The talented A R Rahman has eventually achieved the honour of winning double Oscars for his work for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and created kind of history in Indian Cinema.
Moviemonarch.com congrats to Music Director A R Rahman, Lyricist Gulzar, Sound Mixer Resul Pookutty and the entire cast for their memorable contributions in making Bollywood an International Event today.
By Salman Akhter
Right from the first Oscar winner for India Costume Designer Bhanu Athaiya for ‘Gandhi’(1982) and an honorary Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award to maker Satyajit Ray in 1992, There have been several attempts to get the Oscar from Bollywood like Mahboob Khan’s ’Mother India’(1957), Mira Nair’s ‘Salam Bombay’ (1988) and Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan’ (2001) but none of these were able to reach beyond nominations.
I could never believe a director of ‘28 days later’ would ever choose a subject of Vikas Swarup’s fiction ‘Q & A’, which was overlooked by Indian Film Makers, he went ahead and tried to sign the Super Star Shah Rukh Khan who anchored the last Indian version of Who Wants to be A Millionaire, SRK refused this offer for his own reasons which Anil Kapoor grabbed with both hands, Rest is HISTORY that has been created by ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
Now, that, Oscar results are out just now and it is now proved that Bollywood has finally been taken to Oscars like a kid holding little finger of Danny Boyles and being shown how the Oscars are won. There have been debates upon, what, if the same movie would have been made by an Indian Maker, would that have received same international response as Danny Boyle’s ? this itself is a million dollar debatable question.
But I have a dream, one day Hollywood makers would send their movies to Indian Awards in Best Foreign Film Category and feel equally privileged to be nominated as our Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowarikar,Vidhu Vinod Chopra or Shah Rukh Khan feel after sending their movies to OSCARS for recognition.
By Salman Akhter : The son of Raj Babbar and Late Smita Patil, Pratiek has shown his caliber even in a minuscule role, his style of acting and expressive dialogue delivery have shades of an anti-hero kind of character. He has great potential of becoming a Star Performer.
As the results are out and confirmed. Imraan Khan’s ‘Jaane Tu’ has swept the Box Office and now it is turning in to one horse race leaving year 2008’s past successes behind.
After writing super hit movies like ‘Maqbool’, ‘Munnabhai MBBS’, ‘Main Hoon Na’, ‘Salam Namaste’ among others, Director Abbas Tyrewalla had to go through a test where Aamir Khan asked to show his work by filming few scenes before he was officially signed to direct Imraan Khan’s debut venture.
by Salman Akhter:
The major Fall-Out between Bachchans and Khans happened the day Ash Abhi tied the nuptial knot. Not 
inviting prominent stars like Hritik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan(he might not have come, even if invited),Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor was enough to create a crack in their relationship.
Ash-Abhi wedding invitations list was only responsible to bring Roshans and Khans together, their off screen chemistry developed rapidly that even Bachchans could feel the heat soon after the celebrations.
When Abhishek’s ‘Guru’ was declared hit and acclaimed by critics unanimously, Dad Bachchan played the trumpet of Jr.Bachchan in every available media, unfortunately what followed afterwards were ‘Jhoom 
Barabar Jhoom’, ‘Laga Chunri Main Dag’ and ‘Ramgopal Verma Ki Aag’, these movies simply put speed breakers to the speeding career of proven talent Abhishek Bachchan.
Abhishek Bachchan’s reputation has always been of a non controversial performer who was liked by all of his contemporaries, but over excited dad’s statements about his son’s ‘Guru’ performance costed Abhishek, as most of Abhi’s co-stars got annoyed and gradually distanced from him.
It is said that Saif Ali Khan refused Karan Johar’s film ‘Dostana’ Abhishek Starrer because of the same reasons, Rani Mukherjee was already on the verge of becoming Rani of Aditya’s heart, so Yashraj Camp too was slipping from the hands of Bachchans.
Then came unwanted confrontations from Aamir Khan on Amitabh’s Movie ‘Black’ and Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Panchvi Fail’ Comment on his blogsite against Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan later resolved the issues by seeing Big Bachchan at his set and Amitabh Bachchan publicly apologized to Shah Rukh Khan for his opinions which were ’un-intentional’ sabotage of SRK’s ‘Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain’.
After all of this ‘Halla Gulla’ and negativity towards them Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan seem to have learnt a lot from the past experiences that even after respectable success of ‘Sarkar Raj’ they took its triumph casually and moved on to the ‘Unforgettable’ Tour without being so vocal about ’Sarkar Raj’ victory at the Box Office.
To add more feathers to Abhishek’s hat, his forthcoming movies, coincidentaly titled with letter ‘D’ ’Drona’, ‘Dilli 6′ and ‘Dostana’ are expected to rejuvenate his career all over again by bringing back past 
successes with three D’s ‘Dus’, ‘Dhoom’, and ‘Dhoom 2′ (except one ‘D’ of ‘Dhai Akshar Prem Ke’).
Now, the last but not the least news of tie-up of three Bachchans and Ambani’s for a mind boggling deal of said to be $600 million, where they will produce movie to the likes of Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks alongwith other major top Directors of Hollywood is bound to take them where all the other maker can simply envy of.
So, watch out, here is the Ami-Abhi-Ash trio back on the RISE again.
Friday the 4th, 2008 has been a very momentous day in the lives of Harman Baweja and Imran Khan with their releases ‘Love story 2050′ and ‘Jaane Tu..Ya Jaane Naa..!’, but are unaware of their debut films have indirectly affected Ranbir Kapoor, the next big thing after “Saawariya” who has now to face tough competition for the stardom.
After Shahid Kapoor’s exit from the newcomer status, Ranbir Kapoor was being considered next would be superstar, his divine appearance, innocence and natural performance got tremendous applaud even after the miserable failure from Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Jr RK eventually begged big assignments like Yashraj’s ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ and Rajkumar Santoshi’s ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani’.
moviemonarch.com
The fate of JTYJN and LS2050 is almost known at the time of writing this, Budget and content wise ’Jaane tu..Ya Jaane Naa’ is on the verge of super success and the first futuristic movie of Indian Cinema ‘Love Story 2050′ may not be turning into goldmine but it has surely given birth to a future Star Harman Baweja.
