The Angrez / The English

'The Angrez' Disclaimer: The movie / just like this posting may not make sense to you if you haven't lived in Hyderabad or you don't appreciate the hyderabadi lingo.


you still with me !!!, go ahead ,chill out
I actually watched loads of interesting movies over the long dasara weekend and one movie i strongly recommend is "The Angrez" , literally means "The English" Not to worry , it's not another movie against the british empire. This one is a low budget movie ( 7 million Rs budget i was told) , set in hyderabad
The movie shows the clash between the two worlds - NRI and Old City
NRIs (referred to as angrez ) and a small time gang from old city form the main two groups and then there is another group of kidnappers to add to the fun ...
the movie is absolute yummy , esp if you love the taste of hyderabadi hindi,life,food etc

Hyderabadi hindi ??? - A fantastic mix of Hindi, Urdu and Telugu spoken, of course, in and around Hyderabad Hyderabadi lifestyle??? - a chill out life as I call it , one of the character in the movies puts it perfectly "in Hyderabad 10 minutes means 40 minutes"
the movie even got a rap solo called Hyderabad biryani , by a Nigerian singer ,on Hyderabad
pretty interesting lyrics like:
“Check out a Telugu movie to see the heroine,
figure out a pub where I can zero in,
DJ cold rocks the joint and everybody's hearty...
but cops already at the door and wanna stop the party... "

Nikkil the director says he had spent two full years doing the rounds of the old city gallies in search of the Hyderabadi humour. "Film's dialogues took shape during these trips — in an Irani hotel, at the bus station, in the sabzi mandi. Even those who acted in the film are true blue Hyderabadis and never forayed into films before." http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/07/stories/2005120718480200.htm

I was desperately searching for 'angrez' VCDs in mumbai last month and could'nt get them there.
now that internship brings me to Hyd,i could get the CD finally
Many of you must have seen "Hyderabad Blues" , and Angrez is another chota-budget movie on the same theme ,what else , Hyderabad ,but a lot better and closer to the hyderabadi dhadkan.
While Blues takes an NRI view of Hyderabad , Angrez takes a Hyderabadi view of NRIs and i must admit i just loved "Angrez"
The movie is basically about clash of two worlds - the old hyderabad or the old city as we know and the new Hyderabad (call centres ,discos , NRIs ... etc ) The old-city gang of salim ,ismail etc steal the show with their slang,attitude to life ,..
To me, it reminded me of my school days (All Saints High School ) at abids, ( arguably ) the heart of hyderabad as we used to believe, some may claim its charminar !
and the dialogoues feature best of hyderabadi hindi
others in bollywood like mehmood and govinda did try a bit of hyderabadi hindi in their movies ,but it never felt authentic - and any hyderabadi will tell you that
just watch this movie for a glimpse into the lives of hyderabadis

Gentlemen and Ladies , a true blue Hyderabadi movie !!