Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya - the legendary classical singer of bengal.

Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya – the legendary classical singer of Bengal.

Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya was the one of the legendary classical singer of Bengal of the 50s and 60s, who showed his excellence in films songs, Bengali modern songs and shyamasangeet. He did not get the recognition he deserved as the major attention of the media was focused only towards Hemant Kumar, the romantic singer of Bengal, but along with Manobendra Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Akhilbondhu Ghosh, Satinath Mukherjee and others, Dhanonjoy’s classical touch inspired the composers to compose pure classical and semi-classical songs.

Dhanonjoy’s evergreen modern songs included “matite jonmo nilam” composed by Prabir Mojumdar, “kabir kheyale premomoy tumi samrat shahjahan” composed by himself, “jhanana jhanana baje” composed by Salil Choudhury, “ei jhir jhir jhir batashe” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta, “ruma jhuma jhum” composed by Rotu Mukherjee, “antabihin oi andharater” composed by Salil Choudhury, “shilpi moner bedona”, “tandra elo bolo jaagi kemon kore”, “chameli melona ankhi”, “bashorer deep aaj” to name a few.

Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya acted in Bengali films like Pasher Bari (which was remade in hindi with the title Parosan where Kishore Kumar played his role), nobo bidhan, etc. His brilliant songs in Bengali films included “jagannath swami gamanapathagami bhabatue” sung in the film Nilachole Mahaprobhu, composed by Raichand Boral, “jhir jhir jhir jhir jhir borosha” in the film Pasher Bari, composed by Salil Choudhury, “katharo aghate chinno paye rokto jhare” in Uttam Kumar’s film Sabar Upare, composed by Robin Chatterji, etc. He made major contribution in Uttam Kumar’s film Nabajanmo, Uttam Kumar’s film Shilpi, etc.

Besides, Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya had sung more than 200 shyama sangeet (devotional songs sung for Goddess Kali). Some of his legendary shyama sangeet included “e maya proponchomoy” in the Uttam Kumar’s film Share Chuattor, “gaya ganga prabashadi” in the film Rani Rashmoni, also major songs in the films Sadhok Bamakhepa and Joto Mot Tato Poth. His brother Pannalal Bhattacharya became a legend in the world of Shyama sangeet.

Dhanonjoy died in the early 1990s, after leaving a huge treasure of classical songs and still remains a king (samrat) in the minds of numerous music lovers in the country.

Kangana Ranaut has a busy 2009.

Kangana Ranaut has a busy 2009.

Kangana Ranaut has a busy 2009.

Kangana Ranaut was a very happy actress in 2008 after bagging the filmfare award for the best supporting actress for her performance in the film Fashion. She was as prominent as Priyanka Chopra in the film and had been appreciated by critics as well.

2009 had been a very busy year for Kangana Ranaut. She did a marvelous job in the film Raaz – the mystery continues. That film started the series of horror films in bollywood in 2009. She played the role of a girl who was suffering from diseased due to the unsatisfied soul of Jackie Shroff being there in her body. Jackie had died and wanted to let the world know about the cause of his death. At the same time Imraan Hashmi knew about the entire thing. He was a painter and whatever was supposed to occur in future used to come in his mind and he used to paint it. At the end of the film Kangana was successful in letting the world know about the truth relating to murder of Jackie.

Kangana Ranaut was appreciated for her bold performance in the films Gangster and Life in a Metro. In fact she won the filmfare award for the best debutant for her performance in the film Gangster. Those films did fantastic business in India and the overseas market.

In 2009, Kangana’s three films will be released including Roshan, Kites and Happy New Year. Already Kites had created new much before its release. Barbara Mori, the bold actress in the film already entered into an affair with Hrithik Roshan for which the media became very curious. It was even published that the relationship of Hrithik Roshan with his wife became worst due to those events.

Director Rakesh Roshan always gave ample scope to the actors and actresses to show their skills in his film. Kangana Ranaut also has been used to perfection in the film Kites. It is a big budget film and the entire nation is waiting anxiously for the release of the film.

Happy New Year and Roshan are also interesting ventures and Kangana Ranaut will create good impression with her performance. Let us hope for the best.

Manobendra Mukherjee in the 70s.

Manobendra Mukherjee in the 70s.

Manobendra Mukherjee was considered as the greatest classical singer that Bengal had ever produced during the golden age. He had the weighty bass like Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya, classical control like Satinath Mukherjee and Akhil Bondhu Ghosh, variation and modulation like Manna Dey. To a big section of Bengali listeners he used to be considered the Neil Harvey of Bengali modern songs. Just as Neil Harvey used his wristy stroke play to establish himself as the greatest stylish batsman of all times, Manobendra Mukherjee used his classical touch, (in musical terms called harkat) in such a stylish manner that he emerged as the most romantic singer of the golden age during an era when melodious singers like Shyamal Mitra, Hemanta Mukherjee, Subir Sen, Tarun Banerjee were big names. His emergence in Bengali musical arena created a dimension which may be called romantic saga which in turn swayed the innate emotions of middleclass Bengali listeners of the golden age in the world of melody.

His song “emni kore porbe mone baki jiban dhore”, sung in the mid-50s flabbergasted the Bengali audience and brought a new expression for plutonic romance. The lyrics in interlude including “sabai bole bhalobashar moron naaki nei, proti rate tara hoye dei je dekha sei” created everlasting impact in the world of romance which listeners cherished for the last 50 years. Chitta Ranjan Chatterji, Ex-Chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court, a great admirer of Manobendra Mukherjee had echoed the emotions Manobendra himself, when he interviewed the legendary singer in a musical function organized in Beerpara (Paikpara) in 1986, where Manobendra admitted that if “nai chondon lekha” created his romantic debut in Bengali musical arena, “emni kore porbe mone” was the most romantic song he had sung in his illustrious career.

While the 60s showed Manobendra’s skillful compositions both in Bengali films and Bengali modern songs, the 70s showed his jugglery in classical creations. His notable creations in the 60s included Uttam Kumar’s Mayamrigo, 1960, Biswajeet’s Godhuli Belai, 1964, Bosonto Choudhury’s Bodhu, 1962, Bosonto Choudhury’s Koshtipathor, etc. His modern songs “Jodi amake dekho tumi udashi” composed by Abhijit Banerjee, “rimjhim baje monjiro kar” composed by himself, “koto je soyechi betha” composed by Chinmoy Lahiri, “bare bare ke jeno dake” composed by Sailen Mukherjee, “mayur kanthi ratero nile” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta, “ami parini bujhite parini” composed by Salil Choudhury, “amar pather panthe” composed by Satinath Mukherjee, to name a few.

The 70s was marked by the decline of Bengali modern songs. When Manobendra saw that composers like Robin Chatterji or Anil Bagchi were no more in the 70s, he composed most of the songs himself. Quality lyricists like Shyamal Gupta, Pulak Banerjee, Pabitra Mitra provided the romantic lyrics for him during that age. His landmark songs during that period included “ei ganga ei padda”, “borosha klanto o duti nayan mele”, mone pore jay koto shriti mayabhora”, “hajar jonom dhore”, “jaak na megher araale chand”, “jolke tora jaabi jare”, “halka megher palki chore chandrakola jay”, “ami je mondo tate”, “phiria dekona mahua bonero pakhi”, to name a few. He was such a dynamic singer that 700 to 800 songs sung by him were composed by himself.

Even in the film arena Manobendra contributed in films like Uttam Kumar’s Joy joyanti (for which he won different awards including Indira Gandhi award for excellence in music composition), Soumitra Chatterji’s Sudur Niharika, Joto Mot Tato Bath, Sadhok Bamakhepa, to name a few.

One of the biggest achievements of Manobendra was bringing junior artists from grass root level and reaching them to limelight with his tunes. His landmark tunes for other singers included “kemone janabo bolo e pranero bedona” sung by Shefali Chakrabarty”, “champakali go koto name dekechi tomay” sung by Tarun Banerjee, “ami sundar bole tai to bondhu besecho bhalo amay” sung by Alpona Banerjee, “gane gane ami je khuji tomay” sung by Supriti Ghosh, “kuasha ghera neel pahare” sung by Bani Ghoshal, to name a few.

Manobendra Mukherjee showed his excellence in so many diverse fields that separate articles can be written on his nazrulgeeti, bagbajarer gaan, puratoni, ragprodhan, kirtan, bhakti geeti, shyama sangeet, etc. His death in early 90s, had brought huge loss to Akashbani Kolkata, Kolkata Doordarshan, all the record companies of Bengal and music journals where he was an indispensable figure. His songs and compositions should be restored, preserved and revisited.

Kate Winslet - a sensational actress.

Kate Winslet – a sensational actress.

Kate Winslet had been a sensational actress of Hollywood films. She is one of the other actresses who was born in England and dominated Hollywood films after Elizabeth Taylor. Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born on 5th October, 1975 in Reading, Berkshire, UK. Her father Rodger John Winslet and Sally Ann were jobbing actors. Kate joined Redroofe Theatre School at the age of 11 years.

Kate acted in children’s fiction serial Dark Season in BBC in 1991. She acted in the film Heavenly Creatures in 1992 under Peter Jackson and won Empire Award and London Critics Circle Film Award for her brilliant performance. In 1996, she acted in the films Jude and Hamlet. She played the role of a young woman involved with suffragette leanings who loved her cousin. Kate won the second Empire award for her performance in the film Hamlet.

In 1997, Kate acted in James Cameron’s epic film Titanic opposite Leonardo Decaprio. She made the viewers all over the world spellbound with her majestic performance. The film became the greatest hit ever after doing a business worth $ 1.8 billion. Kate became one of the most popular stars all across the world.

In 2001, she acted in the successful film Enigma opposite Dougray Scott in the role of a warrior of Second World War. In 2004 she acted opposite Jim Carrey in the successful film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She played the role of a neurotic woman whose previous memories relating to affairs with her friends were erased.

Her husband Sam Mendes directed the film Revolutionary Road and she acted opposite Leonardo Decaprio once again in 2008. She received Golden Globe Award for best actress for her performance in the film.

In the following year she won the academy award for the best actress for the brilliant performance in the film The Reader. She won 6 nominations for such award which was a unique record for any actress. She had transformed herself into one of all time greatest actresses like Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn.

The viewers expect her to explore herself further in challenging roles in future and amaze them as ever.

Michael Jackson - the other name of unlimited entertainment.

Michael Jackson- the other name of unlimited entertainment.

Michael Jackson, the king of pop songs died few days back in June 2009 out of cardiac arrest. For most of the viewers and listeners of pop music and dance it was shock and disbelief. Although the master entertainer died he had left a huge treasure of music for his admirers all across the world.

Born in 1958, Michael Jackson stormed the world of pop songs with the Album “I wanted you back” at an age of 11 years. Although he was ill-treated by his father at an early age, he became the most popular pop singer and break dancer of the present age. In fact he took out the standard of popularity of Elvis Priestley, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra from evergreen albums to performers stage where he brought acting in his dance and music shows.

Michael Jackson was the seventh son of Joseph Jackson and Kathrene. In his numerous interviews Michael Jackson had repeatedly said that he never had a proper childhood. He was the lead singer in the band “Jackson five” where all his brothers and sisters performed with him. He had to perform in night clubs where sometimes there were events like striptease which had taken away his childhood.

He underwent plastic surgery and had feminine looks later on which was criticized from different quarters of the world. He married a number of times, converted himself into muslim, got involved in child molestation case, but it did not affect his dance and music. His last show would have been titled “this is it”, it was not completed as an album was supposed to have been completed with title and the music companies are facing huge debts.

Indians became great fans when Michael Jackson came to Mumbai and performed in the respective auditoriums. Those who had interacted with Michael said that he was a very down to earth human being. He was interested in charity and donated money for charitable institutions. His album “thriller” is still popular among Indians. Many teenagers still cannot forget Michael Jackson’s moonwalk.

He will remain in the minds of millions of admirers through albums like “heal the world”, why you wanna trip on me” to name a few. His admirers pray for peace for the departed soul.

Can 2009 create positive image for Isha Koppikaar?

Can 2009 create positive image for Isha Koppikaar?

Isha Koppikaar was considered to be one of the most unfortunate actresses whose acting and dancing skills were acknowledged by the critics but due to success in negative role got nicknamed as “khalas girl”. Last year her film Ek Vivah Aisi Bhi was appreciated by the viewers.