Harman Baweja has already been signed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowarikar and filming for ‘Victory’ while Imran Khan is doing Sanjay ‘Dhoom’ Gandhvi’s ‘Kidnap’ and Soham ‘Kaal’ Shah’s ‘Luck’ alongwith Kamal Hasan’s Daughter Shruti Hasan.
The next generation brigade of stars will comprise of Ranbir Kapoor, Harman Baweja, Imran Khan and many more, the competition between them should make them a better actor in the years to come but still have to wait to get the answer of this million dollar question, who will be the BEST.
What do you think guys..?
posted by Samina Ausaf,London.
Halla Bol is based on some of the real incidents like Jessica Lal Murder, Safdar Hashmi Murder, Bollywood internal politics, Salman Khan’s interrogation, Amar Singh’s supporter’s attack on Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow , Media’s exploitation of events with some extra ordinary RajKumar Santoshi Style fiery dialogues advocating non-violence and situations.
Despite being very contemporary and hard hitting subject, I suspect this might still not be able to set the box office fire because after watching ‘Welcome’ a brainless comedy and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ a full of brain classic recently, Halla Bol comes out as the middle path of both where relevant situations are weaved around recent incidents with routine villainous acts, the audience may find it difficult to digest.
Pankaj Kapur’s performance is outstanding, Ajay Devgan is good but appear to be miscast (may sound arrogant), Vidya Balan is well tuned in her character but the rest of villains team looks stereotyped as Rajkumar Santoshi’s earlier films Ghatak or Ghayal.
I would say apart from the Santoshi Brand of making it has nothing exceptional to offer, I would give it 3/5 and donot expect any firework at the box office.
By Salman Akhter
After Directing 12 remarkable movies in his nearly 17 year old career, Rajkumar Santoshi, The ’Ghayal’ at the Box Office six times previously is making a comeback with Ajay Devgan, Punkaj Kapoor and Vidya Balan Starrer ‘Halla Bol’. His last directed six movies from ’China Gate’, ‘Pukar’, ‘Lajja’,'The legend of Bhagat Singh’, ‘Khakee’ to ‘Family-Ties of Blood’ were not success stories at the ticket window but almost all of them got rave reviews from the critics.
‘Pukar’ and ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ even managed to get National Awards for Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgan.
Director Rajkumar Santoshi has known for making hard hitting and thought provoking movies as his Guru Govind Nihalani, He created magic with Sunny Deol in ‘Ghayal’,'Damini’ and ‘Ghatak’ making him twice winner of coveted National Award.
Lets wait and watch how he is gonna ‘Bol’ a ‘Halla’ from today onwards, by making a Monetary Success at the box office Or by sweeping another National Award for Ajay Devgan or Pankaj Kapoor without significant box office collections?
I expect the unexpected this time after his last six not so encouraging box office performances, The Ever Talented Genius Santoshi is all geared up to bring back ‘Ghayal’ days again.
By Salman Akhter
Aamir Khan’s controversial comments on ‘Black’ where he showed his reservations upon presenting the child character and Amitabh Bachchan’s over the top performance in the movie, which made Senior Bachchan react against Aamir Khan, saying ‘his performance may have gone ‘over the top’ of Aamir’s head’ and further ascertained that ‘Aamir has a movie to promote too.
‘He further said, “everyone has a right to promote their product, Aamir too has got that right of expression and promote his film”.
It is unlikely that Amitabh Bachchan will watch TZP and express his comment on the Aamir Khan’s maiden directorial venture. He might will watch it in private and hold his comments for couple of months, as, if he appreciates, that would give TZP free publicity, and, in the present scenario when ‘Taare Zameen Par’ has already created masses and critics hysteria, if he says anything against it, that would go beyond his grace and seniority.
It is a subject of discussion, how the versatile Bachchan’s reaction on TZP would be, it is eagerly awaited by one and all.
moviemonarch.com
‘Taare Zameen Par’ has already been discussed and analyzed a lot on this site before its release, we had already given indication that this is going to be one the masterpiece from the house of Aamir Khan Productions.
Now, when the verdict is out and TZP is basking glory of success by the word of mouth despite strong competition with Multi Starrer ‘Welcome’, protests against Aamir Khan in Gujrat and the mess-up with its release in multiplexes, TZP has still sailed through purely on its own merit.
Aamir Khan’s first directorial efforts would soon be recommended by other major Government Bodies and Independent Organization because of its subject of dyslexic children in positive lights and making parents and elders to think how to deal with the child of such complexity. TZP has already been granted Tax Free in Delhi and it is expected the same in other states as well soon.
MovieMonarch.com strongly recommends it to every lover of good and meaningful cinema, watch it… in cinemas… before it is too late and comes off the screen… you might not get the true feel of its subject treatment on the DVD’s later.
By Salman Akhter:
This year 2007’s last multi-starrer ‘Welcome’ is on its way to become a hit during Christmas and new year festive period, Starring from the Stylish Feroz Khan, Dependable Anil Kapoor, Selective Nana Patekar, Comedy-Action king Akshay Kumar and Current Lucky mascot Katrina Kaif are ready to rock the box office.
Director Anees Bazmee who delivered successful ’No Entry’ had again chosen the comedy track for ‘Welcome’ as well and the assembly of the starcast is major highlight of the movie.
Other significant facts are reunion of Feroz Khan and Anil Kapoor after ’Jaanbaz’(1986) and Anil Kapoor – Nana Patekar after ‘Parinda’(1989), their mutual chemistry have been amazing in the past,their interaction with in ‘Welcome’ is worth a watch.
Akshay Kumar has slowly become ‘lambi race ka ghoda’ he shows is balanced comic flavour and again proves his complete control over commercial presence after ‘Namastay London’,'Hayy Baby’ and ‘Bhool Bhullaiyaa’.
