Irfan Khan and Vidya Balan won Star Screen Awards 2017.

Irfan Khan and Viday Balan won best actor (male) and (female) awards in Star Screen Awards 2017. Star Screen Awards honours by rewarding the most deserving actors/films of 2017. While the nominations have a mix of critics and popular choice, the award for the Best Actor, however, is shared between the ones who represent the unconventional lot of Indian cinema – Rajkummar Rao and Irrfan Khan for their respective films Newton and Hindi Medium. In fact, even the Best Actress female is won by none other than the woman of the year – Tumhari Sulu aka Vidya Balan and the one who always dares to make brave film choices – Konkana Sen Sharma for Lipstick Under My Burkha. Vidya Balan rightly won the best actress award (popular) for the film Tumhari Sulu. Irfan Khan also rightly won the best actor award (popular) for Hindi medium. Both the artists had given natural performances. Pritam received best music director award for Dangal. Jagga Jasoos could have got more awards. Only Arijit Singh won the award for the best singer for the song in Jagga Jasoos. Films like Tubelight should have won more awards. Subhash Ghai was rightly given lifetime achievement award. Gulzar and Salman Khan gave the award to the great director. Best Film (Critics): Newton Best Director: Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal) Best Actress (Critics): Konkona Sen Sharma (Lipstick Under My Burkha) Best Actress: Vidya Balan (Tumhari Sulu) Best Actor (Critics): Rajkummar Rao (Newton) Best Actor (Popular): Irrfan Khan (Hindi Medium) Best Supporting Actor: Rajkummar Rao (Bareilly Ki Barfi) Best Supporting Actor Female: Neha Dhupia (Tumhari Sulu) Best Dialogues: Bareilly Ki Barfi Best Sound Design: Shahjith Koyeri (Rangoon) Best Background Score: Pritam (Dangal) Best Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya (Dangal) Best Music Director: Pritam (Dangal) Best Editing: Ballu Saluja (Dangal) Best Debut Director: Suresh Triveni (Tumhari Sulu) Best Playback Singer: Arijit Singh (Raees – Zaalima & Jagga Jasoos) Best Playback Singer: Shashaa Tirupati (Kanha – Shubh Mangal Savdhaan) Best Choreographer: Shiamak Davar (Ullu Ka Pattha – Jagga Jasoos) Hosted by Bhumi Pednekar, the awards night was attended by who’s who of Bollywood right from Salman Khan, Varun Dhawan to Tiger Shroff, Madhuri Dixit, Ileana D’Cruz among others.

Saat Khoon Maaf has innovative story.

Saat Khoon Maaf has innovative story.

Vishal Bharadwaj’s film Saat Khoon Maaf has a very innovative story. The film is based on the story Susaane’s Seven Husbands written by Ruskin Bond. Priyanka Chopra played the lead role in the film. She had shown courage to act in a negative character, a wife who had been alleged to commit the murder of seven husbands.

She married 7 husbands and due to death of each of them she became the prime suspect. The first husband was Neil Nitin Mukesh who played the role of a Major. The story was named “adamkhor major”. After the death of Neil Nitin Mukesh, Priyanka married John Abraham. The second story was named “ek duje ke liye”. She loved his looks and musical talent. But he also died.

Then Priyanka married Irfan Khan who played the role of a poet. She was irritated with the behavior of Irfan Khan at night which was different from how he behaved during the day. The name of the story was “musafir hoon yaaron”. He too died. Priyanka then married a Russian called Aleksander Dyachenko. The name of the story was “amar prem”. He died too.

Police Officer Keematlal played by Annu Kapoor was investigating the case relating to death of so many husbands of Priyanka Chopra fell in love with her and she married him. The name of the story was “pyaar ki keemat”. She then married Naseeruddin Shah who a doctor. She only gave her mushroom to eat. The name of the story was “mushroom da”. He also died.

Vivaan Shah played the role of the seventh husband in the film. The music had been composed by Vishaal Bhardwaj and songs were very impressive. Usha Utthup and Rekha Bhadwaj’s song “darling, ankhon se” became super hit. Suresh Watkar’s song “tere liye” and Master Saleem’s song “awaara” were equally impressive. Ronnie Screwvala and Vishal Bhardwaj produced the film.

