Happy birthday to Jaya Bacchan.

Happy birthday to Jaya Bacchan. The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Jaya Bacchan on 9th April, 2017. She was considered to be one of the most powerful actresses of films during the 70s and 80s. Her effortless performance in different types of roles had inspired other actresses to follow her later on. Jaya Bacchan started her career with an impressive role in Satyajit Ray’s film Mahanagar in 1965. She played the role of younger sister of Anil Chatterji and adapted herself in the role of realistic actress who show least amount of mannerisms in that film. In the bollywood film Guddi, she played the role of a common girl who was inspired by bollywood films. Utpal Dutta, her uncle took her to film studios to show that actors like Dharmender and others were made stars by the sheer effort of the cameraman, make-up man, director, producer and others and larger than life image is created by the technicians. Jaya Bacchan showed the innocence required from the role of a common teenager in the film. In the 70s, Jaya Bacchan acted in refined commercial films opposite Sanjeev Kumar and got appreciation from the mass and the critics. She was sublime in Gulzar’s film Koshish, where she herself along with Sanjeev Kumar played the role of a deaf and dumb couple who educated their child and learned communication by attending classes in deaf and dumb schools. She acted in the film Naya din nayi raat, opposite Sanjeev Kumar, where Sanjeev Kumar played 9 roles of 9 different persons. She left her house and met all the nine separate persons and met her husband which was also played by Sanjeev Kumar. She had very peculiar experiences of meeting drunkards, persons suffering from leprosy, smugglers, etc. and expressed her emotions very well. She was sublime in Gulzar’s film Parichay in 1972, where she played the role of the eldest sister of Sanjeev Kumar. She and her brothers and sisters became orphans after the death of their parents and were brought by Pran, their grandfather to their ancestral house. Jeetender was invited to teach the children and she got involved with Jeetender at the end of the film. She expressed her love for her father and hatred towards grandfather for not accepting her mother in the house like any intellectual actress. Her lips in the song “biti na bitai rehna” sung by Lata and Bhupinder Singh require special mention. Jaya Bachhan was equally sublime in commercial films like Sholay, Zanjeer, etc., opposite Big B. If her performance opposite Sanjeev Kumar in films like Anamika, Nauker, showed her class of acting, her performance opposite Big B in films like Bangsi Aur Birju or Abhimaan or Milli showed her spontaneous presence before the commercial crowd. In Abhimaan, all the songs of Lata like “teri bindiya re”, “tere mere Milan ki yeh raina”, etc., almost appeared like songs of Jaya Bacchan. Critics feel that she even did better than Big B in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s classic film. She became a myth in the 70s, after performing in any time of film including Manoj Kumar’s Shor to Yash Chopra’s Silsila. Even the medium-budget films like Piya Ka Ghar did business due to sheer brilliance of performance of Jaya Bacchan. In the late 90s, she again made a comeback in character roles in films like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Fiza, etc., and showed the audience that she had not lost her touch in acting. The viewers expect her to continue the great work in bollywood films, as there is no doubt that she had equal potentiality like Shabana Azmi or Smita Patil and could have been chosen for any art film made by Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalini and others during the 80s, had she not left films for bringing up Abhishek Bacchan and her daughter.

Haimanti Shukla, Urmimala Basu rocked Zee Bangla Didi No 1 program.

Haimanti Shukla, Urmimala Basu, Sudipa Basu and their students stormed Zee Bangla Didi No. 1 Program. Rachana Banerjee invited Haimanti Shukla, Urmimala Basu, Sudipa Basu, and their students in Zee Bangla Didi No. 1 Program. All of them came with their students in the show. In the second round the lyrics of Manna Dey’s song “bachao ke acho morechi je prem kore” was played. It was composed by Sudhin Dasgupta and picturised on Mahanayak Uttam Kumar in 1972 film Chadabseshi. The words were missing. Sudipa Basu gave a right answer. Urmimala Basu and her student did a great srutinatak. The play was related to relationship of a mother who did not give birth to a child but rared up the child. They did extremely well. Urmimala Basu had been a great radio figure for the last 40 years in All India Radio. She and Jagannath Basu did a great job for the last 40 years. Sudipa Basu acted a small play with her student. The proverb relating to the play was “chorer mayer boro gola”. They showed a maid servant came to a house to work. She did her work. Her employer falsely implicated her for stolen goods. But police came up and found that the actual owner of the stolen property was the employer. At the end of the show Haimanti Shukla and her student gave maximum number of right answers and they became the Didi No. 1. Rachana Banerjee showed the importance of the singers, actresses, radio performers in the different fields sharing their skills to the next generations. That makes the importance of the skills delineated in a best way.

Vinod Khanna's untimely death shocked everyone.