And ‘Nana’ just doesnot say ‘han han’ to every project, he has been very selective to his roles and one can watch his comedy timing in ‘Welcome’ after ‘Bluff Master’, once he is convinced of what he is doing in the movie is satisfying for him, he has been an actor who never get frightened by any commercially big actor’s presence in any movie.
Nana Patekar has again shown his prowess despite multi-starred canvas like ‘Welcome’.
MovieMonarch.com:
The internet survey has revealed that the Viewer comments on the major Bollywood sites has been 98% positive but the opening of the movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’ has been slow on single screens.It is excellent in Multiplexes in India, its popularity is expected to grow by every passing day everywhere.
Overseas territories too are picking by the word of mouth rapidly, people who watched are overwhelmned by the treatment of the subject and are strongly recommending it, they are highly impressed by the choice of subject, its execution and originality.
Following weekend will decide the actual monetary fate of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ but it is for sure that Aamir Khan,The director has Arrived and will be eagerly awaited for his future directed films.
Audience and Critics have already appreciated Aamir Khan’s efforts. MovieMonarch.com congratulates and welcomes to Aamir Khan, the Director.
Yes, As an actor, Nana Patekar indeed is a ‘Nana’ or ‘dada’ (Grandfather) of present actors, His signficant presence made great difference to ‘Bluff Master’ and ‘Taxi No.9211′ earlier, now with ‘Welcome’ he proves it again.
Nana Patekar has always accepted to work on certain project, where, irrespective of the length of role,he looked at the significance of his character in the story, no matter what, Nana enjoys his profession he never fall in trap of big bucks
It is a delight to watch Nana in ‘Welcome’, his expertise chamelean shades of Uday Shetty are extremely enjoyable that proves his mattle over and over again.
Watch him apologizing to Paresh Rawal with genuine crocodile tears and while going he mischievious jump asking Anil Kapoor to take over the situation, only an actor of Nana’s claibre could bring life to such a delicate situational comedy shading all of his inhibition aside.
After a self hibernation from acting Nana is welcomed back with a bang.
By Salman Akhter:There have been several incidents which are less known, sometime SRK was not happy with a producer or Director due to creative difference and sometimes some of his blatant comments on others’ work, that created a undeclared rift between them, some of them I would like to bring to your knowledge.
Raj Kanwar- When Shah Rukh Khan was in his initial phase of his career, he got one of the remarkable hit of his career in the form of ‘Deewana’, but, strangely, he never did any movie with Director Raj Kanwar apart from a guest appearance for Salman Khan starring’Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’, Reason, he was unhappy the way he was treated in the films climax, while originally in the script, it was SRK who was to die in the movie, but, on insistence of Rishi Kapoor Producer Guddu Dhanoa & Co and Director Raj Kanwar obliged the senior actor and eventually Rishi Kapoor died in the climax of the movie. SRK was said be unhappy with all of this episode but never publicly showed his displeasure due to respect to the senior actor.
Sunny Deol- It is well known that Aamir Khan did not accept Yashraj’s ‘Darr’ because he wanted to have joint script narration session with Sunny Deol but Yashji was not comfortable doing that. eventually, Shah Rukh Khan stepped in the Aamir Khan’s shoe and Sunny Deol still had complete trust on the senior maker’s commitment, but, it is understood that due to SRK’s stock price were on rise, the senior maker opted to get flexible in terms of giving extra footage to SRK and the dialogue SRK speaks in the climax were rumoured to be not included in the original script, on watching preview Sunny Deol felt betrayed and assumed SRK might have played some manipulative game alongwith senior director, so Sunny Deol never worked with Yashraj or SRK thereafter, finally he broke the ice and invited Dharamendra and Bobby Deol for his OSO’s much publicized ‘Deewangi’ song and it appears Deols are leaving the past aside and making a healthy environment with Khan.
Anil Kapoor- Shah Rukh Khan’s Bollywood entry, his transformation into a bigger star was only responsible of Anil Kapoor’s fall from the super star status, Anil Kapoor was climbing the stairs of success with Tezaab’s ‘ek… do… teeen’… Chaar … and Anil Kapoor was the Super Star’ but Shah Rukh Khan shook Anil Kapoor’s empire and became uncrowned king of Bollywood, publicly they never shared any ill vibes but that period was the heights of cold war between them, they did ‘Trimurti’ together and than SRK did some guest appearance in Anil’s Brother Boney Kapoor’s movies to clear the air between them.
Sunil Shetty- There were no comparisons between these two different kind of performers, Sunil shetty was more popular for his physics than acting abilities and SRK was known for his energetic style of acting where shades of Dilip Kumar were visible. When SRK signed Producer Late Yash Johar’s ‘Duplicate’, he was playing dual role for the first time in his career, when asked by a journalist, how is he preparing for his first double role character in a movie, he replied, that reply only was enough to upset Sunil Shetty, he said, ‘when I am doing double role.. you can be sure .. it wouldn’t be like ‘Gopi Kishen’.. has to be better than that.’ Sunil Shetty did show his unpleasant by saying ‘I do not know.. what makes Shah Rukh Khan to comment on me’. Later SRK offered Sunil Shetty a role which was originally offered to none other than South Super Star Kamal Haasan and SRK-Sunil Shetty cold vibes disappeared.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra- The latest undeclared war was in between Vinod Chopra and SRK, when the Maker was unhappy over the word of war from Farha Khan & Co about the Oscar nomination of his ‘Eklavya’, Farah Khan and Sajid Khan expressed their opinion against ‘Eklavya’s nomination in stead of other movies like ‘Dharam’ etc. Vinod Chopra took it offence and called press conference ‘I never said ‘Paheli was a rubbish movie’ so who they are to declare my movie as incorrect choice for Oscar’, SRK said nothing, eventually, the project he was going to start under Vinod Chopra Banner to be directed by Raj Kumar Hirani declined.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali-The clash of OSO and Saawariya release on Diwali was responsible to create a bigger gap between the two talented craftsman SLB & SRK in their own field, both created magic with ‘Devdas’ but when the question of one-upmanship arised with their latest offerings, their comment about each other widened the crack that is clearly visible even after the declared fate of their movies. its only time will tell when they bury their differences and come together to create another history again after ‘Devdas’.