All the performers did a great job including Priyanka Chopra, Naseeruddin Shah, Annu Kapoor, Irfan Khan and others. The film should do great business.

Knock Out got a positive response.

Knock Out got a positive response.

Director Mani Shankar’s film Knock had got a very positive stream of responses. The viewers had accepted the film. The film had been produced by Sohail Maklai. The starcast of the film of Sanjay Dutt, Kangana Ranaut and Irfan Khan had drawn the audience from their houses.

Sanjay Dutt played the role of an assassin in the film. He blackmailed his victim with a sniffle rifle. Kangana Ranaut always had liking relating to assassin heroes. Kangana Ranaut played the role of a journalist in the film. Sanjay Dutt’s prey was Irfan Khan who had committed a number of offences and was compelled to face the magic at gunpoint before Sanjay Dutt.

The film received plagiarism charges in respect of having similarity with the film Phone Booth. Sanjay Dutt called up Irfan Khan in the telephone booth and compelled him to stay there and listen up otherwise he would have shot Rukhsaar. A drug addict was shot and killed by the caller in open street.

Sanjay Dutt and Irfan Khan were brilliant in the film. Gulshan Grover played his role as a corrupted politician in style. Kangana Ranaut acted well in the role of the journalist. The music of the film is mediocre. But the film being a prima-facie action film, so music does not play that important role in the film.

Sanjay Dutt should be happy with the response of the film, because he is going to have a big release coming up that Is Munnabhai Chale America. Viewers should watch the film.

Mallika Sherawat has lot of expectation from Hissss

Mallika Sherawat has lot of expectation from Hissss.

Actress Mallika Sherawat has a lot of expectation from her upcoming film Hissss. She had been in the bollywood industry for more than 5 years and is looking for roles which can establish her as talented actress rather than the glamour-oriented roles which she had done in the past like Murder, Maan Gaye Mughal-i-azam, etc.

Hissss had been directed by Jennifer Lynch and had been produced by Govind Menon and Vikram Singh. The film had been shot simultaneously in hindi and in English. The story was about a snake woman whose mate was captured by an American hunter. The snake woman decided to take revenge on the American hunter.

Mallika Sherawat played the role of the nagin, the snake woman. Irfan Khan played a prominent role in the film. Jeff Doucette played the role of George States in the film. Divya Dutta had a prominent role in the film.

The major shooting of the film had been done in the forests of Kerala. As a matter of fact, Kerala consists of exotic locations and also horror locations. The forest-based landscape had been used to perfection by the director of the film.

Famous special effects designer Robert Kurzman gave an innovative look of the snake woman in the film. Anu Malik scored the music of the film. Madhu Ambat was the cinematographer.

If we look at the history of bollywood films we will find that whenever films were made with the subject matter of snakes, most of them ended up being super hit films. Vaijayantimala stormed the audience with her performance in the film Nagin in 1955. Reena Roy starrer Nagin in the mid-70s ended up being a super hit venture. Sridevi’s performance in the film related to snakes in the mid-80s also did great business.

So Mallika Sherawat’s performance in Hissss can also create attention. Mallika Sherawat also wants to return back to stardom with a bang with the film Hissss. The viewers are waiting for its release later this year.

Irfan Khan was brilliant in Right Yaa Wrong.

Irfan Khan was brilliant in Right Yaa Wrong.

Irfan Khan was brilliant in the film Right Yaa Wrong. He played the role of the friend of Sunny Deol who had worked in police force for a long time with him.

Sunny Deol’s wife Isha Koppikar had an affair with another person known to Sunny Deol. When Sunny Deol’s leg got injured after bullets entered the lower part of his body, he had to walk on wheelchair. He recovered and started walking.

But when he saw his wife in bed with an adulterer he could not resist himself. He made a cold-blooded plan to kill his wife and the adulterer. He asked them to shoot him with a gun having false bullets. When his wife and the adulterer failed to kill him, he shot both of them and killed them. But there was no evidence to prove that Sunny was guilty.

Irfan Khan did the difficult job of finding clues in the case. He proved that Sunny could walk, because the bullet that killed Isha Koppikar was shot from parallel direction, absolutely straight. For doing that the killer required to stand up. It was not possible to kill Isha Koppikar by firing from the wheel chair, as she was standing at the time of being killed. Sunny explained before the enquiry commission that he threw a hard substance at his wife. She bend down to avoid being hit and Sunny fired her even after sitting in a wheel chair, parallel, at straight angle.