Vinod Khanna’s untimely death shocked everyone. His soul should rest in peace. He dies out of bladder cancer on 27th April, 2017, at the age of 71 years. His admirers recollect the golden days of Khanna when he gave hits after hits like Mere Apne, Hath Ki Safai, Amar Akbar Anthony, Qurbani, Burning Train, etc. The viewers of bollywood films wished happy birthday to Vinod Khanna on 6th October 2015. He had remained a versatile actor and contributed in bollywood films from the 70s. He started his career as an anti-hero. He played the role of a villain in the film Aan Milo Sajna, where Rajesh Khanna was the lead actor. He also acted in negative role in Shammi Kapoor’s film Jaane Anjane opposite Leena Chandravarkar. With the advent of action films in the mid-70s, Vinod Khanna became a dominating figure in bollywood films. Big B’s appearance in the film Zanjeer created a fair competition between Vinod Khanna and Big B. Both of them featured together in the film Zameer. Both of them showed their action skills against the other actor. In Amar Akbar Anthony, Vinod Khanna played the role of a police officer while Big B played the role of a smuggler. In that film the action skills of Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bacchan was balanced by the romantic style of performance of Rishi Kapoor. Vinod Khanna’s smartness in the role of police officer amazed the viewers. All three of them played the role of the three brothers who were separated earlier but met together at the end of the film. Pran played the role of the father of the three actors. In Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Vinod Khanna played the role of the friend of Amitabh. Big B sacrificed his life at the end of the film after preventing Amzad Khan from creating any harm to Rakhee. The songs of the film became superhit. Vinod Khanna acted along with Big B in other films like Hera Pheri, Khoon Paseena, Pavarish, etc. The other notable films of Vinod Khanna included Qurbani with Feroz Khan. Vinod Khanna played the role of his friend who sacrificed his life to save Feroz Khan. Vinod Khanna played a very significant role in the film Burning Train, where Dharmender played the role of his friend. He was the engineer who built the super fast train, but Danny conspired to put a bomb in the train which exploded and burned the train. At the end Dharmender, Jeetender and Vinod Khanna rescued the passengers. His films Jurm and Satya Mev Jayate also received very positive criticisms. Just like Amitabh Bacchan he established himself as action star, and delivered in action films even in the late 90s, 20 years after his earlier action movies. After launching his son Akshay Khanna in the film Himalay Putra, Vinod Khanna switched to character roles and got busy with politics. He also joined the Rajnish Ashram in the early 80s. In 2009, he was very impressive in Salman Khan’s super hit film Wanted where he played the role of his father. In 2010, again he played the role of the father of Salman Khan in the blockbuster film Dabaang. Although he died at the end of the film, his soft performance was appreciated by the audience. His sharpness in respect of acting had not withered away and he just like Amitabh Bacchan had matured into a more composed actor. In 2012 he acted in the film Players with Abhishek Bacchan, Bobby Deol and others. He did a great job in Salman Khan’s Dabaang, Wanted and Shahrukh Khan’s Dilwale. The viewers expect his works to be restored and preserved.

Lara Dutta should make a comeback.

April is the birthday month of Lara Dutta. She was born on 16th April, 1978. Lara Dutta is perhaps one of the most underrated actress of bollywood films in recent years. She possessed same amount of talent like that of Priyanka Chopra, yet could not attain the level that Priyanka attained within the short time. During the month of her birthday, viewers wonder whether any of new films will bring back the stardom of the attractive actress. She started her career with Priyanka and Akshay Kumar in Andaz

and showed a lot of promise. But after doing great job in films like Bardasht opposite Bobby Deol, Zinda opposite Sanjay Dutt, Bombai Se Aya Mera Dost with Abhishek Bacchan, some way or the other lost focus. She was also not as lucky in respect of bagging important roles like Priyanka Chopra. She showed her standard of smartness and comedy instincts in films like No Entry and Partner. No Entry is probably one of the greatest hits of Lara Dutta till now. She balanced the comedy instincts of Anil Kapoor and did outcast Bipasha Basu, Celina Jaitley and Esha Deol in the film. Her lips in the main songs in the film were also appreciated. She was sublime in Partner opposite Salman Khan. Her lips in the songs “maria maria” and others did attract the viewers. Her acting was equally realistic. In 2009, she even showed her daring nature in accepting a role of village girl opposite Irfan Khan in the film Billu Barber. She acted hardly without any make up and brought out the innocence of a village girl in the film. The big question lies in the minds of people whether Lara Dutta can get her stardom back with her performance in the film Housefull. She had learned scuva diving and showed acrobatic stunts which hardly any actress had done in Indian celluloid till now for the performance in the film Blue. Besides she had acted with Katrina Kaif, the reigning queen of bollywood in the same film. But inspite of her performance opposite her in that film being appreciated by the viewers, Blue was considered the biggest flop of Akshay Kumar and bollywood films released in 2009. After huge amount money being spend in underwater shooting the viewers could not appreciate the great pains taken by the entire team of Blue. Let us hope that Lara Dutta retains her popularity with the film No Entry Main Phir Entry and provide stiff competition to Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif in future.

Happy birthday to Madhuri Dixit.

