In Search Of Om Dar Badar

This World Wide Web is a wonderful thing. It lands you in unforeseen places (virtually though), introduces to unknown people (thanks to chat room and all) and often proves to be a fruitful way of fighting boredom at office when you have nothing worthwhile to do. One such chance stumbling landed my colleague with an unusual piece of art; a bizarre piece of artistic oddity – a video titled Om dar badar – song.

It was not something that everyone in the office went gaga over with enthusiasm, but it certainly did leave some of us itching with curiosity to know something more about it. So, the curious bug inside my head left me searching the net more about the movie.    

 

Two things that struck me about the video were:

 

·        It’s similarity with the opening graphics of the theatrical trailer of Dev.D (Anurag Kashyap’s upcoming film).

·        And the sheer randomness of the lyrics of the song.

 

While the similarity was too obvious with Kashyap himself acknowledging the inspiration he got from the movie (you can read his blog at http://passionforcinema.com/devd-emosional-atyachar/ ), I personally could not find any justification behind the asymmetrical weaving of the lyrics. The song sequence is all replenished with a baraat, red and yellow lights, a singer dressed in all white and wearing aviator shades (when the scene is shot at night) and a dancer with a hair style inspired by Jimmi Hendrix breaking into a sudden jig. It’s like a kaleidoscope. The protagonist (I guess its veteran TV actor Lalit Kapoor in his young days) is seen walking amidst this entire hullabaloo and even joins the wedding procession, though he is no match for the star dancer. The song finally left my Associate Editor typing up the lyrics after repeated hearing sessions.

 

Me, on my part searched for further info. The film was directed by Kamal Swaroop. He was also an assistant director in Gandhi and was a script consultant in Saeed Mirza’s Saleem Langde Pe Mat Ro. The film had a very limited screening and was shown at The Other Festival, 2004 at Chennai. On that site they gave a little synopsis of the movie which was intriguing I must say. The characters, the setting the events all seemed to0 mythical, too symbolic, though I agree that all my comments are based on watching 3 videos on youtube and some online information about the film.      

 

The other two videos were too short. One was titled Om Fights with bicycle.

 

It was just a 1 min 34 secs video, showing a man cycling his way in a hilly road, with piano playing at the back ground. However, the background soon changed into a song Kaun Aage Bada, Kaun Peechhe Hata. I simply couldn’t make anything out of the scene as it showed a capped man struggling with his cycle at a hill top.

 

I found the other video quite interesting.

 

 

It was a scene in a school (girl’s school most probably, where the students were busy dissecting frog. Suddenly one of them finds a diamond in the frog’s stomach and there is a spirited commotion among the girls. Finally the teacher comes and remarks, ‘If a man can have stone in his kidneys, why can’t a frog have diamonds?’ Quite a logical observation I must say.      

 

So, after constant searching online I got to know about the plot, the director and the cast of the movie (thanks to www.imdb.com) and also that the movie was no longer available in prints. I would be really glad to know something more about this film. I’m writing down the lyrics of the cult song for everyone to enjoy.

 

A! A! A! Mohabbat Humsafar ho jaa!!!

B! B! B! Mohabbat humnafar ho jaa!!!

DE! DE! DE! Mohabbat Humsafar ho jaa!

Meri Jaan AaaAaaAaaAaa

Meri Jaan BeeBeeBeeBee

Meri Jaan Dededededede

Meri Jaan Ceeeceeeceeceee

Pritam aao Sitambar tabse, haseen mohabbat ka maheena X 2

Pritam aa gale lag jaa! gale lag jaa! gale lag jaa!

Dill toot raha hai! Jaan jal rahi hai! X 2

I say it baby X 2

O My BRIDE!!!! X 2

Its like a sea baby! Its like a mounted lady(?) X 2

MITHYA HAI SANSAAR!!!! MAYAA HAI SANSAAR!!!!! X 2

Its like a sea baby! Its like a mounted lady(?) X 2

Mooh pe lagaya powder, baalon mein scent dala,  ]

Hotel mein raat kaati, theater mein din guzara  ] X 2

Naye fashion se (ahn haan), nayi pojition se (oh ho) X 2

Bolo haseen, dill mein ja phasee X 2

Phir bhi mainnn!!!!!