Isha Koppikaar showed his bold nature in most of the films in her earlier part of the career. She played the role of a ghost in Sohail Khan’s Krishna Cottage. The film had a romantic story and Isha Kopikaar’s onscreen chemistry with Sohail Khan always haunted the viewers. But her fantasy dance performance in Ram Gopal Verma’ film Company with the song “khallas” made her villain. Viewers started identifying her as khallas girl. The beautiful actress who acted in lead roles in South Indian films like Chandralekha opposite Nagajuna, got villainish roles in bollywood films one after the other.

She even got a supporting cast in Farhan Akhtar’s super hit film Don. She also loved Shahrukh Khan but was superseded by Priyanka Chopra in her affection towards Shahrukh Khan. She danced even better than Priyanka in the song “sham hai, jam hai, aur hai nasha”, but never got the recognition. Isha acted in the role of the sister of Urmila Matondkar in the film Pinjar. She played a significant role opposite Altaf Shivdasani in Ram Gopal Verma’s film Darna Mana Hai.

She even played a bold role in the film Intequm opposite Manoj Vajpai, in the same style as Sharon Stone played in the film Basic Instinct. She started getting positive roles from mid-2006. Her performance opposite Tushar Kapoor in the film Kya Kool Hai Hum had both comedy and romantic andaz. She got a romantic role opposite Sohail Khan in the big budget film Salaam-e-Ishq.

She was brilliant opposite Arshad Warsi in Salman Khan’s comedy film Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya. Her lips in the song “saajan” was fabulous. She was sublime in 2008 in the film Hello opposite Sohail Khan in the role of a girl of a Call Centre. But she revived her image to a big extent in the film Ek Shaadi Aisi Bhi. She acted in a docile role opposite Sonu Sood and showed the viewers that if she was given positive roles she could be as romantic as Katrina Kaif.

The nation remembers Pancham on his birthday.

The nation remembers Pancham on his birthday.

The nation remembers Pancham, better known as Rahul Dev Burman, on his birthday on 27th June, 2009. Almost 15 years passed after his death, yet his tunes had kept him alive among the young generations.

Being the son of legendary singer and composer SD Burman, he had a monumental task of proving his identity in the 60s. He came out with innovative tunes sung by Rafi in Mehmood’s film Chote Nawab. From that time onwards critics understood that RD Burman had come to create his unique identity. His biggest in the 60s came in Shammi Kapoor’s film Teesri Manzil in 1966. All the songs sung by Rafi and Asha became landmark hits including “o haseena zulfonwali”, “aaja aaja mai hoon pyar tera”, “janeman janejaa”, etc. Along with western composers like Shankar Jaikishan, OP Nayyar, Salil Choudhury, who were ruling the industry, RD Burman kept his feet on strong platform.

RD Burman and Rafi combination continued in films like Abhilasha with songs like “wadiyan tera daaman”, Jeetender’s Karwan with songs like “kitna pyara wada”, “are chadti jawani”, “are ho goriyan kahan tera des re”, Shashi Kapoor’s Pyar Ka Mausam, with songs like “tum bin jayun kahan”, “ni sultana re”, Rajesh Khanna’s The Train, with songs like “gulaabi aankhe”, “tujshe bhala yeh”, etc. In the 70s, RD took the bollywood industry by storm. With death of Jaikishan, Roshan, Ghulam Mohammad, Vasant Desai, etc., the industry depended on Pancham, Laxmikant Pyarellal and Kalyanji Anandji for best music. They provided stability to the industry for the next 15 years.

RD Burman had monumental contribution in Rajesh Khanna and Big B’s films and gave a new life to Kishore Kumar. All the songs of films like Amar Prem, Kati Patang, Aap Ki Kasam, Namak Haram, Mehbooba, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat, Shaan, Shakti, etc. Memorable songs included “tere naina”, “kuch to log kahenge”, “ai sham mastani”, “janu meri jaan”, etc.

RD Burman contributed a lot in Uttam Kumar’s Bengali film Raj Kumari in 1970. The song “ki holo kabe holo” , created history which was remade in hindi in the film Amar Prem. Critics argue that RD Burman reserved his best music in Gulzar’s films. His songs for Lata in Suchitra Sen’s Aandhi titled “is mor se jaate hai”, Uttam Kumar’s Kitaab, “aa ii masterjiki ho gayi chutti”, Jeetender’s Kinara where Bhupinder Singh and Lata did their best in “naam gum jayega”, “meethe bol bole”, “ek hi khwab”, etc., Sanjeev Kumar’s Parichay, with Bhupinder’s “biti na bitai rehna”, etc.

He won the filmfare award for the best composer three times. The young generations associate themselves with RD’s tunes even today, in that count he was one of the versatile composers after Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad, Madanmohan, Roshan, etc.

Review of Tapan Sinha's Golpo Holeo Satti.

Review of Tapan Sinha’s Golpo Holeo Sotti.

Tapan Sinha used to be considered a legendary story-teller after Satyajit Ray in the 50s and 60s. His films were related to classic literature of giant novelists. His casting was flawless. He chose actors and actresses who suited the respective role and he was an inspiration for all the directors of India.

Golpo Holeo Sotti was released in 1966, with the message given by human conscience that work was God. Idle life led to disaster. Robi Ghosh played the role of that human conscience. He worked in as servant in a joint family, where Prashad Mukherjee was the elder brother with Chaya Debi, his wife. The second brother and his wife were dead and they left a daughter who stayed in that house. Bankim Ghosh was the third brother with his wife Bharati Debi. Bhanu Banerjee the youngest brother did not marry. Besides Ajoy Ganguly and his wife was the third generation. Prashad Mukherjee’s old father was alive.

Before Robi Ghosh arrived in their house, none of the other servants stuck in their house. Chaya Debi and Bharati Debi failed to do the domestic work, while the brothers Prashad Mukherjee, Bankim Ghosh, Bhanu Banerjee, etc., did none of the household work after they returned from office. Robi Ghosh joined as a cook and taught the women of the house different varieties of dishes. He even negotiated between Partho Mukherjee, a next door neighbor who loved the daughter of the second son. He took the grandfather for morning walk.

More importantly Robi Ghosh united the brothers who were envious about one another. He taught the small son of Bankim Ghosh the song “sukh bole” which meant once this life ends no one can get back their life, so human beings should make the best use of their lives. Robi Ghosh helped the thrives gang of Chinmoy Roy to steal the trunk in the house full of money. Then he asked Partho Mukherjee to return that trunk back to the old man and the family members so that they could get impressed and ask him to marry the second son’s daughter.

The theme music used by Tapan Sinha in the film was extraordinary. All the actors and actresses of the film performed to their limit. Tapan Sinha’s script and camera work were brilliant. Hrishikesh Mukherjee made the hindi version of the film with the title Bawarchi. Although the film where Rajesh Khanna converted it into a romantic film got box-office success, the film reached nowhere near Golpo Holeo Satti in story-telling, acting performance and intellectual treatment.

Tapan Sinha’s Golpo Holeo Satti should be restored for filmic accomplishments.

Expectation of Neha Dhupia in 2009.

Expectation of Neha Dhupia in 2009.

Some of the actresses of bollywood films who does not have dominating influence like Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif remain dependant on the success of the films for their own growth. Actresses like Neha Dhupia fall in that category. Although she had acted in many hit films and had remained the central character in hit films, neither had she received the recognition that she deserved nor the media coverage that she expected.

She gave a spirited performance in the film Julie. She was sublime in the film Siskiya. In Kya Cool Hai Hum, she was more composed than Ritesh Dehmukh. She had an affair with him, and yet Ritesh never knew the face of the girl he loved. While the affair of Tushar Kapoor and Isha Koppikar blossomed with comedy sequences, Neha Dhupia’s affair was of silent nature.

In Chup Chup Ke, she played a more significant role than Kareena Kapoor. She could speak and persuaded Shahid Kapoor to call the person who was supposed to marry Kareena to break the engagement. Nobody in the house knew that Shahid Kapoor could speak excepting Neha. But she communicated before Neha and Kareena as a friend and solved their family problems in style. When the film became successful the entire credit was given to Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and the character actors like Om Puri, Paresh Rawal.

The same thing happened in the film Shootout at Lokhandwala. Sanjay Dutt and Vivek Oberoi got the focus. Some of the viewers even forgot that Neha Dhupia acted in that film. Singh is Kinng is another film that saw composed performance of Neha Dhupia, inspite of Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar getting the entire attention of the director and the producer. Neha also showed some action stunts in the film as she was the member of gang in Australia which was taken over by Akshay Kumar after her leader fell ill.

2009 is another year where Neha Dhupia has lot of expectations. May be if she continues the standard of performance that she previously had given or excels in her roles, she may get late recognition. Her upcoming films include Cellphone, Hot (a film where she had given bold performance) and Kuch Love Kuch Drama. Besides she has an item number in the film Kabhi Pyar Na Karna.

Let us hope that Neha Dhupia continue her good work.

Review of Uttam- Suchitra's Bipasha.

Review of Uttam – Suchitra’s Bipasha.

Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen are considered to be the greatest romantic pair that ever graced Indian silver screen. They acted in 30 films together and most of their films ended up being cine-classics. Bipasha was released in 1962 and did fantastic business.

It was a film directed by Agradoot where Robin Chatterji composed the music. Suchitra Sen was named Beas (Bipasha in Bengali) as she was born near river Beas. She lost her parents during riots occurring at the time of partition in 1947. She was saved by Kamal Mitra, a divine soul near Sialkot and reached to relief camp in New Delhi. She studied there and got a job in tribal welfare in Panchet in Bihar.

Uttam Kumar was an engineer who worked in Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) projects. Both Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar met each other and entered into an affair. Suchitra Sen gave able lips in Sandhya Mukherjee’s song “aami sapne tomay dekhechi”. When Uttam Kumar wanted to marry Suchitra Sen, he got a letter from his maternal uncle played by Nitish Mukherjee saying that he was illegitimate son of his mother Chaya Debi.

Uttam Kumar went to Allahabad to find his mother and in her absence attempted to commit suicide. Chabi Biswas, a sanyasi there saved him. He wrote a letter saying that Uttam Kumar (Dibyendu Chatterji) was the son of Saradindu Chatterji (Chabi Biswas). Chaya Debi (his wife) gave birth to him before her marriage. Chabi Biswas went abroad and married another foreign girl. The foreigner filed a suit against Chabi Biswas after she knew that he was already married to Chaya Debi. Their Chaya Debi gave false testimony saying that she was not married to Chabi Biswas, to save her husband. Uttam Kumar came to be known as illegitimate son from that time. After that Chabi Biswas gave the contact details of Chaya Debi. Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen found her and film ended there.

The powerful story was given adequate expression by compassionate performance of legendary actor Chabi Biswas. Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen’s romantic performance just improved from film to film and viewers started thinking that both of them were husband and wife.

It is a pity that Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen did not show their powerful performance in bollywood films, otherwise they would have given very tough competition to Raj Kapoor and Nargis and Dilip Kumar and Vaijayantimala who ruled bollywood industry in the 50s. The film Bipasha should be restored for its aesthetic value.

Prospect of Kareena Kapoor in 2009.

Prospect of Kareena Kapoor in 2009.

Kareena Kapoor was at the top of the world with the success of her film Jab We Met in 2009. But after that year, most of her films did average business and her dominance in bollywood films diminished. Instead of her success in bollywood films her affair with Saif Ali Khan got amore attention.

Before coming to her prospect in 2009, her successful films require mention. After making her debut in JP Dutta’ s film Refugee, she rocked box-office with the film Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai in 2001. It was the beginning of Tushar Kapoor also. Her films Yaadein opposite Hrithik Roshan and Ajnabee opposite Bobby Deol did average business. The only success at that time was the film Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham opposite Hrithik Roshan. Her performance in the role of princess Kaurwaki in the film Ashoka opposite Shahrukh Khan got severely criticized and her popularity decreased at that time.

Even her films Mai Prem Ki Diwani Hoon or Mujhse Dosti Karoge could not change her fortunes. At that period her performance in an off-beat role in the film Chameli brought her appreciation from the critics. She played the role of a prostitude in Sudhir Misra’s realistic film. She got the Filmfare Special award for her performance in the film Chameli. She did a series of good films at that including Govind Nihalini’s Dev. She opposite Fardeen Khan, Big B and Om Puri and brought out frustration in a riot oriented locality. She played the role of muslim girl Ayaliya having similarity with Zahira Sheikh, the main witness in Vadodara’s Best Bakery Case. She also acted in an unconventional role in the film Omkara opposite Ajay Devgan.