Happy birthday to dancing queen Madhuri Dixit. The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to beauty queen and dancing queen Madhuri Dixit on 15th May, 2017. She ruled bollywood films in the late 80s and 90s. In fact after her retirement of films no single actress of bollywood films could be associated with the number one position. In 2013, for celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema when polling was conducted by History TV, amongst actresses Madhuri Dixit received the maximum number of votes. From Tezaab, she dethroned Sri Devi from the number one position and created sensation in bollywood. Her dance performance in the song “ek do teen” in Tezaab, surprised the viewers. Her pair with Anil Kapoor was well accepted by the viewers. The hit films of the immortal pair include Ram Lakhan, Khel, Jeevan Ek Sunghursh, Zindagi Ek Jua, Parinda, etc. In the late 90s, she proved herself in every type of film and was cast by different directors and producers. The successful pair had produced both commercial masala films like Ram Lakhan directed by Subhash Ghai, and also off-beat films like Parinda, which was made for the intellectual audience. Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit stormed bollywood with romantic performance in the film Saajan. It was the musical blockbusters of early 90s which shook the industry. All the songs of the film were hit including “jiye to jiye kaise”, “mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai”, “mai shayar hoon”, etc. Madhuri Dixit was considered the best dancer of the country at that time. Even her performances in the other films opposite Sanjay Dutt were also impressive including Thanedaar, Khalnayak and Mahanta. In off-beat films like Nana Patekar’s Prahar and Parinda, Prakash Jha’s Mrityudand, her performance impressed the intellectual audience. She acted in those films with hardly any make up and still created her impression. She received the filmfare award for the best actress a number of times. Viewers remember her notable performance in the film Beta opposite Anil Kapoor. She fought against her mother-in –law to get justice for her husband. Her other hit films include Dil opposite Amir Khan, Hum Aapke Hai Kaun opposite Salman Khan, Aarzoo opposite Akshay Kumar, Koyla and Dil To Paagal Hai opposite Shahrukh Khan, to name a few. In fact, her film Hum Aapke Hai Kaun, opposite Salman Khan had remained as one of the greatest blockbusters of all times. She became such a phenomenon in the mid-90s, that the producers associated the success of the film with her more than the heroes of those films. In Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Lajja, in a multi-starrer film Madhuri Dixit was not cast opposite the leading actors like Jackie Shroff, or Anil Kapoor, yet her performance stands out as one of the best performance of the film. Her womanhood in the film attracted every type of audience. Also her performance in crime-thrillers like 100 days attracted viewers. It was a murder mystery, where Jackie Shroff, the boyfriend of Madhuri killed her sister Moonmoon Sen. Madhuri Dixit expressed the anxiety and horror in the film to perfection. Even her performance opposite Anil Kapoor in the film Pukar requires special mention. Anil Kapoor got national award for the best actor for the performance in the film. It was a film related to patriotism and Madhuri Dixit was probably the only actress in bollywood who could match Anil Kapoor in his struggle against terrorists. She acted in few films few year back like Aaja Nachle, but the films did not create the same magic as that of the 80s and 90s. Last year she judged the dance competition held in Private Channel in India. She came from USA and gave tips to the different participants including Shekhar Suman, Ankita Lokhunde and others. She also attended the filmfare awards. After judging the program she returned back to USA. Madhuri Dixit attended some of the award functions later on. All the superstars of the present period like Hrithik Roshan appreciated Madhuri Dixit. Shahrukh Khan danced with Madhuri Dixit in one of the award shows. Priyanka Chopra dedicated certain dance numbers to Madhuri Dixit in the same show. She acted in the film Dedh Ishqiya and Gulab Gang in recent years and shown that she still has acting left in her. Viewers consider her as the best actress of the last 30 years and want her to make a comeback in character roles in future.

Happy birthday to Rajesh Roshan.

Happy birthday to Rajesh Roshan. The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Rajesh Roshan on 24th May, 2017. Being the son of Roshan Lal Nagrath, Rajesh Roshan had a great task of matching the great performance of his father as a composer. He was born in 1955. Although his compositions did not have the classical touch, he composed catchy tunes which attracted the attention for the viewers. He received the filmfare award for the best composer for his brilliant composition in the film Julie in the mid-70s. He composed excellent music in Rishi Kapoor’s film Aap Ke Diwane. Rishi Kapoor, Rakesh Roshan and Tina Munnim were the lead performers in the film. All the songs sung by Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar were super hit including the songs “tumko kush dekhkar”, “aap ke diwane hai”, etc. He gave good music in Big B’s film Yaarana. Kishore Kumar’s song “chukar meri manko” became big hit. From the 1990s, he concentrated more on composing music in his brother’s films, that is Rakesh Roshan’s film. All the songs of the film Karan Arjun became super hit including “suraj ki peheli kiran se”, “bhangra bole”, etc. The film also became super hit. The music that he composed in Hrithik Roshan’s films became landmark hits. All the songs of Kahona Pyar Hai, were super hit including “pyar ki kashti me”, “haseeno ki mehfil”, etc. All the songs of the film Koi Mil Gaya became super hit including the title song “koi mil gaya”. All the songs of the film Krissh became super hit including “dil na liya”, “chori chori chupke chupke”, etc. He also won the filmfare award for the best music director for the composition of music in the film Kahona Pyar Hai in 2000. In 2010, the viewers expected good performance from Rajesh Roshan as well for the film Kites. It had been produced by Rakesh Roshan with Hrithik Roshan playing the lead role. Always when the dream combination had worked together they had created magic. Although the music was appreciated the film could not do good business due to use of Spanish which was not understandable to the common masses. In 2013, the viewers were anxiously waiting for the combination of Rajesh Roshan, Rakesh Roshan and Hrithik Roshan to fire in the film Krissh 3. The first part was super hit. Considering the second part that was Koi Mil Gaya, the third part had huge expectations. The film did business of more than 200 crores. Rajesh Roshan’s music also did magic with the hit song “raghupati raghava raja ram”. Rajesh Roshan should carry on the legacy.

June Maliya and Sayani Ghosh promoted Ekla Cholo.

June Maliya and Sayani Ghosh came to Zee Bangla Mirakkel to promote Ekla Cholo. Actress June Maliya and Sayani Ghosh came to Zee Bangla Mirakkel Program to promote their new film Ekla Cholo. Incidentally the film was also shown in Zee Bangla Cinema on 18th January. 2015. Director Sudeshna Roy also came in the show to tell the story of the film Ekla Cholo. The film had been directed jointly by Sudeshna Roy and Abhijit Guha. It has produced by Nideas Creations and Production Pvt. Ltd. Sayani Ghosh played the lead role in the film. She portrayed the character of a single mother. June Maliya played the role of the mother of Sayani Ghosh who was also a single mother. But significantly it had been a comedy film. Thinking about single mother, the first impression which into mind is that the film must have talked about struggle of a mother. But it was not the case. When Mir Afsar Ali asked Sudeshna Roy to tell the story of the film, she said Sayani Ghosh wanted to be a single mother without marrying any male husband. So she searched sperm donors and with artificial implant became pregnant and gave birth to a child. But in the process she got a lot of help from her boyfriend played by Koushik Roy. So eventually Sayani Ghosh came to know about her father and the husband of June Maliya and agreed to marry Koushik Roy after giving birth to the baby. All the judges in the show namely Paran Banerjee, Rajatavo Dutta and Srilekha Mitra appreciated the unique subject of the film. They also said that Sudeshna Roy always had done good work and she made the team of artists act very well in the film. The film had been released and is expected to do good business.