Subhash Ghai- During ‘Pardes’ it is said that SRK was not happy with the way Showman was giving extra importance to Apoorva Agnihotri and Mahima Choudhry in the script. It was a Shah Rukh Khan film but Showman too was on his prime. They made peace (Shanti) with each other by the time OM Shanti OM became blockbuster.
In an Industry of Show, Glamour and Competition these kind of cold wars have not just been in SRK’s destiny, this had once happened in between Dilip Kumar – Raj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna-Amitabh Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan-Shatrughan Sinha, Amitabh Bachchan-Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff-Anil Kapoor, Sunil Shetty-Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan-Ajay Devgan and recent so called rivalry between SRK & Big B.
Cine Industry is a very fragile world where nothing lasts longer, friendship or enimity, and the remedy is the TIME, it heals and make even arc rival in to a closest buddies, like Salman Khan and Subhash Ghai are doing a project together despite stories of Khan indulging physical fight with Ghai. Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan had a major showdown on the set of ‘Chalte Chalte’ because of Aishwarya Roy, today, they are best buddies.
Even after few of above bad patches, SRK had somehow, managed to make ‘theek thaak’ (o.k.) in the end, still, these cold wars and bitter phases have deep significance at his career which are rarely discussed.
******
By Salman Akhter
Let me introduce this greatest personality of the Bollywood, He is Kumar Kapoor Khan aka KKK aka K3, no, you are wrong, his name is not inspired from any of Karan Johar’s movies or Ekta Kapoor’s TV series.
He is an Indian Film Fanatic, when he entered film industry, the director who was auditioning him, asked “Did you see.. Dekh Kabira Roya..”, our KKK who was as pure as the coconut water in the unbroken coconut, replied,”No, sir, Maine kisi Kabire ko rote hue nahi dekha..!”, (No, sir, I didnt see any Kabira crying anywhere).
And the next scene, he was being consoled by the watchman, “dont worry.. idhar aisa roj hota hai.., aur tu idhar Producer Director Writer Actor Music Director aur Editor banne ko aayela hai… to .. kam se kam tujh ko.. picture ‘Dekh Kabira Roya’ ka naam to sun kar aana tha.. chal tune nahi dekha.. to koi baat nai”
(Dont worry, it happens every day.. and you..! you came here to become Producer Director Writer Actor Music Director and Editor at the same time, its fine even you did not watch this movie “Dekh Kabira Roya”, but you should at least remember the name of it..”)
That was the day changed his concept of whole life, he watched from “Raja Harish Chandra” (silent movie) to “Meri izzat Bachao”(dubbed movie), during the movie watching madness from 1913 era to 2007, he became fan of Dilip Kumar Raj Kapoor to Shah Rukh Khan, only after that he randomly researched over the names of top super stars, it was Dilip Kumar, Raj Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor Anil Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan.
Cut to.., while staring at the rising sun on the beach early morning, he stole the three surnames of super stars and rechristened himself as Kumar Kapoor Khan.
Soon, he became shorter as KKK, he was much overjoyed when one of the watchmaen of top Financier Banarasi Papadia just called him, “hey, K3, tujhko saab ne andar bulaya hai”(hey K3, the boss is calling you inside).
Today he is sitting in front of a top most financier Banarsi Papadia with a sure shot blockbuster subject, it is called as OMM SHANTEE OMMM – Lets bring Peace together, The movie will be made in the record budget of just one carore INR, Kumar Kapoor Khan aka K3 has completely floored down the financier by the concept of casting real life character artistes, OM puri as the OMM, yesteryear’s south Indian heroine Shantipriya as SHANTEE and third OMMM he will be using special effect to make the Late Om Prakash live on screen, and that is the way he will pay tribute to the artistes of different era in a skeleton budget, he will further save the cost by writing lyrics, composing music and even editing the movie..
The financier Banarasi Papadia was more than glad to know that there was a mini Blockbuster on his table, he simply raised one of his doubts, “you know K3, the Manoj Kumar era has gone, when he used to do everything and the credit would read like..A FILM BY MANOJ KUMAR”.
“Sir, yahi to..I want to give tribute to Manoj Kumar Style of film-making as well, we will send the script to him and only after “Bharat”ji approve, we may commence the project,and the film end credit title will roll as “A FILM BY K3″ IN association with “Banarasi Papadia” and “special thanks to OUR MANOJ “BHARAT” KUMARJI.”
“Theek hai..K3.. magar .. phir bhi.. (Ok.. K3.. still) please make sure you at least bring some audience in the hall, I am not making this remake for Ghosts..” Papadia warned.
“Bade majakiya ho.. papadia sir aap, OMM SHANTEE OMMM” to sir complete entertainer bana rahe hain hum” woh horror subject bhi hai mere pas..? title sunenge aap”
(You have great sense of humour Papadia sir, this movie is gonna be out and out commercial entertainer but i do have a Horror subject, would you like to hear the title.?)”
“kya hai”(Whats that).
“Ram nam Satya hai”
(A chanting which is repeated when a dead body is taken for cremation as per Hindu religion)
NEXT SCENE:
k3 is picking the sheets of his script “OMM SHANTEE OMMM” from the streets, some kids are helping him whispering ‘ bechara khisak gayela hai’(poor man .. gone mad).
A car stops, two legs comes out of the car, two hands help K3 getting up..
“My name is Sanjay Ghai.. I heard about your subject the other day.. come lets go to khandala for sitting”
K3 was rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
**
Please note all the incidents and characters like Kumar Kapoor Khan, KKK, K3, Banarsi Papadia are fictitious, they are not intended to disrespect anyone in the film fraternity, it is purely a work of fiction and is meant for entertainment, The writer holds the copyright of the material published on this site.