Irfan Khan was right, but he was proved wrong. In the Court of law, Konkona Sen Sharma, the defense counsel tried to prove that Irfan Khan was jealous about Sunny and falsely implicated him. Irfan Khan said Sunny was ill-tempered. Konkona Sen Sharma proved that if he was ill-tempered then he could not have committed the murder, because it was done in a cool manner.

At the end of the film, Sunny wrote in a letter to irfan Khan before boarding in a flight, that he was guilty. Even the lie-detector test could not prove it. He did it to save his little son’s life who was motherless.

Irfan Khan expressed his frustration very well. His acting had reflections of actors of parallel cinema. The film should be watched by viewers.

Right Yaaa Wrong will do good business.

Right Yaaa Wrong will do good business.

Then film Right Yaaa Wrong will do good business. The film had been directed by Neeraj Pathak and produced by both Neeraj Pathak and Krishan Choudhury.

The film was related to the rivalry of two police officers played by Sunny Deol and Irfaan Khan. Isha Kopikaar, the wife of Sunny Deol had been brutally murdered in the film according to the story. Sunny Deol was suspected for the commission of murder upon his wife. Although his sister Konkona Sen Sharma supported him and did not feel that he had murder his wife, Irfaan Khan, the prime investigator in the case got a scope of gathering evidence to prove the charge against Sunny Deol.

During his successful career, Sunny Deol was so busy with encounters with the underworld, that he hardly realized that his beautiful wife Isha Koppikar had extra-marital affair with other person. When his lower part of the body became paralyzed, he asked his family members to kill him.

The film had a lot of resemblance with the film Above Suspicion where Christopher Reeve and William H. Macy played notable roles. As far as the story is concerned it is very innovative and full of twists.

But in that respect the script was not as sharp if compared with the scripts of directors of suspense thrillers like Vijay Anand, Abbas Mastan, etc. Sunny Deol did well in his role. Isha Koppikar did a great job in a short role. A lot of critics had mentioned that had Isha Koppikar not got type cast the image of ‘khalas girl’ at the beginning of her career, she was a great asset for the industry. She requires to play more number of positive characters in future.

Irfan Khan was brilliant. He again had made acting looking very easy. Konkona Sen Sharma also was effortless in her role. The music of the film composed by Monty Sharma had been very average. Ofcourse music never played any premier role in the film. But the viewers should be happy with the story line and for that reason the film should be good business.

Irfan Khan was sublime in Billu Barber

Irfan Khan was sublime in Billu Barber.

Irfan Khan was sublime in his challenging role in the film Billu Barber. Although has banked his resources on the popularity of superstar Shahrukh Khan, the acting in the film had mainly being done by Irfan Khan who made people cry with his realistic performance.

In parallel cinema, those actors who show least amount of mannerisms are considered to be real actors. Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri created an identity as legendary parallel film actors through their natural performances. They used to understand the uniqueness of the characters they had portrayed in films like Akrosh, Drohkaal, Mirch Masala, to name a few. Irfan Khan belongs to that gharana of actors.

In Billu Barber, in the first part of the film he was not too happy to know that Shahrukh Khan had come to his village to shoot his new film. His children and wife Lara Dutta were excited about it and also told the other villagers about Irfan Khan’s association with Shahrukh Khan. Irfan Khan realized the change of status of himself with Shahrukh Khan and was reluctant to meet him.

When the news relating to his intimacy with Shahrukh Khan spread in the village, different sections of the society came to him and wanted them to be introduced to Shahrukh Khan with his reference. Om Puri even gave him costly equipments for restructuring his saloon which was there in a dilapidated condition. But with strong security created by the local police, Irfan Khan could not get access to meet Shahrukh Khan.

When the police arrested a number of villagers who tried to enter the shooting zone forcefully, Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav and others understood the fact that Irfan Khan had no closeness at all with Shahrukh Khan. Om Puri unnecessarily ransacked his saloon and took back all the expensive items which he gave to him on the understanding of getting introduced with Shahrukh Khan.

The striking part of Irfan Khan’s performance was that he kept his composure when the villagers misbehaved with him after not getting access to Shahrukh Khan. He even remained calm and never got elated when Shahrukh Khan disclosed the contribution of his friend Billu whom he searched a lot but could not find after he became a film star.

