'Wel' 'Come'

Last Friday saw the release of one of the eagerly awaited films "Welcome", starring some of the degree bearers of commedy like Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Anil Kapoor. However, it was no less than a surprise package to watch Nana Patekar, hitting the commedy genre with so much of ease and confidence. The leading lady charmer in the film is Katrina Kaif and among the other screen holders are Feroz Khan and Mallika Sherawat.

Produced by Firoz. A. Nadiadwala and Directed by Aneez Bazmi, ' Welcome' very much seems to be a typical of "David Dhawan types". The film revolves around two Don brothers Nana Patekar as Uday Shetty and Anil Kapoor as Majnu Bhai who are in search of a non criminal groom for their affectionate sister Sanjana, played by Katrina. On the other hand Paresh Rawal(Ghungroo), a Doctor by profession is looking for a cultured girl from a respectable family for his nephew Akshay Kumar( Rajiv).

The above conflicting issues give birth to several situations in the film that try to bring smile on audience's face but ultimately succumbs to forced commedy. The character of RDX played by Feroz Khan proves to be insignificant. Mallika Sherawat in the second half of the film has done justice to her role of Ishika who in the film pretends to be Rajiv's childhood bride.

All in all a average commedy film which has not brought the expected happiness on the faces of the audiences this Christmas. But for all those who have still not seen the film are "Welcome".

Poor Darling!

Audience were still not out of the horror of 'Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag' when on Friday they were again offered with another haunting production by auteur Ram Gopal Verma,"Darling". Neither horror, nor humorous, nor even a love triangle ..of what genre the film was, is yet a big question that only Ramu can answer.

Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol and Isha Koppikar play the lead in Darling. A bit of spice to the entire film was added by Nisha Kothari who appears in an item number and by Himesh Reshamiya's music. In fact it was the trendy and hip hop music that lured me towards watching such a disaster.

The Story says......

Aditya (Fardeen Khan) is married to Ashwini (Isha Koppikar). He is in love with his secreraty Geeta(Esha Deol). Aditya refuses to tie the nuptial knots with Geeta. When refused of marriage and asked to abort the child, Geeta loses her nerves and accidently dies. She then appears as a ghost to take her revenge. Not a tinge of horror I could experience throughout the film. However the giggles of the children and other audience in the theatre could be heard at all the point the ghost of Geeta appeared.

Among all the three leads only Esha Deol could manage to act. Fardeen was too mechanical and Isha was not offered much to prove her calibre. The Direction, story, background score were below average.

Darling doesn't work for me. I am still not able to digest if this was a Ramu's creation. Will someone tell me what has gone wrong with him? Is he the same man who made Vaastu Shastra, Satya, Company, Pyaar Tunne Kya Kiya, Sarkar and Rangeela and set the box office on fire????

Vishal's Blue Umbrella

This rainy season Vishal Bhardwaj brings to us his latest creation "Blue Umbrella". The film starrs Pankaj Kapoor (Nandkishore Khatri ) and Shreya Sharma (Biniya). The film bears no resemblance to any of his earlier films like Makdee, Omkara and Maqbool. This is what we call the mastery of a film maker - a new cheery to every cake.

The film is an adaption of a Ruskin Bond's story and revolves around a blue coloured umbrella, an eleven year old girl Biniya and an old man Nandkishore. Biniya, living in a small village one day discovers a beautiful and vibrant blue umbrella. Its sheer charm takes her by surprise and soon it become her pride possession that she would not let her eyes off. The umbrella also becomes an eye candy for the entire village. Nandkishore, a tea-stall owner also gets smitten by the uniqueness of the umbrella and determines to get the same at any cost.

Unfortunately, the prized possession goes missing one day. For Biniya, this becomes terrible and she turns adamant on finding out the culprit. However she strongly doubts the intentions of Nandkishore. For the time being not only Biniya but also the entire village starts to believe Nandkishore to be the thief of the umbrella and discards him of many society functions mockingly. The story from there takes an emotional touch and unfurls beautifully.

Vishal's glueing direction and script were given an uplift by stupendous cinematography. Gulzar's lyrics added life to the entire film. The background music was also superb. All an all a classic to watch. Performance wise, Panlaj Kapoor as usual is wonderful and so is Vishal's new discovery Shreya Sharma.

It may not be a blockbuster but somewhere you can cherish every bit of it.