She acted in a number of hit films including Hulchul opposite Akshay Khanna, Kyon Ki opposite Salman Khan, Aitraaz opposite Akshay Kumar. With success opposite Shahid Kapoor in films like Chup Chup Ke, 36 China Town she gave the best performance of her life in the film Jab We Met. She received the filmfare award for the best actress in the film.

But from the time spend time with Saif Ali Khan again career lost direction. Her film Tashan opposite him was box-office disaster. Her other film Golmaal Returns did moderate business but that was due to joint effort of Ajay Devgan, Tushar Kapoor and others.

In 2009 her films that are either released or about to be released include Kambakkht Ishq opposite Akshay Kumar, Three Idiots opposite Amir Khan, Mai Aur Mrs. Khanna opposite Salman Khan and Milenge Milenge. Kambakkht Ishq had been shot in Universal Studios, Hollywood and has a huge prospect.

None of Amir Khan’s films had failed in the last three years, so Kareena has a lot of hope in Three Idiots. Even Salman Khan is wanting to make a comeback with hit films through Mai and Mrs Khanna. If two of these three films become successful, Kareena can get back her number one spot which she lost in 2008 and her competitors like Priyanka Chopra gained in 2008. Critics had said several times that Kareena Kapoor has much more acting talent than Katrina Kaif, if she chooses right films and does well, she can still be in the rat race. Let us hope for the best in 2009.

Review of Bhanu's Ashite Ashiona.

Review of Bhanu’s Ashite Ashiona.

Bhanu Banerjee in the 60s gained immense popularity in the Bengali celluloid. Ashite Ashiona was released in the mid-60s with a subject related to dreams. Bhanu Banerjee was eighty years old person who was ill-treated by his sons and daughters – in –law. His wife Ruma Guha Thakurta was seventy years old.

He dreamt that he went for a change to a village named Nagtara. He went with his servant played by Jahar Rai. There he swam in a pond owned by Tarun Kumar. After bathing out he regained his youth. He shaved and returned back to his house. Tarun Kumar took the sample of the water to the Chief Chemists and asked him to test it. Then he dropped an old street dog in the water, which attacked all the chemists. The chemists informed the UN Authorities about the pond.

Bhanu returned back home, but before his elder son Kamal Mitra or second son Asit Boron forcibly made him sign the pond in favour of them, brought Ruma Guha Thakurta to the village. All the old persons of that village flocked near the pond to bath in that water. Robi Ghosh, Gangapada Badu and other authorities created a barbed wire around the pond.

Johor Roy, the servant of Bhanu created a lever by which she threw Ruma like a rocket and she immersed in the pond and returned back as young girl. Robi Ghosh drowned more than six types in the pond and reduced in size. When the police chased Bhanu and Ruma, they tried to escape and ended up being arrested by the police. Bhanu opened his eyes and found that he was dreaming and he stilled remained eighty years old person.

The music in the film composed by Gopen Mallick was fabulous. Manna Dey’s songs “dub diye jao” and “Jodi akaksh hoto” became super hit. As usual Bhanu Banerjee gave brilliant lips in the film. Ruma did well in the role of the old lady. Tarun Kumar as usual contributed well in Bhanu’s film. The supporting actresses like Renuka in the role of the wife of Kamal Mitra did well. Jahar Roy, Shyam Laha and Shital Banerjee did well in their respective roles.

The film should be preserved for the unique subject that was dealt with, that is regaining youth, which everyone in the world strives for.

Happy birthday to Karishma Kapoor.

Happy birthday to Karishma Kapoor.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Karishma Kapoor on 25th June, 2009. She had been probably the only descendant of the Kapoor family who did not arrive in the bollywood industry with pomp and show. Her debut was made in a small manner.

She had to struggle hard and got good roles in films like Hero No.1 opposite Govinda. In Hero No. 1 Karishma showed her good dancing skills in songs like “mai to raste se ja raha tha”. Karishma was very impressive in the film Dil To Paagal Hai opposite Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. The film showed triangular love story and strong music of Uttam Singh. Karishma gave good lips in the songs “le gai le gai”.

Karishma Kapoor ventured in parallel films like Shyam Benegal’s Zubeida. Her performance opposite Manoj Vajpayee amazed the viewers. She was equally impressive opposite Hrithik Roshan in the film Fida. She played a non-glamourous role in the film. She was the sister of Hrithik Roshan. She wanted Hrithik to return back to mainstream society. She did not show any mannerisms in the film.

At the same time Karishma Kapoor played important roles in commercially hit films. In Krishna, her performance opposite Sunil Shetty was appreciated by all the viewers. Her dance performance in the song “jhanjhariya buddhi khanak gayi” was very impressive. Similarly her performance in the song “batti na bujhao” and “hai hooku hai hukoo” opposite Sunil Shetty created sensation in bollywood.

Karishma Kapoor did well in comedy films as well. She was sublime opposite Salman Khan in the film Judwaa where Salman Khan had double role. She did even better in the film Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge opposite Salman Khan. In that film she had to balance the comedy andaz of Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher and Om Puri and she did that in style. Even her lips in the song “jane kya hua hai dekho jiya bekarar” was very impressive.

Karishma Kapoor suited Govinda’s style of acting the most and contributed a lot in comedy films opposite him including Haseena Maan Jayegi. She balanced the strong dancing skills of Govinda with her own aggressive dancing style.

She left films at a time when she learned acting. The viewers expect her to make a comeback in character roles in future.

Review of Suchitra Sen's Uttar Falguni.

Review of Suchitra Sen’s Uttar Falguni.

Suchitra Sen was the greatest actress Bengal had ever produced in the history of cinema. She had remained one of the most versatile actresses produced by Indian cinema in the last 60 years.

Uttar Falguni was released in 1963, at a time when Suchitra Sen was ruling the Bengali silver screen. While romantic performance in 30 films opposite superstar Uttam Kumar established her as the queen of Bengali cinema, her performance in female dominated films like Deep Jele Jai created a new dimension in the world of creative arts.

Uttar Falguni was directed by Asit Sen. The music was composed by Robin Chatterji. Suchitra Sen played the role of the girl Debjani, who loved Barrister Manish (played by Bikash Roy), but due to repayment of loan of father Jahar Ganguly, married a characterless person Rakhal Bhattacharya played by Kalipada Chakravarty. Bikash Roy went abroad and asked Suchitra Sen to wait till he returned to India. But due to compelling circumstances Suchitra Sen married Kalipada Chakravarty.

Suchitra Sen gave birth to Kalipada Chakravarty’s daughter and to rear her up became Pannabai (a singer who earned money by performing in mujras). She admitted her daughter in a missionary school and promised before the principal that she would never disclose her identity before her daughter. But her husband Rakhal Bhattacharya used to visit Suchitra Sen’s house and take money with the threat that he would find out her daughter and disclose his identity before her.

Bikash Roy came back to India, went to Lucknow to meet Suchitra Sen. He even agreed to marry her but Suchitra Sen said that it was too late. Instead she asked her to take the responsibility relating to education of her daughter. Bikash Roy send Suchitra Sen’s daughter Suchorita (also played by Suchitra Sen) abroad. She became a Barrister and returned back with young barrister played by Dilip Mukherjee.

But when Sucharita was seen in Kolkata High Court with Bikash Roy, her father Rakhal Bhattacharya blackmailed her mother saying that he would disclose the fact that Suchitra Sen’s mother was a baijee. Debjani (Suchitra Sen) killed Rakhal Bhattacharya by firing 6 bullets.

When the murder case was tried in Court of law, Sucharita compelled Bikash Roy to disclose his relationship with Debjani. That was the most delirium scene of the film. Bikash Roy told the entire history of the sacrifice of Debjani and all her efforts to make her daughter a barrister. Sucharita pleaded before the court to acquit her mother as the murder did occur out of adequate provocation. Her mother died at the witness box itself.

The film was remade in hindi with the title Mamta. But it miserably failed to match the epic performance of the stars in Uttar Falguni. Undoubtedly it was the best performance of Suchitra Sen in her double role. Bikash Roy also rose up to the occasion in an Uttam Kumar production, where Uttam Kumar did not play the role but left it upto the experience of respectable Bikash Roy.

Uttar Falguni had been a milestone of Indian classic cinema and should be preserved for the following generations.

Review of Satyajit Ray's Jalsaghar.

Review of Satyajit Ray’s Jalsaghar.

Satyajit Ray enlightened the viewers of the 50s with the end of feudalism in Bengal with the film Jalsaghar. The film was released in 1958. It was based on the epic literature Jalsaghar written by Tarashankar Banerjee.

Chabi Biswas gave the lifetime performance in the role of Biswambhar Roy in the film. He was an aristocrat zamindar whose 3 generations carried the legacy of the feudal legacy. Biswambhar Roy had passion towards music and brought established classical artists from Lucknow and Benaras to perform in his Jalsaghar.

While Chabi Biswas’s zamindari declined, Gangapada Basu’s zamindari thrived. He was a businessman whose fortunes did shine after 2nd world war. Chabi Biswas gave the thread ceremony of his lone son in front of his wife Panda Debi with pomp and grandeur. But the earnings of his estate decreased due to non- production of crops and increased poverty of farmers.

By selling his wife’s jwellery Chabi Biswas organized the last Jalsaghar in his house. Again the luminaries of the village and Gangapada Basu were invited. Roshanara Begum was invited to perform. Begum Akhtar gave brilliant performance of her classical song. Gangapada Basu tried to throw his jwellery at the feet of the performer, but Chabi Biswas stopped him saying the first person to award the performer in jalsaghar should be the host.

At the end of the film when Chabi Biswas came to realized from Kali Sarkar, his servant that there was no money to light his lamp (jhar lanthan), he travelled on the horse named Tufaan, and died out of horse-riding. Chabi Biswas’s dignity and aristocracy ended in glory with his death.

Satyajit Ray portrayed the film for the western world to show them the history of feudalism during the colonial rule. Zamindari ended after India’s independence. Satyajit Ray in his interview before Doordarshan had said in the 80s, that Chabi Biswas was the greatest actor who had graced Indian silver screen.

Chabi Biswas proved his indispensability in the role of zamindars in the film Jalsaghar. Character artists like Kali Sarkar, Gangapada Basu, Padda Debi did well in their respective roles. The film received many national and international awards. The film should be restored for its filmic value.

Will Barbara Mori storm Indian films with Kites?

Will Barbara Mori storm Indian films with Kites?

Barbara Mori had created news in the Indian media for creating scandal with Hrithik Roshan during the shooting of upcoming film Kites. The Indian viewers still have to know the background of Barbara Mori.

Barbara Mori was born in Montivedio, Uruguay on February 2nd, 1978. She had Mexican, Japanese and Uruguay heritage. Due to divorce of her parents, her childhood was disturbed. While she worked as waitress at the age of 14, she was discovered by Fashion Designer Marcus Toledo. She learnt acting in El Centro de Estudios de Formacion Actoral. She started in Mexican Telenovela Al norte del Corazon. She also performed in comedy series Tric Tac and Mirada de mujer. She got the best new actress award for this film Mirada de Mujer.

She came to limelight in 1998 with the notable role ‘Azul’ in the series ‘Azul Tequila’ with Mauricio Ochmann. Her combination with Christian Meier was well appreciated in the series Me Meuro Porti in Miami. She also gave a landmark performance in the Mexican film Inspiracio in 2000. The other landmark performances included Amor Descerado and Rubi.

The following films of Barbara Mori made her superstar. In 2005 she gave a starring performance in blockbuster film La Mujer de mi hermano. Her viewers started recognizing her with the character Zoe. She gave scintillating performance in the film Pretendiendo.

Indian producer and director Rakesh Roshan utilized her immense talent in the film Kites to be released this year. She already created news by getting involved in emotional relationship with Hrithik Roshan. Viewers wonder whether Barbara can take the Indian audience by storm. Already Katrina Kaif had come from London and shaken up entire bollywood. Those who initially pointed their fingers at the hindi intonation of Katrina Kaif had been admirers themselves of the western beauty.

Barbara Mori had created a great level of curiosity for the viewers which can help Rakesh Roshan’s film a lot. The viewers expect a power pact performance from both Hrithik and Barbara in the film Kites and fantastic entertainment. Let us hope for the best.

Demise of magician of Sarod - Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Demise of magician of Sarod – Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

The nation pays homage to the departed soul of Magician of Sarod – Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, who died yesterday at an age of 87. He died in his own house at Sanfransisco due to failure of kidneys. He had glorified India’s face in the international arena with his brilliance in the classical instrument Sarod.