Irfan Khan could not even go and visit the speech of Shahrukh Khan that he gave in the school in the village, he heard his words from outside. His realistic performance is a learning experience for commercial actors who believe in mannerisms. Irfan Khan should better roles in refined commercial films in future.

Character actors were brilliant in Billu Barber.

Character actors were brilliant in Billu Barber.

Those who have watched Priyadarshan’s films in the past know about his capability of utilizing the potentiality of character artists in his films. Furthermore he had the record of using many character actors together in his own films. The best example can be Malamaal Weekly. Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Asrani, Shakti Kapoor, Sudha Chandran, all contributed in their own way in the film. The comedy sequences were very intelligently directed and the film was well accepted by the viewers.

The same thing happened in the film Billu Barber. The character artists those who were used by Priyadarshan did a great job. Om Puri was a money lender in the film. He relationship with Irfan Khan, the barber in the film, totally changed from the time he came to know that Shahrukh Khan, a star who had come in the village to shoot his film, was a friend of Irfan Khan. Om Puri’s comedy conception had been witnessed by the viewers in landmark films in the past like Jane Bhi Do Yaaron, Chachi 420, etc. He continued his great work in Billu Barber as well.

Rajpal Yadav was an aspiring poet in the film. He also did a great work in the film. He initially never gave that amount of respect to Irfan Khan, the barber in the film Billu Barber. From the time he came to know about Irfan Khan’s association with Shahrukh Khan in the film, his reaction towards Irfan Khan changed altogether.

Lara Dutta acted in a non-glamourous role, playing the role of the mother of two children and the wife of Irfan Khan in the film. Although she had acted in dynamic roles like the role of lawyer in the film Bardasht, or the role of car driver in the film Zinda, this role in Billu Barber was very realistic in nature and Lara Dutta had done full justice to the role.

Irfan Khan himself is known for realistic performances in films of Madhur Bhandarkar and other noted directors. In Billu Barber he exhibited his emotions in respect of love, pride, thoughtfulness together at different intervals of the film. He was the central character and the success of the film depended more on him than Shahrukh Khan.

Even Rasika Joshi, playing the role of the principal of the school, where Shahrukh Khan came and visited during his film shooting, did a marvelous job. The performance did not have mannerisms and was totally down to earth in form.

Only Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone poured in their mannerisms during the dance sequences in the film, but the script required them badly. Overall Priyadarsha had used his resources to perfection and for those reasons the film should do extremely well.

Billu Barber can bring back the No. 1 spot of Shahrukh Khan

Billu Barber can bring back the No. 1 spot of Shahrukh Khan.

Billu Barber is the next project of Shahrukh Khan which will address the audience in February. In 2008, Shahrukh Khan had a bad year as such, probably the worst year in the recent past. None of his films did great business and he could not make his presence felt among hit films of Akshay Kumar like Singh is Kinng or Hrithik Roshan’s Jodha Akbar or Amir Khan’s Ghajini.

He has all the possibilities of regaining his number one spot with the film Billu Barber. The film which is going to be released in February probably has most of the celebrities in one film together. It includes names like Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor to name a few. Even Irfan Khan who makes acting look so easy did a great job.

Shahrukh Khan played the role of the friend of a village barber played by Irfan Khan. Shahrukh Khan returned back to the village for shooting a film. The other actresses in the film like Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra performed with Shahrukh Khan in the village. The moment the story of Irfan Khan’s friendship with Shahrukh Khan spread all across the village, the fellow villagers got excited.

Irfan Khan never had any expectation of Shahrukh Khan being able to recognize him as the status of both the friends was totally different. But Shahrukh Khan surprised everyone when he came for visiting a local school in the village. He disclosed before everyone that Irfan Khan was an old friend of him. Not only that, Irfan Khan had a huge contribution in the life of Shahrukh Khan.

The film ended with a happy note. Lara Dutta played the role of a rustic villager in the film as opposed to the glamourous roles of Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. She hardly took any make up and provided natural performance. Probably her performance was the best amongst the rest of the heroines.

As far as Shahrukh Khan was concerned he had done a great job. He almost lost his no. 1 position to Amir Khan and others due to giving flops one after the other in 2008.

