Celebrating Janmashtami Bollywood ishtyle

One of the earliest and unforgettable sequences of Janmashtami has been depicted in K. Asif's Mughal-E-Azam (1960) when Emperor Akbar (Prithviraj Kapoor) assigns a sculptor to make a statue for his palace but unable to complete the task on time the sculptor makes a statue of Anarkali, (Madhubala). So breathtaking is the model that it evokes a reaction not only from the emperor but also his son Salim (Dilip Kumar) in which they compare Anarkali's model to Radha. Next day Queen Jodha (Durga Khote) is shown celebrating Janmasthami with Madhubala singing the song - Mohe panghat pe nanda lala chhed gayo re.

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Devotional songs like - Badi der bhai nanda lala in Khaandaan (1965) and Natkhat bansiwale gokul ka raja in Subhash Ghai's Saudagar (1991) were also used by filmmakers for the festival. The latter number was picturised on Dilip Kumar symbolically reflecting the homecoming journey of his grandson Vivek Mushran alias Vasu.

Ashutosh Gowarikar's Lagaan (2001) had a Janmashtami celebration scene along with the dance number picturised on Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh, Radha Kaise Na Jale. Lagaan's music director (A.R.Rahman) and lyricist (Javed Akhtar) were both non-Hindus and yet managed to bring out an authentic beautiful number. "Krishna has always been symbolic of love and beauty" says Javed Akhtar, who has written many lyrics centering on Lord Krishna. "His flute and the gopis around him have always created an aura of mysticism and romanticism. Words just flow from the pen in any mood be it Holi, or a romantic mood or the Govinda festival," he adds.

Janmashtami represents the birth of Lord Krishna and it was used symbolically in Subhash Ghai's Hero (1983). It had Jaikishan (Jackie Shroff) barging into the house of an ACP played by Shammi Kapoor during the customary Janmastami pooja and attempting to kidnap his granddaughter played by Meenakshi Seshadri. Later reformed, the rebel hero on yet another Janmasthami day was shown humbly asking for the same girl's hand in marriage. Ghai had attempted to symbolize the true birth of Jaikishan so to say.

The showman says, "Since my childhood days I have been a part of every Janmashtmi celebrations in our household. The influence was always there which I used for recreating dramatic situations for my scripts of Hero and Saudagar."

Janmashtami is also symbolic with Govinda - the matki (pot) breaking ceremony that is celebrated with fun and frolic. Amongst the most popular Hindi film numbers representing Govinda has been the Manmohan Desai directed Bluff Master's (1963) Govinda ala re ala which had Shammi Kapoor dancing down the Mumbai streets uninhibitedly. The Amitabh Bachchan dance number from Khuddar (1982) tuned by Rajesh Roshan, Mach gaya shor saari nagari re has still retained its popularity and is always a must at the Govinda pandals across the streets celebrating the festival every year. In Muqabala (1979) the Gokulashtami festival was shown used as a catalyst in creating peace between the warring Sunil Dutt and Shatrughan Sinha who realize that the pot breaking ritual is interdependent and needs team work. The song shor mach gaya shor from the film is another ever green Govinda number. In recent times the Govinda ceremony was shown in the Sanjay Dutt starrer Vastav (1999) with Dutt and his bunch of boys going on a matki breaking spree round the town.