Cheers to Chakde! India

Let's raise a toast to Shimit Amin, the soulful director of the week's big release Chak DE!India, for perfectly bringing on screen the true image of Indian women -and this time sans a scoop and other kitchen particulars. Incarnation of women with a hockey stick. Sounds great! so is the film.

"The history of all times, and of today especially, teaches that ... women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves". The film takes a flight with this morale, focussing on what revolutionary changes a woman can bring with her unshaken thoghts.

Starring Shahrukh Khan and a bunch of 16 fresh aspiring young lookers, the film revolves around a disgraced former national hockey team player, who after being falsely accused of cheating on the game, returns after seven years as a coach to the national women's hockey team.

The coach in question , Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) after great efforts succeeds in convincing the hockey association to give his hockey team, comprised of women players from length and breadth of the country, a chance to play in the Hockey World Championship. The Coach teaches his players to play not as individuals but as a team, forgetting their regional differences and thinking solely for the nation.

Initially he faces great oppositions from his players, who find him and his ways too strict but later they co-operate and move with him defeating nation after nation, bringing ultimate victory for India. The hockey scenes are terrific and succeeds in keeping alive the moods of even the non-sports lovers. Shahrukh Khan after Swades, has played a role without any of his typical trappings, without any of his trademark quirks.

The film beautifully highlights the power of women and strongly raises the topic of Equality of men and women. The film doesnot break new technical grounds but succeeds in keeping the viewers glued to the screen. All-n -all a perfect Sports film.

An must watch for all those with sportsman spirit ..............

Phalke For Shyam Benegal

Celebrated film director and Rajya Sabha member, Shyam Benegal has been selected for the honoured Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2005. Mr. Benegal is regarded as one of the finest directors that Hindi film industry has ever produced. The success and glory that New Indian Cinema received can largely be attributed to this veteran director.

Shyam Benegal, a nephew of Guru Dutt, founder of Hyderabad Film Society and a former ad-film maker left an indelible impact on the viewers with his very much feature film, Ankur. Later in his career he made several thought provoking cinema like Nishant, Manthan, Bhumika, Junoon, Mandi, Trikaal, Mammo, Sardari Begum and lot more. Apart from what is called "Good Cinema", he also has made disparate documentaries focussing on contemporary issues of India.

Shyam Benegal has earlier been awarded with Padma Shri(1976) and Padma Bhushan (1991). Heartiest congratulations to Shyam Benegal - for giving strong roots to the Hindi Film Industry and giving the Indian viewers a chance to see real incidents through reels.

Birthday of a Legend

Happy Birthday Kishore Da(4th August, 1929)

Zindagi ka safar, hai ye kaisa safar

koi samjha nahin, koi jaana nahin.......

These lines of Kishore Kumar, till date, unforgotten, stirr the deep emotions within our hearts. He was indeed a man born with a golden voice. An accomplished film & music director, a singer and an actor -name it all and Kishore da was a perfectionist. He gave a new shape to the commedy genre of Indian cinema.

Kishore Kumar was born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly in Khadwa. As a child he was very naughty and spent the early day of his life playing pranks and doing mimicry. Hindi blockbusters like "Padosan" and "Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi", established him in Bollywood as a promising actor. In his life time he married some of the most beautiful women of Indian cinema like-Madhubala, Yogita Bali and Leena Chandrawarkar.

After playing a happy innings as an actor, Kishore Kumar tried his voice which went to be a massive success. His songs like saagar kinare, Roop tera mastana, pag ghoongru bandh, khaiyke paan banaras wala are some of his songs that appealed to people of every age group, specially the youth. A heart attack in 1987, took the life of this great maestro and made us aloof of a legend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.....................

Gandhi, My Father

Mahatma Gandhi and Gandhigiri are topics on which anyone can go on and on for days. But how many of us actually know about Gandhi's son Harilal and their relationship?I doubt the number!!!

This week's release, Akshaye Khanna and Bhumika Chawala starrer film, Gandhi, My Father is a lesson from a book called Gandhi. Making a film on real events has never been an easy cup of tea. Due to the lack of much written text on Harilal and Gandhi, a lot of research work had to be carried by Feroze Abbas Khan(Director) and Anil Kapoor(Producer). Anil Kapoor has made a superb entry in te film production department with such an outstanding piece of work.

