togofogo nites

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My wife is gone to in-laws and I have been watching some Hindi movies since yesterday. The scenes were so bad that they made me laugh. Ha, ha, ha. Yesterday I watched, Masti Man Mein Aur Basti Mein Aag. Today I watched Mr and Mrs. Khiladi and also Togofogo Nites.

Cut! Cut!

Ok...so these are Hindi blue movies I am talking about. Surely you know what blue films are? So you've now been warned!

Action!

The first blue movie I saw was while touring a docked ship with friends in Vizag. I was fifteen then and past puberty. The captain of the ship, Georgias Papandreous, asked us, between smirks, if we were interested in seeing some adult stuff? He took us to his on-board theater. I saw girls bathing on 16 mm film and I saw the guys do it with the girls. I watched such stuff for the first time and let me tell you that it was exhilarating. Later I replayed the video many times over in my head, applying fast-forward, fast-rewind and pause as I wished. I can still replay the scandalous movie in my head. That way I am gifted. With the advent of the video age, I would watch blue movies with friends. Later I would watch them alone. And then I would get married.

So to relive bachelor days I watched the above-mentioned Hindi movies. They were so bad that they made me laugh. Ha, ha, ha. In Togofogo Nites, a lanky young surd first chases a long haired girl around the room. (In all these movies, there is one source of light, a fixed camera and one bed; often the actors have to turn around on the bed to change the angle of view because the camera cannot.) After a bit of chasing, he got into a compromising position with her. He looked inexperienced. The girl helped him. But their styles were imitative of the Hollywood blue movies.

In Man Mein Ho Masti, the guy tried to arouse the girl just like the way guys try to do in the Hollywood xxx movies. In the Hollywood movies, the girls get aroused with the foreplay. Here she didn't. Ha, ha, ha! The guy had to give up. Maybe they need a National Film Institute where they can groom actors for such movies. Then the two went through the motions of replicating all the various positions they show in those Western blue movies. This way, that way, upside down, sideways etc. More than once they got confused and from the gestures they made to the cameraman, it seemed that they wished to take time off to watch the movies they were trying to copy from. It looked so easy on the screen the guy seemed to say to the girl with his eyes once. Who cares, answered the girl, just try a different one. In the end, in these Hindi flicks, they always fall to the missionary position like a pack of cards. I think this is controversial behavior and it is debatable if it represents the reality about Indian xxx mores. If it does, then I'd like to know if it is actually the missionaries who invented it. If in fact they did, I would like to take the position that India discovered it much before the rest of the world did, or why else the dedication for it on screen?

Togofogo Nites had a story. Remarkable! The guy and the girl appeared before the camera fully dressed. The helped each other unwind and undress. Then the bed creaked and shook for 45.32 minutes (as per my vcd counter), after which the guy turned around to his side, the girl to hers and they went to sleep as the camera panned off. I think Togofogo Nites heralds a new age in Indian blue films in this respect. Gone are the days of story-less bed creaking and shaking from beginning to end, title to title, cameras on to cameras off.

One suggestion - since all Indian blue flicks are confined to a solitary bed (this is the reality: the bed is where it is done in India; no swimming pools or topless cars here), they should at least use a foamy Dunlop pillow that can ricochet with action to heighten viewer pleasure.

Dialogues: The good thing about these movies is that they transcend language barriers. Man Mein Ho Masti had no dialogue - it had only filmy music, from 1947 and Taal. Togofogo Nites has Oooh, Aaah dialogues but it was dubbed and the dialogues had no connection with what was going on. It was like an absurd Becket play at times.

All in all, I feel that these movies should stop aping their western counterparts. They should be original and encourage Indianness and show the reality that happens in Indian homes under the cover of darkness, when all eyes are sleeping wide shut. They should sink deep into India's own rich cultural heritage on this subject (I speak of Kama Sutra etc.) and discover stories, scenes, settings and positions topical to the Indian hoi polloi. I find many of the positions seen in Konark and Khajuraho ignored in these flicks. This is utter disregard of our heritage by the filmy people. But in their defense, one might say that many of the positions shown in Konark and Khajuraho cannot be done on the bed. They are done easier near a pillar, and, of course, best on a pillar, reliefed, friezed and frescoed into it.