In 2014 Shahrukh Khan's Happy New Year did business of 200 crores.

Shahrukh Khan every year comes up with a new blockbuster and breaks all the records. Last year Chennai Express broke all the records. In 2014,

Salman Khan’s Kick had the record of doing business of 235 crores and ended up being blockbuster. Hrithik Roshan’s Bang Bang was second blockbuster doing business of 180 crores. But Shahrukh Khan’s Happy New Year did business worth 108 crores in 3 days. The Diwali festival helped Shahrukh Khan for the success. The film had been been produced by Gauri Khan and directed by Farah Khan. The music of the film had been composed by Vishal Shekhar. In the film Jackie Shroff wrongly implicated Anupam Kher, the father of Shahrukh in robbery case, where the locker was made by Anupam Kher. Jackie bribed the witnesses and won the case and Anupam Kher committed suicide. Shahrukh Khan hatched a plan to rob the Shalimar Diamond from Jackie Shroff’s locker in Dubai. So made a team with Sonu Sood, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bacchan, Boman Irani and Vivaan Shah. They participated in an international dance competition and took the help of a bard dancer played by Deepika Padukone. Computer was hacked to get the final entry and they went to the final in Dubai. The planned operation worked out. Dubai police arrested Jackie Shroff. Deepika Padukone did not leave the dance floor and everyone reluctantly danced with her and India won the competition. The entire film had been Shahrukh Khan show. At time Farah Khan had been repetitive. Boman Irani’s parsi acting now had become repetitive. Sonu Sood was used but few comedy things like making him deaf from one year was unnnecesary. As Farah Khan herself was a famous choreographer, she had the scope of showing brilliant dancing by different dance groups across the world. The dance performances of the Koreans and other groups were not that impressive. But the fight sequences were good, specially the action of Shahrukh Khan with Korean dancer on rooftop of skyscraper in Dubai. If story and direction is examined Bang Bang had a better story compared to Happy New Year. But Shahrukh Khan has his own committed fan base, that superstar charisma made the difference and Happy New Year has the potential of breaking the records of Dhoom 3 as well.

Janla Diye Bou Palalo was promoted in Zee Bangla TV.

Amrita Chatterjee, Biswanath Basu, Arjun, Manashi rocked Mirakkel Program. Actresses Manasi Sinha and Biswanath Basu came to Zee Bangla Mirakkel Program on 28th October, while Amrita Chatterjee and Arjun Chakravarty came to Zee Bangla Mirakkel Program on 29th October, 2014 to promote the film Janla Diye Bou Palalo. Mir Afsar Ali the anchor of the show asked the guest judges the story of the film. Biswanath and Basu and Manasi Sinha said that the story was related to a girl who was forced to marry a boy by her family never wanted to marry. Aniket Chatterjee directed the film. Amrita Chatterjee played the role of the girl. Thereafter the girl got irritated and escaped from the window of the house. Thereafter she met Arjun Chakravarty and fell in love with him. The film is related to slapstick comedy. The director Aniket Chatterjee had used huge of comedy stars in Bengal right from Biswanath Basu to Manashi Sinha, Kharaj Mukherjee to Kanchan Mullick to name a few. In the show Mir Afsar Ali talked about doing a show in Jodhpur Park with a python. After some period of time the python started pressing the neck and he stopped the song after 1 minute and gave the snake to a snake charmer. Rajatavo Dutta said that he had acted in the Bengali film Badshahi Ungty directed by Sandip Ray. The film is yet to be released. It was based on Satyajit Ray’s first story on Feluda written in 1969. In that film also Rajatavo Dutta had to shoot with a snake and it was a terrifying experience. All the celebrities appreciated the participants in Mirakkel and the judges Rajatavo Dutta, Srilekha Mitra and Paran Banerjee wished best of the luck for the upcoming film Janla Diye Bou Palalo.

Robin Majumdar was first singing matinee idol of Bengal.

Robin Majumdar was successful both as actor and singer. Robin Mojumdar was a very successful singer of the 1940s and 1950s. His basic discs were very romantic and became popular. Eminent composer Robin Chatterjee composed landmark songs for Robin Majumdar. The song “ amar adhar gharer pradip” and “mor premogan” had beautiful melody. Robin Mojumdar sang the song very well. The use of piano by Robin Chatterjee was brilliant. Also Robin Chatterjee composed song “ami rajanigandhar moto” was liked by the audience. Eminent composer Kamal Dasgupta also gave landmark tunes to Robin Mojumdar. Some of them included “ei ki go shesh daan”, “baluka belae miche ki goris khelaghar”. Kamal Dasgupta was the composer of the film Garmil. Pranab Roy wrote the lyrics of the song. Robin Majumdar acted as hero of the film. The film became hit and the songs became super hit. The other hit songs of Robin Mojumdar in Bengali films include “nabik amar ogo nabik amar”, “dekha holo kon logone” to name a few. He acted with many heroines of that time including Sandha Rani. In the mid-1950s Uttam Kumar, Basanta Choudhury, Asit Boron, Bikash Roy came up as the other heroes of Bengali films. Robin Mojumdar from the role of hero switched of to character roles. But his acting performance was at par with the other actors. He did a great job opposite Asit Boron in the film Joydeb. He also acted very well in the role of a bayul singer in Basanta Choudhury’s film Bodhu in 1962. Premendra Mitra, an eminent author of the Kollol era directed few of the films in which stories were written by him. He directed the film Chupi Chupi Ashe. In that film Robin Mojumdar played a very landmark role. He played the role of the host of the house which was used as a hotel and guest house. On a rainy day the house got flooded and the criminal went on killing guests one after the other. At the end of the film it was found that the investigating officer played by Tarun Kumar was the actual villain and the murderer. The film stood out as one of the brilliant crime thriller films of the late 1950s. When Robin Majumdar attended old age, Oscar winning director Satyajit Ray gave him a good role in the film Hirak Rajar Deshe. He gave lips in the song “kotoi ranga dekhi duniyay, o bhai re”. His films and the songs require restoration.