The film, shifts the focus from Gandhi and his being a crusader of the Indian freedom struggle to his personal life, where a thwarted relationship between Gandhi and his eldest son Harilal has been screened beautifully and authentically. Harilal throughout carried the tag of Gandhi around his neck as a curse and did not agree with the ideologies of his own father, whom the whole of the nation trusted blindly.

The greatest regret of my life-
Two people I could never convince
My Muslim friend Mohammad Ali Jinnah and
My own son Harilal Gandhi.


Gandhi throughout his life failed to convince his son, who drinked himself to death.
In a nutshell, a well produced and directed film, with great performances. If the winds blow in the right direction, chances are that the film can mark an entry to the oscars.

No Stars Behind Bars

Feels bad to see our reel life hero behind the bars, Right?? Many of the movie buffs and Sanju's fans must be cursing the Indian legal system for putting their Munnabhai behind the bars. From a "Khalnayak" to following the philosophy of Gandhigiri, he tried all but ultimately had to succumb before the law.

Six years of imprisonment is a long time. For these unending hours behind the bars sanju has carried with himself 10 packs of cigarettes, soap, hair wash, towels, comb, toothbrush, toiletries, a pair of kurta and jeans, slippers and mineral water bottles. But I doubt if all these materialistic objects would give him solace of any kind. As a source of recreation Sanjay has been allowed to roam inside his barracks from noon to 3 pm. He is to be treated like the rest of the 2500 prisoners lodged in the jail.

The whole news of Sanjay's imprisonment has also left many Hindi filmakers in shock and financial losses. Around Rs. 100 crores are riding on him. But the good and humanitarian aspect from the makers is that-they are ready to wait for six years for"Munnabhai" to return rather than drop him from their films.

Feels bad..................

Life in a Metro

By - Md. Mudassir Alam

As I am a movie buff, so watching movies is a regular affair for me. This past week I saw Anurag Basu's new movie 'Life in a Metro'. The title of the movie is sufficient enough to define what the movie is all about, but seeing the story in silver screen is altogether a different experience. In the entire movie the life in a metro is portrayed in various ways such as the busy life of people, the crowded streets, packed buses and local trains.

In fact, almost everything shown in the film is very much close to reality and it presents the harsh truth of today’s India before us. Whether you take the character of Rahul (Sharman Joshi), a young guy from Bhilai came to Mumbai to fulfill his dreams or struggling youths like Akash (Shiney Ahuja) looking for a job or Shruti (Konkona Sen), an unmarried woman in film checking out guys on shaadi.com or Irfaan Khan staring on the legs of a girl in an autorickshaw. In addition to these, the characters played by Kay Kay Menon and Shipla Shetty depicts the problems faced by the couples who don’t have time for each other or to understand each others feelings. Beside, the characters of Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali add some more crisp in the story.

In one of his recent interview director Anurag Basu said, "The film is as real as it can get. I remember facing all kinds of problems like Rahul (Sharman Joshi) does in the movie when I came to Mumbai from Bhilai a few years back." Basu mentioned that "We have a flat owned by an NRI in our apartment block where we see people doing all those things that I have shown in the film. People in my building laughed when they saw the film; they knew wherefrom I got that idea"

Of course, whatever shown in metro is reel life not real, but you can’t deny it all. It’s happening today in metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore etc. where everybody is running behind the false name and fame. For getting the name and fame one can do everything, call centre culture has become a curse for today’s youth. In lure of earning quick money youths are attracting towards call centres, they use to work in night shifts and develop physical relation with their colleagues as well. Next for getting promotions employees concentrate more on pleasing their boss rather working. They can choose any way, either by offering gifts or the way Sharman Joshi has opted in the movie Metro. In contrast the bosses too, don’t hesitate to demand for one night stand or other means from their juniors.

What’s going in metros of India is a big threat for the cultural roots of the country. Now the big question is?Who is responsible for such acts? Of course, no one, we ourselves are responsible for this, the fascination for name and fame, running behind the big desires has blocked our mind totally. We have forgot the roots of our rich culture and don’t care about morals and ethics. Our relationships with our close ones are becoming worse day-by-day, husbands and wives are not understanding each other, youngsters have been trapped in false love affairs, fashion, night-club and pub culture, what will happen in next five or 10 years we can’t imagine.

