in the gramophone era. After her death, she was awarded the Sarasaviya 'Rana Thisara'- Life Time Achievement Award at the 1979 Sarasaviya Awards Festival. Personal life Rukmani Devi, was born as Daisy Rasammah Daniels to a Tamil Colombo Chetty Christian family on 15 January 1923 at Ramboda in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. Second, in a family of five, her father, John Daniel worked on a plantation and her mother, Helen Rose was a teacher. She grew up in Colombo and had her early education at St. Matthew's School and then moved on to St ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and " Hollywood". The industry is a part of the larger Indian cinema, which also includes South Cinema and other smaller film industries. In 2017, Indian cinema produced 1,986 feature films, of which the largest number, 364 have been from Hindi. , Hindi cinema represented 43 percent of Indian net box-office revenue; Tamil and Telugu cinema represented 36 percent, and the remaining regional cinema constituted 21 percent. Hindi cinema has overtaken the U.S. film industry to become the largest centre for film production in the world. In 2001 ticket sales, Indian cinema (including Hindi films) reportedly sold an estimated 3.6 billion tickets worldwide, compared to Hollywood's 2.6 billion tickets sold. Earlier Hindi film ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1950s Romantic Musical Films
Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 195 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus has the Roman Senate deify the previous emperor Commodus, in an attempt to gain favor with the family of Marcus Aurelius. * King Vologases V and other eastern princes support the claims of Pescennius Niger. The Roman province of Mesopotamia rises in revolt with Parthian support. Severus marches to Mesopotamia to battle the Parthians. * The Roman province of Syria is divided and the role of Antioch is diminished. The Romans annexed the Syrian cities of Edessa and Nisibis. Severus re-establish his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sri Lankan Romance Films
Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanese, Balinese, Sinhala, Thai, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Nepali, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit, Pali, Khmer, and also among Philippine languages. It is usually transliterated as ''Sri'', ''Sree'', ''Shri'', Shiri, Shree, ''Si'', or ''Seri'' based on the local convention for transliteration. The term is used in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia as a polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language, but also as a title of veneration for deities or as honorific title for local rulers. Shri is also another name for Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, while a ''yantra'' or a mystical diagram popularly used to worship her is called Shri Yantra. Etymology Monier-Williams Dictionary gives the meaning of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1953 Films
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated following a Consent Judgment to divest their Stanley Warner Theaters. * February 5 – Walt Disney's production of J.M. Barrie's ''Peter Pan'', starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, premieres to astounding acclaim from critics and audiences and quickly becomes one of the most beloved Disney films. This is the last Disney animated movie released in partnership RKO Pictures, becoming the last ever smash hit movie of the later company before it bankrupted in 1959. * July 1 – ''Stalag 17'', directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, premieres and is considered by the critics and audiences to be one of the greatest WWII Prisoner of War films ever made. Holden wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jaal (1952 Film)
Jaal () is a 1952 Hindi crime noir film directed by Guru Dutt. The film stars Dev Anand, Geeta Bali in lead roles. The film was successful at box office and was the third-highest grossing film of the year in India. Its music became popular, especially the song "Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni Phir Kahan". ''Jaal'' is considered a noir classic for its grey shade characters which were among the first of its type in Indian cinema. Filmfare listed it in Best Bollywood Noir Films of '50s. ''Jaal'' was one of the first film made in India that portrayed an Anti-Hero character in the lead. It established the idea of Anti-Hero with "''no qualms about bending moral codes''" in Hindi cinema. Plot After losing his vision during a storm, Carlos (K.N. Singh) lives with his sister, Maria (Geeta Bali), on the Indian coast in a fishing village. One day a mysterious young woman, Lisa, enters their lives, followed by a mysterious man, Tony Fernandes (Dev Anand). Maria and Tony fall in love with each other, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geeta Dutt