Sadashiv Amrapurkar is still remembered for innovative performances.

Sadashiv Amrapurkar will be remembered for his acting. On 3rd November, 2014, actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar passed away at the age of 64 years. He was suffering from lung infection for more than 2 weeks. He had contributed a lot in Bollywood films. He was born on 11th May, 2050. He was brought up in Ahmednagar. In 1981 he acted in the play Hands Up. He was a great break by director Govind Nihalini in the film Ardh Satya in 1983. He acted in the role of a Mafia Don and balanced the brilliant performances of other stalwarts like Om Puri and Amrish Puri. He also received the filmfare best supporting actor award for the performance in the film Ardh Satya.

From that time onwards his image as a villain was recognized. He played notable characters in Jackie Shroff Film Teri Meherbaniya, Amitabh Bacchan’s film Akhree Rasta, Amitabh Bacchan’s film Indrajeet, to name a few. In 1991 his performance in Sanjay Dutt’s film Sadak in role of a eunuck Maharani, made him a big star. The negative role not only gave him the filmfare award for the best villain in the same year but created a new dimension in the world of negative roles. He also acted in many relief roles and comedy roles. In films like Amir Khan’s Ishq, Bobby Deol’s Gupt, Akshay Kumar Sunil Shetty’s Mohra he played positive roles and comedy characters. His ease in respect of getting into the character of the different models helped me to get important character roles for more than 30 years. The list of his successful films are very long. Right from Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya to Khatarnak, Insaniyat to Mohra, Janam Samjha Karo to Ankhe. The list of heroes against whom he played the role of villains is also very long including Salman Khan, Amir Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Bobby Deol, Amitabh Bacchan, Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Mithun Chakravarty and others. He also acted in regional films like Bengali films, Marathi films, Hariyanvi films, etc. Out of more than 300 films where he played important roles, at least 50 films stand out to show his versatility in acting. He had acted in both parallel films and commercial films. His films and works should be preserved.

The speeches of Amitabh Bacchan, Shahrukh Khan in Kolkata Film Festival were brilliant.

Amitabh Bacchan, Shahrukh Khan gave fantastic speech in inauguration of 20th Kolkata International Film Festival. The 20th Kolkata International Film Festival 2014, started off with a brilliant inauguration in Netaji Indoor Stadium on 10th November, 2014. It was a brilliant occasion by every standard. Mamta Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal managed to invite the major dignitaries from different parts of the world and especially India. The 8 day film festival started with the inauguration on 10th November, 2014. The legends who graced the occasion included Amitabh Bacchan, Jaya Bacchan, Aishwarya Rai Bacchan, Abhishek Bacchan, Tanuja, Shahrukh Khan and many others. The August gathering also saw Bengali legends like Ranjit Mullick, Madhabi Mukherjee, Moushumi Chatterjee, Moonmoon Sen and others. Shahrukh Khan in his short speech made sure that he could say something in Bengali. This is the third time he had inaugurated a film festival and he said in his own words that honest creation is what the spectators expect from the creators. Amitabh Bacchan gave an extended speech. He did huge homework for that. He emphasized on women empowerment. He mentioned that both in Bengali films and hindi films, the directors and writers emphasized on women’s social standing. Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s Parineeta, Biraj Bahu told the same. Tagore’s stories also reflected them. While directors like Bimal Roy with films like Bandini, Sujata, Mehboob Khan with films like Mother India showed women’s individuality in Indian society, renowned Bengali directors like Satyajit Ray in his films Charulata, Pather Panchali had showed the different facets of women characters and also it was shown in films of other giants like Tapan Sinha who showed it in films like Jotugriha. Amitabh Bacchan’s speech was par excellence. Australian Filmmaker Paul Cox gave a brilliant speech explaining the importance of film festivals which brings expression of different countries and connects the countries together. Amol Palekar, Irfan Khan, Tanuja, Jaya Bacchan all congratulated the Bengali audience and the love for films in Bengal. Mamta Banerjee invited everyone and talked about the film festival showing films of 60 countries in Kolkata for the next 8 days. She also said what Bengal thinks today India thinks tomorrow. So Bengali writers, filmmakers and actors had been inspirations for other directors, actors of other parts of the world. So she expected everyone to enjoy the festival for the next few days.

Ekla Cholo was promoted by June Maliya and Sayani Ghosh.

June Maliya and Sayani Ghosh came to Zee Bangla Mirakkel to promote Ekla Cholo. Actress June Maliya and Sayani Ghosh came to Zee Bangla Mirakkel Program to promote their new film Ekla Cholo. Incidentally the film was also shown in Zee Bangla Cinema on 18th January. 2015. Director Sudeshna Roy also came in the show to tell the story of the film Ekla Cholo. The film had been directed jointly by Sudeshna Roy and Abhijit Guha. It has produced by Nideas Creations and Production Pvt. Ltd. Sayani Ghosh played the lead role in the film. She portrayed the character of a single mother. June Maliya played the role of the mother of Sayani Ghosh who was also a single mother. But significantly it had been a comedy film. Thinking about single mother, the first impression which into mind is that the film must have talked about struggle of a mother. But it was not the case. When Mir Afsar Ali asked Sudeshna Roy to tell the story of the film, she said Sayani Ghosh wanted to be a single mother without marrying any male husband. So she searched sperm donors and with artificial implant became pregnant and gave birth to a child. But in the process she got a lot of help from her boyfriend played by Koushik Roy. So eventually Sayani Ghosh came to know about her father and the husband of June Maliya and agreed to marry Koushik Roy after giving birth to the baby. All the judges in the show namely Paran Banerjee, Rajatavo Dutta and Srilekha Mitra appreciated the unique subject of the film. They also said that Sudeshna Roy always had done good work and she made the team of artists act very well in the film. The film had been released and is expected to do good business.