By:Salman Akhter
So when the ‘Taare’ hits the ‘Zameen’ on Friday the 21st December, Aamir Khan will be ‘over the moon’ because the outstanding feedback his movie is gaining already before its release will definitely put his movie to stand strong in a dire competition with the ‘Welcome’s talent brigade.
Hold your horses, its time to watch Aamir, the Ace Khan, who may have been called fondly as ‘Kachhua’(tortoise)Khan by his favourite Producers, because he listens, thinks, convinces himself & take plenty of time to follow his intuitions, but now, he is all ready to prove and win the race as in the age old maxim of Rabbit and the Tortoise.
When Aamir Khan Productions launched TZP, everyone within the film industry assumed Aamir is somewhat looking forward to make a docu-drama kind of children movie, so nobody took keen interest on it, Amol Gupte was the Writer-Director of the movie, it was later amicably decided that Aamir Khan will call the shot as Director for the betterment of the project.
As I wrote in my earlier article about Aamir Khan’s courage to always swim against the tidal waves like his earlier home production ‘Lagaan’.I again would like to analyze his working style after ‘Fanaa’, where any other Star would have chosen to go for bigger than ‘Fanaa’ project, he selected TZP.
Todays Stars Choose Aamir Chose
Big Budgeted set-ups Home Production & Direction with
a Child Artiste Darsheel Safari.
Multi Carores Deals Moderate Budgeted contended
subject.
More Publicity than Content More Content than Publicity.
Big banners & Big Directors Great Story that should appeal him
first.
To Stay in limelight all the time Exposure right before the release
of the movie.
Stay diplomatic on certain political speaks out of his heart without
issues thinking of its professional
consequences.
And above all, once he is convinced of what he is doing is justified, no matter what the consequences could be, after his comments over ‘Narmada‘ or ‘Black’ issues, he remained strict to what he said and never chose to bow down or apologize to anyone.
Coming Friday is the judgment day for TZP, it is not that far, and the leakage of reports for Aamir Khan’s Product has already come out from Trade Pundit Taran Adarsh.
Taran Said after the preview “Directorially, Aamir Khan deserves distinction marks for extracting an exemplary performance from the kid and handling the plot with supreme sensitivity. In his debut film itself, Aamir proves that he’s a gifted storyteller, someone who has the courage to swim against the tide and also convince the viewer that there’s more to film-making than the mere masala entertainers. Bravo! “
Lets expect the audience cheers him the same way as the reviewers’ appreciations have already being showered upon him.
I personally have always believed, if Aamir Khan has chosen a subject, cast, producing and even directing a movie himself, it is bound to be possessing some kind of potentials that would have compelled him to take such a big step of occupying captain of the ship chair officially.
So, Aamir Khan again is ready to change the face of preset Box Office parameters with ‘Taare Zameen Par’, are you ready guys..!
By: Salman Akhter
Om Shanti Om is creating records at the box office one after another and the man behind its historical success is SRK, Indian cinema History will not be completed without discussing the contributions of Shah Rukh Khan, The Ambitious Khan, he himself described his suceess story is not less than a successful Bollywood Blockbuster Movie.
Started with TV series like ‘Fauji’ , ‘Circus’, ‘idiot’ and jumped over to celluloid world with Hema Malini directed ‘Dil Ashna Hai’.
He recognized as a film star after moving from Television, he achieved this by Raju Ban Gaya Gentlement, Deewana, Chamatkar and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. He made a good friend like Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza during his initial phase.
He broke the mould of conventional hero after failures of ‘Maya Memsaab’ and ‘King Uncle’ by playing the dreaded negative roles which all other leading stars including Aamir Khan, were skeptical of accepting at that time, he did this with ‘Bazigar’ ‘Darr’ and ‘Anjaam’.
He accepted some of the movies in his earlier career due to financial securities, ‘Zamana Deewana’, ‘Trimurti’,'Ram Jaane’,'Oh Darling yeh hai India’, ‘Guddu’ and ‘English Babu Desi Mem’. Most of them went unnoticed at the box office apart from ‘Ram Jaane’ with average runner.
He convincingly played conventional hero and lover in his histrionics, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Pardes, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Yes Boss. DDLJ became the longest running movie in the Indian Cinema History breaking the record of ‘Sholay’. He further gained an admirer and friend in Karan Johar with KKHH.
He did have some of the debacles at the peak of his career, ‘Chaahat’, ‘Koyla’, ‘Duplicate’, ‘Dil Se’, ‘Badshah’,'Josh’,'One Two Ka Four’,'Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam’ and ‘Yeh Lamhe Judai ke’(Long stalled project),were not Box Office Successes, they only made him stronger and vigil while making decisions for any future projects.
After Yashraj’s ‘Mohabbatein’ he decided to venture in to production with best friends Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza, Dreamz Unlimited produced ‘Asoka’ a failure at the box office, then made ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’ again flop, ‘Chalte Chalte’ a Hit, then decided independently under his production name Red Chillies Entertainment with ‘Main Hoon Na’ a SuperHit, ‘Paheli’ a disaster.
Karan Johar’s next productions ‘Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham’ and ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ were already in the process of consolidating his position, enough to be called at that point a ‘King Khan’. ‘Veer Zara’, ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna’, ‘Devdas’,'Don’,'Chak De India’ eventually cemented his ‘Badshah of Bollywood’ tag for another decade.
‘Swades’ may not be successful at the booking window but this film is important for him as was ‘Mera Naam Joker’ for Showman Raj Kapoor.
The ’King hearted Khan’ did several guest appearances for friends and seniors just for the sake of emotional reasons, that includes, Boney Kapoor’Army’ for Sridevi, ’Dushman Duniya ka’ for Legendary Comedian Mahmood, ‘Gudgudi’ for Ace Director Basu Chatterjee, ‘Hay Ram’ for Kamal Hasan, ’Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’ for Salman Khan, ‘Gaj Gamini’ for renowned painter MF Hussain,’Shakti -The Power’ for Boney Kapoor, ‘Sathiya’ for Shaad Ali, ‘Kaal’ for Karan Johar,’Kuch meetha ho jaye’ for Samar Khan, ’silsiley’for Khalid Mohamed, Alag..He is different..He is alone’ appeared in song sequence with Karan Johar, ’I See U’ for Arjun Rampal and ‘Heyy Baby’ for Sajid Khan among others.