Comments

[anirudh]

Hi,
This blog was really helpful in knowing more about he film. Finally traced the movie down. Is is available on torrents . Thel ink is:
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/52391954/Demonoid.+Om?tab=summary

Believe be, it is unlike anything else you might have seen so far.

[prach]

Plot:Om-Dar-Ba-Dar is an enjoyable portrait of life in a mythical small town. The film tells the story of a young boy called Om in the period of his carefree adolescence and its harsh disillusionments. The story starts like a comedy and ends like a thriller. Om has a rather strange family. His father Babuji, a government employee, leaves his job so that he can dedicate himself to astrology; Om´s older sister Gayatri is dating a good-for-nothing. Om is involved in science, but is also attracted to magic and religion. Above all it seems as if his really outstanding skill is his ability to hold his breath for a long time. Swaroop´s magical, bold and original film is one of the most interesting to gain the interest of national and European festivals, and above all of fans of great cinema.

Starring: Aditya Lakhia, Anita Kanwar, Gopi Desai, Lalit Tiwari, Bhairav Chandra Sharma, L. Shastri Ramesh Mathur, Manish Gupta

Script: Kamal Swaroop

[Vishal Das]

I think its "Market, lady" not "mounted lady"

Its like a sea baby! Its like a market, lady

The random lyrics and random videos are creepy. Wat was that "i am sorry" at the end?

[moksha]

i saw this movie at this film festival called experimenta in new delhi in 2003.. the organisers claimed that they had a really tough time organising the showing as there were few prints of the movie left..

the movie was very very cool.. cant say i understood it completely but it did leave a strong impression..
also rajadhakshya's encyclopedia of indian cinema says that the movie was considered the first avant garde indian film (or somethin like that)

[Amit]

The movie is available in DivX format, Downloaded from the demonoid, seems i was lucky enuff wid only 1 seeder, thanks whoever it was.... About the movie, it's n absolute bizzare and witty piece of entertainment, A mix of humor, science, magic, religion, astrology, wonderous and eccentric background music as well as songs... A little raw look might distract a few user, but the content is an absolute delight for those who like to twitch their brains...

[Amit]

What I actually felt after watching Om Dar Ba Dar for 4 to 5 times, it's a story of a small mysterious town in India, a humorous conflict between science and religion. A very brief scene "Aap yeh to nahi samajh rahe hai na ki bhaiyaa ne mujhe pehle se hi plant kiya tha?"
"Meri Date Of Birth..."
"Pataa Hai. Thodi der me insaan chand pe chalne lagega" Following this scene Jagdish is shown running behind a cycle wherein at the background we can hear a radio documentary, "Chand par paiye jaane wale khanijo ko sabhi desho mein barabar barabar baanta jayega, Isse ye saabit ho jayega ki chand par sirf amir logon ki jagirdaari nahi hai, Saara vishwa is drishya ko dekh kar prasanna ho raha hai..." A sheer piece of creativity. High speed sunsets and moonsets that we see in today's films have already been practiced in this film... Gr8 watch..

[Deepak Singh]

Thanks to the Director Sanjay Chhel posting the song/video on Facebook, I just chanced upon to come across this. Trust me, too curious by now, I as much loved this video as much I hated reading many things about it. Browsed the net and read a lot about it. The very first glance of the song, lyric and the bizarre-ness of the entire creative visualization compelled me to smell how Emotional Atyachar @ Dev-D was a direct lift from here. Intriguingly, for me, its not only the song where Anurag has taken the so-called "inspiration" from the song and video but, I believe, the characterization of the Kamal's protagonist also has a strong imprint on Anurag's protagonist in Dev-D. But, to be sure, I must watch 'Om Dar Badar' and I can hardly manage my eagerness to get a copy of the film on a DVD/VCD. Torrent is a strict no-no for me. Come what may. More so, when a film performed so weakly at business, we must not kill it further by copying it by illegal and unethical means. Good or Bad, a piece of creativity must be respected for the sake of the people involved in it and the resources gone into it.