2009 can be the year of comeback of Shahrukh Khan. Once he is involved with big productions and believable stories his larger than life image always haunts the viewers. Other than Salman Khan no other actor had the committed viewers like that of Shahrukh Khan. He was bound to make a comeback. Billu Barber has all the masala to become a blockbuster.

Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details.

Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details.

The film Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details in respect of life in a slum in Mumbai. If the aesthetic value and the cinematic value of the film is analyzed it will be found that some of the scenes were impressive while some could be edited.

There were scenes shown where the boy who won more than million rupees award in a quiz contest in television show came to know that Big B had come to their city. Big B obviously was a great icon of the 70s and 80s and childhood hero of many slumdwellers all across the country. But the scene where he left the latrine and ran to get an autograph of the legend hardly had cinematic value. It was crude reality shown without proper cinematic techniques.

Even the children being beaten up by antisocial elements in the slums in the film cause annoyance than amusement for the viewers. Violence can be related to real-life situations, but when it is shown in a one-sided manner the viewers hardly enjoy them. On the other hand the interrogation procedure conducted by Irfan Khan was more realistic and meaningful. It is quite obvious when a slumdweller wins such a huge amount of money in quiz contest which requires lot of knowledge in the eyes of the police the owner of the amount are always brought under scanner.

If the films of storytellers of the past are reviewed it will be found that legendary directors edited those materials in films which could have created adverse impact on the viewers. For example in Shyam Benegal’s Ankur, the son of Shabana Azmi threw a pebble on the river to show that realization and revolt commenced in the village. The entire revolt was not shown in details.

Editing forms a very important tool in the hands of legendary filmmakers and in that respect directors like Satyajit Ray showed the next generation that too many details are required for conveying powerful messages in films. He showed just a slice of cake being taken away by the British General in the film Shatranj Ki Khiladi to show territories within India being annexed by British East India Company which started from the estate of Avadh.

Besides, Govind Nihalini also finished the film Aakrosh on an intellectual note. Nasirruddin Shah asked his Senior Counsel played by Amrish Puri that if he was killed in future would it appear to him similar to a road accident. Amrish Puri said yes and the film ended there.

Slumdug Millionaire has all the attributes of a realistic film, including powerful script, innovative camera work, meaningful dialogues, but too many details could have been avoided by the director of the film.

Billu Barber has all the elements to become a super hit film.

Billu Barber has all the elements to become super hit film.

Shahrukh Khan starts off his journey in 2009, with brilliant performance in Billu Barber, his first release in 2009. 2008 had been a very average year for the superstar, with Hrithik Roshan, Amir Khan and Akshay Kumar contributing more in bollywood films than Shahrukh Khan. His film Rab Ne Bana De Jodi also did mediocre business as opposed to his blockbusters like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Om Shanti Om, etc.

In Billu Barber, Irfan Khan, a rustic villager met his school friend played by Shahrukh Khan when the entire shooting team came to his village to shoot a film. Shahrukh Khan played the lead role in that film and Irfan Khan was quite surprised to meet his old friend. The villagers urged him to disclose the stories relating to his friendship with Sharukh Khan at the time when the shooting was going on.

Irfan Khan felt very shy to do it, as he was only a barber by profession and doubted whether his friend was going to acknowledge his relationship with him as his status was that of a superstar and Irfan Khan’s intimacy with him would have affected his stardom in the film. The viewers will also have to wait in the film to see whether Shahrukh Khan recognizes Irfan Khan.

At the end of the film Shahrukh Khan revealed his relationship with Irfan Khan in the past and disclosed before the villagers the immense contribution of his old friend. He told them he got clothes from the friend when he did not have any and got food from him during his bad times.

The actresses in the film were all very impressive including Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra. All of them had a very impressive year in 2008 and looked gorgeous in their costumes in Billu Barber. They played the role of the heroines of Shahrukh Khan who had come to the village for shooting the film.

Lara Dutta was even better in the role of a village woman. She has been a sensation over the years and showed her class of acting in Billu Barber once more. The music of the film composed by Pritam also was very impressive.

The main songs of the film like “marjani marjani” had already become hits before even the release of the film. Shahrukh Khan and Irfan Khan were brilliant in their respective roles.

The film has all the elements of entertainment including a strong storyline, powerful casting, good songs, good locations, and is going one of the blockbusters of 2009.