His father Alauddin Khan was a genius with maihar gharana. Ali Akbar Khan was born on 14th April, 1922 in the village Shibpur in Kumilla. He learned classical music at an age of 3 years. He learned it from his father and uncle Fakir Abtabuddin. He first performed in a show in Allahabad at an age of 13 years.

In 1956 he created Ali Akbar College of Music in Kolkata. Later he opened more branches of the same college of music in US and Switzerland. From 1965, he regularly took musical classes in US. At the same time with his unique creations in the world of classical music he attracted attention of legendary directors of India like Satyajit Ray and Tapan Sinha.

Satyajit Ray used the brilliant skills of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in Chabi Biswas’s film Debi. In that film Ustad Ai Akbar Khan was the music director. Chabi Biswas saw Goddess Kali in the body of Sharmila Tagore, his daughter in law in the film. Ali Akbar Khan’s theme music in the film was appreciated within India and abroad.

In the early 60s, Ali Akbar Khan created wonders as music director in Tapan Sinha’s film Khudito Pashan. Tapan Sinha experimented with Tagore’s epic literature. Arundhuti Debi, the powerful actress in the film came in the dreams of Soumitra Chatterji. Ali Akbar Khan’s music reminded people of the medieval period during the rule of many nawabs.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan also composed music in Bartalucchi’s film Little Buddha, Ivory Merchant’s film House Holders and Chetan Anand’s film Andhia. He left a lot of brilliant students of Sarod including Nikhil Banerjee, Ashish Khan, Alam Khan, to name a few, who are carrying forward his legacy.

Ali Akbar Khan created gems with Pandit Ravi Shankar, the magician of Sitar. Their combined performances made the intellectual audience speechless in different parts of the world. He even composed music for eminent classical singer Ustad Amir Khan. The listeners all across the world pay homage to the genius of Sarod who had made India proud with his brilliance in creative music.

Ravina Tandon left films at a time when she learned acting.

Ravina Tandon left films at a time when she learned acting.

Ravina Tandon left films at a time when she learned acting. When she joined bollywood films her glamour appealed before the viewers more than her acting. She came to limelight with her appearance in the action film Mohra opposite Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty. The song “tu cheez bari hai mast mast” became super hit in the mid-90s.

From that time onwards her films opposite Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty always became super hit. Examples include Officer and Vinashak opposite Sunil Shetty and Dava opposite Akshay Kumar. He learned few action stunts also for sustaining in those types of films. The other hit films were opposite Sanjay Dutt like Vijeta and Aatish. In both these films her lips in leading songs like “sherry mai ho gaya diwana” became very popular.

But her maturity in acting came about in the later part of the career. She gave a lifetime performance in the film Shool, opposite Manoj Vajpai. Manoj Vajpai was a fearless police officer and faced the hardles from the ruling political parties in the state of Bihar. As the ruling party was corrupted they never wanted the police to investigate freely. When Manoj Bajpai was injured in the process Ravina Tandon gave moral support to him.

Ravina Tandon continued her good work in the film Jago opposite Sanjay Kapoor. Her daughter was raped in a local train in Mumbai. When the case was taken up by Manoj Bajpai he faced problems in getting testimony of witnesses who had seen the event. People feared the underworld gang who were involved with the atrocities. Ravina Tandon submitted before Court of Law that she was disgusted with the conscience of passersby in trains who had seen a small child being raped and yet failed to cooperate with the police to get the wrongdoers addressed and imprisoned.

Ravina Tandon got the national award for best performance in female role in the film Daman. When she left films around 10 years back, she was matured the most. The viewers expected that her enhanced standard of performances would enrich bollywood films. But she got married and begot a daughter and stopped acting. She is seen in television shows where she adjudicates dance performers.

But viewers expect her to make a comeback and still contribute in character roles.

Review of Sanjay Dutt's Vijeta.

Review of Sanjay Dutt’s Vijeta.

Sanjay Dutt used to be considered the action king of bollywood films in the 90s, before he was arrested in relation to TADA Act and his career got affected. He entertained the viewers with many memorable action films like Sadak, Aatish, Yalgaar, etc.

Vijeta was one of his successful films with Raveena Tandon (directed by K. Muralimohan Rao) which had entertainment all along the film. He was a lawyer who was guided by Alok Nath an eminent lawyer who treated him like his son. While Alok Nath took the brief of an upright officer, Paresh Rawal, an eminent builders of the city with his men killed Alok Nath and took the evidence by force.

Sanjay Dutt first killed Paresh Rawal’s men one by one and then Paresh Rawal at the end of the film. Ravina Tandon was a police investigator who worked under the supervision of Amrish Puri. But Amrish Puri was also involved with Paresh Rawal and the unlawful group of promoters.

Ravina Tandon tried to stop Sanjay Dutt from killing Paresh Rawal’s men who had killed his guide Alok Nath. But she failed. Lastly she arrested Sanjay Dutt and imprisoned him. When he was in jail she went to arrest Paresh Rawal and Amrish Puri.

She got beaten up by the men of Paresh Rawal and Amrish Puri and Sanjay Dutt had to escape from the jail and he burned Amrish Puri when he tried to escape. Amrish Puri gave another spirited performance in the film and was the probably the best actor of the film. Besides there were character artists in the film like Annu Kapoor, who did well. Annu Kapoor’s own son who was a constable, was killed by Amrish Puri.

The music in the film given by Anand Milind was very impressive. The song “sherry mai ho gaya tumhara” was very impressive with foreign locations. Sanjay Dutt was the only action star other than Sunny Deol who was accepted by the viewers in the 90s and had been an inspiration for new action stars like Bobby Deol, Hrithik Roshan and others who did well in the last 10 years.

The film Vijeta should be restored for its powerful action sequences.

Remembering Hemant Kumar on his birthday.

Remembering Hemant Kumar on his birthday.

The viewers of bollywood and Bengali films pay their homage to evergreen singer Hemant Kumar on his birthday on 16th June, 2009. He had died more than 15 years back, but had left lot of memories which are cherished by the following generations.

He composed music in many bollywood films in the 50s and 60s and carried forward the legacy of Rabindra Sangeet beyond the Bengal border and made it popular all across India. He composed music in the film Nagin and got the filmfare award for the best composer in 1955. His tune “man dole” sung by Lata for Vaijayantimala became extremely popular in the mid -50s.

He sang a number of songs for Dev Anand including “yeh raat yeh chandni” in the film Jaal, “yeh apna dil” in Solwa Saal, songs in Patita, etc. He also sang the legendary song “jane yeh kaise” for Guru Dutt in the film Pyaasa. His composition in Biswajeet’s film Bees Saal Baad and Kohra became super hit. Successful songs included “yeh nayan dhali dhali”, “zara nazron se kahdo ji”, etc.

Hemant Kumar’s composition in the other films included Biswajeet’s Do Dil, Dilip Kumar’s Paigam, Dharmender’s Khamoshi, Guru Dutt’s Sahe Bibi Aur Ghulam. Some of the hit songs sung by Hemant Kumar in those films included “tum pukarke”, and others. Besides he had given many hit songs to Lata, Asha and Geeta Dutt in those films.

Hemant Kumar had sung majority of playback songs for Bengali superstar Uttam Kumar in the 50s. His songs included “surer akashe tumi je go shuktara” from the film Shapmochon, “tare bole diyo” from the film Dui Bhai, “nir choto khoti nei” from the film Indrani, “ei poth Jodi na shesh hoi” from the film Saptapadi, “jai chole jai” from the film Kal Tumi Aleya, “sapno jagano raat” from the film Shudhu Ekti Bachar, “mou bane aaj” from the film Bondhu, to name a few.

Besides most of the Rabindra Sangeet sung by Hemant Kumar in Bengali films became hits, including “tumi robe nirobe” in Biswajeet Kuheli, “ami pothbhola ek pathik” in Uttam Kumar’s Mon Niye, “jokhon porbe na mor” in Uttam Kumar’s film Bibhas, etc.

Hemant Kumar’s contribution in Bengali modern songs and film songs is so huge that articles after articles can be devoted for the melody king of Bengal. The viewers pay their respect for the departed soul of legendary singer Hemant Kumar on his birthday.

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Review of Uttam Kumar's Bikele Bhorer Phool.

Review of Uttam Kumar’s Bikele Bhorer Phool.

Uttam Kumar became a living God in the 70s in Bengali cinema. Bikele Phorer Phool wa released in the earlier 70s, at a time when producers used to consider that the moment Uttam Kumar appeared in any film the film became hit automatically. He was one man industry. The film was directed by Pijush Basu.

The film was entirely shot at West Bengal’s tourist attraction Digha. It was released in 1974, when Digha did not become a romantic beach resort. Uttam Kumar was a renowned novelist in the film. He was old aged and came to Digha to pass his leisure time. Sumitra Mukherjee with her friends were college girls who were brought by the college teacher from Kolkata on a trip to Digha.

When the college teachers knew about the presence of Uttam Kumar, they called him in the guest house to address the college students. Sumitra Mukherjee sang a rabindra sangeet, “ki gabol ami”. Uttam Kumar then told them a horror story. Most of the girls became fan of Uttam Kumar.

Sumitra Mukherjee got especially attached with him, as she had a bad parentage and her parents quarreled against each other daily. She went to Kapal Kundala Mandir near Digha with Uttam Kumar. That was the place where Novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterji got the plot of the novel Kapal Kundala.

Sumitra Mukherjee wanted to marry Uttam Kumar. But Uttam Kumar explained to her that his days were over, he was old like twilight and Sumitra Mukherjee was a young flower, so marriage between unequal age groups could not blossom. He advised Sumitra Mukherjee to forget her past, concentrate on singing and live a better life.

Utpal Dutt did a great job in role of District Magistrate. He showed his comedy instincts as his speeches and song made the young girls laugh. Kalyan Chatterji played the role of a loafer who wanted to seduce Sumitra Mukherjee and got a slap from Uttam Kumar for that.

Hemant Kumar’s music was super hit, with Arati Mukherjee’s song “ei jahaupata” becoming very popular in the early 70s. Uttam Kumar’s mere presence in a film used to create storms in the Bengali arena during that time.

So the film of Pijush Bose ended up being a super hit project. The film and the music should be preserved.

Happy birthday to Amrish Puri.

Happy birthday to Amrish Puri.

Happy birthday to Amrish Puri.

The viewers of bollywood films provide their best wishes and wish happy birthday to Amrish Puri on 22nd June 2009. Amrish Puri died few years back and bollywood industry lost one of its indispensable actors ever.

His voice had an universal appeal and initially Amrish Puri was associated with realistic films directed by Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalini and others. His performance in the films Bhumika, Aakrosh, Ardh Satya, Vijeta, Suraj Ka Satwa Ghora, Sardari Begum brought him national and international awards. But he became an indispensable figure in the commercial film industry with his manly body and outstanding voice.

His role JK in Ramesh Sippy’s successful film Shakti, balanced the soft tune of acting of Dilip Kumar as police officer and loud acting of Amitabh Bacchan as a smuggler. He killed Rakhee at the end of the film and was murdered by Big B when he was about to leave India. His act of kidnapping of Big B at a young age led to creation of a barrier between Dilip Kumar and Big B, where Big B thought Dilip Kumar never liked his son, which was untrue. It took Big B the entire film to know that Dilip Kumar loved him just his any other father.

Amrish Puri balanced Dilip Kumar’s personality in Mashal. Dilip Kumar was a journalist in the film and Amrish Puri, an underworld don, evicted Dilip Kumar from his house when he published real news about him. Dilip Kumar’s wife Wahida Rehman died in the streets when they were evicted from their house. Dilip Kumar later became a smuggler and killed Amrish Puri when he tried to murder Anil Kapoor, a young journalist who again reported true events.

Amrish Puri was sublime in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s film Ghayal. His character Balwant Rai was memorized by even children of India. He killed Raj Babbar and created false case against Sunny Deol. Sunny along with Sudesh Berry and others escaped from the jail and took revenge against Amrish Puri’s men inspite of Om Puri giving protection in the role of Police Officer Desouza. The entire action revolved around Amrish Puri.

Amrish Puri’s character Mogambo in Shekhar Kapoor’s Mr. India gave a new dimension to the character of villains. He dominated the film inspite of Anil Kapoor’s brilliance in using a scientific gazette to remain invisible. Amrish Puri never stuck to one style of acting and never got type-casted like other villains including Jeevan, Prem Chopra or Ajit.