Herogiri was promoted by Dev, Koel in Zee Bangla Channel.

Dev, Koel and others came in Zee Bangla Dadagiri Program to promote film Herogiri. The entire team of Bengali film Herogiri came in Sourav Ganguly’s Dadagiri Program on 21st January, 2015. Actress Sayantani Banerjee, Bharat Kaul, and the script writer of the film came in the program. Sourav Ganguly asked Dev about the experience of acting with Mithun Chakravarty in the film. Incidentally Mithun Chakravarty played the role of the father of Dev in the film. Dev said in reply that Mithun Chakravarty was one of the brightest international Bengali icon. He also said Mithun Chakravarty during the peak of his career he acted in Bengali films and restored the profits of the industry. Sourav Ganguly asked Dev, Koel, Sayantani and others who is the boss in respect of film making, is it the director or the producer? All of them replied in the sets the actors, actresses follow the directives of the directors, in shooting zones and discussion relating to projects producers also play important role. This film Herogiri had been shot at different places including Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Paris and Bangkok. When asked by Sourav Ganguly who dictates the actors fees, the actors or the producers, Dev and Koel gave reasonable answers. Whenever actors wanted to act in films of reputed directors they ignored the payment and acted with low remuneration also. Sourav Ganguly asked Koel after giving a clipping of song “pagla garod kothae ache nei ko setha jana” in Rankit Mullick and Uttam Kumar’s film Mouchak, the name of the film and the singer. Koel gave right answer saying the song being sung by Manna Dey and name of the film being Mouchak. Dev became the champion at the end of the show. Sourav Ganguly gave his best wishes and told everyone to continue the good work.

Shriman Satyawadi became successful due to brilliance of Raj Kapoor and Shakila.

Raj Kapoor and Shakila were brilliant in Shriman Satyawadi. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, due to high box office of blockbusters, the hit films did not get that recognition. For example, in 1960, Raj Kapoor’s film Shriman Satywadi was released. Due to super hit box office report of Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai and all time blockbuster Dilip Kumar’s Mugha-i- azam, Shriman Satyawadi got lost in the crowd of brilliant films. But the film was successful. SM Abbas directed the film. Mahipatray Shah produced the film. The music was composed by Dattaram. Raj Kapoor was shown as an honest man whose father was an honest medicine seller. His father was falsely implicated by Mehmood’s father Radhakrishan. He deliberately kept narcotic drugs in his shop so that police could arrest him. He got a heart attack and died. Raj Kapoor was brought up by his neighbor uncle who send him to industrialist Nazir Hussain for job in Mumbai. Nazir Hussain and his daughter Shakila allowed Raj Kapoor to work in their advertisement company. Mehmood joined the same company and created a cream and pharmaceutical products which adulterated content. Consumers got skin diseases and one person died. Raj Kapoor left the company and did other jobs and finally worked as journalist in the Newspaper company owned by Moni Chatterjee. In the last scene Raj Kapoor went with Moni Chatterjee in the house of Radhakrishan to tell the truth relating to adulterated products. His son Mehmood shot a bullet on Moni Chatterjee. In a tassle with Raj Kapoor, Mehmood fell in an acidic pool and died. The film proved that honesty was the right policy. The music of the film became super hit. Mukesh’s songs “haal-e-dil hamara”, “ai dil dekhe hai humne” became bumper hit. Rafi’s song “rang birangi botal ka kaisa hai jadoo” was as big hit as Suman Kalyanpur’s song “kyun ura jata hai anchal” and Manna Dey’s bheegi “hawaano me” as well as Mahendra Kumar’s song “ek baat kahoon vallah”. Dattaram’s music was as brilliant as lyrics of Hasrat Jaipuri. Mehmood in a comedy cum villainish role was impressive. Nazir Hussain and Radhakrishan played very impressive roles. Raj Kapoor probably acted only in one film opposite Shakila. Both the artists matched each other. They should have been cast in more roles. The film and the music require restoration.

Sushant and Dibakar Banerjee did well in Detective Byomkesh.