Even today, if we Indians will not understand what Indian culture and traditions tell us, that day is not far when we will face the same problems what Western countries are facing such as frequent divorces, extra marital affairs, suicidal attempts and so on. Better we should discover and follow our own cultural roots, which makes India different from other countries of the world.

Oh! Metropolis

The Metropolis takes away more than it gives...agreed? Well! don't get offensive, I am in no mood of a survey. It is just that last week I came across Anurag Basu's latest flick "Life in a ...metro. I used to consider myself a marriage buff and a graduate of relationships, but believe me the impact that the film left on me has turned all the thoughts of my mind upside down. Is Life in a metro so rude, harsh and devastating? Love before marriage, Pre-marital sex, multiple sexes, extra marital affair....is this what a realationship brings with itself or is this the trendy definition of love?

The film Life in a metro.. in all the senses revolves around the real life, people and situations in a metro. Metros like Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi bring with themselves multiplexes, skyscrapping shopping malls and great lifestyles but at the same time offers little time and space for love, trust and family. People in metro caught in the urban rat race tend to forget the very roots of love bondings and run after "casual love" (One night ---$ )that is easily accessible. People call this new culture as necessity but....in fact there may be hell to pay if this whole thing goes on. Be it Shikha alias Mrs. Ranjit Kapoor( Shilpa Shetty), Shruti ( Konkona Sen), Neha (Kangana Ranaut) or Rahul (Sarman Joshi)...everyone craved for love and struggled for it.

Wife gets her husband back accepting his alleged relationship with the other woman for the last two years and welcomes the 'pati parmeshwar' wholeheartedly forgetting his selfless love that she finds in a theatre actor, Shruit alias Ms. Virgin gets a x-rayed eyed bt caring husband, Neha and Rahul find solace in each other and the story ends thereafter.....leaving innumerable queries in mind.....

Do we really have to bear so much of pain to live with people whom we love and want to spend the whole life together........Well I am not ready for such a huge compromise.

As well goes a song of the film...

Berang si hai badi zindagi
Kuch rang to bharun
Main apni tanhayion ke vaaste, ab kuch to karun
zab mile thodi fursat
Khud se kar le mohabbat................

Bollywood takes a shy at Cricket

By - Md Mudassir Alam

Cricketers and Actors are the icons of todays’ youth. What a heady concoction if one crosses over to the other’s boundary. The mass goes gaga to watch it. Some Indian cricketers have had a shy at Bollywood, while some cricketers have married Bollywood beauties. Even Bollywood too has dished out movies on Cricket as a subject, let's take a trip down on the Cricket-Bollywood romance.

In the 70s and 80s cricketers Sandeep Patil, Salim Durrani and Sunil Gavaskar had a shy at films. Sandeep Patil was paired opposite Bengali beauty Debashree Roy in “Kabhi Ajnabee The.” The wicket-keeper batsman Salim Durrani made his Bollywood debut with B.R. Ishara’s Charitra opposite Parveen Babi. Sunil Gavaskar acted in two Marathi films and the end of his cricket career.

The latest Indian cricketers to make the celluloid debut are Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli. Ajay Jadeja acted opposite Celina Jaitley in Khel and Vinod Kambli worked in Anarth. Both the films bombed at the box office and the acting career of the cricketers sank.

Cricketers from across the border also invaded the Bollywood Pitch. Director J.P.Dutta introduced Mohsin Khan in multi-starrer Batwara with stars like Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna. Mohsin Khan did not get any recognition in the film, but later on he got another chance in Saathi. Saathi failed at the box office and Mohsin's Bollywood career ended. For a brief while he was married to Bollywood beauty Reena Roy.

Last year Mahesh Bhatt offered Pakistani speedstar Shoaib Akhtar a role in his film. But the speedstar turned down the offer. Even the great cricketing hero Kapil Dev had a fling at Bollywood in director Bish Mehay 1985 film Cricket which also became of source of inspiration for Nagesh Kukunoor's film Iqbal.

Meanwhile, several Hindi films have been made with a plot inspired by cricket, which did good business. The popular films are All Rounder (1984), Awwal Number (1990), Chamatkar (1992), Lagaan (2001) and Iqbal (2006).

Uauallly the cinegoers has highly appreciated the cricket on screen. However, All Rounder and Awwal Number could not do well as the box office but Chamantkaar, Lagaan and Iqbal became a runway hit.