He showed his comedy instincts in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Jhoot Bole Cowa Kate opposite Anil Kapoor and also David Dhawan’s Mujshe Shaadi Karogi opposite Salman Khan. Amrish Puri’s character role in films like China Gate, Chachi 420, still haunts viewers. He made viewers cry with his performance in the film Ghatak as father of Sunny Deol. He had cancer and died at the end of the film.

Amrish Puri acted in almost 400 films within a span of 25 years which include blockbusters like Big B’s Andha Kanoon, Aaj Ka Arjun, Dilip Kumar’s Duniya, Sunny Deol’s Damini, Ghatak, Gadar Ek Prem Katha, Sanjay Dutt’s Vijeta, Mahanta, to name a few. Critics argue that no other actor other than Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah had shown the dynamism that Amrish Puri had shown over the years. His films should be restored and preserved for the new generation.

Ultramodern roles never suit Diya Mirza.

Ultramodern roles never suit Diya Mirza.

It is an established fact that ultramodern roles never suited Diya Mirza. She had a calm, quiet, docile image and whenever roles relating to that image were given she had done great jobs.

But whenever ultramodern roles were offered to her she could not adapt herself in the respective role. She was sublime opposite Salman Khan in the film Tumko Bhula Na Payenge. The film showed the loss of memory on the part of Salman Khan.

Salman Khan was a shooter and along with his co-shooter was appointed by the home minister to shoot his rival. But after some time bullets were fired at Salman Khan and he was found in a pond in a village. The father of Arbaaz Khan found Salman Khan and told him that he was his son.

Diya Mirza stayed in the same village and was the daughter of the friend of Salman Khan’s father. She used to visit Salman Khan and persuade him to believe that nothing serious had happened to him. Salman was inclined to know the cause of the loss of his memory. Neither Diya Mirza, nor Rajpal Yadav, told him the truth.

The romantic performance of Salman Khan and Diya Mirza was well appreciated by the viewers. Both of them gave able lips in the songs “yeh bekhudi diwanagi” and “are are yeh kya hua re” sung by Sonu Nigam and others. The other part of the film was related to Salman Khan taking revenge against his rival and death of Sushmita Sen in the struggle.

Her docile image was used by Vidhu Vinod Chopra in the film Parineeta. Her performance was well appreciated along with Vidya Balan. Even her performance in the films Deewanapan and Tumsa Nahi Dekha also had feminine appeal.

Even her performance in the film Lage Raho Munnabhai in the role of the daughter of Boman Irani had docile image. She was very obedient daughter of her father but the moment she knew that her horoscope was redesigned not to let his inlaws including Kulbhushan Kharwanda know that she was manglik, she told them the truth after speaking with Sanjay Dutt (Munna Bhai). She initially wanted to commit suicide but later changed her decision after being briefed by Munna Bhai.

Even her performance in Shootout at Lokhandwala had the feminine. But her performance in the film Cash broke the image, which was not liked by the audience. Her lips in an ultramodern fashion in the song “hey chori zara nachke dikha” along with Esha Deol and Shamita Shetty was not impressive at all.

Diya Mirza has a sweet face and loving image, so should concentrate on those roles which show her feminine docile image, rather than aggressive roles of egoists which can spoil her career. The viewers are looking forward to better performances from Diya Mirza in future.

Review of Uttam Kumar's Kuhak.

Review of Uttam Kumar’s Kuhak.

Uttam Kumar was considered to be the greatest romantic actor to have been born in Indian soil in the golden age, that is 40s, 50s, and 60s. But after giving legendary romantic films with Suchitra Sen (both of them acted in 30 films), Uttam Kumar tried to change his image in some of the films.

In Goli Theke Rajpoth he was involved in unlawful activities, in Abak Prithibi, he was a thief who was reformed by a small child, and in Kuhak he was a thief again. He broke his image in Kuhak directed by Agradoot.

In Kuhak, the film opened with a scene in the jail where Uttam Kumar met Tarun Kumar. Uttam Kumar spoke about his activities relating to theft. Tarun Kumar disclosed about his capabilities relating to opening any lock in any almirah or cupboard and he was imprisoned for those activities.

Uttam Kumar after being released from jail came to the same village where Tarun Kumar lived with his two sons and sister played by Sabitri Chatterji. Uttam Kumar was a singer and with the team of Premangshu Bose used to perform in the role of Chaitanyadev in village plays (jatras).

Most of the villagers started thinking that Uttam Kumar was actual Chaitanyadeb. Tarn Kumar told Uttam Kumar that he stole Rs 30000 from a locker in a nearby house, but when he tried to escape from the police, he was fired by the police and died. He showed the place where he kept the money to his son. Both Uttam Kumar and Premangshu Bose stayed back in the village to take that money that was kept by Tarun Kumar.

Uttam Kumar fell sorry for Sabitri Chatterjee, the sister of Tarun Kumar and fell in love with her. The last part of the film showed the fight between Uttam Kumar and Premangshu Bose in extracting the stolen money.

The music of the film was impressive, with Uttam Kumar giving brilliant lips in Hemant Kumar’s song “bishnupriya go”. There were many other songs sung by Hemant Kumar for Uttam Kumar and the character of Uttam Kumar being a singer was bolstered with the music.

The film should be restored for the young generation to show them that director Agradoot had the skills of making crime thrillers with the background of stories based on village life of Bengal.

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IIFA awards are action replay of filmfare awards.

IIFA awards are action replay of filmfare awards.

This year’s IIFA awards are announced in June, 2009. Most of the awards were action replay of the filmfare awards given this year.

Hrithik Roshan won the IIFA award for the best actor for his performance in the film Jodha Akbar. He deserved it and viewers are happy that IIFA had acknowledged it. He won the filmfare award for the best actor also for the performance in the same film earlier this year. Ashutosh Gowarikar won the IIFA award for the best director for the direction of the film Jodha Akbar. He received the filmfare award for the best director too earlier this year. Films like Jodha Akbar require lot of hardwork, sincerity and monumental task with cast and crew. It is good that his immense dedication was rewarded.

Priyanka Chopra won the IIFA award for the best actress for the performance in the film Fashion. Shreya Ghoshal won the IIFA award for the best female singer for the song “teri ore teri ore” from Singh is Kinng. Javed Ali won the IIFA award for the best male singer for his song “jashne-bahara” from the film Jodha Akbar.

Javed Akhtar also won the best lyricist award for the lyrics written for songs in the film Jodha Akbar. AR Rehman won the best composer award for his music composition in the film Jodha Akbar. Kangana Ranaut won the best supporting actress award for her performance in the film Fashion. Rajesh Khanna won the lifetime achievement award at the IIFA.

Shahrukh Khan won the male star of the decade award, while Aishwarya Rai won the female star of the decade award. Abhishek Bacchan won the best comedian award for his performance in the film Dostana, while Akshay Khanna won the best villain award for his performance in the film Race.

With few exceptions almost the same recipients of filmfare awards won the IIFA awards. Some of the good work again got unnoticed, for example, for example Pritam’s music in Sinng is Kinng, Vishal Shekhar’s music in Dostana, Amir Khan’s superlative performance in Ghajini.

But again best debutant awards for Farhan Akhtar in the male category ( for Luck by Chance) and Asin in the female category (for Ghajini), are encouraging signs. IIFA should start second best performance awards for all categories to encourage better performances of all the performers in bollywood industry.

Review of Uttam Kumar's Shankhabela.

Review of Uttam Kumar’s Shankhabela.

Uttam Kumar was the uncrowned monarch of Bengali classic films of the 50s, 60s and 70s. He had acted in around 205 films, so most of his films are landmarks in Bengali film industry. But some of the films created history due to some unique reasons. Shankhabela is one of that kind of film.

The film as released in 1966. Uttam Kumar was big corporate officer in the film who had married Madhabi Mukherjee and had a small son. Due to requirement of corporate world, he had to give parties distribute drinks to the business tycoons of the respective jurisdiction and get involved in drinking himself. All these activities were not like by Madhabi Mukherjee. She felt that all those activities could spoil her son.

After repeated requests when Madhabi saw that Uttam Kumar could not avoid parties, drinking, etc., she left the house and lived separately with her son. The son fell seriously in due period of time and was brought before Bosonto Choudhury, a specialist doctor in Kolkata. He asked her to get her son admitted in the hospital.

While treating the child he tried to reunite the family which was virtually separated. He called Uttam Kumar, the father of the child, and told him about his son’s sickness and rebuked him for failing to fulfill the responsibilities of a father. After curing the child he asked Uttam Kumar to take his wife and child back home thereby ending their mental differences.

The important fact in the film was that the composer Sudhin Dasgupta, used Manna Dey, the legendary singer of bollywood films to sing songs for Uttam Kumar, for the first time. He was associated with successful Hemant Kumar whose matched him the most. Manna Dey was previously used in the song “lag lag lag lag velki khela” in Uttam Kumar’s film Goli Theke Rajpoth in 1959, by Sudhin Dasgupta, but that was not a musical film, and the musical excellence of Manna Dey remained unnoticed.

Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar’s spirited performance in the songs “ke pratham kache asechi”, “ami agantuk ami barta dilam”, “aaj mon cheyeche ami hariye jabo” flabbergasted the Bengali audience. Due to the success of Shankhabela, Manna Dey dethroned Hemant Kumar from being the dominant singer in Bengali films, and created a magical combination with Uttam Kumar till his death. Manna Dey’s hit songs for Uttam Kumar stormed Bengali films like Anthony Firingi, Nishi Padda, Chowrangee, Jibon Mrityu, Stri, Chaddabeshi, Chiradiner, Sanyasi Raja, etc., to name a few.

Besides, Uttam Kumar gave the most romantic lips in a boat with Madhabi in Mython in the romantic song “ke prothom kache esechi”. The composition was totally westernized and the lyrics written by Pulak Banerjee was very romantic. Even legendary composer Naushad appreciated Sudhin Dasgupta for making the tune of “ke pratham kache esechi”, when Sudhin Dasgupta went to Bombay to place it before Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar.

The other aspect of the film directed by Saroj De ( the main director of Agragami), was the casting of Bosonto Choudhury in the role of the doctor. He was assisted by a panel of doctors including Mrinal who had his debue in the film, but his personality overshadowed the romantic personality of Uttam Kumar. Critics argue that Bosonto Choudhury gave his best performance in the film Shankhabela. The film addressed the intellectual viewers of Bengal and other parts of the country and could be very well categorsied as cine-classic. The film and the songs should be restored for those reasons.

Urbanized youths like characterless girls.

Urbanized youths like characterless girls.

Urbanized youths in the last few years had shown their affinity towards characterless girls who used to be considered as vamps or villains in the 60s and 70s. That is the reason why actresses like Bipasha Basu have equal popularity like Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor or Aishwarya Rai.

The urbanized men of this age had given up the idea of looking for wives who are god-fearing, docile, feminine which are exhibited in different films by Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Ash, etc. Instead they want aggressive girls like Bipasha Basu of No Entry.

Had Bipasha Basu appeared during the 60s, the characters played by her in films like Ajnabee or No Entry, would not have added her popularity. She would have been stamped the villain identity like Nadira and faced problems in getting positive roles.

But the recent trend is different. Both Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu acted in the same film Race. While Katrina showed her docile image, the same way as she had shown in films like Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, or Partner, Bipasha showed her aggressive image which suits males better than women. While both the girls were crooked and playing games, Katrina’s style of execution of her character had more feminine attribute than that of Bipasha Basu. But at the end of the film her style icon image got more appreciation from the viewers due to the new tastes of urbanized youths.

Even in Ajnabee, Kareena Kapoor had a more docile image than that of Bipasha Basu. Bipasha Basu along with Akshay Kumar created a false case relating to the death of Bipasha Basu and implicated Bobby Deol for the murder. At the end of the film the truth relating to the murder mystery was unveiled and Bipasha Basu was killed. In No Entry Bipasha’s image of club dancer haunted the viewers more than sweet and feminine Lara Dutta.

Even Aishwarya Rai impressed the viewers with her docile performance in the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Taal. But the same viewers hailed Ash with her negative image in the film Dhoom 2 opposite Hrithik Roshan.

The producers and directors should take into account the tastes of viewers of different age groups for selecting the different actors and actresses in new films.

Salman Katrina's end of relationship can affect Salman more.

Salman Katrina’s end of relationship can affect Salman more.

The four year relationship between Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif had ended. Katrina Kaif in recent interview had mentioned that she does not have any more relationship with Salman Khan even as a friend. Sometimes these rumours are created to add popularity in bollywood arena.