In conclusion, the flicks were so bad that they made me laugh. But, given a choice, I'd rather watch an Indian flick than a Western one any day. I don't know why. Maybe I like to criticize; maybe it makes me feel superior; maybe I am sick; maybe I enjoy them. But I won't watch them with my wife. After watching one, we might feel exposed.

Oooh, Aaah (!).. that's what "Togofogo Nites" means..was curious about what it meant!

Seriously Mr. HK..well-written essay on Indian "blue" flims (have not heard that term used in a long time!) it's not easy to keep it sensual and classy..descriptive without being too sexually explicit or vulgar..and the humor made it a nice read..

I agree..Traditional (heritage) Indian expressions of sensuality-sexuality are unique..the nuances add artistic layers- even a certain mesmerizing..spiritual aura to basic aspects of human sexuality!

Good writing indeed:)

thanks maria. i stopped watching "blue" films ("blue" is an old terminology -- you are right) pretty quickly after marriage. because i found it an easier and more clandestine way to access them -- the net -- ha, ha. but i stopped all of that long ago.

LOL @ oooh and Aaaa. So, i have a mini story. I was reading this secretly in my office turning the monitor towards the side opposite to the door and having my sandwhich when somewhere between Konark and Khajuraho, my boss and his boss walk in.....to be continued.

Haha, that's a good piece, HK. From one-camera one-bed Hollywood-imitating porn to having a Hollywood pornstar play a lead role in a mainstream movie -- India has progressed in leaps and bounds in the porn department.

I hope Jeri-miyan critiques this piece meticulously for the next two weeks. I will be on vacation, and should be back just around the time he's done reading this one.

panini press wrote:Haha, that's a good piece, HK. From one-camera one-bed Hollywood-imitating porn to having a Hollywood pornstar play a lead role in a mainstream movie -- India has progressed in leaps and bounds in the porn department.

I hope Jeri-miyan critiques this piece meticulously for the next two weeks. I will be on vacation, and should be back just around the time he's done reading this one.

Wow, didn't know about this genre or about the aping of hollywood porn. One of the local Indian grocery store owners was trying to push one of these flicks some time ago. I guess he had in his private collection. One thing I remember about his pitch 'punjabi dialogues, man!'. I didn't understand the value-added aspect, but found the lingustic loyalty touching

Kris wrote:Wow, didn't know about this genre or about the aping of hollywood porn. One of the local Indian grocery store owners was trying to push one of these flicks some time ago. I guess he had in his private collection. One thing I remember about his pitch 'punjabi dialogues, man!'. I didn't understand the value-added aspect, but found the lingustic loyalty touching

must be all the dirty talk in punju.

Natalia Romanova wrote:

Kris wrote:Wow, didn't know about this genre or about the aping of hollywood porn. One of the local Indian grocery store owners was trying to push one of these flicks some time ago. I guess he had in his private collection. One thing I remember about his pitch 'punjabi dialogues, man!'. I didn't understand the value-added aspect, but found the lingustic loyalty touching

must be all the dirty talk in punju.

>>>>Trace, I am a good apple. I never found out.

(seriously, english or french work better

lol @ good apple.

I have read some text in dirty talking in hindi/punju. agree, was quite a turn off. But maybe the bad apples enjoy it.

french? never tried that.

Natalia Romanova wrote:lol @ good apple.

I have read some text in dirty talking in hindi/punju. agree, was quite a turn off. But maybe the bad apples enjoy it.

french? never tried that.

>>>Vaguely recall something on tv, first time in Paris. I may have left the tv on and woken up to see madamoiselles in the altogether. Maybe it was rated PG by the french, who knows? Still seemed risque to my bon pomme sensibilities.