Abhishek, Ash and Marriage.............

I still don't know when it all started...I mean few months back it was Viveik Oberoi, right? Who even made a proclamation of marrying Ash in Prabhu Chawla' TV show. No one knows what winds blew that Aishwarya bid farewell to Viveik and suddenly made Junior Bachchan, the desired man ( patiparmeshwar) in her life. In today's date without fail the news channels bobs up with a story on this so called hottest couple of Bollywood and their immortal love( give me a break). Be it their visit to Siddhivinayak mandir, Varanasi or Vindhyavasini temple the canny eyes of the media have always been their loyal companions.

The cherry to the cake was however added on by an unofficial announcement of Aishwarya and Abhishek's wedding on 20th April. This news travelled across the world faster than the speed of light. (Believe me) and left many smitten by the arrow of excitement, speculations and anxiety. Media frenzy since then has been feeding continuously the insatiable public hunger for spicy, peppery details on venue, date, trousseau and honeymoon. The tarot card readers, numerologists, handwriting and signature specialists have become busier than ever in predicting stuffs related to Abhishek and Aishwarya's Wedding Bells and their future ahead for the media.

However for the Bachchans the wedding plans and preparations are in full swing. A classical singer from Varanasi is in full practice session theses days hoping to get a call for performing in the most wannabe marriage of Bollywood. According to speculators more than 6000 people are going to be invited for the marriage. It is believed on tentative grounds that the groom would wear a golden sherwani weaved by a Varanasi based family who is in the industry for the last 400 years. The sherwani would approximately cost around Rs.500,000. The same weavers are said to design bridal wears for Aishwarya. Teji Bachchan, the mother of Amitabh Bachchan, who isn't keeping well, is said to be the leading lady behind the wedding of Abhishek Bachchan.

Reportedly the venue for the wedding would be Bachchan's Mumbai residence “Pratiksha”. Jaipur or Udaipur palaces are the favoured destinations where the wedding party can be thrown.Well! Till the time the wedding date is made official nothing much can be said...................however who can stop us from speculations.....after all we all are doing the same, isn't it?

It will be on the day of the wedding that we finally can say...............Guru got his Umrao Jaan!!!

A Journey From Don to D..D...D....Don!

What will be your answer if I put a question as what is the one major similarity between the year 1978 and 2006? Well! I know that you all have an answer and are dying to vomit it out. Now before you all lose yourselves out, come on shoot...... Don! Don! Don!Don, Ah! you all got it absolutely right. The day Farhan Akhtar proclaimed the remake of none other than the 1970's blockbuster Don, the whole of Bollywood industry was taken by surprise.
The film pundits started speculating about its success. The canny eyes of the media began fuelling their research work and in carrying out the surveys related to Who would overshadow who? Poor public, before they could digest the news of the remake of Don, they were brought under the target of sharp, smart and forcefully taken endless sessions of interviews.
Media left no stone unturned in taking the news of the remake to the zenith of grapevine and ultimately giving it a shape of a war. After all it was really after a long time that they were getting a scoop like this which could keep them busy for a quality time.
An imaginative boundary line was drawn. The leading opposition parties took their position. And finally the bugle of the war was blown in the month of November when the new Don hit the theatres.

1978 - Chandra Barot ( Director) 2006 - Farhan Akhtar( Director )
1978 -Javed Akhtar ( Screenplay) 2006 - Javed Akhtar (Screenplay )
1978 - Javed Akhtar ( Dialogue ) 2006 - FarhanAkhtar ( Dialogue )
1978 - Amitabh Bacchan ( Don ) 2006 - Shahrukh Khan ( Don )

Many did not go to see the film due to their loyalty to Mr. Bacchan, some still were not able to come out of the images of Sharukh Khan as Devdas and Rahul. Many saw it in order to see what new was experimented and how well Shahrukh has been able to perform or relate to the character of DON. Farhan Akhtar, Sharukh Khan and other casts of the remake spent certain sleepless nights before they actually came to know of the good response to the film.

However the days of their nightmare was over. It was admitted that it could not come up to the expectations of Bacchan's Don but it was also not below expectations. The film brought a new ease of life to many. The viewers went happily to their homes asserting the fact that – Don ko pakadna muskil hi nahiiiin, namumkin haiiii............!