But facts and circumstances establish that the relationship had ended. Over-possessiveness of Salman Khan had been the cause of such end. Katrina Kaif found while she was shooting for the film Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, with Ranbir Kapoor, that Salman Khan over-interfered in her affairs against her liking. Just as she never interfered in other’s affairs she disliked other’s interference in her affairs.

The relationship grew up in four five years ago and Salman Khan took the credit of introducing Katrina Kaif in Indian films. His film with Katrina Kaif, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya also bolstered the relationship. In 2008, their film Partner did fabulous business, and viewers started thinking that Katrina Kaif was going to marry Salman Khan.

Even the failure of Yuvvraaj, at the box-office did not raise eyebrows relating to Salman –Katrina relationship. Viewers appreciated their online chemistry, as all the songs composed by the team of AR Rehman, Gulzar and Subhash Ghai became super hit. Prominent songs included “tu muskura”, “shano shano”, etc.

If the losses and gains after the end of the relationship is analyzed, everyone will agree that Katrina Kaif is hardly going to lose her stardom, as she had given hits with other actors like Akshay Kumar in Namaste London, Welcome, Singh is Kinng, etc., Akshay Khanna in Race, Govinda in Partner, to name a few. She is young as has a long future ahead of her.

Salman Khan is in his 40s. He already had got a bad reputation for failing to maintain relationship due to his bad temper. Although his friendship with Asin had created news, but viewers sometimes stop favouring a hero who fail to show any stability in life.

Salman Khan had also not attained such age where he can switch on to character roles and leave the rat race relating to heroes. In that case his star-image would not had been affected at all. Last year had been a bad year for Salman Khan and if his instability with co-actors and actresses continue he has to see bad days in future.

Happy birthday to Mithun Chakravarty.

Happy birthday to Mithun Chakravarty.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Mithun Chakravarty on 16th June, 2009. He had contributed in bollywood films for more than 30 years and had also contributed in Bengali films as well.

He brought revolution in the world of dancing in bollywood films. His film Disco Dancer, was related to the struggle of a young man in establishing him in the world of dancing. The music of the film composed by Bappi Lahiri played a big role in the success of the film. All the songs in the film became super hit including “I am a disco dancer”. Kishore Kumar, (Bappi Lahiri’s own relative), and Bappi Lahiri contributed a lot in the success of Mithun Chakravarty.

Mithun Chakravarty acted in successful films in the 80s, including Dance Dance, Pyar Jhukta Nahi, etc. Some of films were dance oriented films, while the other ones were action oriented. Although Mithun’s husky voice was criticized at times, his action sequences had always been appreciated.

Mithun Chakravarty won a number of national awards for his excellence in Bengali films, mainly related to films of intellectual directors like Mrinal Sen and Buddhadeb Dasgupta. His performances in films like Mrigaya and Tahader Katha require special mention. At the same time he acted in many commercially hit films like Anyay Abhichar and Kalankini Kankabati.

In the last 5 years, Mithun had kept his mark in character roles. Last year his performance in the role of a solicitor in the film Yuvvraaj was appreciated. He did a fantastic job in Akshay Kumar’s Chandni Chowk to China released this year. His emotional performance had made a lot of viewers cry. Mithun had matured over the years. These days whenever he is given any character role, he uses his long experience for the last 30 years in giving expression to the respective character.

Mithun had also acted in negative characters and did a great job in those roles as well. His comedy performances in films like Agnipath can inspire many new actors of modern days. Besides Mithun had also been a great human being as he contributed in relief operations during natural calamities and human causes like raising funds for Thalasemia patients or people suffering from cancer, etc.

The viewers expect him to continue the brilliant work that he started years back.

Happy birthday to Shilpa Shetty.

Happy birthday to Shilpa Shetty.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Shilpa Shetty on 8th June, 2009. She had maintained her romantic image and brilliant figure for over 15 years. She had remained indispensable for the last 15 years.

Starting her journey with Shahrukh Khan in the film Baazigaar, in the early 90s, she had acted in different types of films. She acted in romantic films like Dhadkan opposite Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty. The film had successful songs like “tum dil ki dhadkan me”. She also acted in action thrillers like Prithvi, opposite Sunil Shetty.

She was also sublime in off-beat films like Tarqueib. Nana Patekar played the role of the crime-investigator in the film. She was the friend of Tabu, the girl killed in the film. She also had speaking terms with Ashutosh Rana who was initially suspected to have murdered Tabu. Nana Patekar at the end of the film found out the murderer. But Shilpa Shetty showed her acting skills while relying to interrogation of Nana Patekar in the film.

Her performance in the film Auzaar opposite Salman Khan and Sanjay Kapoor, also require special mention. Salman Khan was a CBI investigator in the film and was given the task of investigation the unlawful business affairs of Sanjay Kapoor. In fact the underworld involvement of Paresh Rawal, the father of Sanjay Kapoor was at issue. Shilpa Shetty bridged the gap between Salman Khan and Sanjay Kapoor, after Salman convinced her that he concealed his identity for the benefit of Sanjay Kapoor, his friend. Shilpa gave brilliant lips and danced well in the songs “oye oye oye oyeoye”, and other songs composed by Anu Malik.

Shilpa Shetty had shown her comedy instincts in a number of films like Chor Machaye Shor. She played the role of the daughter of Paresh Rawal, and got attached with Bobby Deol, who was a subordinate of Paresh Rawal. He pretended to be twin brother, one having a moustache, the other without a moustache. In that comedy drama, Shilpa Shetty should her innocence and comedy instinct along with Bipasha Basu, who also played a significant role in the film.

Even at her middle age she had shown dance numbers which could have made young actresses envious about her. For example, in Dostana, released in 2008, she performed in a dance number opposite John Abraham, which amazed the viewers. She should be followed by new generation of actresses who want to stay fit and contribute in bollywood films for more than 20 years.

Happy birthday to Dimple Kapadia.

Happy birthday to Dimple Kapadia.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Dimple Kapadia on 8th June, 2009. She had been considered as one of the most dynamic actresses of bollywood films after Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil.

She started her career with a bold, sizzling demeanor in Raj Kapoor’s Bobby in 1973 opposite Rishi Kapoor. Raj Kapoor introduced the concept of teenage romance in the 70s and his effort got justice due to brilliant performance of both Dimple and Rishi Kapoor. Dimple’s smart, dashing lips in the songs “hum tum ek kamre me bandh ho”, “jhoot bole kowa kate”, “mujhe kuch kehna hai” sung by Lata and composed by LP just flabbergasted the audience of the 70s. Viewers thought both Dimple and Rishi Kapoor were made for each other.

But after Rajesh Khanna married Dimple Kapadia, he stopped her acting, and bollywood films lost one of the most promising actresses for 13 years. Again she made a classic comeback in Ramesh Sippy’s Saagar. The film showed a triangular love story with Kamal Hassan and Rishi Kapoor. The brilliant locations, powerful music composed by RD Burman, all contributed for the success of the super hit film. Rishi Kapoor was always considered to be the most romantic actors produced by Indian films. He proved it again in Saagar. Dimple balanced the sacrificing performance of Kamal Hassan who died at the end of the film to save Rishi Kapoor and allow Dimple marry her. All the three performers were brilliant in the lips given in the songs “o maria”, “saagar kinare”, “yeh to bata tera naam kya”, etc., sung by Lata, Bal Subhramanium, Kishore Kumar, etc.

In the mid -80s, Dimple acted in most of the successful commercial films opposite leading stars like Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol, etc. She was brilliant in Feroz Khan’s Jaanbaaz. In fact her smart performance balanced the cowboy image of Anil Kapoor in the film. She was sublime opposite Jackie Shroff in the film Kaash.

In the late 80s, producers and directors experimented with her in challenging roles. She was exceptional in Gulzar’s film Lekin. Lata’s songs “yara silli silli”, Suresh Watkar’s “surmai sham” composed by Hridaynath Mangeshkar were landmarks of classical music in Indian films. Dimple Kapadia portrayed the character of rajasthani folk community who were used for crying in funerals in the film Rudaali. She played the role of her lifetime and got national and international awards. Her lips in Lata’s song “dil hum hum kare” composed by Bhupen Hazarika, still haunts the listeners 20 years after its creation.

Her other successful films include Ram Lakhan, opposite Jackie Shroff, Krantiveer and Prahar opposite Nana Patekar. Her performance in the off-beat films gave her a special place just like Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil. Even in her middle-age she amazed viewers with brilliant performance in the film Dil Chahta Hai opposite Akshay Khanna who was at least 15 years younger than her. She again amazed the viewers in character roles opposite Rishi Kapoor in the films Pyar Me Twist and Farhan Akhtar’s Luck By Chance.

The viewers expect her to continue the brilliant work and go on astonishing the viewers with dynamic performances like before.

Rafi and Guru Dutt.

Rafi and Gurudutt.

Rafi became a living legend in the mid-50s after dominating bollywood films over ten years and singing for nearly all the giant productions and leading actors of bollywood. He had very strong combination with thinking actor Guru Dutt.

Guru Dutt had created his image in bollywood films in different categories being a thoughtful director and producer, dynamic actor, good choreographer. One of the numerous reasons for which his films became super hit in the 50s and 60s include the brilliant songs sung by Rafi during the golden age.

Rafi’s songs in Guru Dutt’s Aar Paar, composed by OP Nayyar became super hit. It was followed by Mr and Mrs. 55 released in 1955. Songs picturized on both Guru Dutt and Johnny Walker had melody and sweetness. Rafi’s songs like “dil pe kiya aisa jaadu”, “muhobbat karlo aji karlo”, “sun sun sun sun zaalima”, composed by OP Nayyar, created landmark in the mid-50s and Rafi emerged as the greatest singer of bollywood films during that time.

The same combination of Guru Dutt, OP Nayyar and Rafi gave everlasting hit in the film 12 O Clock with songs like “mai kho gaya”. When Guru Dutt used SD Burman for composing songs in the film Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ka Phool, Rafi was used brilliantly for the legendary music of those films. Both the films won national and international awards and remain a landmark in the field of story-telling. Rafi’s songs “sar jot era chakrae” picturised on Johnny Walker and “hum aapke aankho me” and “yeh mahalon yeh takhton yeh taajon ki duniya” picturised on Guru Dutt had emotions, passions, comedy, tragedy everything embedded in them. Rafi’s duet combination with Geeta Dutt was bolstered in the film. The lyrics were outstanding as well. The films marked the best music given by SD Burman in his entire lifetime.

Guru Dutt can boast himself to have given lips in one of Rafi’s best ghazals sung in the history of bollywood films titled “chaudavi ka chaand”. Guru Dutt picturised the song sequence with colour, showing his passionate relationship with Wahida Rehman in the film Chaudavi Ka Chand. Ravi’s music in the film showed the pardanashin culture of muslims in India during the early 60s.

Rafi also sang songs for Guru Dutt in the film Saanjh Aur Sawera, composed by Shankar Jaikishan. The title song “yehi hai who saanjh aur sawera” sung by Rafi became very popular. Meena Kumari balanced the powerful performance of Guru Dutt in the film. The other films where Rafi had contributed for Guru Dutt include Bharosa where Ravi composed melodious tunes including “yeh jhuki jhuki naina” picturised on Guru Dutt and Asha Parekh.

Guru Dutt’s music in the film Baharen Phir Bhi Aayegi composed by OP Nayyar, created sensation in the mid -60s. It was a tragedy, that Guru Dutt died before the release of the film and could not see the success of the film. The songs sung by Rafi and picturised on Dharmender mesmerized the audience and still haunts people all over the world. One of those brilliant songs include “aap ki haseen rukh me aaj naya nur hai, mera dil machal gaya to mera kya kasoor hai”.

The uniqueness of Guru Dutt’s relationship with Rafi lies in the fact that whether the composer was OP Nayyar or Shankar Jaikishan or SD Burman or Ravi, the music composed for whom had philosophical thoughts embedded in them and Rafi gave expression to the mesmerizing lyrics of evergreen tunes which had become immortal over a period of time. The films and the songs should be preserved and restored.

Importance of New York in Katrina Kaif's career.

Importance of New York in Katrina Kaif’s career.

Katrina Kaif had remained the uncrowned queen of bollywood films of the last 5 years. Her success in big budget films one after the other had given the number one position and producers and directors had relied upon her while experimenting with various subjects.

She was brilliant and gorgeous opposite Salman Khan in the film Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, gave electrifying performance opposite Akshay Kumar in the films Namaste London, Welcome, Singh is Kinng, was sublime opposite Govinda in the film Partner and Akshay Khanna in the film Race. With her gorgeous lips in romantic songs in all these films including “teri ore teri ore”, “allah duhayi hai”, “just chill chill”, etc., youngsters had become mad about her in the last few years.

