Page 38 - Seniorstoday July 2024 Issue

Chinese philosophy lists five virtues that main characters played
ought to be practised in the pursuit of by Sanjeev Kumar,
perfection-- generosity, gravity, kindness, Mithun Chakraborty,
sincerity, and earnestness. Naseeruddin Shah, Raj
In Indian cooking there is the panch Babbar and Gulshan
phoron masala and dal panchamel. Grover, get together to
A fun list of ways in which we have fight the tyranny of the
encountered the number 5: zamindar.
The Panchatantra:
Kids all over the country Paanch (2003):
grow up listening to Anurag Kashyap’s
or reading the simple debut film about five
morality tales of the friends, was based on
Panchatantra. Legend the horrific 1976 Joshi-
has it that a king named Abhyankar murder case
Amarasakti commissioned in Pune, in which the
Vishnu Sharma to teach group kidnap their own
his three sons the principles of wise friend, who is accidentally
governance, and he used these stories to killed, leading to a spate of murders. The
impart moral and political lessons. The film starring Kay Kay Menon, Aditya
five books of the Panchatantra each have Srivastava, Vijay Maurya, Joy Fernandes
a different set of fables-- Mitra-bheda and Tejaswini Kolhapure, was not given
(The Loss of Friends), Mitra-labha (The a certificate by the Central Board of Film
Winning of Friends), Kakolukiyam (On Certification, due to its extreme violence,
Crows and Owls), Labdhapranasam (Loss drug use and profane language, but has,
of Gains), and Apariksitakarakam (Ill- over the years, developed an underground
Considered Action). following.

The Famous Five: Hum Paanch (1995):
Before Enid Blyton In the successful sitcom
became persona non grata, that is given credit for
generations of kids grew popularising Zee TV
up reading her books, and and launching the acting
the favourite series was career of Vidya Balan,
the one that featured The Ashok Saraf played the
Famous Five-- Julian, Dick, harassed father to five
Anne, George and their daughters — Meenakshi,
dog Timmy, who had adventures together, Radhika, Sweety, Kajal, and Chhoti, who
catching criminals or finding lost treasures. get up to crazy antics in every episode and
drive their father up the wall.
Hum Paanch (1980):
A contemporary version of the Mahabharat Five (1951):
set in a village, directed by Bapu, has five Directed by Arch Oboler, the film starring

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