Sushant and Dipakar Banerjee were excellent in Detective Byomkesh Bakshi. Director Dibakar Banerjee started with a bang in the film Detective Byomkesh Bakshi. The film had been released recently and is doing extremely well. With Yash Raj Productions the film was shot in Kolkata and had a medium budget. On the first day the film did business of 7 crores. If the film can finally do business of 50 crores it will be a successful film. Saradindu Banerjee’s character Byomkesh Bakshi is known to everyone in India. Satyajit Ray used superstar Uttam Kumar to play the role of Detective Byomkesh Bakshi in the film Chiriakhana in 1967. Basu Chatterjee used Rajat Kapoor to play the role of Byomkesh Bakshi for Doordarshan. Anjan Dutta used Abir Chatterjee for three different films related to Byomkesh Bakshi. Recently Dipankar Banerjee had got a new Byomkesh in the form of Sushant Singh Rajput related to the Saradindu Banerjee’s story of Satyaneshi and Pather Kanta. In the film the story reveals Kolkata of 1940s. It was during the 2nd world War. Byomkesh completed studies. At that time he found his friend Ajit’s father missing who was a chemist. Ajit was played by Anand Tiwari. Ajit’s father created a new version of heroine which could be mixed in pan masala but not detected till it entered the blood of human being. Dr Anukul Guha instigated him to create it. In the film the role of Dr Anukul Guha was played by Neeraj Kabi. Then Ajit’s father was killed. Satyawati’s mesho was also killed after that. It was because the dead body of Ajit’s father was kept in the factory of Satyawati’s mesho. In this film the role of Satyawati was played by Divya Menon. Swastika Mukherjee played the role of Anguri Devi. She loved Dr Anukul Guha. Under his instruction she set poison in the soup of Satyawati’s mesho and killed him. Byomkesh unearthed the mystery. He found that the drug racket run by Young Chang from Shanghai operated in Kolkata as well. Dr Anukul Guha created a plan whereby he had given information to the Japanesh soldiers to penetrate into Kolkata from the Ganga ghats, in return he could dominate the drug racket to transport drugs via waterways across South East Asia. For achieving his target he befooled the Chinese mafias, Japanese soldiers and even the British Deputy Commissioner played by Mark Bennington. Byomkesh found the deadbodies of related persons including a student and a Japanese lady teacher, all killed by Dr Anukul Guha. At the end Byomkesh called all the parties and disclosed the truth and left Dr Anukul before the drug peddlars before he killed Anguri Devi. The performance of Neeraj Kabi was the best. He terrified and astonished everyone with his weird performance. Sushant Singh Rajput was excellent in his role. His eyebrows were joined together to give a detective’s look. Swastika Mukherjee did a great job for her seductive role. Chang did well for his role in the China Town within Kolkata. Divya Menon and Anand Tiwari were impressive in their roles. The entire credit goes to the director Dipakar Banerjee who had a herculean task of reproducing Kolkata of 1940s. The trams of those days, the vintage cars gave a vintage look to the city at the time of 2nd World War. Viewers should watch the film.

Kumar Shanu gave excellent interview before Deb Shankar Halder.

Kumar Shanu gave excellent interview in Zee Bangla Happy Parents Day Program. Kumar Shanu, the successful Bengali singer was the guest in the program Zee Bangla Happy Parents Day on 24th April, 2015. He gave a splendid interview before Devshankar Halder. Kumar Shanu firstly appreciated Zee Bangla’s effort to organize a great program which pays tributes to parents of different individuals. There had not been any program like this before. He then said that he had seen many people worshipping different Gods by using flowers, fruits and incense sticks. But he realized that there is no bigger God than father and mother in life. So he worshiped his father Kedarnath Bhattacharya and mother. He said his father Kedarnath Bhattacharya was a great Bengali singer. But he was very strict person. He got a lot of beating in his childhood. But he understood his father’s love for him. When Shanu became a superstar in Mumbai between 1989 to 1995 he took his father and mother in helicopter and showed every part of Mumbai flying at low distance. He took his mother in flight and when she held his hand once the flight took over, he said the memory was so grand. He said whenever his father used to scold him in the morning, when he returned back at night he used to wake up Shanu and give him rasogolla. Shanu could realize the immense love of his father and mother in life. He said that he grew up in extreme poverty. But he rose to fame with the blessings of father and mother. He had only one grief that he could not save his parents when they were hospitalized. He himself was not a doctor. He spend money for best treatment. But lifespan is determined by God so he could do nothing. He also said that whenever his father used to ask him to help a poor person he did so. Once his father asked him to pay a needy person one lakh rupees. He did so. In the program the two old gentleman and lady were neighbours of him, not his own parents. He played for them. They had a daughter who lived at a distance. Both the old persons lived in an old age home. Shanu gave right answers one after the other and earned money for the medical treatment of the these parents and tour of Goa for the old persons. Shanu sang a number of his hit songs including “kuch na kaho kuch bhi na kaho”, “tujhe dekha to yeh jana sanam”, to name a few. The old couple blessed Kumar Shanu. Dev Shankar Halder said the new generation should learn a lot from Kumar Shanu.

Remembering Oscar winning director Satyajit Ray on 2nd May, 2017.