She had also replaced Aishwarya Rai in a number of advertisements and became the brand ambassador herself. Superstars in the past had accepted the fact that reaching the summit of popularity is difficult, but it is more difficult to maintain the popularity. Katrina Kaif had attained the first feat but has to maintain the stardom.

In that respect Katrina’s fate is dependent on the success of the film New York. In 2009, her film is getting released for the first time, so lot of viewers have wide expectation from the film. In the film New York, Katrina Kaif had been asked to attend the birthday party by the crew members who were shooting a film in Philadelphia. Katrina was invited along with John Abraham and Kabir Khan.

Crew members who came in one car got entry, while the car where Katrina, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Kabir Khan came, entry was denied. Their identity was required. All of them said that they were popular artists in Indian films. But such identification did not suffice the requirement.

By the time, all the actors and actresses were successful to provide their identification, the party was over. The film was related to that subject.

Katrina Kaif looked gorgeous as ever just like other films. The viewers expect the film to be super hit, so that Katrina Kaif’s dream run continue and the bad time of bollywood during period of recession end.

Review of Uttam Kumar's Bicharak.

Review of Uttam Kumar’s Bicharak.

Bicharak was Uttam Kumar’s successful film based on the story of legendary writer Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay and director Prabhat Mukherjee. Prabhat Mukherjee was the husband of Aristocrat actress Arundhuti Debi. He died at an early age and Arundhuti Debi married renowned director Tapan Sinha later.

Bicharak was the story where Uttam Kumar was unhappy with his marital life with the wife played by Deepti Roy. Arundhuti Debi was the cousin sister of Deepti Roy, who was highly educated, and upstart. She played tennis with Uttam Kumar. Deepti Roy became jealous about Arundhuti Debi and created unrest in the family with Uttam Kumar.

One day when fire broke out in the room of Deepti Roy, Uttam Kumar saved himself and fell to help his wife to come out of the fire. Uttam Kumar married Arundhuti Debi and settled as judge later one. One day he witnessed a case filed in his court having the same type of fact situation. Chabi Biswas made submission before the Court explaining the fact situation. The performance of Chabi Biswas in the respective role was brilliant by every acting standard.

He submitted before the judge that two brothers were attached to a girl and loved her equally. When both the brothers well travelling on boat, the brother who new swimming threw the other brother into the river knowing that he could not swim. He died as a result of it. In plain eyes it was a case of accident, but the circumstances proved the fact that it was a murder. There was motive present in the mind of the younger brother, that was to marry the girl, and for that reason he killed his brother.

While adjudicating this case Uttam Kumar recollected his experience, when his first wife Deepti Roy stretched her hand when fire broke out and he felled to save her. He shared his experience with Arundhuti Debi who asked him to pray to God to forgive him.

The film was based on reflections of mind and the intellectual crowd appreciated the film. Uttam Kumar, Arundhuti Debi and Deepti Roy were sublime in their respective roles. The music given by Timir Boron was also impressive with Rabindrasangeet like “jokhon prothom meliche koli amar mollikabone”.

The film should be restored to mark the grand creation of Prabhat Mukherjee, a creative director of Bengali films of the 50s.

Review of Bhanu's Personal Assistant.

Review of Bhanu’s Personal Assistant.

Bhanu Banerjee used to be considered the greatest comic hero to have born in Indian films in the 50s and 60s. Personal Assistant was one of his biggest blockbusters during the black and white era. Chitrakar directed the film and Nochiketa Ghosh gave the brilliant music.

In that film Tarun Kumar, the friend of Bhanu Banerjee introduced him to many employers as he was jobless. He lost the job in a shop used for repairing radios. Then he applied in a firm named Gargi and Sons owned by Ruma Guhathakurta. Ruma only wanted female candidates in the post of personal assistant. But as Bhanu’s name was Rama Gupta, she thought it was a female name and called him for interview. He was both BSC, BCom. So qualified in the interview and got the job.

The terms of the company was that if the employee left the job within 5 years of appointment he had to return all his salary. If the employer sacked him he was supposed to pay the entire salary for the 5 years. Bhanu was a poet and asked Tarun Kumar to consult Tulshi Chakravarty, a Publisher who published written works of renowned writers. Tarun Kumar told a lie to Tusi Chakravarty that the poems were written by Minoti Mitra (Bhanu) who admired Tulsi Chakravarty. He agreed to publish his poems.

In the mean time Renuka, a rich lady appointed Bhanu Banerjee to play piano that she bought for her own liking. Bhanu tried to teach her to play the piano, but she failed. She organized a show where Bhanu was supposed to actually play the piano from the backstage and she was supposed to do playacting in front with another piano. Bhanu agreed to do it with the consideration of Rs 1000, the amount he had to return back to Ruma as he wanted to leave the job.

The entire drama ended in a mess, when Tulsi Chakravarty came to Bhanu’s house to give the Book of Poems, when Tarun Kumar told him that Minoti Mitra had died. A public gathering was organized where Tarun Kumar declared before the people that Bhanu was the poet who wrote with the petname Minoti Mitra.

All the comedy sequences ended up with romantic relationship between Bhanu and Ruma Guha Thakurta. The music of Nochiketa Ghosh was excellent with hit songs of Hemant Kumar and others like “k choleche kolkatae”, “tomade notun kuri”, “srichoronkomoleshu noi”, “ei besh bhalo”, etc. Bhanu gave excellent lips in those songs.

All the artists in the film including Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tarun Kumar, Tulsi Chakravarty, Mita Chatterji, Pahari Sanyal, Renuka were sublime and the film ended up being super hit. It is still considered as a black and white classic. New directors should learn to create comedy pictures without any cheap sequence or vulgarity.

The film and the songs stand out as a landmark of Bengali film industry of 1959 and for those reasons should be preserved and restored.

Review of Kambakkht Ishq.

Review of Kambakkht Ishq.

Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor had a lot of hope in their upcoming film Kambakkht Ishq to be released in July, 2009. Both of them required a hit film very badly as their performance in 2009 had not been worth saying.

Kambakkht Ishq had been directed by Sabbir Khan and had been produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. The main performers included Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Jimmy Shergill, Amrita Arora, Aftab Shivdasani, Kiron Kher, Javed Jaffery and others. Even Hollywood actors like Sylvester Stalon, Denise Richards and Brendon Routh had put on guest performances and added flavor in the film. It had been a remake of the Tamil film Pammal K. Sambandan which was released in 2002.

The film was related to the story of Akshay Kumar, who was a stuntman in Hollywood films and his relationship with Kareena Kapoor who was also a firebrand lady in the film. Both of them believed in the theory that nothing like love relationship do exist between two individuals.

Both of them stuck to this belief and hated each other in the film. The hatred was reflected through a number of fact situations where one tried to win over the other. Both of them faced an encounter during Kareena Kapoor’s friend’s marriage with the brother of Akshay Kumar.

The relationship full of hatred got transformed into love relationship and the mindset got transformed. The performance of Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor had been very natural. All the supporting performers including Jimmy Shergill, Kiron Kher, Aftab Shivdasani, Amrita Arora did a brilliant job.

The locations in US, had a great impact and the viewers will enjoy the scenic beauty. The music composed by Anu Malik had not been great but can balance the performances of the leading actors and actresses in the film. Besides the singers who had sung in the film including Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, KK, Shaan, Neeraj Sridhar, Alisha Chinoy will want to test their popularity in a keenly fought contest that is existing in bollywood music at this period of time.

Eros Entertainment had previously given a number of super hit films. Kambakkht Ishq has all the ingredients of a super hit film and will storm bollywood this summer.

Neha Dhupia had remained an unsung actress.

Neha Dhupia had remained an unsung actress.

Neha Dhupia had always remained an unsung actress. Being the daughter of Commander Pradip Dhupia, she strong aggressive army background. She even studied in Naval Public School, Cochin, and also Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi. The viewers had seen Neha Dhupia in TV Serials like Rajdhani and know her from an age of five.

In respect of her career in bollywood films, she started her innings with Pyar Kiya Do Darna Kya in 1997. She attracted the attention of the producers and directors with her Miss India Universe Crown in 2002. Although her initial films like Qayamat: City Under Threat, did moderate business, she created her identity in a bold role in the film Julie.

In Kya Kool Hai Hum, she played a romantic role opposite Ritesh Deshmukh where Tushar Kapoor and Isha Kopikaar formed the other pair. Ritesh Deshmukh loved Neha Dhupia, but got attached with her brother who was a gay character without knowing his identity. The identity was revealed at the end of the film. Even Isha Kopikaar, a police officer under the instruction of Anupam Kher considered Tushar Kapoor to be a criminal, but after knowing that he was innocent saved him.

In Chup Chup Ke, she did a greater job than Kareena Kapoor. She was the sister of the dumb girl played by Kareena Kapoor. Kareena fell in love with Shahid Kapoor who pretended to be dumb, and their relationship was created through the communication of Neha Dhupia. She helped Shahid Kapoor to speak on telephone and prevent Sunil Shetty, the brother of Kareena Kapoor from getting her married with another person. She concealed the identity of Shahid Kapoor in the house even after knowing that he was not dumb. Neha’s role was as important as any of the senior actors in the film like Om Puri or Paresh Rawal.

In Singh is Kinng, Neha Dhupia’s role was as important as Katrina Kaif’s role. She was part of the team of Sonu Sood, who got injured and was replaced by Akshay Kumar, who came to Australia to take Sonu Sood back to India. Neha Dhupia even showed her fighting stunts in the film, which she inherited from her father.

Even her dance numbers or special appearances in successful films like Heyy Babby, or Garam Masala require special mention. She was absolutely brilliant in Sanjay Dutt’s film Shootout at Lokhandwala.

It is very unfortunate that she had never got the credit which she deserved for her dynamic performances in successful films till date. The viewers expect that her performance in the films Cellphone, or Hot will establish her as a leading actress of bollywood films very soon.

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Mallika Sherawat had transformed herself.

Mallika Sherawat had transformed herself.

When Mallika Sherawat initially joined bollywood films, she was considered as an actress who was only inclined to expose herself. Her films Murder and Khwawish were related to body exposure.

Although Murder became superhit and Reema Lamba, better known as Mallika Sherawat became a hot star in 2004, she still required films which could allow her to show her acting talents. She also received international recognition with her performance in a small role in the film Myth, opposite Jackie Chan.

From the film Pyar Ke Side Effects opposite Rahul Bose, viewers started recognizing her as a talented actress. She was sublime in the film Aap Ka Suroor, where she played a negative role. Also her dance number in the Abhishek Bacchan’s Guru titled “maiya maiya” brought her prominence.

She did a great job in the film Maan Gaye Mugha-i-Azam. She was the wife of stage actor Paresh Rawal. She got attached with Rahul Bose, a member of the audience. Rahul Bose used the entire acting crew of Paresh Rawal to address terrorists. In his operation Mallika Sherawat played the major role. Mallika’s lips in the song “maan gaye mughal-i-azam” entertained the crowds. The song was made in the form of -a satire, and the play Mughal-i-Azam also created with the idea of addressing political questions of the relevant period.

In Welcome, she pretended to be the wife of Akshay Kumar, on the request of Paresh Rawal. Paresh Rawal never wanted his relative Akshay Kumar to marry a girl from a criminal family. But he entered into an affair with Katrina Kaif, the sister of underworld dons Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor. When Mallika Sherawat wept before Feroz Khan, the boss of both Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar, the marriage was cancelled. Although the role was short, Mallika Sherawat did very well.

She was sublime in the film Ugly Aur Paagli, opposite Ranbir Shorey. The film was related to betting, and Mallika had given slaps after slaps to Ranbir with one kiss only in a comedy drama.

In 2009, Mallika Sherawat featured in Kamal Hassan’s action drama Dasavatharam along with Asin. The other film Dhakreys Bed had convinced the viewers that Mallika can act, and given a proper script, can do better than other actresses of the contemporary period.

She had transformed herself into a promising actress. The viewers expect her to continue the good work and not sign cheap roles where only exposure is required, not acting.

Tanuja's success in bollywood films and bengali films.

Tanuja’s success in bollywood films and Bengali films.

Tanuja, the sister of dignified actress Nutan and the daughter of Sobhna Samarth created a unique place in bollywood films and Bengali films. Being the member of a family having legacy of contributing a lot in bollywood films, she had to face acid test.

In the 60s, when bollywood industry was flooded with talented actresses, Tanuja stepped in bollywood films. She had faced Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Wahida Rehman, Sadhna, Vaijayantimala and other classic actresses and yet created her identity in that age.

Tanuja’s prominent films in the 60s include Baharen Phir Bhi Ayegi, with Dharmender, Memdidi, Sapno Ka Saudagar, opposite Raj Kapoor, etc. Within 3 to 4 years, she was cast opposite leading actors of bollywood films. Her performance opposite Dev Anand, in the film Jewel Thief was appreciated by film-lovers.

Jewel Thief was crime-thriller director by Vijay Anand. Tanuja’s innocence in the film and spontaneous presence impressed the viewers. Besides Tanuja’s lips in Ahsa Bhosle’s song “raat nashili hai” was very impressive.

In the early 70s, Tanuja switched on to serious films like Basu Bhattacharya’s Anubhav opposite Sanjeev Kumar. Her lips in Geeta Dutt’s song “mera dil jo mera hota” and other songs showed the acting class of Tanuja. She did even better in Dharmender’s film Izzat. Dharmender had double role with one son being the illegitimate child of Balraj Sahani. Her performance in the song “loote dil pe diya jalta nahi hum kya Karen” sung by Lata and Rafi made viewers spellbound. She was equally impressive in the film Pabitra Papi.

Tanuja was involved in super hit films like Haathi Mera Saathi opposite Rajesh Khanna, Mere Jeevan Saathi opposite Rajesh Khanna, Ek Paheli, opposite Feroz Khan, to name a few.

In respect of Bengali films, Tanuja showed a great spirit in adapting Bengali language and adjusting herself opposite Uttam Kumar in the 60s and 70s. Deya Neya, Anthony Firingi and Raj Kumari stands out as the biggest hits of Tanuja opposite Uttam Kumar. All these films were musical blockbusters and the lips of Tanuja in leading songs in these films require special mention.

Shyamal Mitra composed music for the super hit film Deya Neya. Tanuja was sublime in her lips in the song “madhabi madhute holo mitali”. She was brilliant in the two songs of Sandhya Mukherjee in the film Anthony Firingi, titled “ami je jalsaghare”, and “champa chameli golapero bage”, composed by Anil Bagchi. Raj Kumari marked the beginning of musical career of Bengali musical sensation RD Burman. Songs like “ki holo, kabe holo” creates shivers in the spines of many listeners even today.

Tajuna was sublime in other successful films like Prothom Kodom Phool, Teen Bhubaner Pare, Madhuban, etc. She is considered more versatile than her daughter Kajol who got success by performing opposite Shahrukh Khan in hit films in the 90s. The viewers expect her to continue the great work in character roles in bollywood films in future.

Review of Bengali film Deya Neya.

Review of Bengali film Deya Neya.

Deya Neya stands out as Uttam Kumar’s one of the biggest hit films in his career. The film was released in 1963. The story was related to the life of a talented singer whose father, being an industrialist never wanted his son to pursue his musical career.

Kamal Mitra played the role of the father of Uttam Kumar in the film. Uttam Kumar left his father’s home in Lucknow and returned to Kolkata. He was known by the outside world with the identity Abhijit Choudhury, a successful singer. He came to Kolkata and worked as driver cum mechanic in Pahari Sanyal’s house. Tanuja was the relative of Pahari Sanyal and interacted with Uttam Kumar in relation to the cars they had.

Although Uttam Kumar was known with the identity Abhijit Choudhury, he never performed in public function, so his face was unknown to the listeners. Tanuja and her friend Sumita Sanyal were also fans of Abhijit Choudhury, but both of them could not recognize Uttam Kumar. Uttam Kumar took shelter in Tarun Kumar’s house, a friend of him and Lili Chakravarty, his wife attended Uttam Kumar like his own brother’s wife.

As the lyricist of Uttam Kumar’s songs played by Premangshu, was suffering from serious sickness, Uttam Kumar organized a musical program at the end of the film and appeared before the crowd in a charity show. His identity was revealed and Kamal Mitra, his father took him back after marrying Tanuja.

The music of the film was extraordinary. Shyamal Mitra’ s composition touched the hearts of millions of music lovers all across the country. Shaymal Mitra’s own songs “jiban khatar proti patay”, “ami cheye cheye dekhi saradin”, “ganer bhubon bhariye debo”, made the viewers speechless. The duet song “dole dodul dole jhulona” sung by Manobendra Mukherjee and Shyamal Mitra stands out as one of the greatest duet songs of the last 50 years.
Deya Neya was remade in hindi with the title Anurodh. Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Mehra and Simple Kapadia had the lead roles. But they miserably failed to level the standard of excellence attained by Uttam Kumar in Deya Neya.

Deya Neya should be preserved for the young generations who had not seen the romantic andaz of Uttam Kumar during the golden age of Bengali cinema, that is the 50s and 60s.

Vidya Balan and Sanjay Dutt.

Vidya Balan and Sanjay Dutt.

Bollywood industry had seen different types of pairs during the last 60s years. Raj Kapoor and Nargis were sublime during the black and white era, when most of film shooting used to take place within studios. Dilip Kumar and Vaijayantimala’s films started during black and white era and continued during the era of coloured films. Films like Leader had locations, rich music, powerful dance sequences, etc. in addition to online chemistry of Dilip Kumar and Vaijayantimala.

Sanjay Dutt and Vidya Balan form one type of such an unique pair who had been accepted by the viewers of bollywood films. Sanjay Dutt got the scope of performing opposite Vidya Balan at middle-age as opposed to his performance opposite Madhuri Dixit in during his young age in films like Thanedaar, Saajan, Khalnayak, etc.

In Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta, Sanjay Dutt’s role was based on the character of a middle aged person who was considerate about the family of Parineeta. Although Vidya Balan was attached with Saif Ali Khan according to the classic literature of Sarat Chandra Chatterji, Sanjay Dutt’s contribution was even greater in the film than Saif Ali Khan. All the songs in the film composed by Shantanu Moitra ended up being super hit, including Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal’s song “piyu bole”.

Lage Raho Munnabhai was probably the greatest hit film of Sanjay Dutt in his entire career. He was a bhai ( underworld don) who pretended to be a Professor and impressed Vidya Balan who was attached to an old-age home. He impressed her with his knowledge on Gandhiji. Mahatma Gandhi’s soul instructed Sanjay Dutt to follow his path related to ahimsa.

The romance in the film was related to matured level of understanding. Sonu Nigam’s song “pal pal pal pal pal pal”, was a landmark hit. After that song Vidya Balan slapped Sanjay Dutt after reading the letter where he mentioned that he was not a Professor. The film with Vidya Balan forgiving Sanjay Dutt for the lies he said to her.

The viewers are looking forward to more films of Vidya Balan with Sanjay Dutt, as the pair had shown matured level of performance which touched the hearts of millions of viewers all across the world. Sanjay Dutt these days had restricted himself in acting in action films, so if he signs romantic films, the producers and directors should think about Vidya Balan who suits him better than any other actress of bollywood industry.

Review of Salaam-e-Ishq.

Review of Salaam –e –ishq.

The viewers of bollywood films had witnessed probably the biggest form of multi-starrer film in the form of Salaam-e –Ishq. Multi-starrer films generally used to be considered as films having two or more actors or actresses. Salaam –e-Ishq had much more number of performers than two or three.

Salman Khan was paired with Priyanka Chopra with the character Rahul. Priyanka Chopra was an aspiring actress. She required a scandal which could create her fame. After that she would have got the scope of acting in Karan Johar’s film. Salman Khan artificially created the love story between him and Priyanka Chopra and made the fans realize that he had an affair with the star and then left her. By the time the playacting was over, Priyanka Chopra fell in love with Salman Khan.

Vidya Balan lost her memory after meeting with an accident and never recognized her husband John Abraham. John’s parents never accepted Tehzeeb, the character of Vidya Balan as she was a muslim. At the end of the film both of them agreed to live with each other inspite of failing to retain her memory. Govinda, the tax-driver in the film fell in love with an American woman who travelled in his taxi. She came to marry her Indian boyfriend but realized that he had married an Indian woman.

Sohail Khan and Isha Kopikaar’s love story showed semi-rural form of romance. Every time they came close to each other they faced obstacle in form or the other. Akshay Khanna declined to marry Ayesha Takia at the beginning of the film, to avoid the responsibilities of married life. After he realized that it was his wrong conception he agreed to marry her. Anil Kapoor, a middle-aged person got attached with a young dance teacher. His closeness with the dance teacher created distance with his wife Juhi Chawla. At the end of the film the relation was revived after Anil Kapoor repented for his wrongdoing.

The biggest asset of the film included its music composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. The songs “yah rabba, de de koi pyar bhi agar” sung by Kailash Kher, “tenu le” and “teri ankho ki mastani kajal jo mera salaam” sung by Sonu Nigam stormed bollywood after the release of the film. In fact all the songs were extremely successful.

The other factor which was new was the acceptance of six romantic stories of six heroes and heroines together. The exotic locations used in the film also require special mention. Film makers should get inspired by films like Salaam-e-ishq to make similar types of entertaining films in future.

Review of Salaam-e-Ishq.

Review of Salaam –e –ishq.

The viewers of bollywood films had witnessed probably the biggest form of multi-starrer film in the form of Salaam-e –Ishq. Multi-starrer films generally used to be considered as films having two or more actors or actresses. Salaam –e-Ishq had much more number of performers than two or three.

Salman Khan was paired with Priyanka Chopra with the character Rahul. Priyanka Chopra was an aspiring actress. She required a scandal which could create her fame. After that she would have got the scope of acting in Karan Johar’s film. Salman Khan artificially created the love story between him and Priyanka Chopra and made the fans realize that he had an affair with the star and then left her. By the time the playacting was over, Priyanka Chopra fell in love with Salman Khan.

Vidya Balan lost her memory after meeting with an accident and never recognized her husband John Abraham. John’s parents never accepted Tehzeeb, the character of Vidya Balan as she was a muslim. At the end of the film both of them agreed to live with each other inspite of failing to retain her memory. Govinda, the tax-driver in the film fell in love with an American woman who travelled in his taxi. She came to marry her Indian boyfriend but realized that he had married an Indian woman.

Sohail Khan and Isha Kopikaar’s love story showed semi-rural form of romance. Every time they came close to each other they faced obstacle in form or the other. Akshay Khanna declined to marry Ayesha Takia at the beginning of the film, to avoid the responsibilities of married life. After he realized that it was his wrong conception he agreed to marry her. Anil Kapoor, a middle-aged person got attached with a young dance teacher. His closeness with the dance teacher created distance with his wife Juhi Chawla. At the end of the film the relation was revived after Anil Kapoor repented for his wrongdoing.

The biggest asset of the film included its music composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. The songs “yah rabba, de de koi pyar bhi agar” sung by Kailash Kher, “tenu le” and “teri ankho ki mastani kajal jo mera salaam” sung by Sonu Nigam stormed bollywood after the release of the film. In fact all the songs were extremely successful.

The other factor which was new was the acceptance of six romantic stories of six heroes and heroines together. The exotic locations used in the film also require special mention. Film makers should get inspired by films like Salaam-e-ishq to make similar types of entertaining films in future.

Akshay Kumar requires a hit very soon.

Akshay Kumar requires a hit very soon.

Akshay Kumar, the action star of bollywood film industry, requires a hit film very soon. He was at the top of the world during the release of the film Singh is Kinng.

He gave the maximum income tax to the Government in 2008, and due to his films becoming hit one after the other like Namaste London, Welcome, Singh is Kinng, he reached the summit of his career.

Although Katrina Kaif is credited for most of the hit films of Akshay Kumar, there is no shadow of doubt, that Akshay Kumar’s hard work was rewarded. He initially started his career with action films.

His combination with Sunil Shetty used to be considered to be one of the leading combinations which brought a new dimension to bollywood films. The hit films with the deadly combination included Mohra, Dhadkan, etc.

But with the success of comedy films in the last few years, both Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty changed styles and signed comedy films. The result was history. There films Hera Pheri and Phir Hera Pheri blasted bollywood with the success. In fact the combination of Akshay Kumar with Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty inspired the producers to make sequels of the same film.

These days Akshay’s combination with Katrina Kaif had been accepted by the viewers. 2009 had been a very bad year for Akshay. Both his films Chandni Chowk to China and 8*10 Tasveer did very poor business.

Akshay Kumar is returning back with Katrina Kaif with the film Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani very soon this year. Akshay desperately requires a hit very soon.

Viewers remember the success of actors for very short period. If Akshay fails to produce very soon, there is every possible chance of his losing the number one spot.