Geeta Dutt (born Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri; 23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) was an Indian playback singer and a famous Hindi and Bengali classical artist, born in Faridpur before the Partition of India. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema. She is considered as one of the best playback singers of all time in Hindi films. She also sang many modern Bengali songs, both in the film and non-film genre. Early life Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri was one of 10 children born to a wealthy Zamindar family in a village named Idilpur, Madaripur Subdivision (presently under Gosairhat Upzilla of Shariatpur District, Bangladesh), formerly under Faridpur district in Bengal, British India. Her family moved to Calcutta and Assam in the early 1940s, leaving behind their land and properties. In 1942, her parents moved to an apartment in Bombay. Geeta was twelve and continued her schooling at the Bengali High School. Singing career K. Hanuman Prasad took Geeta under ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He was one of the most popular singers in the Indian subcontinent, notable for his yodeling and ability to sing songs in different voices. He used to sing in different genres but some of his rare compositions, considered classics, were lost in time. According to his brother and legendary actor Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar was successful as a singer because his "voice hits the mike, straight, at its most sensitive point". Besides Hindi, he sang in many other Indian languages, including Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Odia and Urdu. He also released a few non-film albums in multiple languages, especially in Bengali, which are noted as all-time classics. He won 8 Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Talat Mehmood
Talat Mahmood (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998) was an Indian playback singer who is considered one of the popular male Indian film song and ghazal singers. Although he tried his luck as a film actor, he did not succeed a great deal in acting. Talat Mahmood received the Padma Bhushan award in 1992, in recognition of his artistic contributions in the spheres of cinematic and ghazal music. He was particularly famous for singing soft and sombre ''ghazal''s in his quivering and silky voice. Romantic and tragic were the moods he liked most and it was he who helped a great deal in shaping the style and method of modern ghazal singing in India during the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Talat Mahmood was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India to Manzoor Mahmood. Talat showed his musical leanings from a very young age and would enjoy sitting through all-night music concerts. Coming from a conservative Muslim background, singing was not encouraged. Talat had to choose between working i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shamshad Begum
Shamshad Begum (Hindi: शमशाद बेगम, IAST: ''Śamśād Bēgam''; 14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry. Notable for her distinctive voice and range, she sang over 6,000 songs in Hindustani, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Punjabi languages, among which 1287 were Hindi film songs. She worked with renowned composers of the time, such as Naushad Ali and O. P. Nayyar, for whom she was one of their favorites. Her songs from the 1940s to the early 1970s remain popular and continue to be remixed. Personal life Shamshad Begum was born in Lahore, British India (present-day Pakistan) on 14 April 1919 the day after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in nearby Amritsar. She was one of eight children, five sons and three daughters, born to a conservative Muslim family of limited means. Her father, Mian Hussain Baksh Maan, worked as a mechanic and her mother, Ghulam Fatima, wa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rita Ratnayake
Rita Philomina Ratnayake (18 February 1934 – 6 November 2006 රීටා රත්නායක) was an actress in Sri Lankan cinema. She became very popular in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s early Sinhala cinema particularly with the role 'Daisy Attanayake' in the blockbuster ''Kele Handa'' in 1953. Personal life She was born in 1934 in Matale, Sri Lanka. Her father Emil Ratnayake was a famous violinist. She grew up in her mother's hometown of Matale and studied at St. Agnes' College, Matale (currently known as St. Thomas' Girls' College). During school period, she played the role 'Queen Pramila' in the stage play ''Daskon''. Also known as a school singer, she was famous among Matale students for singing the song ''Ko Mama Nandage Male''. Rita also worked for the Sri Lanka Hotel Corporation for some time. Rita married W.A. Wilfred Silva on February 18, 1960. Wilfred is best known as a songwriter, storyteller and film director. The couple had a daughter and a son named Sadhan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mohammed Rafi
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice; his songs varied from fast peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona and style of the actor lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honored with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. In 2001, Rafi was honoured with the "Best Singer of the Millennium" title by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine. In 2013, Rafi was voted for the Greatest Voice in Hindi Cinema in the CNN-IBN's poll. He recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and in many Indian languages as well as some foreign languages, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |