Akki Again With Anthony

Anothony D’souza who is going to made his debut with a heavy budget movie Blue (2009). Bollywood top stars like Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Katrina Kaif and Lara Dutta are playing key roles in this movie. Anothony is a really lucky guy to bag such a prestigious offer at the early stage of his career only. According to the sources Blue movie out put came as per the script.

Now this young director is ready with his new script. Ashta Vinayaka Cine Vision Pvt Ltd which produced Blue (2009 movie) is going to produce this movies also. John Abraham acts along with Akki in this flick. He who has acted along with Akshay Kumar in comedy film Garam Masala.

But Anthony is not ready to see this heroes in comedy film. He has designed ever seen action sequences for his second flick. Akki and John has agreed instantly after reading the script.

A.R.Rahman who scored excellent music for Blue (Bollywood movie) is going to compose music.

What's Your Raashee? Movie Review

Despite seeing this movie the night before its release on 25 September 2009, What’s Your Raashee was so disappointing that finding the motivation to write a review of this atrocity was difficult. Sorry to all of our readers for the late posting!

At first, despite the overused storyline of the influence of astrology on contemporary Indians, the movie seemed as if it could be interesting. With Priyanka Chopra going down in the Guinness Book of World Records for playing the most roles in one movie (12) than any other actress, the film could have been interesting.

What’s Your Raashee? depicts the story of a man, Yogesh Patel, whose parents are forcing him to marry by the 20th of the month so that he can receive the inheritance that his grandfather intends to give him on his wedding day. This inheritance would pay off the ridiculous accrued debt of his bumbling brother, but the idea of marriage so soon, and especially an arranged marriage, is troubling to Yogesh. Simply for the love of his family, Yogesh decides to meet one girl from each of the twelve raashees so that he increases his chances of falling in love. The movie is essentially an exploration of the possibilities of online matrimonial matchmaking along with an analysis of the different personalities attributed to the different zodiac (sun) signs.

Remembering Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra’s pitiful first on-screen match-up, Love Story 2050, our hopes for the film went downhill.

What’s Your Raashee? simply reiterated that Harman is a horrible actor, and no matter how many roles any co-star of his played, nothing could counter-balance his falsified emotions, idiotic gestures, and lame imitations of Hrithik Roshan. Before watching the film, we speculated that perhaps in Love Story 2050 he just couldn’t connect to the idea of playing a character in the future, that science-fiction was his weakness…but seeing What’s Your Raashee changed our minds. We could barely believe that Harman’s character was able to love any of the girls that he was meeting, nor that he was deeply ruffled by his brother’s large debt or potentially fatal involvement with the mafia.

After suffering this film for three and a half hours, it is difficult to even award the movie one star; the only redeeming factor was the slightly interesting roles that Priyanka played. The only reason we managed to stay until the end was to tie up the loose ends created in the film. The ending was another downer, a quickly told ending that was typical of the poorer movies of Bollywood, a simple summary of the going-ons that no one witnessed on-screen. The transition between a girl of each raashee was depicted through strange interpretative dance, and the songs corresponding to each girl were long and boring.

Disappointed, but unable to not applaud Priyanka for her stunning transformation of characters, we must give this film 1/5 stars, simply for her entertaining acting alone.

Rating: 1/5 stars

–BeatandBoom DJs
www.beatandboom.com

p.s. Do you agree with our review? Comment below!

Movie: Kaminey

Originality is a rare concept in Bollywood. Every movie that the world’s largest film industry churns out has usually predictive, borrowed and an oft-repeated script; yet once in a while, like a whiff of a fresh air, releases a movie that grips the core of one’s imagination. The latest Indian movie ‘Kaminey’ (Rascals) by Vishal Bhardwaj is one such movie. So fastened your seat belts, get ready for the wild ride and enjoy the two hours of edge-of- the-seat entertainment.

‘Kaminey’ is about twin brothers, Charlie and Guddu [Shahid Kapur] (no, they were not separated in the village fair). Three years ago the two brother who have nothing in common set on different paths and vow not to see each other again but life put them face to face in an unexpected turn of events.
Charlie, who lisps as he pronounces ‘S’ as ‘F’, have a deadly formula of shortcut for achieving things in life. One night he finds a guitar case with cocaine worth of 10 crore rupees that can set him as a professional bookie. But life never offers anything so easily and he gets himself into a deep mess. His twin brother Guddu, who stammers, works as social worker and spreads awareness about HIV but ironically ends up impregnating his girlfriend Sweety [Priyanka Chopra]. Guddu after a little reluctance marries her. But to his dismay Sweety turns out to be a sister of a local goon cum aspiring politician Bhope Bahu [Amol Gupte] who is hell bent on making Guddu’s life hard. The two brothers strive to save their necks and of their loved ones and in the process they suck deeper into the world of bookies, drug mafia, corrupt cops and gangsters.

The performance by Shahid Kapur as twins is top-notch. Forget ‘Ishq Vishq, Vivah, Jab We Met and Kismet Konnection; this is undoubtedly the best performance of his career so far where he finally managed to shed his chocolate boy image and emerged as a rough and tough man. He masters the speech defect perfectly. You can’t help falling in love with Charlie’s lisp. Every time he pronounces ‘saale’ as ‘faale’ and ‘dus’ as ‘duf’ a smile is bound to appear.

Priyanka Chopra has a short role as the screen is mostly dominated by Shahid Kapur but she does leave an impression in a role of a feisty, Marathi girl. She gets loud as required by the script but doesn’t go overboard. The surprise package is a diabetic thug cum aspiring politician played by Amol Gupte (the writer and creative director of Taare Zameen Per). His filthy look and uncouth personality is a treat to watch.

The music is ‘Dhan Te Nan’. Yes, the movie has other soothing tracks but it is the ‘Dhan Te Nan’ that topped the charts and could be heard playing everywhere. The song can more or less fall in the same league as ‘Goli Maar Bheje Main’ from the movie ‘Satya’. When I listened the song first time, I thought to give it a miss but when I heard it the second time the music grew on me. It is not easy to ignore Gulzar’s lyrics anyway. Every popular piece of work tends to invite some sort of controversy and this song was no exception. The song has lyrics ‘Til Til Tara Mira Teli Ka Tel’; the Teli Samaj found the lyrics disgusting and demanded them to be changed. Vishal’s reaction to the controversy was that he’d change the lyrics only if the hundreds of phrases related to Teli Samaj were removed from the Hindi books.

Vishal Bhardwaj, the director, writer and composer of the movie deserves accolades because stories like those are easy to conceive but in the process of filming focus can be lost easily and the end result is a sheer disappointment. He came in the limelight in 1996 with his popular song ‘Chappa Chappa Charkha Chale’ from the film ‘Maachis’ (again the Gulzar-Vishal combo) and now he don’t need any introduction. His iconoclast movies such as: Makdee, Maqbool, The Blue Umbrella, Omkara and Blood Brothers (a short movie about HIV awareness) speaks volumes about his caliber and have already established him as one of the finest filmmakers.

The movie is definitely worth a watch. IF you like pulp movies.

काफी समझाने बाद सोहा ने इमरान को किस किया

बॉलीवुड के किसिंग किंग इमरान हाशमी निर्देशक कुणाल देशमुख की आगामी फिल्म “तुम मिले” में अपने नये चुंबन दृश्य के साथ नजर आयेंगे। उनके साथ यह चुंबन दृश्य और कोई नही, बल्कि सीघी-सादी अभिनेत्री सोहा अली खान देने वाली है।

फिल्म की कहानी मुंबई में वर्ष 2005 में आई भीषण बाढ़ के दौरान दो लोगों के बीच पनपे प्यार पर आघारित है। अभिनेता इमरान को किस करने को लेकर सोहा काफी उलझन में थी। निर्देशक कुनाल देशमुख ने सोहा को काफी समझाया तब जाकर सोहा किस के लिए तैयार हुई। वरना तैयार ही नही हो रही थी। कुनाल के शब्दों में पहले फिल्म के लिए केवल एक किसिंग सीन था लेकिन बाद में हमें लगा कि एक और किसिंग सीन करना है जिससे फिल्म को हाइलाइट किया जा सके। मैंने सोहा से बात की, वह तैयार नही हो रही थी लेकिन मैंने उन्हें काफी समझाया तो बात बन गई। फिल्म 13 नवंबर को रीलिज होने वाली है।

Highest paid actors of 2009

It was a good year for the top-earning men in Hollywood. Seven of our top 20 raked in more than $30 million. To figure out earnings we spoke to agents, managers, producers and lawyers to come up with estimated earnings between June 2008 and June 2009.

Harrison Ford

$65 million

After years of staying on the down low, Ford reemerged this year for Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series that started in 1981. Ford’s earnings on the movie come exclusively from his share of the profits of the film, which earned $786 million at the worldwide box office.

Adam Sandler

$55 million

The former Saturday Night Live star has proved himself to be a solid hit maker with movies like this year’s Bedtime Stories and You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, which earned a combined $413 million at the box office. Up next: Funny People, directed by his former roommate Judd Apatow.

Will Smith

$45 million

Smith proved once again that he owns July 4 with last summer’s Hancock. Despite middling reviews, the film grossed $624 million at the worldwide box office. Smith’s status as a global superstar helped keep his downer film Seven Pounds from being a total disaster. The movie earned almost $100 million overseas.

Eddie Murphy

$40 million
Despite the failure of Meet Dave (the film made only $50 million at the worldwide box office), Murphy continues to earn big paychecks for his work in family comedies. That could change if his two upcoming movies, Imagine That and A Thousand Words, don’t perform.

Nicolas Cage

$40 million

The actor doesn’t earn the same size paychecks as some of the other men topping our list, but he works twice as hard. Cage currently has six films scheduled for release over the next two years. Part of the reason for his work ethic could be the fact that he owes millions to the IRS.

Tom Hanks

$35 million

Hanks is one of the few stars who still earns $20 million upfront paychecks for his work in movies like Angels & Demons, which has grossed $407 million for Sony at the worldwide box office. Hanks also makes a nice living producing hits like last year’s Mamma Mia.

Tom Cruise

$30 million

Cruise managed to avoid any embarrassing tabloid moments over the last 12 months, and his movie Valkyrie did better than expected, earning $200 million at the worldwide box office. But the thing that most helped Cruise rehab his image this year was his cameo as an obnoxious Hollywood executive in Tropic Thunder.

Jim Carrey

$28 million

The funny man took a big risk this year on his film Yes Man. In lieu of his $20 million upfront pay, Carrey became an investor in the movie taking one-third of the film’s profits. The unusual deal turned out to be a good one for Carrey. By the time the movie has earned all its money he’ll pocket $35 million.

Brad Pitt

$28 million

Pitt was nominated for an Oscar this year for his work in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and also earned some cold cash from the film, which brought in $333 million at the worldwide box office. Up next: hunting for Nazi scalps in Inglourious Basterds.

Johnny Depp

$27 million

Depp falls to 10th place on our list after earning $72 million last year. The reason: no new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie. The fourth installment is scheduled for 2012. In the meantime, he’ll play John Dillinger in Public Enemies and the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland.

George Clooney

$25 million

The star hasn’t appeared in a blockbuster hit outside of the Ocean’s series since 2000’s The Perfect Storm. Instead, Clooney has opted for smaller films like last year’s ensemble movie Burn After Reading. Up next: Men Who Stare At Goats, which was one of the few films to find a buyer at the recent Cannes Film Festival.

Russell Crowe $20 million The volatile actor stumbled with last year’s Body Of Lies that costarred Leonardo DiCaprio. The film grossed $115 million. But Crowe can still earn big paychecks on movies like the upcoming Robin Hood, which will hit theaters next summer. Robert Downey Jr.

$20 million

Iron Man grossed $580 million at the worldwide box office, proving that despite his checkered history, Downey is still a draw in the right part. The film’s success allowed him to boost his asking price on Iron Man 2, helping the actor earn $20 million over the last 12 months.

Denzel Washington

$20 million

While starring in blockbusters like American Gangster and Inside Man, Washington has also been honing his skills behind the camera, directing 2007’s The Great Debaters. Coming up next: a remake of The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 and The Book Of Eli about a post-apocalyptic America.

Vince Vaughn

$14 million

The comedian continues to be a solid draw in movies like Four Christmases and Fred Clause, even if his films don’t set the box office on fire. He’s a producer on this fall’s Couple’s Retreat, a comedy that costars Jon Favreau and Jason Bateman.

Ben Stiller

$14 million

The actor had a hit with last summer’s Tropic Thunder, which grossed $188 million at the worldwide box office. Stiller was the star of the film and also the writer, director and producer. He also makes big bucks starring in comedies like Night At The Museum 2, which has so far earned $280 million at the worldwide box office.

Seth Rogen

$12 million

Rogen appeared in four movies over the last 12 months, including Pineapple Express and Monsters Vs. Aliens, in which he was the voice of B.O.B., a blob-like monster. Up next: Funny People, directed by his mentor Judd Apatow and starring Adam Sandler.

Matt Damon

$11 million

Damon makes the big bucks when he plays Jason Bourne in the action series, but brings in less for more serious movies. This year there was no Bourne, so his earnings are coming mostly from his work in the upcoming Nelson Mandela biopic starring Morgan Freeman and directed by Clint Eastwood.

Christian Bale

$10 million

Bale got more ink for his abusive rant on the set of Terminator Salvation than for his acting this year, but he still managed to appear in several blockbusters, including The Dark Knight, which is the second highest-grossing film of all time behind Titanic. Up next: He plays federal agent Melvin Purvis hot on the trail of John Dillinger in Public Enemies.

Will Ferrell

10 million
The funnyman had a rough year. His movies Step Brothers and Semi-Pro under-performed his earlier hits like Blades Of Glory and Talladega Nights. Things got even worse last weekend when his big-budget remake of Land Of The Lost opened to only $18 million, putting it in third place behind The Hangover and Up.

SOURCE : FORBES

Shamshad Begum

Shamshad Begum (born April 14, 1919) is an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry.

Begum was born in Amritsar, Punjab. She was a big fan of K.L. Saigal and watched Devdas 14 times. She earned 15 rupees per song and was awarded 5,000 on the completion of the contract on Xenophone, a renowned music recording company.

Sometime back, a controversy erupted in the media, when several publications gave the false news of her death, before it was clarified that the Shamshad Begum who died in 1998 was Saira Banu’s (Dilip Kumar’s wife) grandmother with the same name. The singer has been living with her daughter Usha Ratra and son-in-law in Mumbai, ever since her husband Ganpat Lal Batto died in 1955.Recently, she celebrated her 89th birthday at her elder sister’s house and now she stays at Powai, Mumbai  She was conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2009.

Begum made her debut on radio on Peshawar Radio in Lahore on December 16, 1937, captivating the hearts of her listeners with the enchanting depth of her voice. Shamshad was very much conscious of her not so beautiful face and she never posed for any pictures and not many people saw her pictures anywhere. Until the end of the 1970s, nobody knew her face at all, though everybody could recognise her melodious voice as it was used by the great maestros like Naushad Ali and O. P. Nayyar. Even today, her songs from the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s are popular and continue to be remixed by music directors.

Begum sang for the All India Radio (AIR) through her musical group ‘The Crown Imperial Theatrical Company of Performing Arts’, set up in Delhi. The then AIR Lahore helped her entering the world of movies as they frequently broadcast her songs, which induced music directors to use her voice for their films. Shamshad also recorded “naats” and devotional music for a couple of gramophone recording companies.

Her crystal-clear voice caught the attention of sarangi maestro Ustad Hussain Bakshwale Saheb, who took her as his disciple. Lahore-based composer Ghulam Haider used her voice skillfully in some of his earlier films like Khazanchi (1941) and Khandaan (1942). When he moved to Bombay in 1944, Shamshad went with him as a member of his team, leaving behind her family and staying with her Chacha (paternal uncle). She is credited with singing one of the first Westernised songs, Meri jaan…Sunday ke Sunday by C. Ramchandra. O.P. Nayyar describes her voice as that of a “temple bell” for its clarity of tone. Begum became a national rage between the 1940s and the late 1950s, having a voice different from her peers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Geeta Dutt and Amirbai Karnataki.

Source: WIKIPEDIA

1. Chaman main reh ke veerana – Deedar – 1951- Naushad
2. Chandni aaye banke – Dulari – 1949 – Naushad
3. Mere piya gaye rangoon – Patanga – 1949 – C Ramachandra
4. Meri neendon main tum – With Kishore Kumar – Naya Andaz – 1956- O. P. Nayyar
5. Bachpan ke din bhula na dena – With Lata Mangeshkar – Deedar – 1951 – Naushad
6. Saiyan dil main aana re – Bahar – 1951 – S D Burman
7. Booj mera kya naam re – C I D – 1956 – O P Nayyar
8. Kabhi aar kabhi paar – Aar Paar- 1954 – O P Nayyar
9. Aag lagi tan man mein – Aan – 1952 – Naushad
10. Ab to ji hone laga – Mr & Mrs 55 – 1955 – O P Nayyar
11.Ek do teen – Aawara – Shankar Jaikishen – 1951
12. Ek thandi sadak hai – Jadoo – 1951- Naushad
13. Gore gore mukhde pe – Patanga – 1949 – C Ramachandra
14. Holi aayee re holi – Mother India – 1957 – Naushad
15. Julmi Dushma papi duniya
16. Jab nain mile naino se – Jadoo – 1951- Naushad
17. Kanhin pe nigahein – CID – 1956 – O P Nayyar
18. Na bol pee pee more angna – Dulari – 1949 –Naushad
19. Paradesi balam tum jaaoge – Mela – 1948 – Naushad
20. Pee ke ghar aaj pyari – Mother India – 1957 – Naushad

ALL SONGS

मच्छरों से काफी परेशान बिपाशा

बॉलीवुड की सेक्सी बाला बिपाशा बसु इन दिनों मच्छरों से काफी परेशान है और मच्छरों से बचने के लिए वो खासे उपाय भी कर रही है।
दरअसल में बिपाशा इन दिनों प्रियदर्शन के साथ मदुरैई के कारिकु़डी में शूटिंग कर रही है जहां मच्छर बहुत होते है। मच्छरों से परेशान बिपाशा कहती है कि ये मच्छर मेरे पास नही आने चाहिए इसका पूरा इंतजाम किया जाए। मैं नही चाहती कि मच्छर मुझे काटे। मुझे मलेरिया से बहुत डर लगता है।
बिपाशा को इस बात का यकीन दिलाया गया है कि मच्छर उनके पास नही आएंगे और आ भी गए तो काटेंगे नहीं। अब बिपाशा को राहत तो तभी मिलेगी जब उनकी शूटिंग खत्म होगी।

Satte Pe Satta (1982)

I have a sad small pile of unwatched Bollywood films. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Aradhana, and lastly… Satte Pe Satta. I needed something to watch while I was on the treadmill. I read the back of the Satte Pe Satta DVD and said to myself, “… My god, what was I on when I decided to buy this???”

But I watched it. And I kind of wish I hadn’t.

(IMDB) – After the passing away of their parents, Ravi Anand, the eldest of seven brothers, takes it upon himself to raise them – albeit a little wild and kinda animal-like. The brothers all sport long beards, hate taking showers/baths, and above all hate Ravi bossing them around. When Ravi tries to convince Nurse Sheela to marry his friend, Shekar, he mistakenly lectures the wrong girl, Indu, and as result Ravi falls head over heels in love with her. But Indu is not available to marry any stinky creep, who has not washed himself in weeks, so Ravi shaves, washes, dresses up smart, successfully woos Indu and marries her. After the marriage, Indu is shocked when she gets to meet the rest of his terrifying brothers, all the more when Ravi did not even mention that he had more than one brother.

Apparently it’s loosely based off the 1954 Hollywood musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Loosely though.

I wanted to turn it off three minutes in. But to my surprise, it greatly improved. It was actually kind of sweet there for a bit. Hema Malini and Amitabh together was great.

However… Yes, however…

Before we get with the doom and glum, I must say I had great fun singing along with this number which I didn’t even know was from this film:

Unfortunately, the really sweet and fun bit didn’t last that long. Amitabh’s six brothers fell in love with six girls (there were about 20 characters in this film – I couldn’t remember any of their names!), and they decided, “Hey! We’re going to kidnap them and make them our brides!” Hema and the girls were upset for a bit, but then it was all coool.

I’m a little disappointed that the girl in the wheelchair that the six girls were taking care of never got any of the brothers. All the brothers went for the other chicks who were flaunting their ‘assets’ in their bikinis on the beach playing jump rope. Wheelchair chick just got assassination attempts by her evil uncle (Amjad Khan), and the assassin who looked exactly like Amitabh.

And speaking of assassin!Amitabh – I actually kind of liked him. I just started hating everyone else. Assassin!Amitabh went after wheelchair chick with a knife. She fell out of her chair, scrambled over to the wall and… Oh my god, she stood up and ran over to Hema for safety! Instead of everyone going all, “OMFG WHY ARE YOU THREATENING HER WITH A HUGE KNIFE???” they say, “OMFG, YOU’VE PREFORMED A MIRACLE! WE HAVE A TON OF RESPECT FOR YOU NOW!!!” There was literal ‘*facepalm*x100′ from me.

I did think it was kind of sweet how assassin!Amitabh ended up falling in love with former!wheelchair chick and couldn’t kill her.

OH WAIT, DID I JUST SPOIL IT FOR YOU???

Rating: 2/5

God, I just need to stop watching all these Amitabh masala films. I think I’m developing an allergy or something because I just can’t stand them anymore. Kind of like when I watched three Shammi Kapoor films in a row. I love Shammi dearly, but I can only take so much of the Yahoo! personality at a time.

Maybe I just need to stop watching post-70s Amitabh masala films. Ram Balram, Hum, Satte Pe Satta – I see a pattern…

RA-1 First ?

Shah Rukh Khan is busy with Karan Johar’s  My Name Is Khan. My Name Is Khan shooting almost came to end. Farah Khan who has delivered two block busters like Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om with Shah Rukh Khan, is ready with Happy New Year’s script. Few days back Shahrukh said that, he will start working for this movie as soon as possible.

But now he has changed his decision, and postponed Happy New Year. But he decided to work first for Anubhav Sinha’s Ra-1. According to the sources RA-1 is a action movie with Super Hero back drop. Shah Rukh Khan has started working for six pack body also for this role. He will start working for Happy New Year in the end of 2010

Songs.Pk Review

Again i decided to review a music/entertainment site. This is the one of the most popular bollywood songs site but not finest one.

Website is indulge in to any thing and everything about songs downloads for free. But there is nothing to do with rest of the bollywood entertainment like news, gossips, videos etc.

Website is much popular in Eastren Region as compare to westren. 88% traffic from Eastren Region (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).

Dil Bole Hadippa and Rani (Bollywood)

It gives me a certain sadistic pleasure to hear that Dil Bole Hadippa is a flop. I didn’t dare watch the movie having been through the ordeal of watching its trailer before the release. It wasn’t very promising. I’ve never liked Rani much. Lately, for a few years, I’ve observed that Rani’s performance remained the same in each movie. The same smile, style and the same far away look. Though her smile seems charming to me, I always view her as the current tragedy queen. Just looking at her (in the sad scenes) makes me feel immensely depressed. Anyways, coming back to the Dil Bole Hadippa, I wonder how she thought her new toned body alone would create magic and help her to have the much needed blockbuster. The plot seemed (from what I could gather from reviews and friends) lousy – definitely not robust enough to rely on for a hit. And also I don’t approve of the pairing. Shahid??? Rani looks like an older sister to him. I really have trouble with imagining romantic scenes between them. I actually dreaded that audiences might receive Dil Bole Hadippa with much warmth, if only by some miracle. And the fact that it isn’t case, made me sigh with relief. This morning, as I read an article on Times of India about Rani’s doomed spirits and her recent complacency and arrogance behind the screen , I felt that she truly deserves this let down.

It gives me a certain sadistic pleasure to hear that Dil Bole Hadippa is a flop. I didn’t dare watch the movie having been through the ordeal of watching its trailer before the release. It wasn’t very promising.

I’ve never liked Rani much. Lately, for a few years, I’ve observed that Rani’s performance remained the same in each movie. The same smile, same style and the same far away look. Though her smile seems charming to me, I always view her as the current tragedy queen. Just looking at her (in the sad scenes) makes me feel immensely depressed.

Anyways, coming back to the Dil Bole Hadippa, I wonder how she thought her new toned body alone would create magic and help her to have the much needed blockbuster. The plot seemed (from what I could gather from reviews and friends) lousy – definitely not robust enough to rely on for a hit. And also I don’t approve of the pairing. Shahid??? Rani looks like an older sister to him. I really have trouble with imagining romantic scenes between them…

I actually dreaded that audiences might receive Dil Bole Hadippa with much warmth, if only by some miracle. And the fact that it isn’t case, made me sigh with relief.

This morning, as I read an article on Times of India about Rani’s doomed spirits and her recent complacency and arrogance behind the screen , I felt that she truly deserves this let down.

shahrukh Khan y Kajol estaran en la portada de la revista VOGUE.

Lo última de la pareja mas popular de Bollywood y los más buscados en todo los rincones del universo la Pareja han vuelto una vez mas lucir SHAHRUKH KHAN Y KAJOL … Aquí te ofrecemos las últimas noticias, gráficos, vídeos, fotos y mucho más! Nos esforzamos por ofrecerte las mejores noticias actualizadas sobre sus carreras para los seguidores de esta pareja.

Asegúrese de que está sentado en una silla antes de ver el siguiente video! Hace demasiado calor para manejar (no digas que no hemos advertido !)… Kajol y Shahrukh hizo una sesión de fotos juntos para LA REVISTA VOGUE , que será incluso en la portada … Se ven increíblemente hermosa y muy caliente juntos … Echa un vistazo al video.

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...!

Hum Aapke Haine Koun was 1994 Bollywood movie directed by Suraj Barjatya and produced by Rajshri Productions.

Prem ( Salman Khan) and Nisha ( Madhuri Dixit) are family freinds. Prem’s father Kailash Nath ( Alok Nath) and Nisha parents Mr Siddharth Chaudhary ( Anupam Kher) and Mrs Chaudhary ( Reema Lago) are best friends.

Prem’s brother Rajesh ( Mohnish Behl) is married to Mr and Mrs Chaudhary ’s elder daughter Pooja ( Renuka Shahane). When Pooja comes to know abut her pregnancy, she informs the happy news to her parents. Nisha comes to her house to be with her for few days. At that time, she comes close with Prem and later falls in love with him.

Pooja notices their love and promises to them, she will arrange their marriage.  But before informing this news to her parents and her father- in- law only , she dies in an accident.

Mr and Mrs Chaudhary and Kailash Nath arranges Nisha’s marriage with Rajesh for Pooja’s child sake. How Prem and Nisha wins their love is the remaining story.

Preity With New Director

Shoumik Sen was writer for comedy movies like Meerabai Not Out and Anthony Kaun hai ?. He is going to made his directorial debut with Aamir Khan’s next movie. He has opted Preity Zinta as heroine for this movie.

Preity Zinta who is waiting for good offers, is on cloud nine with this offer. Present she has only Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s Main Aur Mrs Khanna in hand. In that movie also she is going to appear in an item number.

Every One expecting Preity and Aamir Khan will once again gives sufficient entertainment like their previous hit Dil Chahta Hai.

Destination: Bollywood

A typical Saturday morning consists of coffee and Namaste America, America’s comprehensive source for clips, interviews, features, and everything else Bollywood. For those eurocentric types, Bollywood is one of the largest production centers in the world. Though strictly song-and-dance films, it is a multi-billion dollar film industry that produces over a thousand films a year selling over 3 billion movie tickets annually.

Naturally, I was curious when I came across this blog posting, Want To Be A Bollywood Script Writer? over at the Dream Ink blog. The Bollywood writing experience seems to mirror Hollywood in its share of dreams, heartbreak, and frustration. From the post:

Venita’s (Venita Coehlo) journey in Bollywood so far has not been smooth. Out of 17 scripts that she has written, only two got produced and saw theatrical release, including Sanjay Gupta’s Musafir. When she saw the other one in a theatre (she does not want to name the film) she was horrified to see that only one scene written by her was retained in the film. But the film’s credits had her name as the screenplay writer! “I wanted to go and hide somewhere,” she confessed.

According to Venita, Bollywood still follows the 1970s rates and laws for scriptwriters. Once you sell your script for a promised amount (you get payment in parts and full payment is hardly ever made), you part with all rights to your script. Even if the film is shelved, your script does not belong to you anymore. Payments range from Rupees 3 lacs (near S$12K) to Rs10 lacs, and you will be lucky to see any money after getting the signing amount.

“To work in Bollywood, you must supplement your income by other means,” she said, “unless you become a writer who has written hit movies.” She means Jaideep Sahni.

Writing for television is more strenuous but money is good in TV, she said. One month of income from TV can equal 2 years worth of toiling in Bollywood (as a writer).

Copying is rampant in Bollywood and ideas are stolen shamelessly. One has to learn to live with it. If you fight the powerful filmmakers, she said, you can kiss your future goodbye.

Corruption within the industry seems typical with regards to intellectual property, wages, and credits. From PassionForCinema:

One of the horror stories we heard was how a producer had stuck his son’s name in the screenplay credits along with a very senior writer.

Wow. And you thought you had it bad?

High Tea och kräftskiva på en och samma dag

Det blev en tung, tung, TUNG fredag för Annieverse, ska ni veta. På eftermiddagen var jag (via en illuster expat-damklubb jag gått med i)  inbjuden till High Tea på det fashionabla hotellet Taj Land’s End. Jag är fortfarande inte riktigt säker på vad High Tea egentligen är, trots att jag frågat ett antal brittiska damer om saken (den häringa damklubben verkar till stor del bestå av just brittiska damer). De svävar lite på målet, men det verkar åtminstone tämligen klart att High Tea är något man kan hänge sig åt mitt på dagen, och att det (förutom te) inbebriper både läckra mackor och bakverk i den sötare branschen.

En skojig bekantskap denna eftermiddagen var min “bordsdam”, hustrun till den tyska konsuln i stan. Hon hade bott i Sverige flera år och var riktigt bra på svenska. “Jag har varit lyxhustru i Stockholm i flera år, hahaha!“. Pigg dam med skinn på nästan och ett välutvecklat sinne för humor.

Annieverse redo att hugga in.

Najsa småmackor. Dessutom fanns det ett oherrans massa bakverk.

Väl hemkommen från detta spektakel var det bara att kasta sig i duschen, åla sig in i lilla Odd Molly-partyblåsan samt träskosandalerna med platåklack (från Toffelboden i Malmö, jodå!!)  och slänga sig in i bilen för att åka iväg på kräftskiva. Jodå, ni läste rätt. Kräftskiva i Mumbai!!! Snacka om osannolikt, men det här är något som Svenska Handelskammaren i Indien har gjort sig möda att pyssla ihop för andra året i rad. Självklart inleddes festligheterna med Bollywooddans (vad annars?!?!) Och när det väl var dags att gå till bords…ja, fråga mig inte hur det hade gått till, men arrangörerna hade trollat fram både kräftor och Absolut och västerbottenost. Among other nice things

Det var en kul blandning av folk som snapsade och hade sig – själv hade jag två förtjusande bordsherrar varav den ene var dansk och den andre från Bangladesh.(Bangladeshkillen var förresten en jäkel på att svepa Absolut)  Sen var det allt från glada 25-åringar som flyttat till Indien på vinst och förlust till rekorderliga husmödrar från Mellansverige som hängt på sina makar hit. Riktigt trevlig mix!

Bollywood boogie med svenska förtecken…

Skön mix på partyfolket….

MUMS!!!

Lite mer indisk dans i kräftans vänkrets…

 

Movie Review: Wanted (2009)

1 Star

Wanted is a movie with an identity crisis. Is it a gruesome action flick? A mafia thriller? A slapstick comedy? A scathing critique of police corruption? A romantic drama? A musical?

The film contains elements of all these genres, and as a result, Wanted is a schizophrenic mess.

Salman Khan plays Radhe, an uber-cool thug who can take down a roomful of bad guys single-handedly. He’s the kind of guy to whom you’d apply a tagline like, “Every man wants to be him. Every woman wants to be with him.”

Of course Radhe’s trumped up machismo makes him completely unrelatable and unlikable, but the filmmakers go with it anyway.

Radhe works as a hired gun with no allegiance to the feuding mafia dons who hire him. He’s got three loafer buddies who conveniently show up whenever the girl of Radhe’s dreams, Jhanvi (Ayesha Takia), walks by, triggering dream sequence dance numbers.

The beautiful Jhanvi is pursued by the lecherous, corrupt police inspector Talpade, giving Radhe plenty of opportunities to come to her rescue. Jhanvi falls for Radhe until he kills about twenty guys in front of her (hey, they shot at him first!), making her question whether he’s marriage material after all.

Eventually, the biggest don around comes to town, and things get really bloody. There are rapes, kidnappings and beatings, and the police seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Jhanvi has Radhe to protect her, but is that enough when the rest of the world is falling apart?

Now, don’t let me mislead you. The plot isn’t nearly as straightforward as I’ve made it seem. There are several unnecessary dance numbers, as well as a subplot involving Jhanvi’s portly landlord, whose every entrance is announced by either a dopey theme song or elephant sound effects.

All of this nonsense occurs amidst graphic, bloody deaths and frequent instances of sexual violence against women. Mahesh Manjrekar is exceptionally slimy as Inspector Talpade, who at one point proposes to Jhanvi’s mom an arrangement in which he gets to rape both of them at will.

Immediately following this uncomfortable scene, the inspector walks outside and finds the fat landlord trying to hide behind a tiny potted plant. The inspector punches the landlord in the eye, knocking him down. When he comes up, his eye is surrounded by a circle of black makeup — an instant, comic black eye. Hilarious! Then the inspector does the same to the landlord’s other eye. Goofy music plays in the background.

The juxtaposition of these two scenes highlights Wanted’s misogyny. That the movie seems to suggest that the only way for a woman to save herself from this systematic violence is to find a muscly guy like Salman Khan to protect her just worsens the insult.

Don’t worry, ladies. At least you get to see Salman with his shirt off. That makes up for Wanted’s cavalier attitude toward rape, right?

Blue Oranges

Blue Oranges (2009) is a crime thriller which revolves around two talented painters. Rajesh Ganguly who has produced the movie A Wednesday, turned into direction field with this movie.

Shalini ( Pooja Kanwal ) and Kevin ( Aham Sharma ) are painters. Both meets in Goa at paint exhibition and falls in love. But situations forces them to be seperately.

After 8 years Shalini meets Kevin in Mumabi. Some body kills Shailini instantly after both of them meeting. Policemen suspects Kevin because of the strong evidence. Police chief Nilesh ( Rajit Kapoor) discovers paintings of Shalini which helps to find the real killers.

This crime thriller has no attractive star cast. It has to compete with other big movies Dil Bole Hadippa and Wanted Dead And Alive

Aamras Youthful not enchanting

“Aamras” is a youthful story filled with coming-of-age comedy and is about four 18-some girls. Pari (Natasha) is the upper class snob who often funds the fun ideas of her middle class best-friend Jiya (Vega). Their equation is alike with Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna one in “Namak Haraam”.

Add to the twosome’s on-and-off bonding a couple of more inseparable friends like Rakhi (Maanvi) and Sanya (Annchal) and you have a bubbly brew of bonhomie during times of picnics, parties, growing up and realizing that life is not just fun.

“Aamras” is high on content. Debutant director Rupali Guha, who is veteran filmmaker Basu Chatterjee’s daughter, pays homages to her dad and his colleague Hrishikesh Mukherjee. At the girls’ picnic the man-in-charge is named Parimal Tripathi (Ashish Roy), a la Dharmendra in “Chupke Chupke”. Guha gives a sweet and sometimes slyly amusing spin to the high-school hijinks of a foursome that just wants to have fun, but soon gets to know that life has other plans.

Guha has happily cast a quartet of newcomers seem believable and warm. The film has that quaint cosy feeling but is let down by technicalities. In “Aamras”, the foursome’s friendship is done with sincerity. However, the cosy intimacy wears thin when the principal characters begin to behave like one-dimensional stereotypes rather than the real people you tend to believe them to be initially.

The script crams too much into the narrative’s fragile frame. Loud, malfunctional families, the laughable arrogance of the rich,

friendship and jealousy over parties, stealthily-shot kisses on the phone, a beloved mother-figure stabbed and a painting competition where the middle class girl sacrifices her chance to go to Paris for the rich friend — all this is like placing heavy baggage on a tender shoulder.

Overall, the film’s narration seems to have bitten off more than it can chew. One likes the film for its honest intentions rather than the execution. The performances by the four girls range from the warmly credible to the passable. The supporting cast of veterans is surprisingly impact less.

Cast: Vega, Natasha, Maanvi, Aanchal, Sunil Sinha, Zarina Wahab, Reema Lagoo Director: Rupali Guha

Mr Big B, Khush toh nahin hai hum

(This is a very old post of mine, that suddenly went missing from my blog. After a lot of searching…..I have unearthed it from somewhere. I cannot backdate it, and so I have no other alternative than post it right up here. Read it, if you already haven’t.)

Mr Amitabh,

Give me the real Bachchan.

I admit that you are one of the few actors to have evolved so finely. But I cannot help but miss the Bachchan who walked into theatres amidst deafening whistles.

The Bachchan who triggered a frenzy even before the censor certificate appeared. The Bachchan who kicked us out of bed to rush to the theatres and join a snake long queue. The Bachchan who made us sacrifice the popcorn during intervals. The Bachchan who kept us glued onto the seat even if our bladders were bursting. The Bachchan who’s films were reserved to only be screened during Diwali on Doordarshan. The Bachchan that made us aware of theatres we never knew existed. The Bachchan who made us grin and bear the shaky lines that appeared and reappeared in the rented VHS tapes.  The Bachchan where nothing else mattered as long as it was Bachchan.

If I had to pick up a poster of you to adorn my walls, it would still be from the pile of your earlier films.

If a Rajni can still do a Sivaji, why not you?

How can you enter the screen without background music anymore? Why is there no grand revelation to the God on screen? Why does the camera not take it’s time to scan you from toe to head?Why is there even an inch of space between you and the edge of the screen? Why are your opening lines not drowned in the din of the audience? Why is there no reverb to your baritone voice when you utter those first golden words? Why do you not do things that a Naseer or Om Puri can never dream of doing?

There are a hundred actors for us to go ‘wah wah’ about their acting skills. But there is still only one Bachchan to imitate in front of the mirror. So why have you stepped into those easily replaceable meaningful roles? Why have you retraced your steps to being an actor again?

If all this is an attempt to cater to the new generation that wants ‘Bollywood’ to resemble ‘Hollywood’, then what happens to the crores of front benchers like me? Who do we turn to? How long do we rerun those pirated dvds? How many more dvds will you make us buy, by just changing the cover? When do we see you with DTS put to full use? When do we see the seats of multiplexes ripped apart? When do we buy in black again? When will you give us new fodder with which we could spend a few more years happily trying to imitate? When will you stop breaking the formula? When will you surprise us with a cliche that’s now rare?

‘Vijay Dinanath Chauhan…gaon Mandwa……’,

“line wahin se shuru hoti hai, jahaan hum khade hote hai’

‘Ae kancha, bandookh bhi dikhatha hai aur peeche bhi hat tha hai?’

‘Aadmi aisa do heech time bhaagtha hai, olympic ka race ho ya police ka case’……

Don’t you miss saying those lines anymore than competing with mere mortals who are hiding in the shadow of realism? Specially, when you’ve unanimously been granted the license to leap far out of it.

Don’t worry about the New Gen. After all, they are a giggly lot, laughing at silly MTV spoofs of your masterpieces, with no impact of the original on them. Moreover, there are sufficient people who’ve been put in the business to keep them happy. There are enough ‘thinking directors’ catering to them, engaged in remaking foreign flicks or inspired renditions of them. That should keep them busy in comparing it with the original. They have a good understanding going on between themselves. Leave them alone to enjoy that nonsense.

In the meanwhile, please spare a thought to forgotten front benchers like me and wake up the sleeping Salim Javeds, Kader Khans and Tinnu Anands, and let’s start from where we left off last….

Was it Hum?

Bhaktavar…Mein aaaa raha hoon…….tan tan tan tadang taaaaaaaaaannnnnnng…

Now go.

Kaminay is One Rocking Movie!

Kaminay poster

Finally saw Kaminay last weekend and it completely lived up to my expectations and more! I had heard reviews about it being a dark movie, but what I was not prepared for was how unexpectedly funny it was! It’s been a long time since I watched a Bollywood movie where the laughs do not solely cater to the front-benchers.

Kaminay tells the story of two twin brothers – one is a good guy who stammers, the other twin is a bad guy who lisps. Both are estranged from each other until one event-packed night when their lives converge and they are both forced to face up to each other.

It is a hilarious and quite complicated story. It is also extremely fast-paced. You can’t afford to step out for 5-10 minutes and then come back to pick up the threads easily. I think that’s the only negative thing I can say about the film – that it forces you to pay attention, if you are watching it casually, you will not only miss all the nuances but also most of the plot.

For those scratching their heads after watching this movie, Wikipedia has the complete story in detail

Some things I loved about the film:

• Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra’s performances were fantastic. I think they will definitely win Filmfare awards for this movie.
• The love story in the movie was really too funny. I really don’t want to give away the jokes here, but I was laughing out loud at some of the scenes and dialogues. In fact, still chuckling as I write this review. This movie is a must-see just for the crackling funny dialogues.
• I generally love gangster movies, and this is one of the really well-executed ones of late.
• The music is mind-blowing. It has been composed by Vishal Bharadwaj, who has also directed this movie. I am totally in awe of this man’s talent.

Here is a sample video from this movie. Enjoy :

Blog se yaad aaya...

You Know worst thing about writing a personal blog? Its title; You dont know what title your suppose to give when you want to tell everything from not-happening-appraisal to the new pair of shoe you bought. From stupid collegue to even stupider movie you saw last week-end. So I wanna advice you not to go by the title of the post and waste your time here. Instead you can see a program on global warming on NDTV.

Waise TV se yaad aaya….Couple of weeks back I was watching a channel called ‘Headlines Today’ *things I do for my blog you see* and there ace anchor broke into the monologue of how disasters the swine flu gonna be and how important its not to panic. The anchor has only one briefing that dont allow studio guest to speak so here it goes….

Doc: I think we shoudn’t panic…

AA(Ace Anchor dude) : *cut the crap* Doc tell me if person doesnt show any sympotms of swine flu; Should he take Tamiflu?

Doc : errr..if you dont show symptoms….

AA : *Cut* Doc just tell me YES or No? *with i-am-the-ace-anchor smirk on his face*.

Doc : *cursing himself for coming on the show* NO, IF you dont show any symptoms why would…..

AA : Here you have it; Exclusively on our channel that if you dont show any symptoms dont take tamiflu.

Now such kind of news reporting make me sick. And I just took 2 tablets of saridon. It felt better.

Waise Sick se yaad aaaya….I saw a movie called ‘Final Destination 4′ and I thought that movie was kinda sick. People were killed mosquito every now and than. It had all the weird method in the world to kill people; from flying cylinder to flying tyres which can knock your head-off. And to top it all this whole exercise made me 200 bucks poorer. I never watched a movie with price tag of 200!!!!

Waise movie se yaad aaya..I saw one more movie last week called kaminey. To say the least I was disoppointed with vishal, after churning out movies like makdi,maqbul and omkara. Kaminey was kind of mediocore. I didnt enjoy it much. Priyanka was good and amol gupte was too good.

Waise good se yaad aaya….I am on twitter and I won this cool t-shirt and a cool mug from channel V for dont-do-anything contest. Just register and you can win. So from school time frog-races to college singing competition it is the first time I won. You see things you miss if you dont follow me on twitter. Its your last chance. Its @allthecrap on twitter valid till end of this month. limited period offer!!! Just follow me and you could win a mini-mayawati statue.

channel v t shirt, Mug awaited

Waise competition se yaad aaya…..I saw couple of episode of KKK level2 and I kinda liked it; although without make-up its diff to like any of the gal on show, I loved bruna abdulla . She is pretty and cute. But before I could say she was sexy too. She is out of the show. Life is so unfair. Bahut buri baat hai.

Waise baat(h) se yaad aaya I have’t taken a bath since morning and before my mom decide that I am too unhygenic to take dinner and must skip it. I should go and take a bath. Things I do for dinner.

…Dinner se yaad aaya…whats on you menu tonight?

[Via http://allthecrap.wordpress.com]

All The Best Hindi Mp3 Songs free Download in Bollywood

All the Best

Director: Rohit Shetty Producer: Ajay Devgan Banner: Devgan Entertainment Music Director: Pritam Lyricist: Kumaar Star Cast: Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mugdha Godse, Asrani Release Date: October 16, 2009

……………::Download Links::…………..

Dil Kare

Haan Main Jitni Martaba

All The Best

Kyon

You are My Love

Haan Main Jitni Martaba remix

Dil Kare Remix

[Via http://bollycorner.wordpress.com]

Marigold - An Adventure in India (2007)

En bitchig amerikansk b-skådespelerska Marigold Lexton (Ali Larter från bla serien Heroes och Obsessed) med svajjig karriär blir strandsatt i Indien då hon vid ankomst får reda på att hela produktionen är nedlagd. Hon ges dock en chans i en typisk Bollywoodfilm men då hon inte kan dansa uppstår vissa komplikationer. Då hon faller för den sammetsögde indiske dansaren Prem (Salman Khan) börjar också en mukare och lyckligare sida inom henne att blomstra. Men då tradition står mot kärlek blir livsvalen inte helt enkla.

Det jag först trodde skulle vara en smörig tv-film, visade sig vara en supermysig indiepärla. Man har lyckats göra en slags mix av amerikansk och indisk filmtradition och resultatet är en väldigt charmig romantisk komedi med en hel rad sköna musikalinslag. Bra kemi mellan skådisarna och de indiska miljöer är så klart ofantligt vackra. Roligt att se en dansscen utspela sig på en avsats på Taj Mahal precis där jag själv satt och dinglade med benen för något år sedan. Först frestad att ge ännu högre betyg på grund av den oväntade överraskningen vad gäller filmens kvalitet, men så snälla ska vi inte vara. Dock värd en stark solid trea.

Betyg: 3

[Via http://filmnissen.wordpress.com]

Bollywood's hottest actress comes back to Hollywood with Jennifer Lynch's new movie Hisss

Credited as the “original Bollywood bombshell,” Mallika Sherawat first captivated Indian audiences in the 2003 film Khawish and has gone on to become one of Bollywood’s hottest actresses.

Mallika will next star in Jennifer Lynch’s Indo-American film HIsss, alongside Irrfan Khan of Slumdog Millionaire fame.

Jennifer Lynch, David Lynch’s daughter, and a well known director in her own right, is the director for Hisss. She was also the director of the movie Boxing Helena, starring Sherilyn Fenn. There was a bit of a feminist outcry over the movie due to the sadistic nature of the movie (spoiler alert – Wiki link). In October 2008, Lynch’s film Surveillance took the top prize at the Festival de Cine de Sitges, and then became the first female to win the Best Director at the New York City Horror Film Festival.

Mallika is known to US audiences for her role opposite Jackie Chan in The Myth and emerged as a breakout star at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, with Time Magazine’s Richard Corliss calling her “the next big thing.”  Over the past year, the interest in Mallika has begun crossing over to the West.  Mallika is an incredible dancer, and my all time Mallika favorite is the song “Maiya maiya” from the movie Guru.  Sorry about the low quality video, but I think you will still be able to see what I mean:

 

Earlier this month, she was given a special honor by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in a council presentation recognizing her as an honorary citizen of the City of Los Angeles and presenting her with a resolution for her extraordinary career and  charitable efforts. She was recently invited to the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, and she received the Diversity Award in Hollywood and the Arts Award by the mayor of Jersey City. This fall in Los Angeles, Mallika will star in her first all-American project, playing a character inspired in part by Attorney General of San Francisco, Kamala Harris, in a film set during last year’s Presidential election.

Mallika currently resides in Los Angeles.

[Via http://everythingdesi.wordpress.com]

Blue Music Review

ARR has mentioned in one of his interviews that he was concerned about the high expectations from Blue since it’s his first release after the Jai Ho! hysteria. “It’s important that you don’t get typecast. It’s also important to give the kind of music the film requires and have fun with it!” said the maestro, so let’s keep that in mind while analyzing this album.

I’ve never heard of the Australian singer Kylie Minogue before, but she sounds pretty good in Chiggy Wiggy. (And looks beautiful as a chanteuse as well… I would surely not mind doing Chiggy Wiggy with her!) The mukhda is catchy, but the first antraa (female part) doesn’t quite maintain the catchy-ness. The transition from Western to desi (Punjabi) style is somewhat abrupt but doesn’t really break the flow of the song. Sonu Nigam handles the naughty desi part of the song with ease. The last time ARR did something like this was in Lagaan where O Ri Chhori was merged with  My Heart It Speaks A Thousand Words. Two distinct songs (one Western, one desi) are joined together with a transitory interlude, and finally they blend together to create a fusion (Anglo-Punjabi, in this case).

The only thing I really liked about Aaj Dil Gustakh Hai is Shreya’s mellifluous and sensuous rendition. That and the sound-scaping (layering) by ARR. (You might want to put your head-phones on to fully appreciate the subtle layering of instruments in this song.) Continual acoustic guitar chords and breezy piano backdrop give this song a fast flowing tempo.

Vijay Prakash, however, seem to be a wrong choice for the next song, Fiqrana, which has a very addictive and peppy tune. He is a talented singer and did wonders with Man Mohini (Yuvvraj), and shined in Sooni Sooni (Cheeni Kum) and Pal Pal (Swades) as well. But I feel that his voice (which sounds quite different in this song, by the way) has a lot of earnestness that doesn’t do full justice to the “fiqraana” mood of this song.

The background orchestration in Bhoola Tujhe elevates this soulful song to yet another level. The sound arrangement and Rashid Ali’s voice makes me feel as if this were a leftover song from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. The trumpet makes a brief re-appearance after its last outing with ARR in Ghajini (Behka). Rashid Ali has a unique voice and he handles the singing part very well – I just wish he focused on his diction. I listened to this song so many times in headphones but I still can’t decipher some words – which is sad because Abbas Tyrewala seems to have done a good job with this poetic conversation with khuda. There are just so many lazy pronunciations in this song, but simple mistakes like ‘kahaa’ or ‘ka-aa’ instead of ‘kahaan’ just frustrate me and take some joy out of listening to this otherwise beautiful song. (I mean, come on, does Rashid Ali not speak and understand Hindi or what?)

Ba-loo, I mean, Blue Theme is fantabulous. There are total six singers in this 3.52 minutes short frenzy, but the most prominent vocal is by Raqueeb Alam, whose Bachchan-like voice does full justice to the attitude of this song. The heavy percussion and adrenaline tempo gave me goosebumps in the first few listens, and I am sure it will sound even better with the on-screen action sequences in the movie. I liked the imagery of “kabhi surkh lahoo hai, tabhi rang blue hai”. But why, oh why, ba-loo?

I absolutely loved Rehnuma - easily my pick of the album. Shreya  Ghoshal’s magical voice dominates this jazzy number – she cruises her way through the highs (Kaatil Adaa) and lows (Leher Si Ye Baahein). Sonu’s contribution is significantly smaller but his seductive voice does leave his trademark on this song.

Yaar Mila Tha reminded me of the funny peppy number from Bombay, Kuchi Kuchi Rakamma. Without the R&B’ish beats and supporting vocals, this song would have sounded like some outdated duet from the 90’s. Udit Narayan is accompanied by Mahalaxmi here (instead of Kavita Krishnamurthy). Udit’s voice is slightly modulated (what’s it called, the sonic-sound?), and with any other song that would have been a turn-off for me, but the naughty playful tune and lyrics make up for that big time! I am eager to see this song on screen – as the situation described is pretty unique and interesting, and I am not sure if  “Teri wafaa ke kisse ab ga rahi hai duniya; har maa kahe bete se la aisi dulhaniya...” is a sarcastic take on the alleged bewafaai of the dulhaniya or not.

Barring a couple of songs, I didn’t quite liked the album during the first few listens — which wasn’t the case with Delhi-6 that blew me away in the very first listen. But they certainly grew on me after two days of repeated listening. So if you don’t like the songs initially, have some faith and give it some more time!

Overall, I don’t think this is one of the best albums of ARR, but given the premise of the movie (action thriller), I think ARR has really tried to push the envelop and give a soul to this presumably soul-less movie. (Yes, I do think that this is going to be another mindless Bollywood thriller, albeit with impressive visuals and well-choreographed action sequences.) Oh, and I wish the singers – other than Sonu, Shreya and Udit – paid some attention to the correct pronunciation… but that’s often the case with many of ARR’s albums, isn’t it? So there.

I can’t say I have drowned into the music of Blue (at least not yet!), but I am certainly enjoying a dubki (dive) or two.

[Via http://vishal12.wordpress.com]

Now Ranbir's Turn

Deepika Padukone has bagged hit with Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal. She has paired opposite Saif Ali Khan in that movie. Deepika Padukone received rave reviews for her performance in that movie. This is second super hit in her career. Her lover Ranbir Kapoor not yet received a hit.

Ranbir disappointed with his first two movies Saawariya and Bachna Ae Haseeno. Second one did some good job at Box Office, but failed to impress critics. This time he is coming with Wake Up Sid. Stills and trailers of this movie are looking very promising songs also rocking audience.

We have to wait to see the fate of this movie.

[Via http://latestnewsofdeepikapadukone.wordpress.com]

Bad Luck Shahrukh Khan

Shahrukh Khan was in flops before Chak De India. This hockey based movie created sensation at Box Office and received critical acclaim also. Shahrukh Khan’s fans expected a National award to their favorite hero.

But that year ending Aamir Khan came with Taare Zameen Par which was a feel good movie. Every one expected competition would be between this two movies at any award functions. At Filmfare awards both of the movies shared the awards.

But in National Awards a Tamil movie Kanchivaram defeated both the movies and bagged National Award in Best movie category. Prakash Raj who played the lead role in Kanchivaram bagged Best Actor award.

[Via http://kingkhanshahrukhkhan.wordpress.com]

The tragedy of a nation and Mohandas movie review

It’s a story that takes place all over India. Poor people deprived of their rights. Recently in Uttar Pradesh a young mechanic from Sitapur unearthed a scam when he decided to check why his father’s old age pension had not arrived. Under the old age pension scheme, the Department of Social Welfare is to pay Rs 300 per month to the poor who are over 65 years of age. Rs 700 crore has been set aside for this scheme yearly, but now it has been discovered that almost a lakh of the beneficiaries are not true beneficiaries at all. Villages like Gorakhpur, Kaushambi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Mirzapur and Mahoba are also victims of this scam. In a belated move, the state government is now physically checking the lists in all villages.

The misuse of government funds happens all over India ofcourse. Dedicated chief ministers like Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (who died in a helicopter crash a few days ago) like to make surprise checks to villages to ensure that the monies set aside for the poor are actually reaching them. Most states don’t seem to care. We know what happened in Maharashtra. Very little of the crores set aside for the relief of farmers actually reached them. Recently, social activist and journalist Vilas Wankhede put in an RTI application and discovered what appears to be a huge scam relating to relief schemes for farmers who committed suicide in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region. And he has accused a six-time former Member of Parliament (MP), relatives of a sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and several former MLAs.

This is the story of India. Unknown heroes like the anonymous young mechanic and Wankhede bring us hope. As I had mentioned in a comment a few posts earlier, India has its heroes. They challenge the system despite the fact that their lives could be endangered. And it is their work that gives others courage. For example, after the young mechanic exposed the scam in the pension scheme, “people now come with lists of the beneficiaries, and demand a probe.”

And that is what the film Mohandas – A Man Lost In His Own Nation touches upon. It is a movie which is dedicated to whistleblowers like Manjunath Shanmugam, and Satyendra Dubey who blew the lid of scams which involved crores of rupees and as a result had to pay with their lives. A list of those who defied the system is here. Given in a comment on this blog by Vikram. However, this movie is not about a whistle blower per se, and nor is it about Mohandas Gandhi, the father of our nation, although it does tell us about a poor lawyer who decides to help the protagonist Mohandas despite threats to his life.

The protagonist in this movie is a poor naive village boy called Mohandas whose identity is stolen by another. Mohandas is Gandhiji’s common man and hence the name. The villain conspirators in the movie take the trouble to steal Mohandas’ identity so that they can benefit by crores of rupees. Getting into the details of this would reveal the plot and that can’t be done as suspense is an important element in the movie.

The movie is based on a short story by Uday Prakash and the story is the best thing about the movie. It is a powerful heart rending story with twists and turns that leaves you praying for a happy ending. Another great thing about this movie is its setting. Most of the story takes place in a village called Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh, and it was shot in a real village in Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh.

The cinematography is excellent, and why shouldn’t it be. It is none other than the cinematographer of Satya fame Mazhar Kamran, who is behind the camera. And he is the director as well, this being his debut film as director. He has done a great job as a director. The film moves fairly fast and suspense is maintained throughout. Characters are developed well, and are not stereotypes. There are no glamorous faces, only real faces and real people.

However, I think Kamran made a mistake in casting Nakul Vaid as Mohandas. Nakul Vaid looks like a city bred yuppie with his plump and rosy cheeks and the casual chic that he displays in his posture and style. By no stretch of the imagination could he pass off for a villager, not even in fancy dress. That is all it seemed anyway. A city man dressed up as a villager. The couple chosen as his parents are so perfect, it makes Vaid all the more unreal in this role. Wrong casting makes it difficult to empathise with the character. Throughout the movie I got a feeling that Nakul Vaid is not really Mohandas, but simply an actor pulled in to play his part. A play within a play.

The other main character in the movie is the reporter Meghna, played by Sonali Kulkarni. She is better for her role, although not perfect. It was difficult to believe that her character was a top notch reporter in a news channel as she came across more as a fresher with 2-3 years of experience. Not a thing one would complain about in a mainstream movie. But this is supposed to be a “real” movie so the expectations are higher.

Overall the acting of all the people in this movie was average and at times stilted and stiff. Sonali’s scenes with her colleagues seemed artificial and it is here that the inexperience of the director shows.

If one has to sum up, this is a serious thought provoking film. As a judge in the movie laments, goondas and mobsters have penetrated all democratic institutions in this country, and it has made a mockery of our democracy. This is the main message of the movie and while it may sound cynical to some, it does seem to be the truth. The movie gives out little hope because it tells us that though one can move a few mountains at the ground level because of the efforts of a few people, the real problem lies at the top.

From the real life examples I gave at the beginning of this post, it is clear that unless there is political will to root out the corruption, nothing will change in this country.

(Photo credits: the first photo is from bollywoodadda.com and the other is from india-server.com)

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[Via http://nitawriter.wordpress.com]

Mohabbatein

Gerade habe ich wiedereinmal eine abendfüllende Beschäftigung von dreieinhalb Stunden hinter mir: Ich habe “Mohabbatein” gesehen. Aber obwohl der Film so gute Kritiken gekriegt hat, habe ich mir doch ehrlichgesagt etwas mehr erwartet. Keine Frage, Amitabh, Shahrukh und Aishwarya waren klasse, aber alles in allem fand ich den Film eher mittelmässig gut. Die Songs haben mich auch nicht so vom Hocker gehaun und obwohl die Geschichte eigentlich schön war, war sie mir irgendwie zu oberflächlich. Vielleicht bin ich einfach zu sehr Veer&Zaara verwöhnt, ich weiß nicht. Aber “Mohabbatein” hatte viele Längen und Schwächen. Einiges war gut – eben alle Szenen mit Shahrukh und Aishwarya ♥, aber vieles war mir zu langatmig und… naja. Ausserdem hat mich immens gestört, dass jeder Laie erkennen konnte, dass Shahrukh nicht wirklich Violine spielen kann.

Ich geb dem Film 5 von 10 Punkten und es dauert sicher etwas, bis ich ihn mir nochmal ansehe.

[Via http://traumseele83.wordpress.com]

Mallika Shake...!!well............?

Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat joined the league of Hollywood celebs including Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, Victoris Beckham, David Beckham and Paris Hilton, after a Hollywood milkshake was named after her. Mallika, who visited Millions of Milkshakes in West Hollywood , has been honored with her very own milkshake called the ‘Mallika shake’, reports ‘Contactmusic’ . The Mallika shake includes blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and chocolate sauce. To make the shake more appealing, it has been topped with whipped cream.. Meanwhile, the actress is in Tinseltown to promote her new h0rr0r film ‘Hisss’.

[Via http://shaans.wordpress.com]

Ash Abhi on Oprah Winfrey's show

They are Bollywood’s hottest and powerful couple. Now that the world has known they both come as a package, Oprah too had to invite Aishwarya Rai with husband Abhishek Bachchan, formally. The two share a bandhan that is solid, whether it is Cannes, Madame Tussauds and now Oprah Winfrey’s show, they will be seen hand in hand.

This being the second time that Aishwarya will be on the show since 2005, where she gifted the queen of many media, Oprah a pink saree. Finding it irresistible, Oprah wore the saree on the show, and called it sensuous.

For Abhishek however this will be the first time. Married to a globetrotting Indian belle, he definitely is the much priced accessory to his gorgeous wife. The charming hunk has been spotted with his wife at many a global events. Be it Cannes, Hollywood premiers or any other event, this charming hunk donning matching outfits compliments the classic frame of his beautiful wife. Abhishek has always supported Ash in all her international endeavors, and he himself has charmed many on international interviews, hopefully he’ll be able to win over Oprah as well.

Ash who was critisized for being too giggly on her earlier show, plans to talk about family values and marital bliss on the show which was apparently shot a few days back. Lets see what what all can candid Oprah get out of the Bachchan bahu.

[Via http://monadarlingblog.wordpress.com]

Movie Review: Luck

Yesterday I watched the Sanjay Dutt and Imran Khan starrer Luck on DVD. Today I feel like writing to the makers of the movie to demand my Rs 50 back.

The basic premise of the movie is that some of us – the lucky ones – are born with more luck than the rest. Some of us are just more darn lucky (like the protagonists of the movie who come from filmy families). Imran Khan is one of those lucky characters in the movie, along with Shruti Hassan, Mithunda, Rakhi Sawant’s big bro Ravi Kishen and the dwarf from Chak De India. Sanjay Dutt and Danny Danzeogpa play characters who bet on luck. They get all of these people together in South Africa and make them do tasks that are watched live by people all around the world who are betting on the luck of the chosen few.

Innovative concept, yes. Executed well, no. Pre-interval, the movie is an overburden of clichés with everything from money to revenge as the motivation for people to get into this deadly game. And post-interval, the movie starts becoming a rip-off of MTV Roadies. Sanju baba becomes Raghu Ram, Danny becomes Ranvijay and the rest becomes roadies. In Roadies, the contestants performed tasks to earn immunity; in Luck they carry out death-defying tasks to literally stay alive.

As we are subjected to a couple of seemingly daredevil (but actually stupid) tasks and a hilariously ludicrous climax, we keep hearing philosophical dialogues from the actors. Every actor gets his fair share of philosophy to blurt out. Of course the best ones come from Dutt and the worst from Brother Sawant. The best thing about the movie is that after numerous clichés, convenient twists and turns (like the leading lady’s double role and the leading lad’s right-sided heart) it does chug to an end.

Performance-wise, nothing wise to report. Dutt is in his usual bhai avatar, Imran tries – and fails – once again to be non-chocolaty, but my heart goes out to Shruti Hassan. She should have probably opted for a better debut. Neither the role, nor the bikini does her any justice.

Finally, I doubt if the movie would prove to be lucky for anyone involved with it, thus throwing its premise out of the window. Moral: Not even the best of good luck is useful without talent and sensibilities.

However, I do recommend the movie. Watch Luck for one reason: Such harrowing experiences make us appreciate the better things in life. On the same lines, a few other recommendations are ‘contemporary classics’ like Kambakht Ishq, Tashan and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

[Via http://asatirecalledlife.wordpress.com]

Pakistan is a United State is Wise

 

Jinnah and Gandhi were both Jinns.

 

Nation states are a stupid Greek concept, also deadly in today’s terms.

 

It doesn’t matter what Jinnah or Gandhi said. They aren’t God.

 

Whoever said Muslims are all terrorists in Bollywood films knows nothing about Bollywood films.

 

Kashmir is Holy Land. It’s neither Pakistani, nor Indian. Give it up.

 

 

 

 

To My Indian Friends

September 1, 2009 by mohsenali 

From the day Jaswant Singh’s “book about Jinnah” issue splashed the media, I have been bombarded by the news, articles and analysis; linked and emailed to me by friends, posted on their facebook and presented during dicussions.

During all this; Jinnah, Jaswant Singh,  India, Indian people, Indian politician, one thing was missing, which I figured out today, My Indian Friends. There was no input from Indian people I know directly, I didnot knew what they wanted?

Why? I asked my self.

Seeing Pakistan defaced every day, misanalysed every new hour; not only by the Non-Pakistani experts but also by the Pakistani experts why I take words published in the Nytimes, BBC and many Pakistani news papers.

Why I am not talking to Indian Class and Lab Fellows I have, about this?  In all this time where I have been friend to many Indians some of whom I can count as very good friends (I tell you I am not so friendly person so few I have means they are good enough to tolerate me).

Why we never had the discussions on any serious topic that actully exist b/w us.

Today when I have so many versions of what Indians want, why I cannot ask an Indian what you want?

From the topics that are thorn in our throuts  (What you think about Kashmir, Why dont they get to choose with whom they want to live? What you think about Pakistan’s Independence, why majorly in Indian films Muslims are terrorists? Why you think Pakistanis will want to blowup Taj Mahal hotel? Why there are still voices in India for Greater India? Where is water going?) to light subjects (like how is social culture changing? Can today people from different religion marry? What books are famous? Why BJP wins? Water issue? ) There are so many things we can talk about, know about talking Face to Face. Knowing how other feels. What other thinks, without going over the load of hatterd crap sent in our news media. But why we don’t

I know because I don’t want to destroy the friendship, but what is friendship if we don’t understand each other.

How will we discuss tomorrow if we are afraid to discuss today?

Today I want to ask them One Question? What do you think about the Jaswant Singh’s book?

What do you feel has Jinnah been honestly presented to India? Because I know Gandhi not have been but there is still great respect for many views of Gandhi in Pakistan.

 

http://mohsenali.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/to-my-indian-friends/

 

 

[Via http://nonmuslimpakistan.wordpress.com]