His dream of setting up a production house was already fulfilled; he produced ‘Kaal’ with Karan Johar with moderate success and then came ‘Om Shanti Om’, which has completely transformed the scenario of ’King Khan’ to ‘One Man Industry’.
He wanted to bring Indian Cinema Success globally; he did that giving the highest ever money spinner to date with ‘Om Shanti Om’ simulteneauly in Domestic and International Market.
He already had established SFX Studio in Khar Mumbai. Now he could dream of something which he could never in his wildest dreams imagined of when he was first signed by Actor-Director Hema Malini for ‘Dil Ashna Hai’. Yes, now he is dreaming of setting up a state of art full fledged SRK Studios with almost every production/under-production, indoor studio stages facilities.
As Shah Rukh Khan Says,
‘My life is like a Bollywood movie success story’
‘Aur Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost’
For this Ambitious Khan, there are so many dreams yet to be fulfilled.
By: Salman Akhter
You must have heard goody goody about Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’, here is a fact that has not been credited in OSO that it was hugely adapted from the Bimal Roy Classic and Dilip Kumar Starrer ‘Madhumati’ (1958)and Subhash Ghai’s ‘Karz’(1980).
Everyone know about its inspiration from ‘Karz’ but not so many remember ‘Madhumati’, OSO’s base and the set up has changed but the thread is same as it starts with ‘Karz’ and ends with the ‘Madhumati’ climax, and what is more interesting is neither Producer Shah Rukh Khan or Director Farha Khan admitted or bothered to acknowledge due credit the the classics.
The story of ‘Karz’ is well known because it inspired Director Rakesh Roshan to make ‘Karan Arjun’ and it is still living in the memory of audience, but very few are aware of the story of ‘Madhumati’.
I hereby would like to reproduce the story of ‘Madhumati’.
——————-
On a stormy night, Devendra (Dilip Kumar), an engineer, drives down a hill road with his friend, to fetch his wife and child from the railway station.
A landslide blocks their path and the friends take shelter in an old mansion just off the road. Devendra finds the house uncannily familiar. In the large front room he finds an old portrait which he recognizes. His friend and the old caretaker join him, and Devendra, amidst flashes of memory from another life, sits down to tell his story while the storm rages outside.
Anand (Dilip Kumar) had come to Shyamnagar Timber Estate as its new manager. An artist in his spare time, he roamed the hills and forests with his sketching pad and fell in love with Madhumati (Vyjayantimala), a tribal girl whose songs have haunted him from a distance. Soon Anand meets his employer, Ugranarayan (Pran), a ruthless and arrogant man. Anand refuses to bend down to him like the others, and incurs his wrath. Anand also has enemies among his staff who have been fudging the accounts till his arrival. Sent away on an errand suddenly, he returns to find that Madhumati has disappeared. Anand learns from Charandas how Madhumati had been taken to Ugranarayan in his absence. He confronts Ugranarayan whose men beat him unconscious. Anand’s life is saved, but his mind wanders.
One day in the forest he meets a girl who looks exactly like Madhumati. She says she is Madhavi (Vyjayantimala), but Anand refuses to believe her, and is beaten up by her companions when he tries to plead with her. Madhavi finds a sketch of Madhumati in the forest and realizes he was speaking the truth. She takes the sketch to the rest house where Anand now stays, and learns his story from Charandas.
Meanwhile Anand is haunted by the spirit of Madhumati who tells him that Ugranarayan is her killer. Seeing Madhavi at a dance recital where she dresses as a tribal girl, he appeals to her to pose as Madhumati and appear before Ugranarayan and help him get a confession out of him. She agrees. Returning to Ugranarayan’s palace, Anand begs permission to do a portrait of him.
Next evening with a storm brewing outside Anand paints Ugranarayan. At the stroke of eight, Ugranarayan sees Madhumati in front of him. Shaken, and goaded by Madhumati, he confesses the truth. The police who have been waiting outside the room now come and take him away.
Anand suddenly realizes that the questions the false Madhumati asked were on matters unknown to him. How did Madhavi know where Madhumati was buried? The girl just smiles, and moves towards the stairs. Madhavi dressed as Madhumati rushes into the room. She is late, for the car failed on the way. Anand realizes that Madhumati herself had come and runs up to the terrace where her ghost beckons him. She had fallen from the same terrace trying to escape Ugranarayan. Anand follows her falling to his death.
Devendra’s story is over. “But,” he says “I finally did have Madhumati as my wife. In this life – Radha.” Just then news comes that the train in which his wife was travelling has met with an accident. The road has been cleared, and the two friends rush to the station. From one of the coaches, Devendra’s wife Radha (Vyjayantimala) appears unhurt with her baby.
—–
It is upon the viewers, what you think.? Do these classics deserved to be credited officially from Red Chillies Entertainment after such a huge historical success of OM SHANTI OM.
By: Salman Akhter
Aamir khan, who is known to have followed his instinct while signing any movie as an actor or producing a movie, he believes in his intuitions rather than the flow of trend.
Aamir Khan Productions ‘Lagaan’ had almost everything negative leaving himself, Sports depicted, new heroine, rural background with rusty theme of Dilip Kumar’s ‘Ganga Jamuna’ era. Films based on sports were rarely successful in the past Vikram’s ‘Situm’ based on Football, Mithun Chakraborty’s ‘Boxer’, Dev Anand’s Aamir starred ‘Awwal Number’ on Cricket were disasters. ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’ was amongst exceptions.
Aamir emerged as a trend setter with ‘Lagaan’ it was like trying success against the prejudiced set trend, he dared to swim against the waves, he not only got tremendous box office success with masses but critical acclaim as well, ‘Lagaan’ got the prestigious Oscar nominations while winning several domestic awards.Its only after the success of ‘Lagaan’ several other makers gave a thought of making sports oriented movies, ‘Iqbal’, ‘chak de India’ followed the suite successfully while ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ could settle as average in multiplexes but flopped in overseas market.
Some of the good movies in the past that became popular with kids include Tapan Sinha’s ‘Safed Haathi’ (1977), Rajesh Khanna starrer ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ (1971) and Reena Roy’s ‘Rani Aur Lalpari’ (1975), in the recent past successful children films like ‘Makdee’ grossed over Rs.7 million, ‘Hanuman’ collected Rs.30 million and ‘Koi … Mil Gaya’ and ‘Krrish’, were family movies that attracted children and old alike.
Now with ‘Taare Zameen Par’, it has been brave of him taking up a moderate budgeted dyslexic child oriented subject, which is ordinarily seen as a very risky proposition at the box office seeing the results of Halo, Chain Kulii ki main Kulii, and Bhoot Unkle, he even dared turning Director officially with this TZP
It remains to be seen what amount of success Aamir Khan achieves in his efforts, in view of his penchant for perfection in delivering goods, one can expect ‘Taare Zameen Par’ should turn out to be a well crafted product.
By: Salman Akhter Shahid – Kareena Starrer ‘Jab we Met’ has been running successfully in between the battle of giant productions of SRK’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ and SLB’s ‘Saawariya’ and it seems its success has got overshadowed by these two much hyped Diwali releases.
Jab We Met is a very significant success that marked the first Solo Pair big success for Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor, their last ‘Chup Chup ke’ and ‘36 China Town’ too were moderate successes but they were surrounded by other talented brigade of actors like Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Akshay Khanna, paresh Rawal, Upen Patel & Johny Lever, who shared almost equal screen space alongwith Shahid and Kareena.
Jab We Met’s successful ride at the box office turned out to be ‘unsuccessful journey’ in terms of 
relationship between the lead pair, they delivered one of their best performances before ‘they left’ each other, it is already been declared officially that Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor are together.
Jab We Met has now consolidated the position of Imtiaz Ali as Director, who earlier made ‘Socha Na Tha’ with his distinctive fresh style of narration.
Being the solo hero Shahid Kapur got the most advantage by its success, he is now in a position to choose and act in a movie, predictably, he is following the footsteps of Aamir Khan while selecting the project, his growth as an actor is clearly evident in Jab We Met, watch the scene where he addresses his business meeting, he showed the sign of a mature actor, co-incidentally, the arrival of the youngest star Ranbir Kapoor with ‘Saawariya’ has further upgraded his stature as a star actor due to his seniority.
By Salman Akhter
Box office results are out and there might be a bright Diwali in the camp of ‘Om Shanti Om’and grey in ‘Saawariya’, looking at the facts of the performances of both movies, the first may have turned or in the process of turning in to all time block buster but the latter ‘Saawariya’ is soon going to enter in the categories of the Classics which were not money spinner on its release.
The major disasters in the history of Indian cinema were Raj Kapoor starrer ‘Mera Naam Joker,’Guru Dutt starrer ‘Kaghaz Ke Phool’, Dharmendra Starrer ’satyakam’,Anil Kapoor Starrer ‘Lamhe’. These movies may have catapulted a classic status but they were the utter disasters when released.‘Saawariya’ had many factors which helped to turn in to dismal at the box office, some of them are:
Despite some of above facts, the most positive aspects are also there, that are making this movie transforming into a classic:
Sanjay Leela Bhansali can eventually console himself of entering in the list of renowned makers whose work was appreciated and treasured as classic after their movies were declared a failure at the box office on their release.
By Salman Akhter
Aamir Khan raised issue of Narmada about a year ago, now he raised the issue of presenting Child abuse in the movie ‘Black’, the co-incidence is the timing of raising these issue.
Both were raised before the release of Aamir Khan Starrer ‘Fanaa’ and now ‘Taare Zameen Par’, No one suspects the pure intentions behind these issues but what is hammering the minds of his fans or an ordinary viewer is, why he did not divulge his concern earlier, when Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black (2005) was released theatrically.
Amitabh Bachchan said, Aamir watched this movie on a preview alongwith him and did show his apprehension upon the voice over of Rani Mukherjee, saying, how is it possible for Rani Mukherjee to narrate the story when she is mute and dumb in the movie. But Aamir did not show his disagreement over the handling of child character in the movie at that time.
Aamir Khan’s view and intentions may be noble without a doubt but in reflection of their timing, it appears a complete publicity campaign for his movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’.
Aamir khan has an image of most methodical, practical and honest performer who believes in perfection, but, there is always a BUT, when you recognize the hidden commercial agenda and benefits behind the recent ‘Black’ controversy.
Show your intentions more transparent Mr Khan, else, the media may this time ‘Black’list you for taking advantage of noble causes and en-cashing them commercially.
By Salman Akhter
Saif Ali Khan, better known as the fourth Khan after Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh khan could at last have a last laugh and further can be much more confident upon his decisions which he took in the recent past.
Anurag Kashyap offered ‘No smoking’ to Saif after his offer was politely declined by Shah Rukh Khan, Saif going by his instinct and newly gained decision power refused to be the part of it, he was not completely satisfied with the script.
Simultaneously, recently released ‘Goal’ too was offered him which he did not accept following his demanding strategies in selecting movies.
Incidently ‘No Smoking’ and ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ were eventually lapped up by John Abrahm who did get appreciated for his performances but could not taste box office successes since ‘Garam Masala’(2005) and ‘Taxi NO.9211′ ( 2006) and the fourth Khan managed to save himself from two failures to his upswinging career.
He is further rumoured to be considered for the Vinod Chopra Productions project of Raj Kumar Hirani after Munnabhai series, which was offered to Shah Rukh Khan earlier.
Watch out this Khan .. who bounced back after twelve years’ average careergraph and cementing his successful star status by film after film.
By: Salman Akhter Yesteryear’s Star Manoj ‘Bharat’ Kumar is infuriated over the portrayal of his character in Om Shanti Om, Should he be annoyed …? if you look at the humor based movies or stage shows there has been numerous acts by some of the established actors and comedians aping Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Raaj Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjeev Kumar and Ashok Kumar ‘Dada Moni’ along with Manoj Kumar, whereas they made fun of their gestures, acting style and their movies, it was always measured as a light hearted humor, not taken seriously.
Popular Comedian and Actor Late IS Johar made ’5 Rifles’ (1974) casting look alikes of Rajesh Khanna, Shashi Kapoor imitated them even using their names as Rakesh Khanna and Shahi Kapoor, in the recent past Kishore Bhanushali almost created sort of record mimicking Dev Anand while distorting his mannerism in several movies but the Evergreen Star Dev Anand never got affected by this.
All these senior artistes never protested or took offence because they were aware of their stature which is why never gave undue importance to these acts.Some of these comedians like Javed Jaffery or Johny Lever mimic these senior actors know that they were worth copying and were amongst most popular actors still live in the memories of audience. Why they never copied Kumar Gaurav, Anil Dhawan or Navin Nishchol ? the reason is well known.
Now, when Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan have apologized to Manoj Kumar for the inadvertent derogatory presentation of his character, that shows their intention that they were never serious while making plots and sub plots incorporating these senior actors to create some of the hilarious moments on a seventies era based movie.
Manoj Kumar’s threat to Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan has even garnered more publicity & mileage to already much hyped ’Om Shanti Om’ and further increased its viewership between 2 – 5 %.
It is a known fact that an actor of Shah Rukh Khan Caliber has respected his seniors and never made any such controversy since his 15 years old career.
Writer Director Farah Khan did not spare Keshto Mukherjee, Govinda, Nirupa Roy, sooraj Barjatya even Shah Rukh Khan when Shreyas Talpade informs Shah Rukh that ‘maa to bahut over acting kar rahi hai’ Shah Rukh replies ‘ ye to hamari family problem hai’.
By: Salman Akhter
The success of the OSO is evident all over, its time to analyze some of the reasons that helped OSO to create a conqueror at the Box Office.
Finally ‘Nothing succeeds like success’ even some of the flaws get ignored by the audience in return of the wholesome entertainment.
***
 |
By:Salman Akhter Its been a while and almost all the chapters of NO SMOKING are closed Its Om Shanti Om and Sawariya at the current point of disscussion but I wish to discuss the psyche of a Creative Film Writer/Director like Anurag Kashyap, I have a say a about it. I have been reading some of most arrogant comments from Anurag Kashyap in defence of his work ‘No Smoking’ I kept thinking about the reason behind his outburst and the media’s attack on him and tried to look into the gravity, why this kind of situation arised that media appeared to be angered while reviewing the movie ‘No Smoking’ directed by him. If we look numerous comments passed by Director Anurag Kashyap in the recent past, they are about the people who had already proved themselves and made their name successfully, It seems he has personal disliking of the work of many of these reknowned film makers appeared to be Dr Yash Chopra, Karan Johar alongwith many others but he did like the ‘Chak De India’ produced by Yash Chopra’s production house. Then where is the point of showing arrogance, if Mr Kashyap wish to prove his point why not he does the same by making movies which could be lapped up by the viewers and the critics alike, making a sensational comment about Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Yash Chopra or any other successful (read established) to get attention could be beneficial for his project, but, it backfired unfortunately because the outcome of the Box Office and Critical acclaim proved his arrogance as the creative frustration, (The same was the case with Naseeruddin Shah, the Actor, once upon a time). When his earlier work ’Black Friday’ was appreciated unanimously, he did not pass any kind of remark pro or against the same movie reviewers. Its not the first time that Film Reviewers/Critics Khalid Mohammed, Taran Adarsh and others tore apart any movie they did not like.(Ram Gopal Verma Ke Sholay got the same fate), that does not make Ram Gopal Verma less talented film maker,In fact this kind of reviews only finally made him to evaluate the flaws he had been ignoring in an attempt to be Fastest Film Making Factory and to appease his own creative desires. There have been several film makers who always made path breaking movies like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Aparna Sen, Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalini, Gulzar, Hrishikesh Mukerjee, Basu Chatterjee and in the present generation Rakeysh Mehra, John Mathew Matthan, Homi Adajania, Farhan Akhtar amongst many others but not any one of them shouted from the roof top that they know the cinema better than anyone else in the world or they made any outburst upon their failures, its the audience who accepted their vision and craft and made them what they are today. My personal view about the movie ‘No Smoking’ is, it may be a state of art or a masterpiece on its own according to its Director, I found it extremely complicated sans any single moment of entertainment, it can be put at a cinema work shop or any institute of Cinematic Art where it could be researched upon the director’s distinct approach at a particular scene, what exactly he wants to convey through the state of mind of the main protogonist John Abraham. And Director Anurag Kashyap should write a book revealing the mysteries of his cinematic approach which presently are lying unfolded in his brain only. “End of the day the final verdict of movies success or faliure is passed by the people(read viewers)who do not even know how to make a movie.” “At the same time, it is not guaranteed that the people who have great knowledge and sense of film making and/or able to make judgemental comments about a movie can make a Successful movie.” |
By:Salman Akhter
Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Leela Bhansali are different school of film making but there are certain similarities one can observe in the recent past.
In an recent interview, RGV, after accepting his major mistake by interferring with the All time Classic ‘Sholay’, has finally decided to move on from ‘AAG’ (after the historical disaster at the box office).
Now he is going back to the school where he tops the most, the underworld, undobtedly but in the present scenario of its alleged connections with the terrorism with entirely new star cast.
He is an extremely talented maker provided he stop making acts of self-ego satisfaction by trying to make Antara Mali a ‘Madhuri Dixit’ or Nisha Kothari a ‘Hema Malini’.
His recent ‘Darling’ has given him bit sigh of relief as the critics has at least appreciated his efforts after a major show down after AAG.
- Salman Akhter