Remembering Satyajit Ray on 2nd May, 2017. Viewers of international films all across the world remember Oscar Winning Director Satyajit Ray on his birth anniversary on 2nd May and death anniversary 23rd April, 2017. Ray was born on 2nd May, 1921, and critics feel it was the birth of legend of legends and probably one of the greatest talents the world has ever produced after Rabindranath Tagore. Ray showed his excellence in every different of film making including script writing, costumes, music direction, costume designing, etc. My father, Chitta Ranjan Chatterji, Ex-Chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court, North, Calcutta, represented Sandip Ray, the son of Satyajit Ray, in a case relating to recovery of manuscripts from Uday Acharya, the brother of Nirmal Acharya, a renowned critic. When the manuscripts of Ray’s films were seized from Udai Acharya’s house and opened from sealed trunk it was seen that they were pictographic in nature. Script of the film Pather Panchali, Gonoshotru had illustrations at every part which showed the secret of Ray’s brilliant characterization in films. Probably some of the actors and actresses in Ray’s films rose to stardom through the images portrayed by Ray. Chabi Biswas mesmerized the film lovers with his dignified performance in the role of Bishambhar Roy in the film Jalsaghar. Charu Prakash Ghosh was unparallel in the role of Birinchibaba in the film Kapurush Mahapurush. Anil Chatterji was unparallel in the role of Post Master in the film Teen Kanya. Utpal Dutt gave his performance for his life in the character Maganlal Meghraj in the film Joy Baba Felunath. Similarly Om Puri and Smita Patil were sublime in their roles in the film Sadgati. Sanjeev Kumar entered the skin of the character played in the film Shatranj Ki Khiladi. Uttam Kumar could not have been replaced by any other actor in the film Nayak. Karuna Banerjee had made the role of mother of Apu immortal in the film Pather Panchali. Sharmila Tagore was outstanding in the film Debi. Tapen Chatterji and Robi Ghosh are still remembered by filmlovers through their character Goopi Bagha. All the Indian directors like Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan ,had agreed that they learnt the art of story-telling from Ray’ films. Even the theme music of the legendary director had moved the directors all across the world. Audrey Hepburn, the Oscar winning actress while awarding the Oscar award for lifetime contribution of Ray, said in her speech that Ray’s direction had the soul of Apu in the Apu Trilogy march out from the village of West Bengal and explored India and expressed the struggle for existence of every middle-class individual of the country. Whenever classic literature of novelists and writers were used in films, Ray created his own dimension in those films, including the standard of excellence in the films Charulata and Ghare Baire which were based on the epic literature of Tagore. Films made by Ray from his own literature like Sonar Kella, Joy Baba Felunath, Agantuk, etc., were equally brilliant. The films of Ray should be preserved to disseminate the art of script writing, costume designing, theme music, camera work, neat direction, etc. Satyajit Ray is remembered on 23rd April, 2012, his death anniversary. Oscar winning Director Satyajit Ray had been remembered all over the country on 23rd April, 2012. He had died on this day in 1992 at the age of 71 years. He was considered to be a legend of legends. Right from his first film Pather Panchali he changed the world of story telling in Indian films. He used classic literature of noted novelists like Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi Premchand, Bibhutibhushan Banerjee, Tarashankar Banerjee, and others and created a new dimension in the films with those classic stories. He changed the views of directors from shooting within studios and ventured out and captured the different moods of nature. He made crime thrillers like Joy Baba Felunath, Sonar Kella which were written by him and became popular with the children with the name of Feluda series. His use of theme music in films had been a learning experience for noted directors of the 70s like Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Govind Nihalini and others. His Apu Trilogi showed the path of a middle-class Indian who travelled the roads of villages and ventured into the urbanized town. Most of his films including Pather Panchali, Jalsaghar, Teen Kanya, Mahanagar, Nayak, were masterpieces. His films and literature should be preserved for their immense artistic value. A big section of intellectuals feel that he was the greatest creator in India to have born after Rabindranath Tagore. His Son Sandip Ray had directed many of the films based on his father’s literature including Bombaiyer Bombete, Tintoretor Jishu, Royal Bengal Rahasya, etc.

Happy birth anniversary of Manna Dey.

Happy birth anniversary to Manna Dey. The viewers of bollywood films and music lovers all across the country wish happy birthday to Manna Dey on 1st May 2017. Born on 1st May, 1919, he had contributed in bollywood films for more than 70 years with his baritone voice. He had brilliant classical training and adorned bollywood music with versatile talent. He was awarded the dadasaheb phalke award for his immense contribution to music in India. Manna Dey learned music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan. He stormed bollywood films with super hit songs in Raj Kapoor’s film Shree 420 in 1955, with immortal songs composed by Shankar Jaikishan like “ramaiya vasta maiyya”, “pyar hua ikraar hua”, “mur mur ke na dekh”. During the golden Manna Dey was probably the only singer other than Mohammad Rafi who had been used by all the leading composers of bollywood music including Shankar Jaikishan in Basant Bahar, the song being “sur na saje”, Madanmohan in Dekh Kabira Roya, the song being “kaun aya mere man ke sware”, Roshan in Dil Hi To Hai, the song being “laga chunari me daag”, SD Burman in Meri Surat Teri Ankhen, the song being “pucho na kaise”, to name a few. Manna Dey had a very sweet relationship with Sudhin Dasgupta. He was used by almost all the leading composers of Bengal namely Anil Bagchi, Nochiketa Ghosh, Salil Choudhury and others. But probably his westernized andaz was used to the limit by Sudhin Dasgupta. Sudhin Dasgupta used Manna Dey in Uttam Kumar’s film Goli Theke Rajpoth with the song “lag lag lag lag bhelkir khela”. Manna Dey’s songs “ami agantuk” and “ke prothom kache esechi” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta in Uttam Kumar’s film Shankhabela created sensation in Bengali celluloid in 1966. Manna Dey’s songs “ami kon pothe je choli” and “bachao ke acho” in Uttam Kumar’s film Choddobeshi became super hit as well. In the 70s, Manna Dey’s songs “esechi ami esechi”, “lekha porata shikhe phele” and “paye paye joriye rakho” in Uttam Kumar’s film Har Mana Har created sensation as well. Uttam Kumar gave the lips of his lifetime in the film Har Mana Har. While major success of Sudhin Dasgupta came in Uttam Kumar’s films, he made major contribution in Soumitra Chatterji’s films as well. The songs “ei shohor theke aro anek dure”, “hoyto tomari jonyo”, “jibone ki pabona” in the film Teen Bhubaner Pare, composed by Sudhin Dasgupta and sung by Manna Dey showed the westernized orchestration of the giant composer. Sudhin Dasupta’s songs in Soumitra’s films Prothom Kodom Phul and Bosonto Bilaap were equally successful. Manna Dey’s all round musical skills were used to perfection in these films. Even the song “ogo tomar sesh bichare asay” sung by Manna Dey in bayul andaz in Kali Banerjee’s legendary film Dak Horkora, and composed by Sudhin Dasgupta made the viewers speechless. Manna Dey sang many numbers of solo numbers as basic discs under the compositions of Sudhin Dasgupta. One of the notable songs included “ami taar thikana rakhini”. The songs of Sudhin Dasgupta and Manna Dey combination should be preserved and restored. Music-lovers wish Manna Dey to continue singing till his last day of life.